Such a good and solid creepy read! If you're in the market for a deliciously gripping horror read- you've found it in DARK HOLLOWS by Steve French!

Jacob Reese lives in The Hollows, a small town in Vermont, with his rescue dog, Murphy. He owns a coffee shop that could be destined for franchising, and he rents out a small cabin on his property that provides a little extra income. All in all, it’s a comfortable and quiet life and the perfect way to put his past behind him. That is until a renter appears that seems to be an exact double for an old girlfriend whose death Jacob has always felt responsible.

Dark Hollows is a creepy story that takes place around Halloween, which only adds to the spooky atmosphere. Jacob is a conflicted character who wants to do the right thing but isn’t sure exactly what that should be. As he tries to determine the identity of his mysterious renter, the tensions ramp up and the story continues at a nice pace. It is a fast read and the conclusion is open-ended, which might not appeal to all readers. I have read other books by Steve Frech and even though Dark Hollows isn’t my favorite, I still found it to be an enjoyable book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

This book intrigued me from the start of the idyllic setting that turns dark and eerily mysterious. Jacob Reese has a quaint cottage to rent out and all is well until he rents it to a guest who looks similar to his ex-girlfriend Laura. This mysterious guest leaves an even more mysterious note in the guest book at the cottage and all Jacob can seem to see is Laura everywhere who's dead??Now the mystery begins. Who knows what happened that night and what secrets Jacob has been hiding? I love Murphy because I'm such a dog lover myself so that was a nice addition into the storyline to give you feel good vibes. The whole storyline from start to finish was decently done but still lacked a come together aspect I was looking for. I would say this a 3.5 stars for me. Overall as a whole the book was pretty good it was just missing a little more of a catchy intrigue for me to the end. Thank you NetGalley for the copy to read and review.

Great Thriller for Spooky Season! The description really intrigued me, so I just had to read it. I am a sucker for stories set in rural Upstate, NY or New England areas and this one absolutely delivered on setting. I enjoyed how the author pieced together the story with alternating timelines, it added a certain element to the atmosphere of the book. Definitely didn’t see a few things coming, and loved the big to do for Halloween. I really felt for Jacob, our main character, and can’t imagine going through what he did. What a crazy, wild ride!!

I received Dark Hollows by Steve Frech from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I rated Dark Hollows 3 out of 5 stars.

In Dark Hollows, the reader is introduced to Jacob Reese, a simple soul, running a coffee shop and renting out a quaint cottage in The Hollows, Vermont with his best bud, a rescue dog named Murphy.

Everything goes swimmingly for Jacob until he rents his cottage to the wrong mysterious person, a person with a vendetta, a person from Jacob’s past that Jacob swore for a fact was long gone. Jacob is forced to relive his past and hunt down this person and their masked identity while rushing against the clock. In doing so, Jacob’s whole world begins to crumble, and he is forced to resort to his old ways to exact revenge on the person who is turning his life upside down.

This book was just so-so in my opinion. The characters were developed, and their backstories were intriguing, but I felt the book fell short when it came to the buildup to the main showdown between Jacob and this mysterious person. I found myself wishing we could just get the point instead of the exacerbated points made such as who wins the Halloween costume contest every year and the banter between Jacob and townspeople at this point. A lot of details could have been left out in my opinion.

Further, when the big reveal happened, it wasn’t as climatic as I imagined. It was surely not something the reader would possibly guess, which was refreshing, however I expected something more intense, more dramatic. It paled in comparison to the hell that Jacob was going through. I did, however, appreciate the ending and Jacob’s decision or non-decision. It was the perfect fit for this book to end on those terms.

Overall, this book just left me wanting more, more action, more intensity. It felt all too belabored which I think took away from the overall angle the author was working towards. I can’t say I wouldn’t recommend this book but I can’t say I would either. It’s worth the read if you’re bored and looking for something to just fill a book void but not something I would recommend rushing out to read because you need to have it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exhange for an honest review.
I thought "Dark Hollows" by Steve Frech was a very well written, gripping, twisted & addictive thriller that had me hooked on the 1st page.
This is the 1st book that I have read by Steve Frech but it won't be my last.

I have become a huge fan of French’s work. After reading another one of his books earlier this year I jumped at the chance to read this one.

It didn’t let me down at all. I love the way he can tell a story with creepy details that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

A very intriguing story. Great mysterious atmosphere with fresh writing and well-developed characters. Really enjoyed reading and couldn't put down. Will read this author again.

