What an atrociously bad novel.

This is my first book from del Toro and Hogan. I own THE STRAIN, and one of Hogan's thrillers, but if they're as mundane and cliched as this mess, I'll take a hard pass. I can only imagine this exists in the publishing world because del Toro's name is on it, because if this were from an unknown author, I'd hazard a guess and say it would've never made it out of the slush pile.

I'm a big fan of del Toro as a director, but everything I love about his work is absent here, number one being any originality whatsoever.

I received this through NetGalley as one of their new audiobooks, and boy am I glad I didn't pay for it, or waste an Audible credit on it.

Fun read. Felt like a comic book or TV show/movie, in a good way. Like a mix of Hellboy and King's The Outsider. Also reminded me of the film Fallen. Demonic/mystical/immortal villain must be stopped by regular people. Tough FBI agent partnered with delightful ancient British ghost type character? Whats not to love.

It’s a pretty solid down the rabbit hole of the occult via a police officer that witnesses something horrific and uncanny. I don’t think there’s anything here that’ll blow your mind if you’ve read something like this before, but the plot is fresh enough to combat the overused framework.

Have you seen Fallen or read The Dresden Files? You’ll even passingly next familiar with the story. It does have a few sidewinders that differentiate it, such as jumping between past and present. In the past, a black FBI officer investigated strange things happening, in the future a woman investigates something, and the two converge.

The plot clips along nicely, the characters are pretty engaging, though sometimes it feels like the authors can’t decide if they’re going for commercial fiction or not, in terms of structure and prose. I’m not sure if it’s handling of racial issues as a white man in Canada, but it seems to already have led to polarizing reviews. One of the investigations is a white man who has been lynched. The intent is a kind of sick perversion but whether or not it’s serviceable you the aims of the story is debatable.

That being said. I found it to be fun and satisfying. It won’t blow you away but it’s not meant to. This is a setup for a series as well. So if you haven’t read or watched movies like this before it might be more substantial and you might get more investment, for which you’ll be rewarded in the future, presumably.

Shout out to NetGalley for the advanced copy. Love that they have audiobooks now. And by the way, the narration for the audiobook is fantastic.

The Hollow Ones is an uncomfortable mashup of many, better, thrillers. Admittedly, I may have expected too much from the director of so many of my favorite films.

New FBI Agent Odessa volunteers for desk duty after shooting her own partner in a justifiable homicide. In the course of her work, she meets occult detective Hugo Blackwood.

Again, my main problem with the book was its blatant copying from other plots. I also thought Odessa was rather blah. The most non-politically correct portion was the cringe-worthy lynching of a white man. Though this was probably written well before the current BLM protests, it’s still not a good idea.

Overall, for the book itself, 3 stars. However, I do want to call out the audiobook’s narrator, Brittany Pressley. She makes the book seem profound with her excellent reading voice. In fact, she alone raises The Hollow One’s rating by one star to 4 stars.

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Audio and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved The Hollow Ones! Ron Perlman as a narrator?? YES PLEASE! It's a perfect blend of thriller, horror, and suspense. I love the characters, and having different timelines. It was so is deliciously dark and twisted and a wonderful balance of thriller, horror, suspense and action. SO GOOD

I’ll be honest, I needed The Hollow Ones as soon as I found out that it was by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan because The Strain Trilogy is one of my all-time favorite series. That being said, I definitely thought The Hollow Ones lacked the magic of The Strain Trilogy, but it was still very enjoyable nonetheless!

Before I even get into the review of this one, I want to make it clear that Brittany Pressley absolutely nails the narration for this one. She definitely enhanced my experience of this one.

This story opens up with a bang. FBI agent Odessa Hardwicke is called to a gruesome crime scene with her partner Walt Leppo. When Odessa watches her partner attempt to murder one of the victims, she has no choice but to fire. Odessa recalls some strange changes that happened right after she shot her partner, but it must’ve been her senses playing tricks on her.

I loved the whole police procedural set up that we started with. It was very much high stakes, and I was very much invested in the whole supernatural storyline. However, that came to a crashing halt in the second portion of the book when we meet Hugo Blackwood. I still can’t really wrap my head around his character because he’s purposefully mysterious and obtuse…but to the point that I felt like it detracted from the story line.

