It almost pains me to give this a 2-star review because I wanted to enjoy it. I read "The Strain" trilogy by del Toro and Hagan. The first book in that series was really good, but the conclusion of that series was so unsatisfying that I almost swore off the authors. When I was offered the chance to listen to "The Hollow Ones," I decided to give the authors another shot.

I enjoyed Brittany Presley's narration- for me, it was her voice that made this book worth listening to till the very end. She is able to portray so many different characters with her voice. However, I think that some books are not meant to be read out loud, especially books that use very basic sentence structures and word choice. Every time Presley would read "he said" or "she said" before or after dialogue, I would cringe. It is not something I usually notice in audiobooks and hearing it so constantly made the book feel like an "adult topic" horror thriller.... written by a grade-schooler.

This is book one of the Blackwood Tapes. The way that the series is set up is very open ended- it is like a television show that can either continue for a long time or end abruptly if there isn't enough interest. I'm not really interested in that type of series, so I doubt I will continue with it. Others that enjoyed del Toro's previous trilogy in its entirety may also enjoy this one.

Thank you Netgalley and Hachette Audio for an advanced listener's copy of this audiobook. Thank you to Brittany Presley as well for a wonderful reading of this- I would be happy to listen to a book narrated by her again :)

This wasn’t quite what I expected, but I did enjoy it! It reminded me a bit of X-files with the supernatural beings. The story went back and forth through a few timelines, but was easy to follow and enjoyable. It’s set up to be a series, so there’s a bit of a hanging ending. Not a cliff hanger per se, but definitely leaves the reader knowing there will be more. I thought the narration was well done! Thank you for the opportunity to listen!

I was pretty into this book all the way through actually. It takes a unique look at a relatively common idea - human possession by evil forces. I was initially intrigued by both the title and the description of the book, but I quickly saw that the description paled in comparison to the actual book itself. First of all, I love how quickly they got into the action. That's one of the things I miss most about being a teenager and reading teenage books like "Fear Street" and the Christopher Pike books - in those books, you jump immediately into the action. There's not 100 pages of setting the scene and exposition like there is with most adult books. 

This book is very similar in that within the first... I don't know... 10... 15 minutes of the book's opening, you are in the action. It went hard from the beginning to the very end. I loved that. 

I also enjoyed the narrator. (I listened on audiobook.) She did a great job switching between characters without sounding too forced, fake or phony. I enjoyed listening to her telling of the story. The pacing and the speed of the narration were also perfect. I normally listen to book on 1.5-2.0x speed, depending on the narrator. This one I actually listened to on normal speed, and there were very few - VERY few instances - when I was tempted to speed it up a little and get on with it. She did a great job reading at a decent speed. 

The audio is clear and easy to understand, too. Things at my house get loud. We usually have a few fans running, the air going, the dog's electronic water fountain splashing water, the dog herself making a ton of noise... if it book isn't clear and crisp, I can have trouble understanding it. This one sounded great. 

All in all, I think this was an excellent listen. I look forward to hearing more of the Blackwood Tapes.

I loved The Strain by these guys...all 3 books and was super excited to see that they were starting another series. Supernatural buddy detectives...yes, please. The whole concept of an entity that possesses humans to create chaos for pure fun was a very interesting take, but I felt that there could have been more history about them. This was a nice intro to the series , but not as good as their previous series. The narrators really sold the characters for this and made it much more enjoyable.

The book starts with a horrific crime and set our young heroine in search of the truth . Paranormal stories aren’t generally a genre I enjoy, but I enjoyed the mystery aspects of this story. 

The narrator was really good, but the transitions between the multiple time frames was a bit confusing for me at times on audio. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review

I just found out this is a series and I'm HERE for that! So excited to get more of these characters. 

I'm against spoilers, so I will try not to say too much, but there is a character who you will absolutely love. He's a supernatural Sherlock Holmes with all the style and grace you could want in a lead. He's paired up with a young detective after she loses her partner during a very mysterious incident. Their Scully and Mulder dymamic is the star of this book. 

The Hollow Ones shows us demons who are able to jump from host to host, taking over and causing chaos. It reminded me of an old Denzel Washington movie called Fallen. It is hard to know who to trust and how to protect yourself from these unseen entities, and it is a wild ride to the end. 

Love this book and looking forward to the next! Sign me up!

The Hollow Ones the new novel from Guillermo Del Toro is urban fantasy similar to The Dresden Files but with less magic. The story itself is an intriguing tale of a FBI agent in a shoot gone bad, where she shot her partner. Its what she sees after he dies that starts her into the rabbit hole, and leads her to Hugo Blackwood the supernatural investigator. He leads her into an investigation that she never wanted and shows her things that she never though possible. 

    I really enjoyed this audiobook, the narrator had a good voice for the story, I found her really engaging. Her characterizations were pleasant, even had a good southern accent when needed. This is a good book to start the series with just waiting to see where Hugo takes us to next.

Crime thriller ✔
Paranormal  ✔
Occult ✔
Historical fiction ✔

An audiobook featuring multiple genres and co-written by award winning director Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan - where do I sign up?

2019 - rookie FBI agent Odessa Hardwicke and her partner attend at the location of a spree killer in action, intent on killing his family, when Odessa sees something inexplicable. Her partner appears possessed, and she shoots him dead.  Reassigned to desk duty, she is tasked with clearing out the office of a long retired agent.  Bringing Earl Soloman his belongings, he asks for all of the details of the shooting. He then asks her to bring a letter to a specific mailbox and await an answer. 

