This story drew me in from the start. It is told through multiple POVs and through that, we get such an expansive and detailed view as to what life was like for these characters and what survival meant to/for them.

I would definitely recommend this book for people looking for a fast plot while not losing the characters and great writing!

James Wade brings another terrific story to life.

One thing you can always count on in a novel from James Wade is the extreme contrast of characters. The villains are truly despicable people with little or no moral restraint. The heroes, while flawed in many ways, hold decency and integrity in the depths of their hearts, even if they’re sometimes forced by circumstances to walk on the dark side to accomplish a greater good. That contrast plays out so well in the characters of Jesse and Hollis and Moss – the “good” guys who are up against Squirrel, Frog, Blackwell, and Preston.

When those characters clash, it’s in the most heart-stopping scenes that make a reader anxious to get to the end of the action, but a little afraid of what’s to come. Those encounters don’t always end in a typical the-good-guys-win scenario, so we’re never sure what the author is going to throw at us.

Wade throws plenty. He doesn’t hold back when it comes to presenting the harsh reality of a hard life in a hard place at a hard time in history. That reality is not always pleasant to read about, but even the scenes that depict the worst of humanity are written in a style that makes it hard to look away.

In contrast with that are the scenes drawn for us with exquisite descriptions and a narrative that can be enjoyed and savored. I often reread sections just to absorb the depth and beauty of the writing.

For example, here’s a tender love scene between Jesse and Adaline, “They hold one another, and more, and afterward they bathe in the cool water and dry on the rocks like lizards. They tell each other secrets and make promises they can’t hope to keep, but such is their youth and their love and the warmth of the moment.”

Another example is this poignant presentation of the thoughts of a dying man, “He listened to the bird song and dreamed of the spring to come. Of honeysuckle and clover and rich fragrant pine, of Maypops and azaleas, monarchs and hummingbirds and whitetail bucks, their antlers rendered in velvet; and all the world awakening at once, reborn and full from the cold and the dark and manifested in such color and wonder and soul-aching beauty and he knew he could stay there, in that soft, bright tomorrow, if only he kept closed his eyes.”

A stream of consciousness that reads as if we’re inside that person’s head, seeing all those things with their eyes and hearing with their ears. Bringing a reader that deeply into a story, into a character, is not easily achieved, and this writer is always in awe of an author who can do that.

Wade is the best at atmospheric crime fiction and you won’t be disappointed if you grab his latest release.

This is the first James Wade novel for me. I received the advanced reader's copy from the publisher, Blackstone Publishing through NetGalley. This is my own personal and unsolicited opinion about the story.
This is an intense story. James Wade is possibly the only author that I have read to date that reminds me of John Steinbeck. You would have to favor Steinbeck's incredible writing and read the sentences that Woods has woven together to understand my reaction. (Now I predominantly read Christian fiction these days so be aware that this work is much grittier and darker than my normal content.)
To me there are two main characters here. Jesse Cole, a World War I veteran, has returned to his hometown and settles into a quiet life caring for family during depression time. His best friend, a needy sort, crosses paths with "Frog and Squirrel" Finley which leads to all kinds of trouble.
Texas Ranger, Amon Atkins is assigned to the area to investigate the Finley brothers for suspicion of murder.
This is one intense story. The descriptive writing caused me to feel the heaviness of the depression that darkened the land, it's people. Jesse, Amon and Moss are The main characters to me. I won't forget them for a time. Just like Tom Joad or George and Lennie. (Steinbeck) I don't want to talk about their stories and introduce spoilers. Just know, in my opinion, this is raw. It is not romance; it is not warm and fuzzy. This is war, yet not War as Jesse has already been through. There is defeat with one hope. There is evil, despair, sparks of beauty and reality with terrible secrets. Note: Explicit language, (possible triggers) graphic violence, mental depression, suicide and murder.

Haunting and surprising. I recommend this one. It has a lot of interesting twists and turns.
Lots of trauma and heartbreak.
Any Whiskey enthusiast will like it.