I received a complimentary eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Jacob Reese has made himself a comfortable life in a sleepy New England town. He has a thriving business on the verge of a boom, a nice house that allows for a side income from a vacation rental cottage on the property. Heck, he even has the perfect dog.

Everything seems perfect until a familiar stranger leaves a memento after leaving his rental. Suddenly, it seems a past he’s worked hard to run from has caught up with him .... or has it?

This psychological thriller from author Steve French is slow to build, but once it does, boy do things ratchet up quick. Overall, I liked the story and it met my expectations for the genre, but I felt the author could have been more creative about how Jacob comes to reckon with the poor decisions from his past (sorry, the “a crazy bitch is going to kill my dog” seemed trite).

Recommend to those who enjoy the genre and are forgiving of an overdone trope or two.

#NetGalley #DarkHollows

Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this! I was hooked instantly! I read part of another review and agree it does remind me of a creepy Stars Hollow.

For a while I thought somehow Laura survived and then thought how would that even be possible! At first I thought this book was taking a different turn but it definitely didn't disappoint.

I would definitely love to visit The Hollows if it was a real place 😍

This was the first time I had read this author. I was expecting a lot and I was kind of disappointed in it. I will try this author again, but I am just not sure this is my style of writing.

While the relationships in the book were what I look for when reading, i felt like it just doesn't make up for the unrealistic way this book develops. I expected it to be this creepy/ Fall themed story, but it starts to grow into a psychological thriller. I am usually ok with that, but the more i read, it felt like this book didn't really know what it wanted to be.

So do i feel like this book is good for some people? ABSOLUTELY. If you like psychological thrillers, definitely give this one a try. But be prepared it might just be so-so for you.

This book is perfect for fall especially Halloween. It is a dark and creepy thriller but not quite a horror book. The book is set in a town called "Dark Hollows," the type of tourist place people go for the fall, and the main character, Jacob, is the type of character with lots of secrets that come back and haunt him. The author does a great job of describing the setting and keeping things interesting along the way.

I couldn't put this book down! I was hooked in the first chapter! It was so well written it played in my head like a movie on the big screen! My favorite event was when Jacob attended church and the sermon was a comparison of Halloween monsters and the seven deadly sins. I actually laughed out loud because the dialogue and interaction with the congregation was genius. This Thriller is a must-read this Halloween and is a top pick for 2020!
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Published in Great Britain in 2019; published by HarperCollins/HQ on September 1, 2020

Dark Hollows straddles the border between thriller and horror. Much of the story occurs around the Halloween season. Elements of horror spring out of the text on occasion, including spooky woods and a graveyard, the appearance of a woman who might be a ghost, and a cockroach infestation. The novel also depends on the underlying fear that something evil might be done to a dog, which for dog lovers is pretty horrific.

Jacob Reese lives in a Vermont town called The Hollows. He owns a coffee shop that he hopes to franchise. He also rents out a cottage on his property as sort of a bed-and-breakfast without the breakfast. Everyone seems to like Jacob well enough and they adore his dog Murphy.

Jacob has a dark secret in his past. He was once a low-level drug courier (not so much a dealer as a go-between, although there’s no legal distinction between the two roles). Jacob was dating a woman named Laura until his unlawful employment got in the way of their relationship. Laura ended up dead and Jacob blamed himself, although he didn’t actually kill her.

The Hollows gives Jacob a place to hide from his past until a woman shows up who seems to be the reincarnation of Laura. Bad things (did I mention cockroaches?) begin to happen after the woman appears. It eventually becomes clear that this version of Laura places even more blame on Jacob than Jacob places on himself for Laura’s fate.

The story follows Jacob as he tries to figure out who this woman is and why she is sabotaging his life. The plot is tense at times, particularly after Murphy disappears, but lacks a “wow factor.” The story is about as credible as most modern thrillers, meaning it’s a bit far-fetched, but it never becomes so preposterous that I lost my will to suspend my disbelief. The narrative travels through its peaks and valleys at a good pace. Steve Frech pushes all the buttons that thriller writers need to push to make a reader invest in the plot, but the story is sufficiently contrived that I never lost awareness of my buttons being pushed.

Jacob is the novel’s only real character; everyone else is supporting cast. Jacob is presented as a conflicted young man, torn between past and present, striving to assuage his guilty conscience by making his current life worthwhile. The last scene requires Jacob to make a choice between accepting responsibility and the consequences of his choices or continuing on his current path. What choice he will make is deliberately ambiguous — this is a novel that allows the reader to write the ending — but Frech seems to suggest that living with a guilty conscience is a worse fate than living with the consequences of bad decisions. Personally, I think Jacob should lawyer up before he does anything, but readers can make their own judgments.

