Christmas Eve on Haunted Hill by Bryan Smith [book review]
Christmas Eve on Haunted Hill book summary:
Ten years ago Luke’s father killed his entire family in their home. He only just managed to escape. Now years later he is miserable and wishes he was killed along with the others. He misses his family and he has survivor’s guilt. Now that he’s back in his small little town he plans to go back home and finish what his father started. But when he gets there he realizes that there’s something a little more sinister taking residents there.
What I thought about Christmas Eve on Haunted Hill:
I don’t really know why but all I’ve been wanting to read lately is horror. Typically I read a lot of genres and I like to change things up every once in a while. It’s not fun, for me anyway, to constantly read the same genre. But lately, that’s all I’ve wanted. It’s either been a horror book or a thriller for me and I’m okay with that. I really like both genres and I hope I can keep finding good books in both.
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The Plot
Christmas Eve on Haunted Hill is about a man who was thought to be a truly good guy who ends up killing his family. But his only son manages to survive and escape. Over the next ten years, this man has survivor guilt. Should he have died that night? His entire family is gone and he misses them. On top of that, he’s pushed a lot of his closest friends away no matter how much they want to keep in touch with him.
Now Luke is back in town. He doesn’t expect to survive the night but the unexpected happens and one of his closest friends shows up at the bar he was at. Is it a coincidence? On top of this kids go to Luke’s house on dares and have ultimately created an urban legend out of his house.
Christmas Eve on Haunted Hill is a horror novella by Bryan Smith. Honestly, I didn’t realize how short this book was until it was delivered to my house. I picked it up because I really wanted to read a horror book that’s set around Christmas time. It combines one of my favorite holidays along with one of my favorite genres.
I know many of you have probably figured this out already but what really caught my attention was the cover. There’s nothing like finding a good book with a really awesome cover on top of that. The cover really does make the book seem creepy. Thankfully the book is pretty creepy and keeps you interested the entire time.
The Characters
This book is actually pretty creepy. The only downside besides it being short is that I couldn’t stand one of the characters. There’s a group of kids that go and visit this house on its tenth anniversary. They want to see if it’s really haunted like so many people have said. Christmas Eve on Haunted Hill follows two perspectives and that’s Luke and a high school girl. The girl is actually who I couldn’t stand. She’s so full of herself and conceited. UGH! She also only cared about herself.
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Normally I’m okay with not liking a character. Readers are not going to like every character out there and that’s okay. There needs to be some diversity anyways because reading books with the same type of character every time is not fun. This girl is someone I really wanted to slap though.
Other than her I actually really enjoyed this book. It includes the paranormal which is an element I have always enjoyed in the book I read. Haunted house books are actually really fun for me too. I guess it’s because it being a kind of old-school type of horror. Horror needs change and growth but it seems like there’s nothing compared to old-school horror!
Have you guys read Christmas Eve on Haunted Hill yet? If so what did you think?
Lindsey
I’ve never heard of a horror Christmas book before – I think you just introduced me to an entirely new genre with this review. This sounds really intriguing but it’s a shame one of the characters didn’t work for you, which is tricky when the book is so short. Great review.
Natalie
This sounds right up my street. Love a great horror story.
admin
So do I! I thought it great that it kind of revolves around Christmas!