Enter Hugo Blackwood, a mysterious Englishman, apparently 450 years old and seemingly cursed to fight evil and save the world from The Hollow Ones, demons that delight in causing chaos through horrific acts.

Set in Manhattan in 2019, the Mississippi Delta in 1962 during the Jim Crow era, and 1500's London, this is a richly drawn and fast moving tale of good -v- evil through the centuries.  The characters are vivid and alive. Odessa's disbelief as this new world opens around her is palpable and you are disbelieving alongside her, only for the full horror of The Hollow Ones to become clear. 

The narrator did a fantastic job, however, for me I think I would have preferred this as a physical book.  It just fell a little short for me as an audiobook unfortunately but I do think it would make for a great movie or series! 4/5🌟

All thoughts included are based off of the advanced review copy I received.
I enjoyed this audiobook but I'm afraid I kept falling asleep -which is odd, because it's not a boring read at all! Pandemic brain, I guess. 

The story was intriguing, and although some other reviewers say it's a rip-off of other titles, I haven't read them so it was new to me. The novice FBI agent, Odessa, is a gutsy, upfront woman that I really liked. By the end of the book you start to empathize a bit more with the prickly, British gentleman that Odessa teams up with to solve a series of violent, and confusing crimes. 

A fast-paced read. The narrator was very easy to listen to and managed multiple voices very well.

I'm sorry, but how anyone can manage to get past a Flying shooting spree is just beyond me. That had to be the dumbest thing I've ever read, and I love cheesy books.

This is shamefully bad. I couldn't get through the first twenty pages it was that bad. Terrible dialogue, Sharknado level stupidity, and the wrong choice for audio narration.

I'd give it a zero if I could. But a one will have to do.

While this book does not fit the genre of thriller / espionage novels that I prefer, it kept me interested and engaged. It was a fast paced thriller that was part occult, part detective and part historical fiction.
Flashbacks to the 1500s and 1962 were used to provide necessary background.
The main characters were well developed and likable.
While I have tried only a limited number of audiobooks over the years, the narrator's voice was a perfect fit to deliver the story and that worked wonders here.

Unable to download before archived as my tablet was damaged and I had been unable to afford a new one until recently. Apologies.

Excellent read for fans of horror and fantasy. I was expecting a "stay up all night" read, and it did not disappoint. I will be recommending to others.

"The Hollow Ones" is another great listen/read by del Toro. I thoroughly enjoyed this and will be recommending it.

Do you like paranormal books? How about crime thrillers? Well this book is both those items rolled into one with addition of romance and horror; making it the perfect combination of suspense, love and gore.   The narrator does an amazing job at bringing this dark tale to life vividly right before my ears, it instantly grabbed my attention and never letting it go. This was a one sit listen for me. The only negative aspect is the length of time I now must wait for book two to come out. I highly recommend this book to all reader; it has something for everyone.

This book wasn't what I expected - which was something creeper. This did not have that creepy factor I was looking for, however it was still a good story. It started out great. It interested me right from the beginning and then the next few chapters were a bit slow, but I decided to stick with it. It picked up again eventually. However, I felt hat it was lacking something - perhaps it needed more mystery. So overall, I wouldn't say this book was great, but it was good enough. The narrator was also pretty good. A good narrator helps keep the story interesting and I believe this one really benefited from that.

I haven't read a good horror story in a while, but this one brought back memories of my fondness for the genre. A fast paced and classic good vs evil story. The main characters, Odessa, an FBI agent on leave when she shoots her partner to save a child from being murdered, retired agent Ed Soloman, who knows the history of the hollow ones, and centuries old Blackwood, the Hunter of these demons, are all well written and believable. This was my first NetGalley audiobook, and the narrator did an amazing job! Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this well-paced gem. (less

This was my first audiobook. I received it for free via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I have to say that I did not enjoy it that much. It had a decent premise with the investigations into the hollow ones, which is why I continued reading to find out what happens. I wasn't able to connect with the main character. It seems like she was an afterthought to the plotline.
It seemed disconnected. And maybe that is because it was an audiobook or perhaps becuase there were two authors. The chronology was very disjointed and it took me out of the story. I would have enjoyed the different storylines if they would have been told in different parts and not all together. This is more for someone who enjoys the jumps to different times that disrupt the present plotline.
 I would not recommend this book to another reader and do not plan on reading any more in the series.

The Hollow Ones is what I’d expect from a book with Guillermo del Toro’s name attached to it: dark, horrific, unique, and grounded in folklore and mysticism. Similar to his Strain series in that the “problem” is transmitted from person to person, Hollow Ones doesn’t hold back on the violence of evil. Connecting the modern day plot with flashbacks and events connected to the occult explorations of John Dee makes for a rich mix of characters for this series to build on.  With a lead female character, Brittany Pressley was a great choice to narrate the audiobook. She always does a good job with bringing each character to life, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or nationality.

I loved this audiobook very much. Firstly, I think the opening scene was one of the most gripping and compelling scenes I have listened/read in a long time. I was completely hooked from the start. I found the story to have a great creepy and scare factor as well. I thought the narrator was fantastic and the different voices for the various characters was excellent. I never found myself uninterested in listening to the narrator. Overall, I enjoyed the story and would recommend this one to others