About Me

My photo
I write and live with my beautiful wife, Sandra, and sons (Solstice, Finnegan and Brahms) in a little-big house on a dirt road in a valley in the hills. My secret identity struggles through the grind of teaching high school English to the denizens of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Review of Dark Hollow by Brian Keene



This is the second novel of Mr. Keene's that I've read, and I surely wasn't disappointed. Dark Hollow is about a Pennsylvanian Mystery Writer, his wife, his dog, and his drinking buddies who have to deal with a haunted woods near their home where strange piping music has been heard and into which women have been disappearing. This horror novel deals with the sylvanian horror of malevolent trees and the always creepy Great God Pan with punch and gusto. Although the novel comes into the danger zone of becoming a supernatural mystery story where the erstwhile townsfolk have to bone up on lore that will enable them to combat the darkness that abounds, Dark Hollow manages to avoid this in spectacular fashion by giving us a wicked climax, believable characters and chilling moments. The work capitalizes on the male fear of inadequacy and being cuckolded with power adding that to the allegory of the horrors of miscarriage and the slow dissolve of matrimonial bliss. Brian Keene has quickly become my second favorite horror writer of all time. Dark Hollow is a fun and spooky read.

No comments:

Post a Comment