I have a love/hate relationship with Odessa and this boils down to her denial of the supernatural even when she is faced with the supernatural. I understand always wanting concrete evidence and explanations for everything but at some points I did feel that this was to her detriment when it came to this specific case.

One of the characters that I really loved in this story was Earl. We were privileged to read both his present and past timelines. It was refreshing reading about a Black man as an FBI agent in the 1960s and the racial implications of that. He had run ins with racist local jurisdictions and the KKK. I felt that his POV breathed life into this story.

My biggest criticism of this book was Blackwood. The first half of the book did a fantastic job of straddling the whole police procedural and supernatural realm, but once Blackwood got involved, I think the waters were muddied too much for my taste.

One last thing that is in true del Toro and Hogan fashion in that they do not hold back from the gruesome scenes. There are definitely some incredibly graphic murder scenes in this one, so just keep this in mind.

Thank you to Hachette Audio for providing an ALC through NetGalley. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

This is my first Guillermo del Toro (and Chuck Hogan) book; I have quite enjoyed del Toro's movies so I was pleased when The Hollow Ones popped up in my NetGalley. I am uncertain if there has been some heavy editing of this book between February and now, but based on reviews I read, which were written in Feb., one of the main characters is named John Silence. However, in the audio version that I just finished reading / listening to, this character's name is Hugo Blackwood. Also, this same review alleges that [John Silence] is a knockoff of Pendergast from the Pendergast Series written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I cannot speak to this allegation since I have no familiarity with the Pendergast books.

I'm giving The Hollow Ones 3 stars because for me, it's hovering between 3.0 and 3.5 stars. Nevertheless, I liked it. In a previous (and very recent) review of mine, written for The Shadows by Alex North, I briefly commented on the seeming influx of books based on females in law enforcement with daddy issues. This is not to imply that the strained relationship between Odessa Hardwicke and her father isn't for legitimate reasons; it's just a blanket statement pertaining to the hot topic of female cops / detectives / agents dealing with complex and complicated paternal relationships.

I would not consider this book horror but supernatural. Overall, the narration was well done, and the writing itself was favorable. I especially like when my fiction contains a little bit of fact. Come to find out, Dr. John Dee isn't an entirely fictional character.

If someone is easily triggered by violence, I would not recommend this book. If one is easily intrigued, however, by how events from various centuries can tie in to the present, then this book is for you. The Hollow Ones is a stellar example of how what we (as in mankind) do, believe in, act upon, etc. at one point in time can bubble up and spill over at a much later date. The Hollow Ones is what I would consider a healthy mix of reality and supernatural. I am pleased that The Hollow Ones explains the supernatural entities and how they came to be; I find myself really peeved when a book incorporates these concepts but expects readers to believe that POOF, this just kind of appeared and stuff just kind of started happening.

I would definitely read another Guillermo del Toro book.

I read the book and then turned around and listened to the audio, thank you NetGalley for having the audio books now, it's so very good to hear a book. I don't know but to me it's even better. But you have to be listening, not half way ya know?
This book was my kind of book, evil vs good. It also went back to the 1960's but it didn't stay there. Just got a good background. It's a couple of FBI agents, one female and one male, She is young and he is older from the past, they are the good guys and then you have the evil guy who can jump into people and take over their bodies to do whatever he wants. Very evil and I have you hooked already right? Yes! Get to reading!! You will love it!!

I had no idea what to expect from The Hollow Ones, but I thoroughly enjoyed this supernatural thriller. I've been reading so many books where they lead you to think it's something supernatural, only to be explained away towards the end, so for me, this was a seriously refreshing read (or in my case, listen).

There are a few "main" characters and the narrator, Brittany Pressley, did an outstanding job with voices and accents to differentiate all the characters. Every single character came to life through her and I was in awe! I had to look twice to be sure I hadn't misread that there was only the one narrator. She 100% pulled me into this story. This story also has non-linear timeline (1500's, 1962, and present day), and Pressley did a superb job of keeping me straight on when and where I was in this story.

Quick summary: When FBI agent Odessa Hardwicke and her partner, Walt Leppo, get the news of an ongoing incident, they head to the home of disgraced politician Cary Peters, only to find him in the midst of a killing spree. Leppo manages to take a knife from Peters, but then the FBI agent inexplicably attacks Peters’s surviving child, giving partner Odessa no choice but to shoot him. Odessa is traumatized and placed on restricted duty which leads her to meet a retired agent who suggests Odessa writes to Hugo Blackwood for help understanding what she saw after killing her partner.

