Who Knew the Headless Horseman Knew How to Swim?

 

TITLE: The Haunting of Paynes Hollow

AUTHOR: Kelley Armstrong

PUBLISHER: St. Martin's Press

PUBLISHING DATE: October 14, 2025

PAGES: 288   

SOURCE: ARC 

FROM GOODREADS: 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.

MY THOUGHTS: Kelley Armstrong is one of my favorite authors and this is actually the 23rd book I've read by her.  I was excited when I first saw it announced, and the cover and the title hinted as some kind of Sleepy Hollow reimagining, but the synopsis didn't go there so I wasn't sure.  However, I can now say with validity this book builds upon the Sleepy Hollow tales in ways I couldn't imagine.  Kudos to Armstrong's imagination on this one!

When Sam was a child, her family would spend summers on the family's lakefront property.  Sam had fond memories of the time, up until she saw her father burying a young child in the woods.  Sam turned her father in, after all she was just a kid who didn't understand what was happening, and her grandfather never forgave her.  He spent the rest of his life swearing his son was innocent and ostracizing Sam and her mother.  

The book opens with Sam's grandfather passing and Sam learning that she is in line for a huge payout, if she will spend 30 days on the lakefront property.  Knowing this is her grandfather's last jab at her, Sam does so because she desperately needs the money.  Sam knows it won't be easy, but she has no idea what awaits in the lake and the surrounding woods.

I feel in love with the book early on and devoured it in two days.  Even now, I'm a bit disappointed that it is over.  Armstrong weaves a wonderful tale full of mystery, dysfunctional family dynamics and forgotten memories.  Sam is a flawed but well-developed character who is haunted by a father she feels she never really knew.  She also holds herself responsible for him killing himself after she reported what she saw so she is grappling with a lot of guilt.  There are also some great side characters, including the older brother of the child killed who is the caretaker of the property Sam is staying on.  Their relationship is rocky but the friendship that grows from mutual trauma really flourishes toward the end.  

October would be the perfect time to read this book, and I urge everyone to make time to squeeze it into their reading plans. There is even a cute dog moment at the end.  Who knew?  I will continue to add everything Armstrong writes to my TBR and the scarier things she comes up the better.  I honestly believe there are few genres this author hasn't tackled and tackled well!

MY RATING: 5 PAWS (or should I say horse hooves?)