The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
The Details
Media Type: Audio Book
Title: The Hollow Places
Author: T. Kingfisher
Narrator: Hillary Huber
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Pages/Length: 9 hours 43 minutes
Release Date: October 6, 2020
Source: Libro.FM
Add it on: Libro.FM | Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
A young woman discovers a strange portal in her uncle’s house, leading to madness and terror in this gripping new novel.
Pray they are hungry.
Kara finds these 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 the peculiar bunker—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 you fear them, the stronger they become.
The Narrator
Hillary Huber absolutely smashes the narration of this book out of the park! The characters have a beautiful sass to them, and she embodies that perfectly. Her cadence is gorgeous, and she knows just how to ramp up the tension when it’s time. I HIGHLY recommend this as an audio experience!
The Review
I can’t be the only one who absolutely loves when a horror filled novel also has portions that make you laugh out loud, can I? It’s that perfect juxtaposition of terror and hilarity that are so hard to achieve. When it’s done perfectly though, you have this reader absolutely enthralled. So bravo to T. Kingfisher for doing just that! The Hollow Places got its hooks into me from the very beginning, and the absolute only reason this took me as long as it did to get through was because I was busy with work.
First, we need to talk characters. Anyone who has been following my reviews for any length of time knows how much I love books with solid characters. It doesn’t matter whether or not I’m meant to like them, I just want them to feel real. Kingfisher did this beautifully. Both Kara and Simon were wonderful, from their personalities right down their little quirks. The fact that this book was able to have these two stuck together, pitted against evil, and not have a weird instant love vibe made me smile so much. Kara and Simon are two peas in a pod. Witty, strong, and yet human. The amount of times that they acknowledged how screwed they were, and actually referenced themselves being stuck in a horror movie, got me. I adored them, and I was hardcore rooting for them the entire book.
As for the plot, well you really can’t ask for a more solid premise. Kingfisher leads the reader on a merry chase as Kara and Simon navigate this new willow world beyond the wall. Now, I’ll admit that I figured out the case of this anomaly well before Kara did. However that didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story. The tension built up was perfect, the horror just enough without going over the edge, and the whole atmosphere of this book leads you to want to hunker down in your own bunker until it’s all over. The ending especially? Well, I won’t spoil, but I thought it was fantastic.
Overall this was so much fun to devour. I’m honestly quite happy that I made it the first book of the year! If this sets the tone for the rest of my year of reading, I have zero qualms with that. Are you a reader who likes to be a little bit scared, and also laugh a lot? The Hollow Places is for you.
