The Hollow Ones

I love Guillermo del Toro: love his movies, his writing. This book is very good would recommend to any who likes his other work. Thank you Netgallery.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes edge of your seat excitment. I think the narrator did a great job reading this book and was one of the reasons I couldn't put it down.

I enjoyed this story. I was expecting a horror novel but it was more of a supernatural story. Horror or supernatural aside, it was an entertaining story and I flew through it. There are a few references to things like Amazon Prime and Postmates that jolted you out of the story and it seemed very product placement like. Overall, it was a good story and I look forward to a sequel.

What a fun, wild story! The Hollow Ones is gruesome and dark but also really entertaining. It deals in demons, dark magic, and possession with plenty of murder and blood. I listened to the audiobook of this one and it was a very quick listen. The forward momentum was intense and it kept me listening to see if our heroes would survive and the bad guys would be vanquished. This is very much a story of good versus evil in the best “Hollywood” sense. It is clear who wears the white hats and who wears the black with little to no ambiguity. This isn’t a tale of moral complexity but rather a straight forward action oriented thrill ride. We know who to cheer for and do so with passion because the bad guys are really, really awful.

This audiobook is narrated by the prolific and much loved Brittany Pressley. She does such an incredible job with all the characters and completely commits to everything from a male British accent to a growly demon. It boggles the mind that all these diverse voices come from just one women and I would swear it was a multi-cast recording. Every one of the accents and personalities sounds completely authentic and real. It really is an incredible performance.

The story lends itself very well to audio. It has a cinematic quality that practically begs to be performed. Even though the timeline jumps between several different time periods each transition was very clear and each was so different that wasn’t difficult to keep them straight. The Hollow Ones has a complex mythology but it was not confusing at all in audio. It might actually be clearer in this format because the characters in each time period sound so distinct and unique that even if I missed the heading with the date I could tell which period we were in just by listening to the voices.

If you are missing going to the movie theater and watching the newest Blockbuster flick this just might help scratch that itch. It has all the hallmarks of a great movie and I would be surprised if it doesn’t make its way to a screen of some description in the future. The narrator of the audiobook is so good and brings it to life so well that it feels like being at a movie. Make your own popcorn, pull out your Twizzlers and settle in with this audiobook for a night at the movies social distancing style.

Thank you to Hachette Audio for providing an Advance Copy via NetGalley for review.

The Hollow Ones is deliciously dark and twisted and a wonderful balance of thriller, horror, suspense and action.

The plot jumps between timelines but with shared characters across each time frame so you get a deep understanding of each main character.

The storybuilding is consistently engaging and weaves in commentary on racial profiling, abuse of power in authority figures and stigmatizing mental health all within a horror/thriller.

The pacing is brilliant and certain revelations help to build and twist the story.

I don't have a bad word to say really.

The narrator is also brilliant and easily and convincingly switches between multiple characters in different ages, accents and fevers seamlessly. They perfectly build and heighten the tension imbued in the story and are the perfect choice for this audiobook!

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I am a big fan of the authors and have read and listened to The Strain trilogy previously, I thought they were great books and Ron Perlman narrated superbly, this book is reminiscent of the Fallen but delivers a great deal more character development and pathos, I was swept along with the story and despite having to stop because my wife forced me to so I could actually pay her some attention I managed to listen to this in one day because I needed to hear more, it is my first audiobook from Netgalley (thank you very much) and aside from some download teething issues the experience was very good, the narration by Brittany Pressley was suplative and she subsumed me into the story effortlessly, highly recommended

An ancient evil and an occult detective come crashing into Odessa Hardwicke's life. As an FBI agent she thinks she knows how the world works. She has worked hard to be where she is and she know's she's smart enough to get the job done. Then something strange happens and she is forced to turn her gun on her mentor. This is just the beginning, all sorts of crazy and scary things happen.

I really liked Odessa. I liked how smart she was and how she never backed down. I do believe she was one of the first people to ever disagree and argue with Hugo Blackwood, the hero of this story. I loved those times so much. I also loved Hugo Blackwood's lack of knowledge when it came to modern technology, the electrical torch (flashlight). Their banter his lack of modern knowledge was a comedic relief that was needed in a book like this. A book where Hollow ones can snatch up a body and take over.

I mean... *shiver* Yeah, I'm not about that. It vividly brought back scary memories from childhood. I went through this stage where I was terrified a demon was going to posses me. I prayed so hard for this not to happen. I don't remember if I saw a movie or what brought this on, but it was a real fear my 8 year old self had.

I also really enjoyed all the Supernatural feels I got from it. I kept thinking, "Is this anti demon possession tattoo a real thing?" There was talk about magic and helpful incantations. So this might be a real thing in this world. And if not, it should be.

I really enjoyed this book but it's because I don't really watch tv. I mean Supernatural, but nothing else. And I never watch horror films, they scare me too much. So I didn't see any similarities to other demon movies. I also love detective and investigating shows like Criminal Minds. This combined both! It was full of action and really good flashbacks. I hate when a book has flashbacks and they don't work well. These flashbacks were very well done. The multiple POV's too. I just really liked it okay.

The Hollow Ones by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I know I just did an audiobook review yesterday but I could not stop listening to this one today and I finished it. I am sure my coworkers are annoyed with me because I had my earphones in all day. I don’t care, this was too good to stop.
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Summary-usually harmless people are killing family, and coworkers in violent fashion until being killed themselves. FBI agent, Odessa, is on suspension after killing one of these random murderers. She is trying to investigate what is going on and summons Hugo Blackwood, a mysterious British person from another time who knows about the evil beings causing the murders.
Hugo was such a good character, almost a cross between Sherlock Holmes and David Tennant from Doctor Who, that I hope this is not the last time we see him. I could see Hugo and Odessa having many supernatural, other dimensional FBI adventures