The Haunting of Paynes Hollow Review

I wasn’t planning to pick this up this month, but I was drawn to it for some reason. So, let’s get into my The Haunting of Paynes Hollow review.

Synopsis

When Samantha Payne’s grandfather dies, she figures she won’t even get a mention in the will. After all, she hasn’t seen him in fourteen years, not since her father took his own life after being accused of murdering a child at their lakefront cottage. Her grandfather always insisted her father was innocent, despite Sam having caught him burying the child’s body, his clothing streaked with blood.

But when she does attend the reading of the will at the behest of her aunt, she discovers that her grandfather left her the very valuable lakefront property where the family cottage sits. There’s one catch: Sam needs to stay in the cottage for a month. To finally face the fact she was wrong and her father was innocent, in her grandfather’s words.

Traveling to Paynes Hollow, Sam is faced with the realities of her childhood and the secrets kept hidden in the shadows of her memories. When her aunt goes missing a couple days into their stay, Sam begins to question everything again. Plagued by nightmares and paranoia, she begins hearing sounds in the forest and seeing shapes crawling from the water as the rippling waves of the lake promise something unspeakably dark lurking just below their surface.

My Thoughts

The Haunting of Paynes Hollow is marketed as a retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I would argue that fact. It does have a headless horseman but that’s ultimately the only similarities between the two stories. I reread The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in preparation for this because I didn’t want to miss anything. So, while it’s not a headless horseman retelling it is a solid folk horror set on the banks of Lake Ontario.

I honestly have very few notes about this one. I enjoyed the setting and the mystery. It was fast paced but didn’t feel rushed. The set up is a little weird. I had to suspend my belief a little and just go with the flow. But it was worth it when it all came together.

The only thing that kept this from being a five-star read was how early on I picked the guy. I just knew that something was off from the moment I met the character. The motive and reveal were spot on but catching on so soon disappointed me just a little.

But overall, if you’re still looking for a quick spooky read to squeeze into the Halloween season then I think this one’s for you.

My Rating: 4/5