A touch of terror will make you tremble with this tale.
Set in Scotland the fogs, snow and cold winter traps an un named female ex teacher with a family living with secrets which then betray them into mystical and spooky witchcraft offerings.
This was a slow start and I didn't quite understand the link with teenage pupils have a mass hysterical faint until the fate of the landlord's sister Cass in the story started to develop. As we follow our narrator we too appear confused as she does - but - slowly, scarily, the truth unravels and the closeted world of this grand yet slightly decaying Scottish laird's house is revealed.
I loved the parallel link with hares, their mystical links in witchcraft and the use of their taxidermy (always weird in my eyes) to act out the human fears.
I liked but couldn't understand the character of Janet, the strange 'friendly' neighbour although perhaps she would be the one to highlight the saving of souls?
Atmospherically spooky and although some of the characters didn't fully form - especially I felt Grant the ?love interest, the undercurrents of fear grew as chapters were turned.

This quietly spooky book brings a glimmer of amber light into the gloomy darkness telling the story of a woman haunted by the world around her. Gripping and enjoyable

This deeply atmospheric mystery plays out in the Borders, giving a sense of isolation and loneliness whilst being just well enough connected to society that escape may feel plausible. I very much enjoyed the way the author spun out the mystery surrounding the main character’s departure from her teaching career. The local superstitions surrounding witchcraft made for an immersive read.

*Many thanks to Sally Hinchcliffe, Pan Macmillan, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
A good Gothic set in the Scottish Highlands, which offers complicated dynamics between between the main characters and a heroine who chose to leave her previous employment in rather mysterious circumstances.
I did not warm up to her, to be honest, but I like unreliable characters and in this context the novel did deliver.

I was drawn to this book by the blurb. Set in Dumfries and Galloway with mentions of witchcraft and folklore, it sounded right up my street. The parallel storylines tell of both the protagonist's previous life as a teacher in an all-girls school, and her move to Scotland to get away from it all. Trying to get away from her gossiping neighbour Janet, she becomes closer to the inhabitants of the nearby big house, who are also her landlords. As winter draws in, she (who isn't named) begins to feel that there are weird things happening which she can't explain.

While I loved the premise, I felt that Hare House fell a little bit short for me. I did enjoy it but there wasn't enough oomph in the story. It was left a little too open-ended, and some was too ambiguous to give me chills. The gothic tropes in the book were there - a creepy big house with stuffed animals, snowstorm which shut the majority of characters in the big house, clay figurines found randomly by the main character, the presence of a figure who may or may not be real, the deaths of animals, suspicion turning onto the protagonist to name a few but I didn't feel they were all tied up as neatly as they could have been. Although I am picky about what exactly clicks with me regarding atmospheric novels and I'm sure this would appeal to fans of Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley, which is what the book reminded me of when I first saw it.

I adored this book. From the very start, there is a sense of unease running through it, from the narrator, the landscape and the family who live in Hare House and it doesn’t let up until the very last moment. Something about the setting and the characters Sally has created makes for a very unsettling read, but one I found absorbing from start to finish. I’ve been looking for a while for a book to equal Dark Matter by Michelle Paver, and in Hare House I’ve found it.

Sally Hinchcliffe's Hare House has been billed as 'a modern-day witch story, perfect for fans of Pine and The Loney' and I would absolutely echo this! I love anything that deals with local folklore and Hare House has folk horror in spades. With buckets of atmosphere and a brilliantly-executed sense of dread that builds and builds throughout the novel, I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who enjoys novels stuffed to the rafters with mysteries, witchcraft and a dollop of the gothic. I can't think of a better place to enjoy the secrets of Hare House than sitting by a roaring fire with a glass of something mulled clutched firmly in one hand.

A STUNNING novel! A creepy mystery with elements of both folk horror and an intriguing character study. Sally Hinchcliffe knows exactly how to control the narrative and is clearly a talent to watch. I loved every page of this and will be recommending it far and wide.

If you loved Francine Toon’s Pine, make sure this is on your 2022 list. The protagonist, a woman, is barely identified. She is never given a name and readers aren’t clear on her appearance. What we do know that is she’s starting a new life in rural Scotland after teaching in a London school. While in Scotland, she befriends the Henderson siblings, Grant and Cass, who live in Hare House alone after their parents’ and brother’s death. Their neighbour, Janet, strikes a friendship with the unnamed character and it’s not long before Cass suggests that the former is a witch. This is not a fairytale, however; the book is rich with detail suggesting uncanny powers or items with magical properties, all the more developed when the characters, thanks to a vicious snowfall, cannot live their surroundings. Slightly gothic in flavour, it is a quietly eerie novel, beautifully written, one that keeps a reader alert.

I found the writing in this novel wonderfully atmospheric, the desrcriptions of the crumbling old country house, the remote but beautiful location, the freezing weather and of course the spooky goings on in this picturesque corner of Scotland. There is tension, ghosts, witchcraft, death and I loved peeking back into our protagonists time in London to find out the real reasons why she left her teaching post and headed for the remote estate. The hares are a theme throughout and are truly terryifying, both the living and the dead ones. Well written, compelling and chilling, it leaves you with food for thought.

Hare House is a spooky Scottish ghost story, set on a remote country estate. Hares recur as a motif throughout the book, usually heralding something sinister. It's all very unnerving.

I took the book with me on my trip to a Scottish country house hotel, which I really recommend for adding atmosphere! I didn't feel quite satisfied with the ending, but I enjoyed the journey to get there.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

An atmospheric horror novel inspired by the witch hunts, haunted houses and folkore or Dumfries and Galloway, in Scotland.

