I was honored to be able to read an early ARC of this novel. Once again, James Wade does not disappoint. This author knows his state and knows his people. Makes for a very talented author. You feel like , with every story, you are right there living with these characters. So much grit and reality. I have been a follower of James since the beginning and always await his next novel with excitement and know I won't be let down .
Some authors you just buy the book. You don't have to read any synopsis or know anything about the book going in, you just have that much faith it's gonna be damn good. That's Wade .

Since returning from the war, veteran soldier Jesse Cole has been keeping his head down, watching over his wife and daughter in Depression-era Texas, where decent people turn to crime to make ends meet. When his war pal, Hollis, racks up an unpayable gambling debt to the bootlegging brothers, Squirrel and Frog Fenley, Jesse’s protective instincts go on full alert, and he is obliged to step in.

But negotiating with the loathsome Squirrel proves impossible, and Jesse is forced to run liquor as the only way of getting his friend off the hook. What Squirrel knows, but doesn’t tell his new employee, is that the county is teetering dangerously close to a whiskey war, and Jesse is walking blindly into the centre of it. Squirrel and Frog have been the sole crime bosses for years, but a mercenary war vet, in the pay of an unknown figure very high up the food chain, is threatening families, killing, burning out or blowing up anyone who resists the change of management.

The award-winning Wade writes with skillful honesty about his home state and its dark history in this unsettling, atmospheric account of a desperate time, where man’s capacity for corruption and greed seems endless. The tense darkness which pervades the narrative is interspersed with powerful descriptions of location, climate, war, death, and ghosts of the past, driving the plot to a conclusion in which there may be no winners. Of the large cast, there isn’t one person, on either side of the precarious moral fence, who hasn’t suffered devastation of one sort or another.

Wade writes with soul-stirring passion, building layer upon layer and finally turning his story on its head—equal parts shocking, unexpected and yet totally fitting—leaving me reeling, but with the hope that maybe there are a few good people still out there.

Was not able to finish on time but this is hands down one of my favorite covers of this year. ! The writing is lyrical and captures Texas perfectly

James Wade's rural noir novel Hollow Out the Dark is like a repeated punch to the gut. The subject matter is dark and violent (moonshine wars) but the characters are memorable and the writing is beautiful and poetic, with heavy Southern Gothic overtones. Reminds me of Brian Panowich and Peter Farris, two of my favorite writers, who also write rural noir. Highly recommended for fans of gritlit and literary crime fiction.