The Hand Behind the Door and Other Scary Stories

By: R. C. Hill

Narrated by: Danielle Murray

They’re just ordinary kids living ordinary lives…until the strange and eerie comes knocking.

In this chilling debut by R. C. Hill, eleven spine-tingling tales interrupt the everyday and bring nightmares a little too close to home. Experience stories ranging from a backyard pool with something lurking beneath the surface to an innocent school field trip that ends with a life changing insect encounter.

A girl ignores her family’s warning to stay inside after dark...and discovers why no one ever talks about what lives in the mountains.

Kids get more than they bargained for at a sleepover when they use a new facial cream that promises to melt dead skin away.

The drive to win leads a young actor to make a deal he might come to regret.

The Hand Behind the Door and Other Scary Stories is perfect for brave listeners who know it’s better to sleep with the light on—just in case.

Perfect for listeners aged 8-12 and fans of Josh Allen, R. L. Stine, and Anica Mrose Rissi's Hide and Don't Seek.

©2024 R. C. Hill (P)2025 R. C. Hill

9yo and I Enjoyed

A fun variety of short creepy stories. The kind you can retell at sleepovers, share with your family, or read when you want to feel the nostalgia vibes.
I liked that there was a variety of male and female main characters to reach different kid audiences. Several of these stories have cliffhanger type endings too which kind of remind me of the old Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark tales.
My favorites from this collection were Alfie's toy, about a ghost pet, and The Voice about camping. Those were the ones I found most eerie and fun as an adult reader. And Ladybug was memorable because it was just so darn disturbing from a mom perspective.
My 9yo daughter said the stories were good and her favorite was the Pool one. That was a pretty unique premis for a story I agree.
The narrators voice was a little slow in my opinion. My daughter said she sounded almost sleepy. We enjoyed the story much better once we bumped the narration up to a slightly higher speed. That said, I think this narrator has the teen or preteen tone down perfectly for the characters which was great for parts of this book.

Good Variety

All of these stories were enjoyable. The main characters in each story were pretty equal for male and female. I liked how there were some stories that ended in cliff hangers, that was a nice touch. Definitely age appropriate for the middle grade age group. It would also work well for family reads, as they were mostly creepy and not full out scary for younger readers.

As an adult, I really enjoyed the one called The Voice the most. It was just really eerie and stuck with me more than others. I think a full novel or novella would do well for that one. I also really liked Freeze Frame, The Hand Behind the Door, They Come At Night and Personal Growth.

The narrator was ok. Her voice reminded me of when I would read story time to my child when she was younger (she's a teen now). She spoke in a soothing type voice, but it fit the stories well enough considering the age group it's aimed at.

All in all, I would definitely recommend, and I will look for more from this author.