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The fate of a lonely girl becomes part of a town’s shameful secret history in Thriller Award winner Jennifer McMahon’s terrifying story of guilt, retribution, and one tragic Halloween night.

Thirty-four years ago, on October 31, poor Hannah Talbott took part in a scavenger hunt gone violently wrong. The mean girls made sure of it. To this day, for a haunted local mother, the most unsettling Halloween costume of all is an urban legend they call Hannah-Beast. It’s a reminder of the past she can’t forget. Especially tonight when it’s come back, so close to home.

Jennifer McMahon’s Hannah-Beast is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.

48 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 27, 2018

1702 people are currently reading
4403 people want to read

About the author

Jennifer McMahon

20 books11.6k followers
I'm the author of nine suspense novels, including Promise Not to Telll, The Winter People, and my newest, The Drowning Kind. I live in central Vermont with my partner and daughter, in an old Victorian that some neighbors call The Addams Family house.

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5 stars
2,317 (27%)
4 stars
3,121 (36%)
3 stars
2,247 (26%)
2 stars
606 (7%)
1 star
202 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 964 reviews
Profile Image for MarilynW.
1,924 reviews4,453 followers
April 11, 2022
Every Halloween, Amanda's mind is tormented by what happened thirty-four years ago, on Halloween night. She can never forgive herself for her part in a cruel hoax, a part she has never disclosed. That is the night she and her friends created Hannah-Beast, a night that destroyed so much. 

Published September 27th 2018
 
A Kindle Unlimited selection

Jennifer McMahon’s Hannah-Beast is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid.   
Profile Image for Sandra.
746 reviews6 followers
November 1, 2019
Really good short story/thriller from the Amazon "Dark Corners" series that takes place on two Halloween nights. A captivating, tragic, and intense read.
Profile Image for Kay.
2,212 reviews1,212 followers
October 17, 2022
Dumbasses, you’re supposed to say boo!

BOO!
3.5⭐
Told in two timelines, in 1982 and 2016 on Halloween night. This is a dark and disturbing Mean Girl trope and their stupid prank that went wrong. A haunting little short story!

This is part of the Amazon Original collection from 2018.

TW contains spoiler for the story.
Profile Image for Paula.
545 reviews7 followers
October 21, 2019
Thoroughly entertaining short horror story. The story alternates back and forth between two different Halloween nights (one in 1982 and the other in 2016) and it's filled with some truly horrible characters, but I was completely transfixed throughout and it was a perfect read for Halloween-time.
Profile Image for preoccupiedbybooks.
510 reviews1,685 followers
September 1, 2020
Well that was horrifying! A tragic tale of mean girls, a lonely girl trying to fit in, and the guilt of complicity

Hannah-Beast alternates between events that happened in Halloween in 1982, and Halloween 2016, and was filled with nasty characters! It had a 'Carrie' vibe to it, and the pages were filled with tension. The ending was a real omg moment, which shocked me!

Amazing writing by Jennifer McMahon, she managed to pull me in, in only 47 pages, and made me care about the characters in this entertaining and creepy story! That's talent!
description

I'm left feeling disturbed and really sad after finishing this short horror story, but impressed. This was the second book I've read in the seven story Amazon Dark Corners collection, and it would be perfect to read over Halloween!🙌🎃👻🦇
Profile Image for Terrie  Robinson.
654 reviews1,437 followers
November 3, 2023
Hannah-Beast by Jennifer McMahon is a Horror Fiction Short Read!

Poor Amanda!

Every Halloween she's a mess from the nightmare of what happened over thirty years ago, when the legend of 'Hannah Beast' was born.

It was Halloween 1982 when, under the guise of friendship, Amanda and her group of girlfriends sent friendless Hannah Talbott on a scavenger hunt that went horribly wrong.

Now it's Halloween 2016 and Amanda's daughter Erin, the same age as she was in 1982, wants to dress-up like Hannah-Beast...

What goes around comes around, right?

Hannah-Beast is a Horror story with a Mean-Girls trope and an ending that's, well... unexpectedly beastly!

I enjoyed the 1 hour 23 minute audiobook of Hannah-Beast narrated by Amy Landon whose versatile voicing is a perfect fit for the friendless Hannah, as well as, Amanda and all her mean-girlfriends.

Hannah-Beast is part of the Dark Corners Collection, a series of seven standalone short Horror stories by bestselling authors that you can read in a single sitting or listen to in the dark or on a walk with a flashlight that doesn't work properly. Your choice...