James Wade's Hollow Out the Dark is a gritty and atmospheric Southern noir that immerses readers in the lawless world of Prohibition-era Texas. The novel follows Jesse Cole, a war veteran returning home to a small town engulfed in a violent whiskey war.
Wade's prose is evocative and poetic, painting a vivid picture of the desolate landscape and the morally ambiguous characters who inhabit it. The story is driven by a sense of impending doom, as the tensions between rival bootleggers and corrupt lawmen escalate.
At the heart of the novel is a complex exploration of morality and the choices that must be made in desperate times. Jesse Cole, a character haunted by his wartime experiences, finds himself caught between his desire for redemption and the harsh realities of his surroundings.
While Hollow Out the Dark is a dark and violent novel, it also offers moments of tenderness and humanity. Wade's characters are flawed and complex, making their struggles and choices all the more compelling.
For fans of Southern Gothic fiction and gritty crime dramas, Hollow Out the Dark is a must-read. Wade's masterful storytelling and unflinching portrayal of the human condition make this novel a standout in the genre.

Dark, dark, dark, story set in rural Texas during the prohibition. The bad guys are bad and the good guys are sometimes worse. Hard to find a hero in this riveting tale as men struggle to survive and uphold their honor. A super read if you enjoy noir and grim stories in gritty settings.

"If the world was a good place, it wouldn't need good men."

In a rural Texas town during the Great Depression era, Jesse Cole, an ever the optimist war veteran, is married to his late brother’s wife and living each day just trying to get by. He lives by a seemingly set code until he is forced to bend his own morals to protect the people he loves.

Wade does it again from his unbelievably real characters to the twists and turns you never see coming. I absolutely love the writing and felt as though I was right there with the characters.

This story is heartbreaking and dark, but in the best way. Wade leaves no stone unturned and will have you coming back to passages over and over again.

Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and James Wade for the ARC, and NetGalley for the audiobook ARC!

This book grabs you from page 2. I kept thinking that it reminds me almost of the Ozark tv show and Yellowstone tv show combined (both of which I loved). The main POV characters were both people you really rooted for. The ending made me feel angst in the way real life does sometimes. It really was breathtaking all the way through.

James Wade doesn't write the type of novels I generally read however this is the third I have read by him and it was equally as good as the others. They are a slower read for me but he is an excellent storyteller.

This novel could be a great selection for my AP literature students to use a selection to write about. Very well written and filled with deep and complex characters

The Texas Gothic atmosphere was also a standout, with two compelling main characters: Amon Atkins, a Texas Ranger from a family of Rangers, and Jesse Cole, a war hero who returns home to care for his brother’s family. Both men are on unintentional journeys of self-discovery, and their stories are woven together beautifully.

Overall, this is a fast-paced, heart-wrenching, and thought-provoking read, perfect for fans of books that linger in your mind long after you’ve finished them. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Hollow Out the Dark by James Wade is about the Prohibition era when people used moonshine to satiate their need for alcohol. Moonshiners were very territorial and they could become quite violent at times to protect their income.

This story is about characters who are involved in moonshining and how a war veteran becomes embroiled in the mess because the paper mill, which was one of the few sources of legitimate income in town, closed. His name is Jesse and he meets up with an old lover when he needs to take up work for Squirrel and Frog, two serious and intense moonshiners.

The story takes unexpected turns and sticks close to the history of the time. It brings up memories as well as hopes for the future. It is well written and reads well.

This was a very interesting book.Because talked about a lot of different issues.And they kept going back and forth in time. In the depression they were talking about bootlegging and how people changed after the great war. It was also a love story in the beginning because they talked about how people really wanted to be together.But things did not work out. I like how the texans ranger was corrupt as well.Because he wanted the liquor to come into the town.. Everybody had the story past and future in this book and was all tied together and you realized it was very well written.

Thank you to NetGalley, James Wade, and Black Stone Publishing for the ARC and chance to give my honest opinion!

