House of Hollow

The three Hollow sisters survived a horrendous event ten years previously to the events of the book, when they had suddenly disappeared, when out with their parents; they then re-appeared a month later, with no memory of what happened.  Fast forward to the present and they are still a subject of awe, fear and questioning.  Iris, the youngest sister just wants to be normal, but her two sisters, Vivi and Grey, are at the centre of media interest.  Where they are, odd things very often happen; so, when the eldest sister, Grey disappears her two siblings feel a desperate need to find out what has happened.  Strange things are going on around them, even finding a decaying body at Grey’s flat and then there is the weird man who appears to be following them, with the intention of causing harm.  There are so many questions that we need to be answered in this story; will they save Grey, what is the mystery behind their disappearance and can they ever live normal lives?

This is the sort of story that properly takes over. As someone who doesn’t like horror stories, I was amazed at how much I needed to keep reading this extremely dark and scary tale.  The idea of a parallel world, or even somewhere between life and death has been used on a multitude of occasions, but where normally these are places of wonder, fantasy and even adventure, Krystal Sutherland takes us to a place that is hellish in the extreme and definitely somewhere we want to avoid.  The relationship of the three sisters is central to the whole story and we can only watch in horror as the truth gradually begins to unfold and the framework of their lives begins to unravel.  The author leaves us with a bit of a cliff-hanger, which might mean there is potential for a follow on, or she might just leave it to our imaginations; only time will tell.  This is a superb read for those who love their horror stories and compulsive reading even for those who don’t. (NB, there’s quite a lot of blood and gore and some strong language).