3.75⭐rounded up!
Profile Image for Kim ~ It’s All About the Thrill.
814 reviews583 followers
September 7, 2020
Ummm yeah no...not for me. Not what I had expected from this author. I have read a book by her in the past and expected- creepy, gothic- just all kinds of fantastic. I read the Invited and it chilled me to the bone. This short story was...sad. Just really cruel and sad.

I do love a good mean girl story but this took it too far. I found that even though it was a short story it dragged too much for me. The intense bullying and end result were disturbing. I will say the ending caught me completely off guard though. So there is that.

Overall this is just my opinion- many of my fellow Goodreads friends have enjoyed this one. I just was expecting a creepy, atmospheric story but that is not what I walked away with.
Profile Image for Michael David (on hiatus).
836 reviews2,021 followers
October 6, 2020
Why is Hannah Beast one of the most popular Halloween costumes in Amanda’s town? Amanda knows very well. She and the other gals were itching to get young Hannah to go out on Halloween night in 1982. 🎃 Now, on Halloween night 2016, and with a daughter of her own, thoughts of the past are brought to the forefront as Amanda (Manda Panda) remembers that dark year 34 years ago...and what she and her friends did to Hannah.

This is a creepy and disturbing read that takes “mean girls” to a new level. I have to say that ending is not how I expected Halloween 2016 to end. An atmospheric read with a horrific conclusion. 🎃😱🔪🍁

Say BOO!

Part of Amazon’s Dark Corners collection.
Profile Image for Fran .
812 reviews942 followers
October 27, 2018
Hannah-Beast(Dark Corners collection) by Jennifer McMahon is a Halloween tale highlighting the perils of complicity. What goes around comes around!
Profile Image for Ceecee .
2,761 reviews2,326 followers
August 18, 2020
Another short story from the Amazon Dark Corners Collection and clearly one I should have read on October 31st not mid August. The story alternates between Halloween 1982 and 2016. In 2016 Hannah stops daughter Erin going out dressed as Hannah-Beast and through young Amanda in 1982 we learn the tragic story of the myth that grew up around the original Hannah. It’s not a pretty tale as Hannah is treated cruelly and suffers much taunting especially at the hands of vile Mel. It builds until it reaches a truly shocking conclusion and Hannah gets her revenge. It’s another good one from this collection.
Profile Image for Christina.
552 reviews265 followers
January 29, 2022
Jennifer McMahon is quickly becoming one of my favorite atmospheric thriller writers. What a dark, deep, evocative, scary short story this was, bringing back sometimes painful memories of childhood bullying. It’s not often that you read a story about childhood bullying from the former bully’s perspective, and I have to say this book so skillfully got inside the head of the adult bully that it brought back long-buried memories of things I did as a child that I’m not entirely proud of.

The story is entirely unique and surrounds a group of junior high school students whose bullying of another child, Hannah, takes a tragic turn on Halloween. (This would be the PERFECT Halloween read.) McMahon really excels in creating unique and heartfelt characters and I felt the pain of the bullied girl (Hannah, aka Hannah Beast) acutely.

I highly recommend this short and chilling story, which has an ending twist that is absolutely fantastic.
Profile Image for Diana.
926 reviews725 followers
September 6, 2020
A Dark Corners short story from Amazon. Yikes. This was a horrifying and gruesome Halloween tidbit. Find out what a group of mean girls from 1982 and 30+ years of guilt will do! Enjoyable, yet disturbing, psychological suspense. 
Profile Image for Berengaria.
989 reviews198 followers
October 5, 2025
4 stars

short review for busy readers:
An Amazon Original Short Story. A teenage Halloween prank played by a mean group of girls on a loser who wants to be their friend creates a local "true crime" horror legend.

Neatly told, dramatic and highly realistic about how some young people will do anything to be accepted by the clique they want to belong to.

The end twist wrapped the story up neatly, but the sudden strange "paranormal" vibes in the build up to the conclusion didn't seem to match the concrete realism of the rest of the story. Besides that, well conceived and presented.

A pretty good Spooky Season read!
Profile Image for Constantine.
1,095 reviews375 followers
February 19, 2022

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Genre:
Horror

This was a good short story from Amazon. Hopefully, all the rest in the series will be as good too. It is categorized in the horror genre but to me, it feels more like a thriller. The story alternates between two timelines (1982 & 2016) and both the events happen on Halloween nights.