I have just recently starting venturing into the historical fiction genre so keep that in mind when reading my review ;)
This one is set in the late prohibition era in East Texas. The point of view is third person. The story line primarily bounces between the life of Jesse Cole and Amon Atkins. Jesse has been thrown into the bootlegging lifestyle essentially against his will. He is a veteran of WWI and battles the trauma the war has scarred him with. Amon Atkins is a Texas Ranger that has been assigned to take down the bootlegging business that Jesse Cole has become wrapped up in.
The plot is filled with trauma, heartbreak, and lies. So many secrets and so much deceit in the small town. The beginning was a very slow burn - it started to pick up around 25% in and after that I read through it very quickly. I enjoyed the author's prose and description. The setting and time period made for a great historical fiction. I can imagine stories like this were probably a very common scenario back in that time. Great read!

I devoured this entire book in less than twenty-four hours. (Please don't tell my employer.) So rarely do I come across a book that a true page-turner, but the short chapters and machine-gun plot kept me itching to pick it back up every time I put it down. Though a little slow to start, it did not take very long for me to be breathlessly turning the (digital) page, both desperate and terrified to know what happened next.

My smallest gripe about this book is that the gorgeous, poetic, evocative prose—which, to be clear, I very quickly fell in love with—made getting to know (and more importantly, remember) the large cast of characters a bit difficult in the beginning. That being said, hoo boy, these characters lit up every single page. No one was just a hero or just a villain. I understood each and every one of them, what they wanted, why they made the choices they were making, who they wanted to be and how they were falling short of that. Even when I wanted nothing more than to take someone by the shoulders and rattle them around to make them see sense, I really did get where they were coming from. I understood this town, this community, this shadow economy that sprung up in the wake of a Great War and a Great Depression, and the claustrophobia of it made my heart race.

As someone with aphantasia, I don't see images or vignettes in my head when I read, so I'm wholly reliant on explicit descriptions of people, places, and things to have an understanding of what they look like. This book did not have very many of those, which I don't think is a bad thing; even though explicit descriptions are helpful for me, I find that kind of writing very clunky, and vastly prefer Wade's more poetic and abstract style of world-building. And yet, so clearly could I imagine this book's adaptation into a six-to-eight-part mini-series on your streaming platform of choice. Every aspect of this story, its characters, its plot, its scenery, its heartbreak, is so perfectly suited for the small screen. I don't usually root for adaptations, because that's not naturally where my mind goes, but I would consider an adaptation of this book appointment viewing for sure.

Overall, a fast-paced, heart-wrenching, exciting, depressing read, one I recommend for fans of books that keep your brain chewing on their edges long after you've finished them.

The description of this book grabbed me the second I read it, and didn't let go. I loved the Texas gothic atmosphere, and the two main characters. Amon Atkins is a Texas Ranger, from a family of Rangers. Jesse Cole is a war hero returned home to take care of brother's family after his passing. Both men are on unintentional journey's of self discovery. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Hollow Out The Dark by @jameswadewriter is a dark, gritty, thought-provoking look into humanity that will have you examining your own beliefs. It's a tale of sacrifice, morals and ethics, right vs wrong, corruption and greed, and so much more. Beautifully written with nuanced characters, a plot that's delicately woven together, in a setting that's so artfully crafted that it transports you through time and space, and a pace that will have you not wanting to put it down. Eloquently sprinkling in mental health and sign language rep was an unexpected bonus.

Hollow Out The Dark shuttles you to a small town in Depression-Era Texas, where the book takes place. Prohibition is still the law and bootlegging runs rampant, threatening to destroy a small town.

"When the oil came up in Kilgore, so did every swinging dick thinking they was gonna get out of the depression..." "A bunch of pimps, gamblers, and kids with guns thinking they'd be the next comic book outlaw."

Then, a Texas Ranger, Amon, is sent to investigate a murder in the aforementioned small town. Amon who had long been buried beneath his father's shadow, desparate for to make his dad proud, but also desparate to not be like his father. Meanwhile, another main character, Jesse, a decorated Great War veteran, is just doing what he can to keep him and his family afloat during a long, cold winter. A family he inherited when his older brother passed away.

The setting is truly like being transported. I've never even been to Texas in real life, but I feel like I have now. It's gritty and somber, while also being haunting and yet hopeful. It is a darker book.