This creepy Gothic thriller is narrated by a woman nearing middle age, who has left her teaching job in London to retreat in one of the small cottages near the isolated Hare House, a mansion occupied solely by Grant and her younger sister Cass, who has nervous problems, the last descendants after their parents and sibling Rory died. A stately, gothic house with a room full of stuffed hares dressed in Victorian dolls positioned as performing different tasks, all killed and stuffed by one of the family members long ago. Why are the animals around them dying? How did Rory die? What torments Cass? Who are the mysterious, tormented ancestors of the two siblings? Who is the spiteful Janet, living in the neighbouring cottage? And what brought our protagonist here?

There would be much to sink your teeth in: the atmosphere of the house and of the surrounding woods enveloped in the fog is sinister and creepy, and the bestiary adds an uncanny touch. I loved the complexity of the protagonist, a truly unreliable narrator who is going to leave us guessing till the very end as to her intentions and who really stands out in terms of characterisation compared to other characters who are flatter or a bit more stereotyped. Though gripping, the plot at times relies too much on ambiguity, stalls at times and leaves too many open, unexplained threads and facts. It also relies on a mix of elements and plot turns that to my taste are a bit conventional (clay figurines, the trope of the family madness, of the middle aged spinster turned sour, the lights going out). Nevertheless they do work and could satisfy lovers of traditional horror.
A dark academia subplot is revealed parallel to the events, but it is not very convincing although it is useful to clarify our protagonist’s motives. As the blurb says, perfect for fans of Francine Toon’s Pine.

Read this book in winter, in a remote setting and that will get the pulse going. Such an atmospheric book. Loved the back story which gave a solid reason for her to be moving to Scotland. Loved Cass and Grant. Not sure I can add much apart from it is excellent.

Nothing like a spooky story set in a wintry Scottish landscape to make you appreciate your cosy chair and a mug of cocoa, I thought:
To get away from the cities’s bustle and the uncomfortable memories of her last job, the narrator is renting a cottage in the grounds of the dilapidated “Hare House” with its odd owners and staff plus an odd cottage neighbour.
“I had lived too long with my nose pressed up against the glass of other people’s lives, waiting to be let in.”
The plot weaves back and forth between an incident with her former pupils and her life at Hare Cottage, with lots of things hinted or intimated but sadly never resolved or explained.
So while i enjoyed being guided through the story, the ending left me disappointed with lots of plot strands just left discarded.
2 1/2 rounded to 3 for atmospheric landscape.

I had really high hopes for this book but was disappointed. The narrator is a teacher who has fled her job after an incidence of mass hysteria amongst the girls and comes to live in a remote part of Scotland in one of the cottages that is part of an estate with a big "house" housing the last two young survivors of the family. The narrator takes a bus back from the local village and the driver runs over a Hare just at the bus stop which eyes our protagonist and starts to create a sense of unease. All the residents of the big house and cottage are slightly off kilter (and annoying). Tensions rise as the winter and snow creep in.

I found this book a slog. It just takes so, so long to get going. I didn't care about any of the characters and I just didn't believe in them or the situation created.

Hare House has been on my radar for a while and I was excited to be given an early copy of it to review. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.

I really hate giving less than positive reviews, but I have to be honest.

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. There’s the odd tease and the odd flashback, but none of it really built up to anything and just seemed a tad repetitive.

The main character was untrustworthy and didn’t seem like the right narrator for this story. Her, and the rest of the characters were, for me, a little too predictable, too much like cookie-cutter characters. I didn’t find the story as tense or as thrilling or as spooky as I thought it would be, and I felt it was almost a bit too timid and conservative for me.

I’ve seen a lot of other reviews, ranging anywhere from 3 to 5 stars, and there has been a lot of praise for it. But sadly, this just didn’t hit the mark for me.

A creepy, atmospheric read full of gothic imagery, Hare House captured me and stayed long after the last page. Whilst all the ends aren't quite tied up, the writing is exquisite and the heart-racing conclusion is just as satisfying.

I couldn't resist a Gothic story set in the Scottish Highlands, and Hare House doesn't disappoint. It's a moody, brooding story that ends with as many loose threads as it does answers - but that didn't bother me. The atmosphere of this novel absorbs; the characters bewitch; and the story haunts. The perfect chilling read for a cold fall night, curled up with a cup of tea - just be sure to leave the light on.

This is a really tricky book to review without giving spoilers, so my spoiler-free TLDR is: slow burning but stay with it, the pay off is worth it.

Now, look away if you don’t want spoilers!

Starve Acre meets Notes On A Scandal, Hare House is deliciously sinister and with the best unreliable narrator since, well, Notes On A Scandal. The final image of the book will stay with me for a long time, and I enjoyed the fact that a lot was left unanswered.

Sally Hinchcliffe's Hare House is a masterclass in how to write atmospheric, unnerving fiction. This is slightly witchy, slightly ghostly, but all together a unsettling read with a protagonist you can't always quite trust yourself. Hinchcliffe's writing made the isolated rural setting come alive and every page crackles with a spooky tension. The recurrent imagery of the hare and its links to witchcraft is really well done - the imagine of the stuffed and dressed hares will stay with me. This is a fantastic gothic read which makes you question every character and while it doesn't quite answer everything that is going on in the Hare House and the rest of the estate, it leaves you with enough of a chill that it's just as satisfying.

Thank you to Netgalley and Mantle for this ARC in exchange for a fair review.