The Haunting of Paynes Hollow

By Kelley Armstrong

From New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes a nail-biting supernatural horror about a haunted lakeside property and twisted family secrets.

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250360560
• ISBN13: 9781250360564
• Release Date: October 2025
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.03 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Another great horror!

This is a great book to read in October! It may not really be cooling off here where I live but I could feel the chill by the lake and the chill up the back of my neck along with Sam as she must stay in the cottage on family land for one month to get the inheritance and be able to take care of her mom. So, of course things are immediately going to go off kilter (like a certain grumpy caretaker) as there are people who don't want her to get the inheritance plus the awful history of her father supposedly killing a boy and then himself. But is it people, or something else causing the lights in the lake and the dead animals gutted and laid out for Sam to find? Lots of creepiness and then downright horror as more is revealed that might shine a new light on the past as well as make more nightmares for the survivors. Yes, it is a touch of retelling kinda with the headless horseman but I think it is much creepier in this book with the lake twist and ties back to folklore from back in Europe. I really enjoyed this story and got through it fast like I always do with books written by Kelley Armstrong which are full of thrills and chills and death but also a good and satisfying ending where the guilty find their just rewards (and boy do they deserve after what they did in this book!) Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to feel the autumn spirits and hold my breath to see how many people will be leaving that cursed land alive! I loved this book!