Review: The Haunting of Payne's Hollow by Kelley Armstrong

Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: October 2025

 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.

In The Haunting of Payne's Hollow, Sam's grandfather has died and left his property to her.  The catch is that she has to live there for a month without leaving the property.  She soon becomes entangled in solving what really happened with her father years before.  Her aunt disappears and she begins to have nightmares and questioning everything she is seeing.  

 This book was just what I needed for the spooky season.  The atmosphere was dark and sinister. There were a lot of creepy scenes  I loved the story of the hollow and the mystery that surrounded it. It also touched a bit on the legend of Sleepy Hollow and the headless horseman. The characters were interesting and I was rooting for Sam.  There was a big twist in the end that I didn't see coming.  I also love that as the reader I didn't know who to trust.  I highly recommend this one.