Another Horror October read and another disappointment. *sigh*

This started off so great, especially when we're introduced to the Tatterskins, but then just rambled on for hundreds of pages. I also felt like the constant one-liners and jokes really took me out of the story. It's hard to feel scared when everyone is wisecracking. The backwoods family didn't really do it for me either - the word c*nt had to have been used hundreds of times and as a person that has a bit of a potty mouth myself even I was sick of hearing it.

I don't really have much else to say if I'm being honest. This was a bust plain and simple. Onwards! 2 stars for a great idea that never really came to fruition!

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for my complimentary copy.

Great atmosphere, a good story and well told. Not the genre I tend to read but really liked it!
The pacing was good, always something happening.

My only “complaint” is that it had a bit too much religion, but that is personal preference.

This is a fabulous debut. I went into this blind, picking it up without reading the description and I can't suggest doing that enough. It starts off as a relatively innoculous detective novel, albeit one with potential, and then transforms into something else entirely. I'm loath to give away any more details than necessary but things take a decided turn for the spooky and supernatural. Great for fans of mysteries and eldritch horror.
Four stars for being solidly entertaining and compelling throughout with characters you care about. Last third of the book got a little too filmatic for me but still a great read that you'll devour in days.

An isolated town is caught in the grips of a horrifying murder spree in Daniel Church’s The Hollows. A creepy paranormal horror, Church maxes out the isolated winter setting of Peak District to give readers an atmospheric and suspenseful experience. There are some points where the suspense teeters on dragging (in a ‘get on with it already’ type of way) but it didn’t happen enough to be overly problematic. Readers will enjoy the good versus evil trope and how the character’s varying religious beliefs play into their individual battles to survive the ancient evil they’re up against. Church’s monsters steal the show--visualizing them is terrifying enough but what they do to the townspeople is even scarier. This one may come across a bit too far-fetched for some, but overall it is a creepy and entertaining horror that will have you thinking twice about turning off your lights when you finish it.

Started out interesting and I was hopeful, but ended up a rambling drawn out mess.

Folklore mixed with creepy supernatural stuff. Think Adam Nevill wannabe, but lots of repetition! Look, repetition can be good, but I was reading 5 books besides this one and even I didn't need THAT much stuff repeated for me. Felt like a TV show that starts with 10 minutes of needless recap that you can't skip. Maybe I'm irrationally angry about this because it started off giving me creepy 30 Days of Night mixed with The Thing vibes and then I got bored. Disappointed, but I will check out this author again...in a few years.

A slow burn, that builds up the tension, but somehow, leaves the reader bored and wondering why they bothered to even read it. There was a lot of repetitiveness in the plot, and I had a hard time connecting with the lead character, Ellie. I found some of the scenes a bit unrealistic which also interfered with my enjoyment of the book.

My review is voluntary and all comments and opinions expressed are
my own.

Excellent horror that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The author kept wratching up the tension. Good well drawn characters (good and bad ones). Highly recommended.
I received this book from Angry Robot and Netgalley for a review.

The Hollows

It’s nearly Christmas in Balsall, a village in the Peak District, and a dead body has been found in the snow.
Constable Ellie Cheetham sighs as she recognises him. It’s Tony Harper, one of the disreputable, to say the least, Harper clan who inhabit Barrowman Farm on the outskirts of the village. He’s still clutching a knife, perhaps in self defence, and with a strange symbol visible on a nearby stone.
Even worse, it looks as if the perpetrator stood and watched him die. Ellie will have to be the one that has to inform Liz, the matriarch of the Harpers, of Tony’s death. But it’s almost traditional in Balsall to find a body, an unfortunate who froze to death, in the dark season but it’s only later that this assumes a more sinister meaning…
Reluctantly Ellie renews her acquaintance with the Harpers. After being given a display of their arsenal of guns, she shows Liz Harper the symbol found by Tony’s body and it’s obvious that she recognises it, despite feigning denial.
As the snow begins to fall again and the Christmas solstice edges closer, Liz knows only too well that there is an ancient evil that lies beneath Balsall and the surrounding countryside. She gloats that its residents, who have despised her family all their lives, will finally get their comeuppance this year.
It begins with a strange figure seen at a window of the local pub. And soon the building and the family inside, the Famuyiwas are under siege. In the morning the pub is silent with more strange symbols on display, almost as a calling card. And only one family member is left alive.
Now, the killings have begun and the village is being taken over. Soon Balsall is completely cut off from the outside world and they are on their own. But, as the villagers begin to band together and fight back, Ellie realises that they may be up against a force that is far, far older than they can possibly imagine. And she recalls the song her grandmother used to sing to her when she was a child – a song that now has a terrible resonance. A secret knowledge that has been forgotten. But will it be remembered too late?
The Hollows gripped me right from the start. It’s a long time since I’ve read a horror novel let alone one as good as this. It begins as a crime thriller and then becomes something much darker and this was what kept me turning the pages.
The folk horror aspect of the novel was a very strong element, and it was one that I really enjoyed. Its rituals and ancient forces have always drawn me in and these led up to a very scary climax. I admired the author’s ambition and his ability to write on such an epic scale especially at the end. There were very convincing action scenes which made me feel that I was in the thick of it and sharing the characters terror. It’s a fast paced book with a very visual quality to it that really made me feel part of the action as the characters fought the invaders. I could easily see this being serialised by Netflix.
I liked Ellie. She was a strong character, coping with bereavement and a dull boss who though that ‘too much imagination’ was not good for a policewoman. But she came into her own as the book progressed and there were other strong female characters as well.
However, I felt that perhaps there were too many action sequences and one character seemed to be completely indestructible which at times had a humourous effect.
But this was a book I really enjoyed reading. Suspenseful, well drawn characters and a fantastic climax. A great novel for a winter’s night.

