The Hollows
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4.0 • 11 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
**FINALIST for BFS Award for Best Horror Novel, 2023**
Folk horror meets ancient gods in a remote snowbound Peak District town where several murders take place…
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In a lonely village in the Peak District, during the onset of a once-in-a-lifetime snow storm, Constable Ellie Cheetham finds a body. The man, a local ne'er-do-well, appears to have died in a tragic accident: he drank too much and froze to death.
But the facts don't add up: the dead man is clutching a knife in one hand, and there's evidence he was hiding from someone. Someone who watched him die. Stranger still, an odd mark has been drawn onto a stone beside his body.
The next victims are two families on the outskirts of town. As the storm rises and the body count grows, Ellie realises she has a terrifying problem on her hands: someone – or some thing – is killing indiscriminately, attacking in the darkness and using the storm for cover.
The killer is circling ever closer to the village. The storm's getting worse... and the power's just gone out.
File Under: Folk Horror [ Small Town | Big Terror | Long Night | A Few Good Women ]
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Church (Rain Boys) stages humanity's stand against ancient deities in this tension-filled folk horror outing. When Constable Ellie Cheetham of the remote Peak District village of Barsall finds the body of Tony Harper frozen to death, her intuition leads her to suspect foul play, a suspicion compounded by a mysterious symbol at the crime scene. Liz Harper, the matriarch of a family known as much for troublemaking as for their hatred of law enforcement, further confirms Ellie's misgivings by appearing to know more than she's telling. Indeed, monsters are emerging from the darkness, and as the Harper family prepares to outlast them, Liz's daughter, Jess, flees home with her infant son and the family Bible, turning to Ellie for protection. But Liz needs that Bible to keep the monsters at bay, and Jess's betrayal leaves her hungry for revenge. Meanwhile, Ellie must rally Barsall's other residents to find a way to defeat the monsters before everyone ends up dead. Though the pace sometimes lags, Ellie proves a heroine worth rooting for and the Harper clan make for ruthless and formidable antagonists. This claustrophobic outing is sure to resonate with horror readers.
Customer Reviews
Suspense filled film horror tale
THE HOLLOWS is the kind of book that leaves a lasting impression - one that will make you extremely uncomfortable and looking over your shoulder when snow falls (I have never been so glad to live in Central Florida!) and heaven forbid the power go out....let's just say the author did too good a job with the setting in this one.
This debut novel by Daniel Church gave me chills - the suspense was practically intolerable, yet kept me up late into the night reading and reading - questions were raised, wanting to uncover answers and then the mounting dread of what the heck was going on in this small village in the Peak District.
The village of Barsall was battening down, preparing for a big snowstorm that was sure to cut them off from the outside world for an unspecified amount of time. No big deal, the folks had seen the like before and would again. When a couple of teenagers come across a body in the snow - no one was surprised, because it happened every year, tourists and locals alike inevitably failed to take proper precautions. In this case, it was Tony Harper, known to frequent bars, so it's assumed he got drunk and passed out in the snow. Except that's not what really happened....and while it was the first death, it was only the beginning.
Daniel Church excelled at writing an intense tale of suspense. The revelation of who or what is behind the ritualistic killings freaked me OUT. I promise you all - you're not going to find me going anywhere anytime soon that even has a chance at snow and thinking of losing power at night makes my heart skip a beat. I love it when an author can take something normal and mundane and just twist it into a nightmare.
Let's talk characters - Church introduced me to the villagers and gave me a feel for them. I knew them by name, their occupations, which of the three Churches they attended - even those to steer clear of because they were on the wrong side of the tracks. It made me invested in them, so when the pewp began to hit the fan, I was stressing OUT and ohhhhh, how I cried. (If you know me and you read this book, you'll know EXACTLY who/when caused the waterworks to start) I really appreciated that the characters' were tested during the extreme moments - those with no faith wondered if perhaps they were wrong to question the existence of God, while those who'd always been devout wondered at the absence of God, why they didn't feel His presence. This felt so realistic to me and I found it just really leaned in to the core of what was at stake here. I've always been fascinated with religion, what makes people believe they way they do - so I was just eating it up when Daniel Church wrote these sections. Religion and lore also play another role in the plot that I really enjoyed.
Some of my favorite horror stories are derived from religious events or beliefs and I'll be adding this one to that list.
If you're a horror fan, you're going to want to pick this one up. Especially if you like your book settings to match the season - there's not a more perfect winter horror than this one!
Just...maybe don't read it at night...