Wicked Hill

by Ed Sams

Poor Amy Scoggins must work as the hired girl on Wicked Hill, where two old maid sisters use her as a cat's paw to play wicked tricks upon one another. From booby traps to hoodoos, hexes, and jinxes, Misses Henrietta and Marietta Wicks work Amy night and day, even invading her dreams at night. By the first snowfall, Amy realizes that she is trapped on Wicked Hill until the spring thaw. How can she withstand the wicked ways of these two old witches without becoming a witch herself?

There is a secret to Wicked Hill, a buried treasure of stolen gold that is the seat and secret heart of the witches' power. However, neither of the sisters Wicks listened closely enough to their Old Mam on her deathbed to know where to find the key to unlock the hidden trove. Miss Henrietta studies clocks; Miss Marietta collects locks. If Amy Scoggins can outwit them both and get to the treasure first, she might find the means to escape the bewitchment of Wicked Hill.

Genres: Horror

140 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2012

About the author

Ed Sams was born in the shadow of the Smoky Mountains where he grew up listening to mountain ballads and mountain lore. His writings have appeared in national publications and his plays have been performed around the country. A nationally recognized authority on the Fall River Murders, he teaches in the Department of English and Comparative Languages at San Jose State University. Wicked Hill is his first novella.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why does Amy Scoggins, plucky young heroine of this sprightly novella, remind me so much of Jane Eyre? She’s prettier than Jane—and many times more isolated and abandoned. When she climbs Wicked Hill, to become hireling slave for the awful Wicks sisters (one skinny, one fat) and their black cat Tabitha, we know she’s in for a ghastly time. Will she make her way back down before the spring thaw? Or will she join all those who came before her, whose bones lie buried on the hill? A GHOULISHLY GREAT READ.

[Christine Chenderlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wicked Hill is a quick read, and almost feels as if it is written as a collection of interconnected short stories. I enjoyed reading the book, and the incorporation of so many witchcraft superstitions. There were a few parts in the book that were hard for me to follow or relate to; however, please take that with a grain of salt as I do not have an extensive knowledge of witchcraft nor do I read many books on the subject.

Disclaimer: Although I received this book for free through goodreads, the ideas in this review are original and unsolicited.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about an unsuspecting girl for hire who takes a job offered by two witches who are in all-out war with each other. The hired girl gets caught in the middle for a while. Then she figures out what is going on and opens a third front in the war.

This book was a fun, light-hearted read and provides a lot of valuable insight into Appalachian folklore. However, it had its faults too. Clearly, the author is in love with his research into folkloric superstitions, so much so that his text often reads like an excuse to data dump. Another problem was that it really slowed down in the middle. It seems like the author had 65 pages of story, but he wanted to tell it in 130 still short pages. He stretches it out by a lot of narrative and description in the middle with nothing much happening. Instead, what would have been better was to have actions proceed in logical sequence with one building on the other, all the while building suspense as the protagonist discovered she was dealing with two equally wicked witches. Instead, we go from a naive protagonist to a suddenly all-knowing one who knows exactly how to handle her nemesises.

This book needed better editing: 1) to clean up the many typos and grammatical errors, and 2) to suggest to the author the need for some additional scenes that would have better built the suspense so that the ending of triumphant protagonist would be more believable.

[Sandra Strom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sams spins a Poe-esque tale of intrigue and peek-a-boo suspense where our resilient heroine Amy Scoggins proves her mettle. It's just as well men aren't allowed on Wicked Hill-ornery cats and buried treasure aren't a good combination (peg-legged pirates I can handle). Remind me to steer clear of letters of recommendation and silver pennies! Thad Strom