Margot was sent away from her parents and her home when she was a young girl, and really doesn’t remember anything about her old house. When both her parents die suddenly at the same time, she inherits not only the old house (on Gallows Hill), but the very successful wine business her ancestors have run for generations (she learns this when she returns). But the house (and things inside it) is pretty creepy and a bit of a maze; there is something very wrong here. But the staff of the business (many who live on the property) appear to love it there.

Like the other books I’ve read by this author, I thought this was very good. Very creepy. Enough that I decided early on to (mostly) not read it at night! As a horror book, I feel like that’s what it should do – scare me enough to want to only read it during the day! It did its job. ( )

The plot was interesting, but this book just wasn't for me. ( )

4.5 stars rounded up

I loved this book a lot! There were so many unexpected twists and turns, it was amazing! I loved the main character, and her relationships with the other characters in the book.

I love Darcy Coates's writing style, it's so easily digested. The only thing with this was my mind kept wandering during the less-intense parts, and then when I tuned back in something crazy was happening and I had to rewind/go back a few pages. ( )

Gallows Hill has all the elements that I love in a Gothic novel; a spooky old house, parents who were killed under mysterious circumstances, bells that rings in the night, hallways that meander forever, major historical secrets, a town that looks at the main character suspiciously, things that go bump in the night, and atmosphere galore. So why did it take so long for me to get through this one? And I had to force myself to read through to the end, wishing I had DNF'd it like I wanted to.

First of all, the main character, Margot, drove me crazy. I didn't dislike her per se, but she really did some silly things. How is it that you go into a new house like this and not check things out? At least the poor girl could have found a bathroom in the first 48 hours she was there, but instead, the author had her getting lost in the same hallways and being mesmerized by a videotape for hours on end. And although I liked the atmosphere of the house, I really felt like I didn't get to KNOW the house through Margot's eyes as there was so much repetitive stuff going on that I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have. I liked the bumps in the night and the scary stuff that was happening, but to make a main character sound so ditzy in order to further a plot point bothers me. How many times will the author have Margot forget to charge her phone in order to advance the plot? Have her fall in this hole without her phone to use to contact someone, have her be attacked in this scenario without a charged phone to contact someone, have her get lost here without a charged phone to do anything about it, and so on. See my point?

While the first three-quarters of the book was repetitious and a bit boring, the ending was actually the best part, but by no means was it great. The author did up the ante on tension and suspense, but by then, I had lost interest and I had to force myself to finish. Furthermore, I felt like the author thought the reader wasn't capable of grasping the fine points of the historical events, and needed to reiterate everything again, something I actually resented. Readers are quite capable of reading between the lines, thank you very much. I can't say the same for the MC, so maybe the retelling was for her benefit?

Verdict
Gallows Hill had a lot of great ideas, but the execution left a lot to be desired. I typically enjoy this author's books, so this was a big disappointment. Unfortunately, while the author always has a great writing style, this one had very weak characters and character development, and a plot that was slow and pedantic despite the atmospheric horror elements that were included. This one just didn't work for me and I struggled mightily to finish. ( )

Probably one of my favorites from this author. It does have similarities from two of her series called House of Shadows and Black Winter, which I didn't mind, since those series are my faves. ( )