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wednesdayzombie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
calturner's review against another edition
5.0
You know when you think there’s no way an author will be able to top their last book? Well, that’s how I felt about Nothing Important Happened Today, but wow, Will Carver has done it again! I’d even go so far as to say that this book is even better!
Clever, original and utterly compelling, Hinton Hollow Death Trip is narrated by none other than Evil himself. And his scarily accurate observations on the human race really do give you pause for thought as you find yourself caught up in a story of horror and mayhem as Evil wreaks havoc on the small town of Hinton Hollow.
After the events in the previous book in the series, Detective Sergeant Pace decides to return to the small, sleepy town of his childhood. But unbeknownst to him Evil has decided to follow him and is about to unleash hell on the inhabitants of the small town.
What follows is a dark and twisted story that is most definitely not for the faint hearted. Evil is unapologetic as he gleefully narrates the horror and mayhem that’s befallen Hinton Hollow. With a sprinkling of humour and a bucketload of horror, Will Carver has once again proved that he truly is a force to be reckoned with!
A brilliantly dark and disturbing book that I would highly recommend.
Clever, original and utterly compelling, Hinton Hollow Death Trip is narrated by none other than Evil himself. And his scarily accurate observations on the human race really do give you pause for thought as you find yourself caught up in a story of horror and mayhem as Evil wreaks havoc on the small town of Hinton Hollow.
After the events in the previous book in the series, Detective Sergeant Pace decides to return to the small, sleepy town of his childhood. But unbeknownst to him Evil has decided to follow him and is about to unleash hell on the inhabitants of the small town.
What follows is a dark and twisted story that is most definitely not for the faint hearted. Evil is unapologetic as he gleefully narrates the horror and mayhem that’s befallen Hinton Hollow. With a sprinkling of humour and a bucketload of horror, Will Carver has once again proved that he truly is a force to be reckoned with!
A brilliantly dark and disturbing book that I would highly recommend.
kellyvandamme's review against another edition
5.0
Hi and welcome to my review of Hinton Hollow Death Trip! The plan was for me to save this review for Orentober, but I just can’t do it. I’m physically and mentally incapable of sitting on this review for months to come, I need to shout about it right this minute. So here goes. Note that since any Will Carver novel is a nightmare to review, I decided to let the book/Will/Evil do a bit of the talking, all the quotes were taken from the Kindle edition.
Some authors are on your auto-buy list because you always know just what kind of book to expect. Others get on the list because you know to expect the unexpected. Picking up a Will Carver novel is like going on an adventure, one that takes you to places you didn’t expect to go, places you never knew you wanted to go, and frankly even some places you didn’t really want to go, but it’s Will Carver so you’ll let him take you there anyway.
Most authors I’ve read basically write the same book over and over again. They stick to their style, their genre, the first or third person singular, the same characters. There’s nothing wrong with that, obviously, but I love that Orenda Books house a few exceptions, Louise Beech and her flawless genre-hopping springs to mind immediately, and Will Carver of course, who does something equally rare and hugely impressive: he sticks to his style and his genre, even a character or two, but he writes an entirely different book each and every single time.
After the January David series and Good Samaritans, which more or less adhere to the general thriller rules, and Nothing Important Happened Today, which takes the leap to a first person plural combined with manual-like bits, Hinton Hollow is in the first person singular, from the POV of Evil. And it WORKS! It’s fucked up obviously, but then I expected nothing less.
Fear is my greatest tool. It can be used to make a person do almost anything. You can take education, information, motivation and throw it all away, fear is the only thing you require. It is a slow and deadly poison. And it is effective.
Hinton Hollow Death Trip is the third DS Pace novel, and it’s set immediately after Nothing Important Happened Today. As opposed to most series, Pace isn’t even that big a character, so don’t worry if you haven’t read the previous ones. There are some elements that carried over from Good Samaritans all the way to Hinton Hollow, and there are some references to NIHT, but you should be able to follow without having read them. Note that the series as a whole is amazing though and you should really opt for the whole experience and start at the beginning.
I’m a child of the 90s so Joan Osborne wondering what if God was one of us is part of my life’s soundtrack. But what if Evil was one of us, in a not quite corporeal manner. What if Evil roamed the earth, just trying to do his job? Prodding, instigating, converting sleepy little towns like Hinton Hollow to places where people throw bricks through windows, free pigs in the woods to hunt them, shoot people, can’t see beyond their own rage/gluttony/greed until it’s too late.
This is how evil works. I just have to get you started. What you do with that feeling is entirely down to you.
It’s thought-provoking in unexpected ways. The concept of Evil as an entity on earth, of Evil wanting to be a little more lazy but needing to step it up because humans have changed in such a way that Evil has to work harder to restore balance. The logic is baffling in its plausibility.
Humankind has created evil at a rate that even I cannot keep up with. So, in order to be heard, in order for me to make you understand how awful your race has become, I have to be deliberately shocking. I have to always go beyond what you can do. Evil will always exist, but the better you are, the quieter I can be. You see? I don’t feel sad for the people in this story, I’m not supposed to, I am Evil. I am here for balance. As a necessity. It is you that I feel sad for.
