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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
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
•
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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
Disappointing
I was expecting something more Lovecraftian given its branding of being [Algernon] Blackwood related, but really this seemed more like Seabury Quinn with an immortal English Jules de Grandin. I wouldn't really classify it as "horror" and instead more as a supernatural police thriller. It was competently written but fairly cliche for the genre and lacking much in the way of dread or cosmological world building. At least they didn't force the foreshadowed romance into the first book?
I was expecting something more Lovecraftian given its branding of being [Algernon] Blackwood related, but really this seemed more like Seabury Quinn with an immortal English Jules de Grandin. I wouldn't really classify it as "horror" and instead more as a supernatural police thriller. It was competently written but fairly cliche for the genre and lacking much in the way of dread or cosmological world building. At least they didn't force the foreshadowed romance into the first book?
Bargain bin buy for the author name recognition. Gripping story at first, enjoyed the occult history and Hugo Blackwood character but ultimately the final act was dull
I want to give this a higher score, just because of the writing itself, but...
An easy read but so much a derivative of many other stories. And the story itself is overly complex in one way and massively simple in another.
Could have been so much better. Recommended as a simple read to get your number up.
An easy read but so much a derivative of many other stories. And the story itself is overly complex in one way and massively simple in another.
Could have been so much better. Recommended as a simple read to get your number up.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was OK! It was a crime noir occult story that read like a screenplay (and would probably work better as one). This was the first book I switched halfway through from audio to paper because the audiobook reader wasn’t doing it for me, but ultimately I think it was the book. Also, there was a lot of cringy “raise enslaved people from the 1800s to channel their anger so a demon can use them as a weapon” stuff which wasn’t handled well (not surprising, a white guy is the main writer on this - Chuck Hogan). First in the series and I probably won’t read the next.
So I have mixed feelings about this one. There were many things I liked about it, such as the occult stuff which was very interesting, I can always go in for a bit of that. I loved the character of Odessa, strong and curious, someone I’d like to read more of, and found the secretiveness of Blackwood really intriguing. The general plot was great and at times I was really wrapped up in the story but occasionally I found the writing a bit stilted. I also felt the odd bit of violence seemed a bit gratuitous, without giving too much away, the baby for example.
Overall I will carry on reading the series (I assume it is the start of a serious) as now the world and characters have been set I think there’s a lot to develop here.
Thanks to Netgalley for my review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Overall I will carry on reading the series (I assume it is the start of a serious) as now the world and characters have been set I think there’s a lot to develop here.
Thanks to Netgalley for my review copy in exchange for an honest review.
adventurous
dark
Didn’t care at all for the FBI procedural sections, but the John Blackwood plot line was lovely. Wish they would’ve explored it more. Hopefully they do so in the coming installments.