Book Review: THE HOLLOW KIND by Andy Davidson

THE HOLLOW KIND by Andy Davidson (MCD, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, October 2022) Hardcover, 448 pages. ISBN # 9780374538569  

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . .

Andy Davidson's epic horror novel about the spectacular decline of the Redfern family, haunted by an ancient evil.

Nellie Gardner is looking for a way out of an abusive marriage when she learns that her long-lost grandfather, August Redfern, has willed her his turpentine estate. She throws everything she can think of in a bag and flees to Georgia with her eleven-year-old son, Max, in tow.

It turns out that the estate is a decrepit farmhouse on a thousand acres of old pine forest, but Nellie is thrilled about the chance for a fresh start for her and Max, and a chance for the happy home she never had. So it takes her a while to notice the strange scratching in the walls, the faint whispering at night, how the forest is eerily quiet. But Max sees what his mother can't: They're no safer here than they had been in South Carolina. In fact, things might even be worse. There's something wrong with Redfern Hill. Something lurks beneath the soil, ancient and hungry, with the power to corrupt hearts and destroy souls. It is the true legacy of Redfern Hill: a kingdom of grief and death, to which Nellie's own blood has granted her the key.

From the author of The Boatman's Daughter, The Hollow Kind is a jaw-dropping novel about legacy and the horrors that hide in the dark corners of family history. Andy Davidson's gorgeous, Gothic fable tracing the spectacular fall of the Redfern family will haunt you long after you turn the final page.

My Five-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     On top of a compelling Southern gothic family saga, THE HOLLOW KIND blends eldritch themes with cosmic horror for a truly frightening tale. I believe this is the best yet from Davidson and I look forward to many more.

NOTES:

Nov. 18: That four-page prologue is quite a hook. I've noticed a number of horror authors using this technique with a teaser/foreshadow before the main story. It makes me want to start reading in earnest immediately to find out more. Well done.

Nov. 19: The book is divided into five sections. Part I is a palpable rise in tension, a slow build of the dread that is sure to follow in the succeeding parts. It's a cool mix of introducing Nellie and her son Max and their troubles, their hesitancy to settle into the inherited house and estate, and the beginnings of the disturbing history of the Redfern turpentine farm. Euphemia's reaction to her birth of twins is a bit troubling, as is her perception of what it means.

Nov. 21: I just finished Part Two. The flashback chapters are already horrifying. I'm thinking of a new sub-genre for this: ecological horror. As if Mother Nature has endured enough abuse at the hands of mankind and is fighting back. Actually there's a bit more to it than that in Davidson's story. But having just finished reading THE ROOT WITCH by Debra Castaneda -- that theme is stuck in my head. 

     Meanwhile,enough weird things are happening for Nellie and Max in the inherited homestead to bring the tension and dread to the surface. I'm already worried for these characters.

Nov. 24: Just finished Part Three. Everything is more intense. More violent. More horrific. The Redfern and Baxter families of 1923 do some wicked things. I'm not liking any of them. However, I'm growing very fond of Nellie and Max.

Nov 25: Part Four wastes no time getting to the root of the horror. A character referred to in the early chapters plays an important role and gives me yet another twisted person to despise.

Nov 26: In Part Five Davidson delivers on all the things hinted at in the preceding sections, and in a big, cosmic horror way. Truly frightening and overwhelming. I'm impressed.

Andy Davidson is the Bram Stoker Award nominated author of In the Valley of the Sun and The Boatman's Daughter, which was listed among NPR's Best Books of 2020, the New York Public Library's Best Adult Books of the Year, and Library Journal's Best Horror of 2020. Born and raised in Arkansas, he makes his home in Georgia with his wife and a bunch of cats.