Once again, Will Carver has gone beyond writing fiction, beyond storytelling. He questions the reader, challenges the reader to question themselves, their thoughts and feelings and actions. So once again, I did not find peace, I found turmoil. I made myself stop and take the challenge, ponder the questions, find an answer. How did I feel about Dorothy, how did I feel about the cat, will my soul be lighter than it should be?
So yeah this was not a quick read. I guess it could be, if you want it to? But that would probably defeat the purpose of reading a Will Carver novel. It should not be merely read, it should be experienced.
But beware. There is no one, literally no one in the world who can make me lose faith in humankind as effortlessly as Will Carter. His observations are astoundingly and at times painfully astute.
AN OBSERVATION ABOUT PEOPLE AND DEATH
The execution of an adult can, somehow, be understood and reasoned.
The death of a child can be heartbreaking but rationalised.
The massacre of livestock can be largely ignored.
Yet, the killing of a pet — particularly a dog or a cat — is devastating.
An unforgivable act. It is evil. I find this distinction between living things perplexing.
I went into Hinton Hollow Death Trip with the highest expectations. I didn’t know what to expect in terms of story, but I fully expected to love it. Sometimes that kind of reasoning blows up in your face but Hinton Hollow held its ground, and then some. Thought-provoking, scary and with hints of Stephen King’s Derry, Hinton Hollow is a brilliant read, absolutely fascinating, wildly entertaining and highly recommended! Just make sure you have a light and fluffy and preferable pink book at the ready to read after, you may need it…
Some authors are on your auto-buy list because you always know just what kind of book to expect. Others get on the list because you know to expect the unexpected. Picking up a Will Carver novel is like going on an adventure, one that takes you to places you didn’t expect to go, places you never knew you wanted to go, and frankly even some places you didn’t really want to go, but it’s Will Carver so you’ll let him take you there anyway.
Most authors I’ve read basically write the same book over and over again. They stick to their style, their genre, the first or third person singular, the same characters. There’s nothing wrong with that, obviously, but I love that Orenda Books house a few exceptions, Louise Beech and her flawless genre-hopping springs to mind immediately, and Will Carver of course, who does something equally rare and hugely impressive: he sticks to his style and his genre, even a character or two, but he writes an entirely different book each and every single time.
After the January David series and Good Samaritans, which more or less adhere to the general thriller rules, and Nothing Important Happened Today, which takes the leap to a first person plural combined with manual-like bits, Hinton Hollow is in the first person singular, from the POV of Evil. And it WORKS! It’s fucked up obviously, but then I expected nothing less.
Fear is my greatest tool. It can be used to make a person do almost anything. You can take education, information, motivation and throw it all away, fear is the only thing you require. It is a slow and deadly poison. And it is effective.
Hinton Hollow Death Trip is the third DS Pace novel, and it’s set immediately after Nothing Important Happened Today. As opposed to most series, Pace isn’t even that big a character, so don’t worry if you haven’t read the previous ones. There are some elements that carried over from Good Samaritans all the way to Hinton Hollow, and there are some references to NIHT, but you should be able to follow without having read them. Note that the series as a whole is amazing though and you should really opt for the whole experience and start at the beginning.
I’m a child of the 90s so Joan Osborne wondering what if God was one of us is part of my life’s soundtrack. But what if Evil was one of us, in a not quite corporeal manner. What if Evil roamed the earth, just trying to do his job? Prodding, instigating, converting sleepy little towns like Hinton Hollow to places where people throw bricks through windows, free pigs in the woods to hunt them, shoot people, can’t see beyond their own rage/gluttony/greed until it’s too late.
This is how evil works. I just have to get you started. What you do with that feeling is entirely down to you.
It’s thought-provoking in unexpected ways. The concept of Evil as an entity on earth, of Evil wanting to be a little more lazy but needing to step it up because humans have changed in such a way that Evil has to work harder to restore balance. The logic is baffling in its plausibility.
Humankind has created evil at a rate that even I cannot keep up with. So, in order to be heard, in order for me to make you understand how awful your race has become, I have to be deliberately shocking. I have to always go beyond what you can do. Evil will always exist, but the better you are, the quieter I can be. You see? I don’t feel sad for the people in this story, I’m not supposed to, I am Evil. I am here for balance. As a necessity. It is you that I feel sad for.
Once again, Will Carver has gone beyond writing fiction, beyond storytelling. He questions the reader, challenges the reader to question themselves, their thoughts and feelings and actions. So once again, I did not find peace, I found turmoil. I made myself stop and take the challenge, ponder the questions, find an answer. How did I feel about Dorothy, how did I feel about the cat, will my soul be lighter than it should be?
So yeah this was not a quick read. I guess it could be, if you want it to? But that would probably defeat the purpose of reading a Will Carver novel. It should not be merely read, it should be experienced.
But beware. There is no one, literally no one in the world who can make me lose faith in humankind as effortlessly as Will Carter. His observations are astoundingly and at times painfully astute.
AN OBSERVATION ABOUT PEOPLE AND DEATH
The execution of an adult can, somehow, be understood and reasoned.
The death of a child can be heartbreaking but rationalised.