RECOMMENDED

When the past comes to haunt the main character, we are thrown onto a shady mystery rollercoaster.

If you love stories of characters who may not be as they appear on the outside, this not-so-cozy, small town, cabin mystery is right for you.

I liked how this one had a sudden turn in the whole vibe of the book, creating just the right amount of suspense and creepiness to keep me reading. This had a solid buildup, but I would have liked to have seen more of a paranormal element rather than the psychological thriller it turned out to be. But, if I’m being honest, I had a feeling early on that it would take that route.

I gave this one a solid 4 out of 5 stars. This is definitely a character-driven novel, so if you are fans of that in your thrillers, Dark Hollows may be a great Fall read!

Long-buried secrets are revealed in the Dark Hollows of Jacob’s life.

Jacob lives in The Hollows in Vermont. He owns a coffee shop. Jacob also short-term rents out a cottage on his land to leaf peepers and other tourists. His large black Lab mutt, Murphy, is prominent in his ads for the rental. And Jacob loves Murphy with a passion seldom found between species.

One day, a guest appears who looks exactly like Jacob’s dead ex-girlfriend, Laura. The visitor even signs the cottage’s guestbook with Laura’s full name and then vanishes. Has Laura returned from the dead? What secrets will her arrival stir up in Jacob’s life? And, what does she want from him?

Dark Hollows was an intriguing book right up until the unsatisfying conclusion. I hate open-ended plots. It feels like I was cheated by the author. So I took one star off resulting in my 3 star rating.

Thanks to HQ Digital and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Just close your eyes,
And you and I,
Will brave the dark and go dancing.
The Dreamer's Waltz

This book was decent. I enjoyed the way Steve Frech morphed the present into the past via Jacob's thoughts. It was cleverly written and easy to follow. I also enjoyed the setting and ambiance. I seriously want to visit The Hollows for Halloween! My favorite part of the book, however, was the relationship between Jacob, and his dog, Murphy. I have four fur-babies myself, so I could absolutely relate to Jacob's love for his four-legged friend.

The ending lost me. It was straddling that implausible/left field area, which is never good, and many of Jacob's actions seemed forced and contrived.

Overall, Dark Hollowskept me moderately entertained. Though I wouldn't say it brings anything terribly new to the literary world, it was still a fun read.

AVAILABLE NOW!

My sincere appreciation to NetGalley and Harper Collins for my review copy.

Dark Hollows by Steve Frech
⭐⭐⭐1/2

We follow Jacob who runs a coffee shop and rents out his cottage in The Hollows. Jacob has a calm life with his dog Murphy, who is the most important member in his life. Jacob has everything going for him right now including a possible franchise of his coffee shop and high revenue coming in from the cottage. The only thing that is askew is the dreams he keeps having about a basement. Then one night he thinks he sees his ex-girlfriend who is supposed to be dead. Strange things keep happening that he is forced to investigate and possibly lose everything he has worked hard for.

This book was fast paced and very easy to read. The only thing was not enough shock moments and I did see several things happening before they did. If you are just now getting into the Thriller genre, I would say this one is for you, or if you are looking for an easy quick read that is still enjoyable. The writing is great but the plot just fell flat for me. This book is out today!

Thank you @netgalley and @harpercollins for a eARC in exchange for an honest review.

#books #bookreview #netgalley #darkhollows #reading #bookstagram #bookcommunity

Clear the decks because this book is utterly unputdownable. Just couldn't or wouldn't put it down. Stellar writing. I loved the tension that just ramped up until an ending you will never see coming. A must read. Happy reading!

3.5 Stars

Dark Hollows is a spooky, atmospheric, Gothic thriller full of suspense. I love mysteries set in old, creepy houses, so I was very excited to read Dark Hollows. I enjoyed this book immensely, even though I guessed some of the twists. It still unnerved me and made my heart race. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Gothic vibes and mysteries.

This was a relatively short book, with long chapters and I think that helped the suspense factor. The cover is amazing and it helped me to picture the events taking place as I read. I loved the format of the book as well, how the before and after were in the same chapter and just seamlessly wove from one to the other with a single word...nicely played Mr. Frech!

This would make an excellent Halloween read and one scene gave me Creepshow vibes. (Creepshow is a 1982 movie by the master himself Stephen King and directed by the amazing George A. Romero.)