The Hollow Places
A Novel
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4.2 • 102 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A young woman discovers a strange portal in her uncle’s house, leading to madness and terror in this gripping new novel from the author of the “innovative, unexpected, and absolutely chilling” (Mira Grant, Nebula Award–winning author) The Twisted Ones.
Pray they are hungry.
Kara finds the words in the mysterious bunker that she’s discovered behind a hole in the wall of her uncle’s house. Freshly divorced and living back at home, Kara now becomes obsessed with these cryptic words and starts exploring this peculiar area—only to discover that it holds portals to countless alternate realities. But these places are haunted by creatures that seem to hear thoughts…and the more one fears them, the stronger they become.
With her distinctive “delightfully fresh and subversive” (SF Bluestocking) prose and the strange, sinister wonder found in Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, The Hollow Places is another compelling and white-knuckled horror novel that you won’t be able to put down.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kingfisher (The Twisted Ones) imagines the horrors lying between worlds in this chilling supernatural thriller. Recently divorced Kara (aka Carrot) moves in with her uncle Earl to help run his Wonder Museum. The "museum" houses a hodgepodge of curiosities, taxidermy, and assorted knickknacks, but it's always held good memories for Carrot. Then a hole mysteriously opens in the museum's wall, revealing a hallway that should not exist. With the help of Simon, the barista from the coffee shop next door, Carrot sets out to discover where the hall leads. On the other end they find a strange world comprised of tiny islands covered in willows and containing concrete bunkers and a mysterious group of occupants simply referred to as They. They can read minds and have a habit of flaying the people who stumble upon their home, leaving visitors' bones neatly piled. Carrot and Simon escape but are drawn back by recurring dreams of what they've seen. Though some overly familiar elements mar the otherwise tight plot, in They Kingfisher has crafted a truly terrifying monster with minimal descriptions that leave the reader's imagination to run wild. With well-timed humor and perfect scares, this one is a keeper for horror fans.
Customer Reviews
Chilling with a bit of humorContent Rating: 18+ Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction Published: October 6
Content Rating: 18+
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction
Published: October 6, 2020, by Gallery/Saga Press
The Hollow Places should come with a warning, DO NOT read alone in the dark. Creepy, chilling, and darkly twisted do not even come close to describing this book. I often got goosebumps while reading this story, and I will never look at a willow tree in the same way. The many campy humorous exchanges between the two main characters woven throughout gave a sense of balance to this book.
“They Can Hear You Thinking”
This story starts with our main character, Kara, who finds herself with nowhere to live after her divorce from her whiny, annoying husband. As luck would have it, Kara’s Uncle Earl has offered her a place to live. Uncle Earl has set up a bedroom in the back of his unique museum, the Glory to God Museum of Natural Wonders, Curiosities, and Taxidermy, better known as the Wonder Museum. Imagine a museum filled with all kinds of oddities, including an overabundance of stuffed life-sized animals, and then multiply that by one thousand.
As Kara settles into her new reality, she starts to catalog all the Wonder Museum contents. Next to the Wonder Museum is the Black Hen coffee shop, where a unique barista named Simon works. This camo wearing, fishnet stocking strutting man who can rock a top hat with a feather kept me smiling throughout this book. The story was good, but the characters were better. Kara finds a hole in the Wonder Museum wall, and she enlists Simon’s help in figuring what is going on behind the wall because something is not quite right.
“In another, much larger sense my brain was screaming hysterically that there was a hole in the world.”
And that is when things get creepy in The Hollow Places. There are too many sinister and macabre things to list, but I will say that I no longer think that otters are cute, and I did have a couple of bad dreams about a certain
boatman.
“the willows it’s the willows they hear you
thinking they’re listening right now and rustling
their leaves and talking to each other”
The Hollow Places was a fun chilling read, and if you are a fan of horror with a touch of comedy, you will enjoy this book, I did. The Hollow Places was the first book by T. Kingfisher that I have read and will be looking to read more from the author with a most unusual pen name.
* Please note the quotes in my review are subject to change once the book is published. *
** I kindly received this galley by NetGalley, T. Kingfisher, and Gallery/Saga Press. I was not contacted, asked, or required to leave a review. I received no compensation, financial or otherwise. I have voluntarily read this book, and this review is my honest opinion. **Content Rating: 18+
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction
Published: October 6, 2020, by Gallery/Saga Press
The Hollow Places should come with a warning, DO NOT read alone in the dark. Creepy, chilling, and darkly twisted do not even come close to describing this book. I often got goosebumps while reading this story, and I will never look at a willow tree in the same way. The many campy humorous exchanges between the two main characters woven throughout gave a sense of balance to this book.
“They Can Hear You Thinking”
This story starts with our main character, Kara, who finds herself with nowhere to live after her divorce from her whiny, annoying husband. As luck would have it, Kara’s Uncle Earl has offered her a place to live. Uncle Earl has set up a bedroom in the back of his unique museum, the Glory to God Museum of Natural Wonders, Curiosities, and Taxidermy, better known as the Wonder Museum. Imagine a museum filled with all kinds of oddities, including an overabundance of stuffed life-sized animals, and then multiply that by one thousand.
As Kara settles into her new reality, she starts to catalog all the Wonder Museum contents. Next to the Wonder Museum is the Black Hen coffee shop, where a unique barista named Simon works. This camo wearing, fishnet stocking strutting man who can rock a top hat with a feather kept me smiling throughout this book. The story was good, but the characters were better. Kara finds a hole in the Wonder Museum wall, and she enlists Simon’s help in figuring what is going on behind the wall because something is not quite right.
“In another, much larger sense my brain was screaming hysterically that there was a hole in the world.”
And that is when things get creepy in The Hollow Places. There are too many sinister and macabre things to list, but I will say that I no longer think that otters are cute, and I did have a couple of bad dreams about a certain
boatman.
“the willows it’s the willows they hear you
thinking they’re listening right now and rustling
their leaves and talking to each other”
The Hollow Places was a fun chilling read, and if you are a fan of horror with a touch of comedy, you will enjoy this book, I did. The Hollow Places was the first book by T. Kingfisher that I have read and will be looking to read more from the author with a most unusual pen name.
* Please note the quotes in my review are subject to change once the book is published. *
** I kindly received this galley by NetGalley, T. Kingfisher, and Gallery/Saga Press. I was not contacted, asked, or required to leave a review. I received no compensation, financial or otherwise. I have voluntarily read this book, and this review is my honest opinion. **
Don’t miss this one.
A great read! Fun all the way through. Great visuals. It really takes you to another place! Well done.
A dumpster fire
So this is supposed to be a mystery thriller horror type book, but the author spends the entire time trying to make the characters funny. They are both in a precarious situation but they can’t seem to stop cracking jokes about everything. What an incompatible mixture.