Review: Gallows Hill

Gallows Hill by Lois Duncan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The amount of foreshadowing in this YA novel, both direct and psychic (nightmares, history, potential past lives, verbal warnings) is really weighty. I read with dread. Just as Ms. Duncan's YA novel DAUGHTERS OF EVE examines the psychological and practical fallout of one charismatic fanatic's psychosis (which reminded me of how demagogues Hitler and Jim Jones manipulated populaces), GALLOWS HILL examines paranoia, mass hysteria, and word of mouth propaganda, and how mob hysteria can immediately ignite into a lynch mob mentality and full-blown witch hunt. As a lifetime history and psychology aficionado, I remember all too well what such incidents lead up to. I read GALLOWS HILL in behalf of my September Banned and Challenged Books Challenge, and found this a terribly unsettling novel.

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