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I had never read any Shirley Jackson (other than The Lottery, which I think every school child in America has to read at some point), but have had a couple of her books sitting on my shelf for years. After binge watching the Netflix adaptation (which is fantastic) I decided to pluck the book up off the shelf and give it a read.

This book is a very interesting one, as I had expected a full-on horror story. However, I've now seen it described as a work of terror rather than horror, and I think that perfectly suits the book. We follow Eleanor's thoughts as she leaves her mundane and quite sad life behind for a summer studying the paranormal phenomenon at Hill House. As she spends days at Hill House, she begins to descend into a state of...what? Possession? Madness? Guilt over past actions? That's the thing I really enjoyed about this book -- it's so open ended and she's such an unusual character that you can read it in a number of ways.

While this book isn't all horror all the time like you might expect, the horror moments in The Haunting of Hill House are some of the best I've read. In fact, some of these moments are pulled directly from the book into the show and they translate so well to the screen -- the horror is so cinematic and visual. I wont say too much about these moments because of spoilers, but there's a bit with hands that I still, unfortunately, think about every night. Urg.

The Haunting of Hill House is a must-read for horror fans, whether or not you've watched the show. It is incredibly accessible, readable, and has so much potential for excellent re-readability!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5