The Haunting of Paynes Hollow by Kelley Armstrong

 

The plot:  When her estranged grandfather dies, Sam is surprised to learn that he left her their family's valuable lakefront property in his will. The catch: she has to stay at her family's old summer cottage for one month. The same cottage they were staying at when, as a child, she saw her father burying a dead boy's body. That was the summer that changed everything for Samantha Payne and her family. And the only reason she agrees to go back is because she desperately needs the money from the sale of the land to pay for her mother's dementia care.

But back in Paynes Hollow, the very place that supposedly inspired The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Sam is haunted by her own childhood memories of that long ago summer. Then her aunt goes missing. And Sam starts hearing phantom hoofbeats at night, and she thinks she sees the shadowy shapes of the drowned dead crawling from the lake. Is she losing her mind? Or is something more sinister going on? 

My thoughts:  Atmospheric. Suspenseful. And deliciously eerie. Armstrong has written a very fun supernatural horror story. I loved how she tied in aspects of the headless horseman with legends of the nykur. And I found Sam to be a very sympathetic character. I was rooting for her as she tried to parse the truth from the lies and figure out her own family's dark secrets. And they are dark. This is a fast-paced thriller that does not disappoint.  4.5/5 stars.

Happy Reading!