I loved the pacing of the story, and the more I learned of Blackwood, the more I liked him. I also liked the references to occultist John Dee.

I think The Hollow Ones is a great choice for those who like fantasy horror and/or supernatural thrillers.


Many thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Audio for the advanced Listening Copy and the opportunity to share my thoughts.

I adore Guillermo del Toro and was really hoping for more of a horror. If you are looking for a supernatural story this is the one for you! This just wasn't the perfect fit for me but it was still very entertaining. The narration was excellent and we had distinct voices for different characters.

This audiobook was received as an ARC from Hachette Audio in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I was so captivated by this story that listening to it made it more enjoyable. Having loved The Shape of Water, I was not expecting anything less from Guillermo del Toro. I could not help but be mesemrized at the career path of Odessa and the triumphs she had along the way of figuring out what was happening in the world. Also, the voice of Brittany Pressley was very soothing and refreshing to hear which made the story come to life even more. Our community will be fascinated and appreciate this book a lot.

We will consider adding this title to our Audiobook/Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

An entertaining and gripping supernatural story. I loved the plot, the characters and the world building.
The voice of the narrator was a plus for an immersive experience.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Well, this marks my second audio ARC from NetGalley - and I do think that the sound quality of the narration is related to their app, not the performances themselves and I didn't find it as distracting as I did with the first book that I listened to.

I am a huge fan of Guillermo Del Toro - I love his movies and I really enjoyed his previous trilogy with Chuck Hogan and their take on vampires. So, as soon as I heard that a new series was starting, I was super excited! And I definitely enjoyed this - but I really do have to concede that this is not their most original tale. It really owes a lot to Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Pendergast series - Hugo Blackwood is just a more supernaturally charged version of dear Aloysius. And though there are some haunting and unique imagery - the villain seems to owe a lot to the presence in that old Denzel Washington movie, Fallen...

The two FBI agents, Odessa and Solomon, don't exactly break any molds for character, either - though that isn't to say that they aren't likable. I did like them both, really. And despite the book really reminding me so much of other things - it reminded me of other things that I like, so I still found myself listening to this one at every opportunity. And I do plan on following the series - I have faith that it will get only more creative from here on out! It definitely held my attention from start to finish and I liked the variety of the timelines - from 16th century London, the 1960s Mississippi back country and the present NYC/NJ area. Like the duo's previous novels, this one has a lot of cinematic flair and I imagine that this would be quite entertaining if adapted to the screen. The audio performance is good - though not really a standout performance.

I thought this was a really interesting premise for a book. Hugo Blackwood a solicitor and acquaintance of John Dee must stem the tide of occult beings passing through a crack in our dimension from outside astral worlds. The main enemy are the Hollow Ones, entities which feed on the monements just before death. Specifically violent death. Blackwood teams up with FBI special agent Odessa Hardwicke to take on the entities. I can’t wait for the next book in the series. Blackwoods backstory and long life leave a huge opportunity for different tales to be told. A good beginning.

I'm no stranger to the name Guillermo del Toro having been a fan of his movies for years now, although I have to say this is the first time I'm reading a book written by him.

The Hollow Ones is a melting pot of horror and the supernatural with healthy dose of action to keep the reader or in my case the listener glued throughout the narration. I have enjoyed this book tremendously and I think besides being an engaging story, Brittany Pressley narrator extraordinaire made the book came alive. She is brilliant and wonderful, her voice is perfect for this book.

Thanks NetGalley for this advance copy of the audiobook, the views above are all of my own.

I both listened and read The Hollow Ones (THO) by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the print copy and Hachette Audio via NetGalley. This book literally scared the tar out of me, mostly because the very thought that some of the most hideous acts committed by humans could have been driven by demon possession seemed almost a feasible idea – at least while listening/reading to the book while home alone! YIKES! Del Toro & Hogan do have this effect on me, they have the ability to make horror all to realistic with the way it’s interwoven into real life.

