Hare House: An Atmospheric Modern-day Tale of Witchcraft – the Perfect Autumn Read

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Her landlord, Grant Henderson, and his rebellious teenage sister Cass are still reeling from the untimely death of their shell-shocked brother Rory. There is also an unreliable narrator, a single woman, approaching middle age, who has left teaching following an “incident”, some “mass hysteria” in the classroom. I just wanted to get the feel of other peoples thoughts on this as I loved the journey, just not the destination while reading this.

I couldn’t help thinking if a man were to rent a house, people wouldn’t be so quick to have them doing chores and taking care of a seventeen year-old without learning more about them. Like Pine, Hare House is set in Scotland, and features a sprinkling of dialect words and more than a sprinkling of snow. I think it was made fairly clear what happened at the narrator's school and why she moved to Scotland. I do think there are a number of unanswered questions that we're left with and it makes me question whether those plot points were really necessary to the story. The mystery, the setting, the atmosphere… I thought something along the way might be a let down, and I’d fall into the same group of people that hadn’t loved it - I was absolutely wrong, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it; so much more than I thought I would.Sally Hinchcliffe was born in London but grew up all over the world in the wake of her father’s diplomatic career.

I expect a book - even one billed as a psychological thriller - to have some kind of build up in the first chapter or so, but I got 1/4 of the way through and felt nothing had actually happened. The story is filled with suspense and the possibility of discovering at least one manslaughter under the influence of alcohol and am answer to whether Janet is a witch and what happened to make her so bitchy and cold. She develops a prickly relationship with her neighbour, Janet, and a growing friendship with her landlord, Grant, and his somewhat flighty sister, Cass. I thought this would be a perfect seasonal read - lonely country house in Scotland, mysterious happenings, a family with a tragic past and a woman with a secret.I’ve seen such mixed reviews for this one, that I was concerned I wouldn’t love it as much as I wanted to.

After the death of their parents and brother, only two now remain: Grant, the relatively young (‘not yet thirty’) master of the house, and Cass, his capricious teenage sister. I finished this book feeling short-changed and that's not a good way for a reader to feel at the end of a 5 day investment. And as autumn turns to winter, and a heavy snowfall traps the inhabitants of the estate within its walls, tensions rise to fever pitch. Hare House is hiding something sinister and damned and as winter slowly starts to tighten its hold it brings with it more than just snow which soon blankets everything it touches in a muffled silence and the dark, twisted history of madness, grief and loss begins to emerge all around to once again haunt those who still dwell on these grounds. A former London school teacher, forced to resign under mysterious circumstances, rents a house in the Scottish highlands where she meets an obstinate old woman and isolated, parentless siblings.She wasn't an entirely likeable person but seemed so self-righteous in her own opinions that, even if I had wanted to like her, there was no hope of it. As the story goes on, you learn more about what made the woman lose her job as well as the mysterious past of the people who own the property. I was sent an ARC of this creepy, modern gothic novel by Book Break in exchange for an honest review. It was crudely done, the letters crammed in towards the end, the paint running, but it was still clear.