Wow! Wow, wow, wow!! Loved this book. It had me gripped from the beginning. I love the whole folktale/lore themes running through it. One of my favourite subjects to read.

The author also had characters that were so well written, I almost felt like I knew them by the end of the book,
Perfectly balanced throughout, well paced and exciting. I loved this book!
One that is perfect for October and one I will definitely be recommending!
Thank you so much to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for my arc.

This book started out great, hence the three stars but it rambled on and on towards the middle and end. Very repetitive and it felt really drug out, like the author and publisher needed to meet a word/page count. This could have done with some trimming for sure. Great story and if you're OK with redundancy, you may love it

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: November 8, 2022
“The Hollows” by British writer, Daniel Church, has to be on your Halloween 2022 read-list! It has everything- from frozen dead bodies, to a “ride or die” family from the wrong side of the tracks, to really creepy crawlies that are beyond your wildest nightmares. Church’s plot had me thinking of Stephen King, and considering King is one of my favourites, this is definitely high praise!
A dead body is discovered in the snow, literally frozen stiff. When Constable Ellie Cheetham recognizes the body as member of the local “wrong side of the tracks” family, she thinks the hardest part of her day is going to be notifying his powerful and angry mother of the discovery. But Cheetham’s day is just getting started. As a winter storm rages through her town, more dead bodies are found- all with strange charcoal markings near their bodies. When Ellie finally understands what’s behind the killings, it’s so unbelievable she almost can’t accept it. Until the storm gets worse, the lights go out, and the whole town is under attack.
Church’s novel takes place over the course of a few days right before Christmas. In an isolated, lonely town, one would expect quiet as the residents prefer for a brutal winter storm and the upcoming holidays, but they are, indeed, faced with the very opposite. A gripping and chilling (yes, I went there) novel with a powerhouse plot, “The Hollows” literally gave me goosebumps.
The story is narrated by Ellie for the most part, although other townspeople start to share their stories as the plot unfolds. It is always very clear who is speaking and with a wide variety of likable characters, I was interested in each and every one.
Church weaves a horror tale like a true master, pulling in readers from the very first page with his lonely, barren setting and mysterious “Tatterskins” (“terrifying” being the only word I can use that describes these wretched non-human creatures) and the ending provided enough answers to satisfy my curiousity, but still left just enough to pick up a sequel, if Church is so inclined (PLEASE be so inclined!)
I love when I find new horror authors to discover, and I highly recommend taking a chance on Church, if you haven’t already!

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good monster story and Daniel Church delivered on that front. There was an interesting mix of European folklore/imagery that added to the story. It was a tense, almost uncomfortable experience--which means that it succeeded in my opinion.

Well that happened.

This is a wild ride of a story. I'll freely admit I was worried when I realized that every POV was from a woman's perspective, given that the author is a man, but Church managed to do what so many male authors fail to do: he did the women justice. The women in this story are real, layered, troubled, sometimes plain awful, but none are gross caricatures or sexualized props. It shouldn't be such an accomplishment, but it really is. Church puts the readers into these womens' minds, even though some are better left unoccupied.

This is a horror story that's so much more than surface deep (literally, eventually); A mix of literally every religion origin story told to explain the dark before the light and the risk of the dark taking over again someday. I can't say much in terms of plot that the blurb doesn't already tell, so I'll say enjoy the ride. Brace yourself for intense violence/gore, the cruelty of both human nature and the ambivalence of the gods, and the struggle of finding out how you would act when faced with the apocalypse. Truly, this story will sit deeply with me for quite a while and may garner a re-read to view everything through another lens. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves a truly horrifying horror story that goes beyond hauntings and spookies and really pushes you to the edge of "what if?"