For such a short story I don't want to say much about the synopsis. All I will say is that it was entertaining but might have some trigger warnings to some. The mean unapologetic girls' theme might make some uncomfortable. The story has a well-created atmosphere. Somehow it gave me the vibes of Stephen King's Carrie, but obviously, the stories are different.

This will make a perfect short read for Halloween.

Available on Kindle Unlimited
Profile Image for Krystin | TheF*ckingTwist.
604 reviews1,893 followers
November 17, 2022
Book Blog | Bookstagram

Of all the books in the Dark Corners collection, this was my absolute favourite. The whole structure of it is just so perfect, I can’t say enough. I’ve read Jennifer McMahon before and didn’t really care for her writing from that experience, but this short story is a fucking firecracker and I adored it.

Told between past and present, this story is about mean girls, the actions that haunt you and how urban legends are created.

The vibe of it is perfect – an otherwise rational adult succumbing to the fear of what is in the dark as her mind runs wild with memories of the past.

This is exactly why I love horror: because it’s so easy to lose yourself to the unknown, even if you are a grown-ass woman who should know better. I don’t believe in ghosts, demons or anything supernatural, but a good scary movie will have me checking the hallway for spooky shit in the shadows every single time. That’s what this book captures and plays with.



The timing, the pace and the combination of all the different elements of fear are so well structured and made for a perfectly creepy reading experience.

Any woman reading this story will cringe recognizing similarities between what they did to someone else or what was done to them as a kid. That 'mean girls' bullshit is so universal, and McMahon used that to perfection while taking mean girls to the next level.

And that ending is fucking gorgeous.

5 stars | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Profile Image for Diane S ☔.
4,901 reviews14.6k followers
October 26, 2018
3.5 I love Jennifer McMahon, her books are always different, surprising, she takes risks in her fiction, which I admire. Plus, this was an Amazon narrated prime freebie, so I couldn't resist. First scary book I have listened to, and the you g girls voices in this I find hard to forget. "Say Boo! Hannah beast" "We love you Hannah Beast." Oh, the cruelty of young girls.

So this seriously creeped me out and the very unexpected end was horrible but apropos.
Profile Image for Char.
1,960 reviews1,885 followers
March 12, 2020
Hannah-Beast was like Megan Abbott meets Stephen King.

Featuring an alternating time line, this story reminded me of Mean Girls with a horrific twist.

I liked it, but not as much as I had hoped.

*An Amazon Original with Audio, free with Prime.*
Profile Image for destiny ♡ howling libraries.
1,997 reviews6,208 followers
May 14, 2023
The pumpkin only stared, the hideous grin seeming to grow wider, more taunting. She was not going to be forgiven. Not this easily.

I've been meaning to read a Jennifer McMahon book for ages, so I thought a short story might be a good introduction to her work, and wow, this was so dark and delightful. I would absolutely re-read this on Halloween and would recommend this to anyone looking for a quick, spooky read — especially for an October reading list.

Content warnings for:

———
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Profile Image for Sadie Hartmann.
Author 23 books7,842 followers
July 22, 2024
In my research, I came across a horror theme Kindle Original Series on Amazon that I haven't read. This 7-book series was released in the Fall of 2018. Hannah-Beast by Jennifer McMahon is 48 pages long. Here is what you will enjoy about this story:
- Takes place on Halloween Night
- Small-Town Horror
- Young protagonists
- Bullies/Mean Girls
- Guilt/Shame/Revenge
- Urban Legends
- Wicked Games Gone Wrong
Profile Image for Blair.
2,045 reviews5,899 followers
October 31, 2020
(Context: Dark Corners is a set of 7 individually published short stories from the Amazon Original Stories imprint. After learning they’re all free to read for Prime members, I settled down to devote a Sunday afternoon to working through them.)

In 2016, Amanda is at loggerheads with her 13-year-old daughter Erin, who wants to dress as 'Hannah-beast' – apparently a local custom – for Halloween. In flashbacks, we learn where the story came from: Halloween 1982, with a group of bullies (of which Amanda was part, though she pretends otherwise to Erin) creating an inventive form of torment for their favourite target, an innocent and trusting girl called Hannah. While the prank is mean-spirited, they don't intend to cause real harm, but things get out of hand and the night ends in tragedy. In subsequent years, 'Hannah-beast' becomes something of a town legend, a spooky story passed among kids who don Hannah's mismatched costume of clown wig, feather boa and blue face paint for Halloween.

