August Redfern’s “estate” is a decrepit farmhouse on a thousand acres of old pine forest, but Nellie sees it as the perfect refuge―a safe place to hide from her violent husband and the chance for a fresh start. But Max sees what his mother can’t: Redfern Hill is no haven. Something lurks beneath the soil, ancient and hungry, with the power to corrupt hearts and destroy souls. And Nellie’s return is about to wake it up.
Oof. However many horror novels I choose to focus on this Halloween season, I’m having a hard time imagining any of them will resonate as hard as Andy Davidson’s THE HOLLOW KIND.
This is Davidson’s third novel, and having read all three, he’s definitely become one of my favorite authors. I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite between his second novel, THE BOATMAN’S DAUGHTER and THE HOLLOW KIND…both books have been emotionally grueling & disturbing & somehow still beautiful and hopeful.
The story bounces between two time periods: the “present” in the story is 1989, but we flash back a lot to around 1918-1930. And while I loved everything about this book, it was the story set in 1989 that really got its hooks into me. I was ten in 1989, and the young boy Max in this book is eleven in 1989, so wow…so many of his niche interests felt so true to life for me & I loved that aspect of the book.
Max’s mother is Nellie, and she whisks Max away from his abusive father one night. Nellie has recently inherited a massive chunk of land from her grandfather, who she really didn’t know all that well. On the property is a big old farmhouse in dire need of repair, a junky old RV where her grandfather spent the last few years of his life, and the ghostly wreckage of the old turpentine mill her grandfather operated.
There’s also something ancient, evil, and hungry lurking in the woods. And it needs feeding.
Back in the 1918 storyline, we learn about Nellie’s grandfather, August Redfern. The story details his marriage to a woman named Euphenia, the opening of the turpentine mill, as well as glimpses into the lives of some of the workers who live on the property in a camp, of sorts.
This is a dark story, one that deals with some really upsetting subject matter. There’s some on-the-page child abuse that could be really hard for some people to read. Certainly there’s no shortage of squicky/gross things happening. And I’m not even sure of the best way to describe it, but there’s some scenes that involve incredibly intense/disturbing postpartum depression. Just some things to keep in mind if you pick this one up… as always, Storygraph is a great resource in terms of checking for content warnings!
Max & Nellie’s story captured my entire heart. Max has that precocious/old soul quality that seems perfect for kids in horror novels. Scenes in this book made me feel the way I felt the first time I read SUMMER OF NIGHT (I think Dan Simmons is a pretty terrible person, but I can’t say that book didn’t mean the whole world to me at some point) or Stephen King’s IT.
Max is just one of those kids you want to protect at all costs, and while it is a abundantly clear that Nellie is not without fault in a lot of ways, her love for Max is never in question. She goes through hell and back in this story trying to keep him safe from the horrors of this world & oof…these two characters will stay with me, for sure.
This is a haunting, heartbreaking, and epic horror novel. I’m not sure what I’ve written here does any justice to Andy Davidson’s gorgeous story, but I could not be more amazed by this book. A new all-time favorite horror novel, no question.
Grimdark Dad 