Title: The Haunting of Paynes Hollow
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: October 14, 2025
Length: 288 pages
Genre: Horror
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:
From New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes a nail-biting supernatural horror about a haunted lakeside property and twisted family secrets.
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.
The Haunting of Paynes Hollow — a stand-alone horror novel by the talented Kelley Armstrong — presents a fresh spin on the tale of the headless horseman, with a very conflicted main character trying to sort out the facts from her family’s trail of lies.
Sam (Samantha) has given up everything in her life except working to keep her mother, suffering from early-onset dementia, in a high quality care facility. Sam is deeply in debt, and has been informed that if she can’t pay up what she owes, she’ll have to find someplace else for her mother. Sam’s mother is all she has left: After her father murdered a child and then committed suicide when Sam was only twelve years old, they’ve been cast out from the Payne family and cut off from their wealth, struggling to make it on their own.
But now that her grandfather has died, Sam finally has an opportunity to provide for her mother for the rest of her life. Forced to attend her grandfather’s funeral and the reading of his will, she’s shocked to learn that he’s left her the family property in Paynes Hollow — 300 acres of prime lakefront land, which a developer is ready to offer millions to buy.
There’s a catch: To inherit the land, Sam must live there for a month — and there are rules to make sure she fulfills her obligations. She’ll be monitored, and is only allowed to leave the property for one hour each day. At the end of the month, the property will be hers, but if she fails, she get nothing. Hating everything about this, Sam agrees to do it anyway. Her mother’s care depends on her.
Accompanied by her aunt Gail, Sam heads to the family summer cottage, preserved exactly as it was the last time she was there, the summer when everything fell apart. From the start, Sam is confronted by sharp memories of her experiences as a child — good times with her father, but also, the fear caused by a boy who obsessively pursued her, and her fascination with the hoofbeats she’d hear at night. Her grandfather used to claim that Washington Irving spent time in Paynes Hollow and got his inspiration for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow there… but that’s just family folklore — isn’t it?
With each passing day she spends at the Payne cottage, the sense of danger increases. Sam hears hoofbeats again at night and sees strange lights out at the lake… or is she sleepwalking? Someone leaves mutilated animals on her doorstep… but why is her own hatchet bloody? When Gail disappears, the sense of uneasiness turns to terror, and even with the property’s caretaker and local law enforcement offering help, Sam feels helpless. Is this a set-up by one of her greedy relatives, trying to spook her into leaving and giving up her inheritance? Or is something ancient and dire stalking Paynes Hollow, leaving death in its wake?
Be ready for chills and thrills if you pick up The Haunting of Paynes Hollow! This tightly told story features plenty of disturbing scenes, and the terror ratchets up with each passing day that Sam spends at the cottage. For much of the story, there’s room for doubt. We witness events through Sam’s eyes, and she can’t be certain about anything. What if she really did do terrible things in her sleep? What if the creatures she sees in the lake are hoaxes created to scare her away? On the other hand… what if there really is a deadly family secret, and she’s inextricably tied to it?
While the cover and title make it clear that yes, there are supernatural elements involved here, the revelations about Sam’s family are the truly breathtaking surprises in this book. Twists and turns galore steer the reader in all sorts of possible directions before the various hints and events come together to reveal shocking truths. The ending is harsh but fitting, and Sam’s final actions are brutally appropriate.
The Haunting of Paynes Hollow is a perfect book for October’s spooky season. The mix of scary horror and complex family entanglements makes this a deeply engaging read. Highly recommended!
The Haunting of Paynes Hollow is Kelley Armstrong’s third stand-alone horror novel. Her previous two are:
- Hemlock Island (2023) — on my TBR!
- I’ll Be Waiting (2024) — I gave this book 5 stars! Check out my review.
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