THO begins when FBI agent Odessa Hardwicke is forced to shoot her fellow agent and partner, Walt, a well-respected man in the bureau, just as he’s about to murder a child. She is shaken to the core by the event and put on desk duty while the incident is being investigated. While she’s on desk duty she meets Earl Solomon, a retired FBI agent who’s just had a stroke. When she tells him of the strangeness that occurred after she shot Walt, he directs her to leave a very specific letter in a mailbox and await an answer. Hugo Blackwood is the man who contacts Odessa, he is mysterious with an air of someone not of this time about him. And this would be correct, he’s been fighting The Hollow Ones for centuries. A sort of curse that I’ll leave the reader to discover. The characters are very well fleshed and emotive, drawing me in so that I became emotionally invested in their plight. The pacing is so quick, the reader is thrown in to the action immediately and the story never really lets up until the end! I flew through the book and audio in just a day! The story is told in past and present, mostly between Solomon, Odessa, and Blackwood but we get some insight into the demon, through his thoughts of gleeful destruction and ghastly acts of horror. THO is, indeed, a story of good vs. evil and a centuries long battle faced by Hugo Blackwell against the four Hollow Ones that escaped the realm.

Brittany Pressley does an outstanding job narrating this! Her voice is extremely rich & pleasant but it’s the alternate characters of the book where she excels, those that require a bit more talent than just a pleasing voice.

The Hollow One’s is a spectacular start to what I’m hoping will be a series and I’m looking forward to the next book to see just where the authors take us on this journey.

I couldn't finish listening to this. The narrator was annoying and it was difficult to get past that without distraction. The story was good, but I would have enjoyed it more without her gruff male voice impersonations.

This seems to be setting up for a series of supernatural detective hijinks and I'm here for that if that's the case, but the two main characters here were annoying and somewhat flat.

My first audiobook ARC! Thanks NetGalley and Hachette Audio for providing the advanced copy

I really admire Guillermo del Toro. I think he's absolutely brilliant, and I love watching him (with the highest level of envy) show off his horror collection. But for some reason I just don't love his novel writing. Since his books are almost all coauthored, I can't ascertain how much he actually writes himself, and it's quite possible that he's the idea guy while someone else puts his creative energy on paper. However, I can say with certainty this book has almost identical vibes to The Strain (likely due to teaming up with Chuck Hogan again), and I think that if you enjoyed that trilogy then you would really like this book as well. I preferred that this one had less "technical" writing, fewer points of view, and characters whose fates I actually cared about. The three timelines were easy to follow and gave the characters a lot of depth, and they came together superbly at the end.

Now this is a just a personal preference thing, but this type of writing really isn't my style. I think a lot of people would love this book, particularly readers who are fans of Stephen King's descriptiveness, and I would still recommend this book to those who enjoy the genre. My 3 star rating isn't bad because I did like the book, but I didn't love it, and that's solely a reflection of my personal tastes and not the quality of the work. I would rather watch Idle Hands, or an episode of Charmed or Supernatural that contains a similar theme. Maybe that makes me a dumb dumb, but don't judge me, k? It's rude.

As for the audio format, Brittany Pressley is the reason I requested the ARC to begin with, and she did a wonderful job narrating as usual. She kept me hanging in there when I would start to lose focus or get bored. She's so good at becoming her characters that she is Odessa, and I refuse to see anyone but her play Odessa should this become an on screen adaptation.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette for the advance listening copy of this one, and to Grand Central Publishing for the ARC!

I'll be honest. I saw del Toro's name, and that's all I saw. Don't need any more information, you got me, and I am sure to love it. Spoilers, I did.

Everything changes for Odessa Hardwicke when she is forced to turn her gun on her partner who gets suddenly violent during the apprehension of a rampaging murderer. It's completely justified, but Odessa must ride a desk until a full investigation is conducted. During this time, she is tasked with returning personal items to a retired officer who is dying. The agent suggests she find a mysterious figure called John Blackwood, who may know something about that fleeting thing Odessa thought she saw jumping around before she shot her partner.

I had so much fun listening to this book. It was a lovely companion to my hours of Animal Crossing these past couple of weeks. As mentioned before, I'm a huge del Toro fan and was sold at his name alone, but the world building, demonic lore, and suspense of this one kept me fully enthralled to the end.

I was so happy to be able to do it on audio. Brittany Pressley did an excellent job. I often lose the thread of stories narrated by men, and Pressley did a great job giving life to not only Odessa, but the other characters (primarily male) as well.

This one's already out, so if you're like me and itching for those spooky Halloween vibes, give this one a go. Check your local, indie bookseller or check with your library to snag a copy.