In The Haunting of Hill House, four people (an investigator of the supernatural and three people he's chosen to accompany him based on their past experience/exposure to the same) inhabit unoccupied Hill House for a summer to experience, discuss, and analyze any phenomena found therein. They experience several harrowing events, to include what you'd expect- strange laughter, banging doors, areas of extreme cold, and other creepy happenings- but one of them comes to believe she was destined for Hill House and takes steps to make sure she never leaves.
I had never heard of this book, but Stephen King (among others) has called it a classic and one of the defining works in the haunted house genre. It was made into a movie two times (in 1963 and 1999). With that sort of background, I had high hopes, but wasn't overly satisfied. Some portions were excellent, but others seemed overly odd and hard to follow (perhaps that was intentional). The tale could be interpreted different ways, and left me wanting more resolution (I wanted to know why these things were happening, which was never made clear- though again, perhaps the ambiguity was deliberate). Overall, it's okay, but I think others may be more interesting.
Rating: B-
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