The plot is great. I was hooked immediately and couldn't stop reading. The twists and turns that unfold are great. There's so much going on, but it doesn't feel like too much-not at all thanks to the elegant way Wade layers and weaves all of it together.

Wade's prose is truly a work of art. He has a way with words that you don't often come across. I found myself re-reading sentences, or even entire passages, just to marvel at the gorgeous way he writes.
Wade's prose is almost lyrical at times, but not in a pretentious way. Even when writes about simple, mundane things, like the wind, it's beautiful.

"The wind was cold and relentless, and each gust filled the forest with a wretched and woeful sound-the low howling keen of the wind, the barren and abraded branches scraping against one another like deviant violins..."

Wade's dialogue is also great. I love that he incorporated small bits of very light humor (although humor isn't quite accurate) into the dialogue to lighten such a haunting, dark, gritty, somber book. These occasional small bits of levity aid in easing the material from feeling too dark and heavy.

Maybe light-hearted would be more accurate, although that doesn't sound right, either. Here's an example: "... I ain't about to leave Gloria Swineson [a pig] out there with them..." "Don't let Albert Swinestein hear you say that...That little bastard has gone and changed his whole demeanor. Walks with some sort of regality to him now."

The characters were so well written that I took a second to do a web search, thinking maybe this book was based on a true story. They're that wildly realistic. They're flawed, like we all are, and you'll be torn on loving them or loving to hate them.

I love that even though it's a shorter novel than what I've been reading as of late (328pgs), it packs a lot of emotion in. I also love that Wade incorporates a study in bigger topics that are relevant still - like corruption. Even some that will likely be relevant for eternity (How far will you go for the ones you love? When push comes to shove, what lines are you willing to cross?) There's a lot of distrust in the government back then, as there is now. I love that this book makes you rethink some things, like corruption and what it means, and how corruption could start from a place of love.

There's some mental health rep for PTSD, although it isn't referred to as such, as well as sign language rep.

If you don't like books that write with an "accent," use colloquialisms, or use words like "ain't," well, this probably ain't the book for you. 😆 But seriously, unless those are things you just absolutely detest, I strongly recommend you give this one a quick read.

If you enjoy criminal fiction, historical fiction, mystery, and/or thriller, I think you would enjoy this. I can't think of another author or book that's similar.

This is the first book I've read by James Wade, but it certainly won't be my last. Hollow Out The Dark is Southern Gothic with crime, and this book was my introduction to a genre called rural noir.

If CW/TW are a concern for you, please look into them before reading. This is a dark book and contains a fair bit of potentially triggering material (violence, death, war, alcohol use and abuse, etc).

Thank you to @wadejameswriter, @blackstonepublishing, and @Netgalley for the eARC. I'm choosing to leave this unbiased review.

Haunting Southern Gothic novel reminiscent of Panovich’s Bull Mountain. Enoch is a rural mountain town surviving on moonshine and corruption. In the shadow of WWI and the winding up of prohibition powerful men decide to make their move.
Of course we have our heroes, Jesse Cole returned from war and the Texas Ranger Amon Atkins. But even these men live with their regrets and shadows.
James Wade writes a beautifully gritty and sad story. Yes it’s a good one just not sure how much I enjoyed it. Thank you to Netgalley and Blackstone publishing.

This is southern gothic crime at its finest! Fans of S.A. Crosby will love reading James Wade.

Hollow Out the Dark is one of the best books I have read in a long time. Although this author is new to me, I will definitely be reading more after finishing this one. I loved the gritty darkness of this depression-era novel set in Texas. Wade creates characters that are realistic and will make you both love and hate them, but one thing is for certain, once you meet them, once you enter into Wade's world, you are never going to forget any of it.

Hollow Out the Dark byJames Wade tells a tough and dark story about bootleggers in a small east Texas town during the depression .Amon Atkins is a Texas Ranger who is charged with enforcing the law.Jessie Cole is a decorated war veteran who is trying to help his family while fighting his own demons.The writing is wonderful and you may have to use your dictionary to find out the meaning of a few words!Thank you Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC of an author that was new to me.I will find more of his books!