From the Publisher
"Catnip for fans of things that go bump in the night, and eventually the day." — Kirkus Reviews
Library Journal
09/09/2022
Margot Hull has just inherited haunted, cursed Gallows Hill—the land, the house, and the surprisingly thriving winery—from her late parents, who she hasn't seen since she was eight. Now they're gone, and she'll never have the answers she craves. Not until those answers start literally creeping out of the woodwork of the crumbling house—and reaching out of the hundreds of unmarked graves that both populate and haunt the property. Margot doesn't want to stay, but the place won't let her leave until she uncovers the gruesome buried truths and finds a way to put all of Gallows Hill's ghosts and secrets to rest—unless they put her to rest first. The slowly building horror of Gallows Hill, the property itself a darkly brooding character in the story, will prey on the minds of both Margot and the novel's readers as the true nature of the terror and the threat slowly creeps into the murky light. VERDICT Coates (From Below) tells the kind of chilling haunted-house story that will keep gothic horror readers on the edge of their seats while hiding under their blankets right up to the shocking, terrible twist at the end.—Marlene Harris
Kirkus Reviews
2022-06-08
The newly orphaned owner of Australia’s Gallows Hill Winery discovers that she’s inherited a lot more than a business—and that the ownership works both ways.
As far as anyone can tell, Hugh and Maria Hull died of heart attacks the same night. Margot Hull certainly can’t add any details: Brought up by Hugh’s mother, she hasn’t seen her parents since she was a small child. The news that she’s their sole legatee is a decidedly mixed blessing. She’s never understood why they sent her away so long ago. She doesn’t know anything about running the business that’s suddenly dropped in her lap. She can’t even drink wine, which makes her sick despite her tolerance for all sorts of other spirits. Hardly has Margot bedded down at her late parents’ house with the help of Kant, the winery’s business manager, when eerie portents begin. She hears nocturnal cries and moans. She finds six nooses strung up outside the house, and Kant informs her that similar nooses have regularly appeared throughout the 30 years he’s worked there. An ancient videotape her parents made for her looks more creepy than reassuring. And her fear of underground spaces is severely tested. Clearly the place is haunted, with every indication that no one who settles on Gallows Hill, which fully deserves its name, can ever leave. As the 250th anniversary of the disappearance of Ezra Hull, the winery’s original owner, along with his wife and their four children, approaches, Coates, dispensing with any opening pretense of normalcy, ratchets up the ghostly manifestations till you can’t imagine there are any more stops to pull out—though of course there are.
Catnip for fans of things that go bump in the night, and eventually the day.