**Thank you NetGalley and Angry Robot for the eARC**

I’m trying to read as much horror as I can this October, I’m a huge fan of reading thematically and seasonally. And while this folk horror frightfest is perfectly suitable for October, it would also make a great fit for Christmas since the story takes place around and on Winter Solstice.
So whenever you’re choosing to read it…here’s my two cents.
First and foremost, it’s an impressive tome: in sheer volume, in quality of writing, in haunting terror of it all.
The concept isn’t the most original thing, but then again, what in genre is? You have your nightmarish creatures that sleep most of the time and sometimes wake up to demand sacrifices and wreak havoc on a small community. You have your heroic locals and your villainous locals and the epic battle between good and evil. And all that. So far so familiar.
And like I always say, if you can’t reinvent the wheel, make sure to spin it well. That the author does. He spins his yarn well, expertly. Perhaps, too intensely so?
By this I mean, it’s detailed. It’s exhaustively detailed. It reads nearly real time…sometimes, it reads longer than real time. Every action, every thought, is described with a precision of a clockmaker. It’s what accounts for much of the book’s considerable bulk. And it’s ultimately what served as the main detractor for me with this otherwise very good book.
But it stands to mention, this is a very personal preference. I do not like fat books and I cannot lie. I find them (mostly) indulgent and overdone. I believe in streamlining the narrative. I also don’t necessarily need every single thing in the story to be described so minutely. For me it drags the reading experience down. Makes it kind of a slog. Which is crazy because this is by nature a very dynamic book chock loaded with action.
Is that action fun? Yes, absolutely. Did it need to be described with such play-by-play precision? Not for me.
But aside from that not-inconsiderable aside, the book gets a lot right. From a nice mythology-steeped backstory to strong exciting characters. The latter are pretty much all women. The author obviously knows what sells these days, but whatever happened to diversity? Don’t want to mix it up with some Y chromosome?
No, not really, all women, the heroes and the villains. And good ones, too.
And there are some really great intense scenes in the book that actually work due to or in spite of the overdetailing.
So, overall, a well written, atmospheric, exciting literary horror, albeit at times much too long and over-rendered for this reviewer. In recognition of all that's right here, I'm even going to round up my rating. Thanks Netgalley.

Daniel has done an amazing job of building suspense and horror. I adore the winter setting and the small town adds to the storms which add an element of extra danger. You want your skin to crawl this is your book
If you enjoy horror, mysteries, creature features, hidden histories, or epic adventures, has it all. Despite its nearly 500 pages, this book flew by because I couldn't stop turning the pages. One aspect that made this book fly by was the constant shift in perspectives. There are many characters in this small town in the Peak District, and as a reader, you get to know them all as they face their darkest nights.
This story's ending took a unique and creative turn that I did not see coming. You won't know how this story ends because it combines mythology and religion, but you'll enjoy the journey of some strong main characters. Remember that not everyone will make it to the end!!


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I really enjoyed this book. The author did a great job building the suspense and horror. Starting with the setting, a small isolated town in the middle of winter, of course with an oncoming storm adds to the dangers and mystery. While we're provided with background on the events that take place, its never really clear if it only affected the one town or was happened everywhere. The slow reveal various threats and mysteries kept me invested in the story.
I loved that the story wasn't predictable, it really kept me guessing from beginning to end. The characters all feel very real and I enjoyed getting know them as I read. I really like Ellie and Milly. Their unique friendship added to the story and their friendly jabs at each other added a bit of humor. And the Harpers were excellent villains. They were written very well, they're not likable but they are relatable.
When I first started, I was more interested in learning about all the different connections, conflicts and interactions between the residents of this community. As the story went I was pulled in by larger mythology and folklore. I'd love to read more stories expanding on those elements or exploring them more in depth.

Unfortunately this book was too long and overcomplicated for what it was at its core - a monster story.
We see/meet the monster very early on, and the rest of the inter relationships feel meaningless early on.

I really enjoyed this story, which was a mix of folk and cosmic horror. It was an atmospheric read set in the winter and the author did a great job making me feel the chill. I haven't read a lot of horror novels incorporating early English lore and settlement and I think the story would have been enriched if there was more exploration of this area's history. Great read!

This was so scary!!! A perfect blend of European folk story and creeping, dreading, HORROR. A storm is coming and a killer is on the loose! Will you survive?

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from Angry Robot and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.


Creepy and spellbinding, it might be worth scaring you just a touch.