I read Hallows Hill within a couple of weeks of reading the author’s earlier book Sorrow Spring. I thought Sorrow Spring was great, menacing, atmospheric, eerie. Hallows Hill just ramped all that right up! It was fantastic.

This book sees a group of friends returning to their hometown twenty years after a horrific event. An event that caused death, a cult following, media speculation, and has haunted them all this time. However this reunion will spark something horrifying, forcing them to face up to the events of their past.

This blends supernatural horror with the horrors that spring from human nature. What this book does really well is to blur the lines between the two. Throughout the book there’s always a question over what’s happening in the corporeal world, driven by human motivations, and what might have an explanation that’s otherworldly.

This was compelling, tense and totally gripping. The main character is being buffeted from so many angles, her marriage has ended, her mental health is suffering, her friends are behaving strangely, and she’s having to recall things she wanted to put behind her. Her stress throughout this book is palpable. There’s also an erosion of relationships and trust that intensified as we got through the book.

Terror, atmosphere are done brilliantly in a book that still manages to provide a deep character focus. A great read.

I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher.

This is a brilliant read as I love dark and chilling folk tales.

Twenty years ago, on Halloween night, a group of teenagers performed a summoning ritual on Hallows Hill. The next day, one of them was dead.

In order to stop more killings they must reconcile and look into their actions.

This read is filled with drama and is an excellent told tale. It is perfect for Halloween season and I will re read it again as it's such a thrill.

There are twists and turns and I loved it

In Hallows Hill, Mia and her posse engaged in a summoning ritual at Hallows Hill fifteen years earlier, on Halloween night, and that went on to claim one of their own lives. Now they got back in the same group for this year’s Halloween festivity only to witness another tragedy, which very soon erodes to its point their trust in and received reality. For Mia, the inquiry begins with defining whether the danger has otherworldly implications or is rooted in a more human malice, paving the way to question her friends, the lore of the community, and herself.

Mia's struggle is largely internal, dealing with hurt and parsing herself to tell fact from fabrication. She sort of goes from being haunted by what she witnessed but yet took no stand of judgment on any of her crew members. At first, she grapples with loyalty issues that still gnaw at her, mostly concerning the rest of her friends. Their relationships become a powerful lens through which we can view themes of trust, guilt, and human relationships. But the power of relationships suggests that the danger could present human failings; jealousy, betrayal, and secrets, just as much as it could be a spirit otherwise.

Discernibly, the book deals with arguments surrounding superstitions and rationalism, memory and trauma, and how folklore can sometimes dictate or even unite a community. The regular overlay from today's society, including issues of dealing with people's past traumas, shockwaves of collective belief structures (including misinformation); and the distinction between true evil residing in the supernatural versus the realm of all-human actions, sends shivers down one's spine. Each eerie scenario is loaded with suspense, while without any need for exaggeration, it stands as a depiction of working one's darkest fears for society.

Isaac-Henry agrees during a tense relationship with the intimate but eerie tone of her work, which combines delicate language with an atmosphere-heavy description. The style of the narrative architecture means that, layer by layer, the plot acknowledges the unmasking of the mysteries across a play of revelations, subtle without the typical horror. The pacing slowly builds fear in suspense, where it suffices to leave the reader expecting with atmosphere, otherwise quite often claustrophobic and unsettling, carrying the reader into a shared fate far away from the characters who hardly find breathing space in their interactions.

The book painfully portrays the erosion of trust and an unresolved trauma. In this way, the haze of calling into question the primary reason for death is peculiar; the book allows readers an insight into how fear distorts vision and fractures communities' insight.

Culturally, Hallows Hill boasts of marking a nice stereotypical place-name within the genres of horror and suspense, and registered a solid psychological strain over bleeding blood or cheap shocks at a time, a focal point she shares with certain novels of our time, longer ventures into the darkness equally disguised by how life is depicted through the ordinary. As a matter of fact, the book doesn't redefine the genre, but is based on a challenging platform, being one such intriguing mystery with solid characterization.

Creating a thick and tense atmosphere deliberately set out to create dread at the very edge of every possible turn. For the most part, it serves as nothing short of a character, with its secrets, gossip, and surrounding culture helping at some points to reveal the engaging, still living past.

Hallows Hill forces readers to take a look at how one's past unfurls before the present, how fear cloaks the different faces of evil, and how blindness makes clarity ever so hard when there exists a chain between memory and myths.


3.5/5

It's Halloween and a group of teenagers attempt to raise a spirit at the Hags Ring stone circle on Hallows Hill, leading to the death of one of the group.
Fifteen years on, Mia is still haunted by what she saw that night. When the friends gather for Halloween again and someone else dies, Mia must look closely at each friend. Is one a killer or has a supernatural force attached itself to the group, or perhaps only to Mia?
Ideal for fans of folklore-infused suspense.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
Upon publication I will post my review on my blog and on GoodReads.

I previous read Olivias other book which I really enjoyed and now she has released her next book I delved into it knowing it would pip my interest. Yet again she has mastered the goth horror/mystery genre and has another hit on her hands. She will become one of my got to authors from now on as I known won't be disappointed.

I read and enjoyed Olivia Isaac-Henry's previous folk horror outing Sorrow Spring so was interested to read Hallows Hill. Once again she has proved herself in the folk horror genre. A group of teens go to Hallows Hill for a dare..... to raise a 'spirit' however one does not return from the ritual. Now adults they return to find themselves still haunted from the past and sense that a supernatural spirit maybe at play threatening their lives.

Full of atmosphere and psychological darkness which carries you along, the characters and the dynamics of the plot really work and make this a great folk horror read. I look forward to her next offering.

Hallows Hill is a haunting folk horror tale that grips you by the spine and refuses to let go. Blending eerie folklore with psychological suspense, this story echoes with the voices of the past—both supernatural and all-too-human.

Mia returns to the site of a long-buried tragedy: a Halloween ritual from fifteen years ago that ended in death. But the hill has not forgotten. As the surviving friends reunite and another death shakes the group, Mia’s descent into fear and self-doubt is relentless and deeply unsettling. Are they cursed by an ancient evil—or is the killer one of their own?

Hallows Hill masterfully balances atmospheric dread with sharp character insight. Every page oozes tension, with twists that don’t just surprise—they pierce. The folklore adds depth without overshadowing the raw emotional stakes, making this feel both timeless and urgently modern. This book is a must-read for lovers of smart, skin-crawling horror with psychological depth.

Thanks to HarperFiction and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.