An exciting and risky venture ... Fans of Elizabeth Hand...will want to hear her particular voice, and her uncanny ability to combine the edgy and the ethereal. It’s a difficult high wire to walk. Bringing these two heavy-hitting novelists together could alienate fans of both authors ... I’s thrilling to find that A Haunting on the Hill is a true hybrid of these two ingenious women’s work — a novel with all the chills of Jackson that also highlights the contemporary flavor and evocative writing of Hand ... Many terrifying pleasures.
Shot through with...witchy sacrifice ... There are some direct echoes of Jackson’s novel here ... For the most part, though, Hand is responding to the source material on a deeper level, echoing Jackson’s structure, characterization and storytelling beats rather than relying on superficial similarities ... And, above all, it’s scary. Hand’s facility with language and atmosphere and use of short, propulsive chapters work their own dark magic on the reader. It’s a compelling and frightening novel, but did it need to take place in Jackson’s universe? Probably not — and that’s why it works.
Hand is funny ... Also is adept at connecting the creepy noises and disappearing objects of Hill House to the psychology of the four characters, each of whom is hiding something ... Of course there's something malevolent happening at Hill House. We know it on Page 1 and, although it takes these four dolts about 200 pages to get with the program, it's a measure of Hand's precision and skill that we have so much fun watching them put together the pieces that doom them.
To join Elizabeth Hand on her journey to Hill House is to be reminded of the slippery dominance of genius, the way it both establishes and breaks its own rules, tempting then trapping those who dare to follow them. Faithfully adhering to the rules doesn’t guarantee success, yet breaking them will inevitably invite accusations of failure and betrayal. Each reader who arrives at A Haunting on the Hill hoping to return to the original Hill House will feel disappointed in her own way ... Least successful when Hand directly imitates Jackson, most successful when she draws on her own talents—and becomes truly fascinating when Hand lets those anxious whispers about authority and influence take over the tale ... Hand has a gift for the sensuous, evocative detail, and her descriptions are often simultaneously seductive and spooky.
Far more than a mere sequel or updated rewrite ... Readers today expect more from a malevolent structure, and Hand offers plenty of fresh creepiness. In both novels, the emotional focus is on the people and their reasons for staying in the house ... Disturbing and unforgettable.
I was not disappointed. A Haunting on the Hill contains solid scares, an abundance of occult elements, and a satisfying number of Easter eggs from the urtext. However, it works best when read as an homage to Shirley Jackson, a writer whose characters continue to haunt us and whose genius continues to inspire new work.
Unsettling ... Honoring Jackson’s story while owning this revival, Hand deploys masterful storytelling to merge the house’s familiar covetousness with witches’ tales, feminist themes of repression and unfulfilled promise, and character evolution that subtly matches the house’s growing malevolence. Pitch perfect.
Riveting ... Hand eerily, if sometimes unevenly, updates and riffs on Shirley Jackson’s classic ghost story ... Lush atmospheric details and sharply observed characterization abound, but occasionally overload the plot to the point that certain elements end up feeling extraneous or underutilized. Still, this chillingly mesmerizing narrative is a worthy addition to the haunted house canon.
