A Haunting on the Hill

I am grateful to have received an eARC of this title to review from @netgalley. A HAUNTING ON THE HILL by Elizabeth Hand is a spooky return to the world of Shirley Jackson's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE. Hand's novel is nothing short of a triumph, creating a book for 2023 readers that propels many of the themes and ideas in Jackson's timeless original into the present century. The motif of theatre is woven into much of the narrative, with the idea that actors may be possessed by their characters a central concept of the novel. Yet, what if the character doing the possessing is no divine muse but rather Jackson's absolute reality under which no organism can remain sane? When Holly, Nisa, Stevie, and Amanda arrive at Hill House to rehearse Holly's new play, this is the question they will unwittingly explore. In many ways this book takes ideas and pieces of the original and twists or refreshes them for both fans of  Jackson and new readers alike. Where Jackson wrote of spiritualism, Hand writes of Wicca and neopaganism. Hand allows a sapphic romance to live, breathe, and struggle on the page: combining both the subtle hints of a queer relationship between Eleanor and Theodora and the dysfunctional relationship of Eleanor and her sister. The theme of a demented place, a house that feeds upon its inhabitants and pulls at the strings binding their relationships and very sanity to the point of unraveling floats to the surface in Hand's books just as it did in Jackson's. In a major stylistic departure from Jackson, Hand has ramped up the scares, and presents a book that will please modern horror readers who might find Jackson too much of a slow-burn. Although a case could be made that every character in the book is unlikable, I somehow still enjoyed getting to spend time with each one. Some questions were left unanswered, but perhaps some mysteries in Hill House are best left to walk alone. Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