I have no hesitation in saying Hannah-Beast is the best of the Dark Corners bunch. McMahon does a great job of swiftly rounding out her characters and making the reader sympathise with the bullies – who are young, and stupid, and don't mean for things to go as far as they do – as well as the victim. The story has a superbly creepy-cosy atmosphere, conjuring up the sinister magic of the season; exactly the sort of thing I crave at this time of year. The plot is straight out of a good horror anthology film (it would fit right into Trick 'r Treat). A perfect autumn indulgence.

TinyLetter | Linktree
Profile Image for Erin.
3,943 reviews464 followers
August 15, 2020
Definitely my favorite in the Dark Corners collection, this one had serious Stephen King vibes. A small town is celebrating Halloween and all the local children want to be Hannah-Beast, a character that has become part of town lore. Although Amanda insists to her daughter that there is no such person, as the narrative switches from the present to the past, we discover that isn't quite true. This Halloween, Hannah-Beast is looking for revenge.

Jennifer McMahon enjoys messing with our minds. She succeeded in messing with mine.


Goodreads review published 15/08/20
Profile Image for Nakia's Hideaway.
153 reviews384 followers
June 15, 2022
5 out of 5!

Video Review: https://youtu.be/mpbQPSQr5zc

This novella kept me on the edge of my seat going in between the two timelines (2016 & 1982).
I just had to know what happened with the prank that went wrong between the group of girls back in 1982. What was Amanda's part in it? And who or what is Hannah-Beast?

I also loved that this took place on Halloween night.

This story was haunting, shocking and also sad.

I loved it and highly recommend it for spooky season!
Profile Image for Tamar...playing hooky for a few hours today.
804 reviews205 followers
Read
June 8, 2020
What a disturbing story! This is a part of the Dark Corners series (first story) available on Kindle Unlimited. I wish I could erase this from my memory. I'm going to skip to the Joyce Carol Oates story, I hope I land on more comfortable terrain.
Profile Image for Julie.
2,010 reviews630 followers
October 23, 2018
Hannah-Beast is the first story in the Dark Corners Collection, a collection of seven short stories offered up as Amazon/Audible Original content. I love listening to original horror stories on audio, so I jumped right on this collection! Glad I did -- each story is creative and different.

They say that urban legends and myths are based in fact. In this short story (I lean more towards novella really as the audio version of the story is just over an hour long....a bit lengthy for a short story), a town's legend about a young girl who once went crazy while trick-or-treating turns out to be more truth than legend. Many, many kids dress up as the Hannah-Beast and the legendary figure is even hanged in effigy in the public park each year. But one woman knows the truth.....and it's going to come back around in a predictable but gruesome way.

While similar stories have been told before, I liked how this one is told in present time and in flashbacks. The story is a mix of horror and morality tale. Secrets and lies never really go away.....they come back around when least expected. No escaping karma. I wasn't surprised at the ending, but this was still an enjoyable listening experience. I longed to tell two characters in this story that under no circumstances should you ever, ever, ever trust the mean girls. Never. Not ever.

There are seven stories in the Dark Corners Collection. This is the first one I have listened to. I'm definitely going to listen to the rest. I'm reviewing them separately because they are all by different authors that are new to me. Jennifer McMahon is the author of several other creepy stories....after enjoying this one I'm definitely going to read more by her. She has also narrated several audio books including Haunted Ground by Erin Hart.

The audio book version of this story is narrated by Amy Landon and runs just under 1.5 hours. Landon reads at a nice pace. At first, I thought her performance was a bit wooden...but her voice and delivery grew on me as the story progressed. Her tone made more sense as I came to know the main character a bit better. All in all, not really very scary or creepy, but a nice listening experience.
Profile Image for Karla.
1,460 reviews372 followers
July 19, 2025
Story 3.5 stars**
Audio 4 stars**
Narrator Amy Landon
Profile Image for Laurie  (barksbooks).
1,959 reviews806 followers
April 14, 2025
I'm still working on getting through my ancient Audible books, so this one is a little old.

This would be better read in October, if you're asking me. I've read too much horror for this tale of kids being cruel to each other to make much of an impact and/or surprise me but if you want something short and ugly, this one may be for you.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 964 reviews

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