The massacre of livestock can be largely ignored.
Yet, the killing of a pet — particularly a dog or a cat — is devastating.
An unforgivable act. It is evil. I find this distinction between living things perplexing.
I went into Hinton Hollow Death Trip with the highest expectations. I didn’t know what to expect in terms of story, but I fully expected to love it. Sometimes that kind of reasoning blows up in your face but Hinton Hollow held its ground, and then some. Thought-provoking, scary and with hints of Stephen King’s Derry, Hinton Hollow is a brilliant read, absolutely fascinating, wildly entertaining and highly recommended! Just make sure you have a light and fluffy and preferable pink book at the ready to read after, you may need it…
btpbookclub's review against another edition
4.0
This is book three in the detective sergeant pace series and I have been with this series from the start. If I can say I believe this series has grown and got better with each book. It does make references to the previous book but I believe it still works well as a standalone.
The story is told through a narrator and that narrator is evil. It is set in the small town of Hinton Hollow. It’s a long story which took me a few days to get through but well worth it. I loved the whole layout of the book and the way it was told through evils point of view. It all makes it a different read for me, a unique one. Will has found his own writing style and I approve.
This story has it all… Death. Love. Affairs. Secrets. Lies. Loss. Parts of this story are dark and twisted! Towards the end I found I needed to concentrate a bit more to grt my hrad around the outcome but I got it. Different. Unexpected. I really enjoyed reading this one.
The ending… WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT. What happened? Just no. Major cliffhanger. I need to know what happened. A well deserved four stars from me. Highly recommend. Got my fingers crossed for a book four.
The story is told through a narrator and that narrator is evil. It is set in the small town of Hinton Hollow. It’s a long story which took me a few days to get through but well worth it. I loved the whole layout of the book and the way it was told through evils point of view. It all makes it a different read for me, a unique one. Will has found his own writing style and I approve.
This story has it all… Death. Love. Affairs. Secrets. Lies. Loss. Parts of this story are dark and twisted! Towards the end I found I needed to concentrate a bit more to grt my hrad around the outcome but I got it. Different. Unexpected. I really enjoyed reading this one.
The ending… WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT. What happened? Just no. Major cliffhanger. I need to know what happened. A well deserved four stars from me. Highly recommend. Got my fingers crossed for a book four.
pinksy's review against another edition
4.0
Ohh this was good! So dark and twisted and almost a bit supernatural.
Narrated by the devil, who tells the story of Hinton Hollow and the sordid underworld of village life.
Part 3 in a series but I didn’t realise and it didn’t seem to be an issue
Narrated by the devil, who tells the story of Hinton Hollow and the sordid underworld of village life.
Part 3 in a series but I didn’t realise and it didn’t seem to be an issue
beytwice's review against another edition
4.0
What a twisty turny unusual ride! Having read Hinton Hollow Death Trip’s predecessor recently too, I am slowly getting the hang of Carver’s unorthodox way of writing. This book in the series definitely leans more into the comfortably conventional thriller zone and I think it struck a nice balance of keeping what Carver does best but not foiling the momentum.
The story is narrated by Evil which I found a refreshing insight (think along a similar vein to The Book Thief in format) and didn’t feel overdone as per the manifesto format in Nothing Important Happened Today. I think this latest addition works well as a stand-alone but I would recommend reading the books in order as some key plot points are referenced in this one. I thought this thriller was extremely well constructed up until the last quarter which I found to be really strong or really weak in equal measure depending on which page I was reading!
Trigger warnings for child and animal deaths do apply, sometimes in quite graphic detail, as well as some mentions of suicide. If any of these are quite sensitive for you I would avoid delving in!
The story is narrated by Evil which I found a refreshing insight (think along a similar vein to The Book Thief in format) and didn’t feel overdone as per the manifesto format in Nothing Important Happened Today. I think this latest addition works well as a stand-alone but I would recommend reading the books in order as some key plot points are referenced in this one. I thought this thriller was extremely well constructed up until the last quarter which I found to be really strong or really weak in equal measure depending on which page I was reading!
Trigger warnings for child and animal deaths do apply, sometimes in quite graphic detail, as well as some mentions of suicide. If any of these are quite sensitive for you I would avoid delving in!
lpotocky's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
mpr2000's review
4.0
I am not sure if you ever read a book by Will Carver, just one advise, be prepared for a different story, were there are no rules or typical plots, expect the unexpected. Ready?
When I start reading one of the Orenda books I normally don’t know what’s the plot, I know that it will be different from the others, original and special, of course this one is not different, mainly because it’s told by the Evil himself…! No jokes, this is a little “adventure” of his life in Earth, not something big, only 5 days in his life and how he completely changed Hinton Hollow. And, as the Evil himself repeats quite often, he doesn’t kill or throw rocks, he only makes a little wave in the human’s thoughts, the actions resulting of it will depend only to them.
This is the third book of the series Detective Sergeant Pace, you can read it as standalone, yes, but this is not a typical series where there’s a case and the detective investigates it, so I would recommend you to start from the beginning, the books are “special” (if you are looking for a word to describe them) something that I am sure you’ve never read before. There are some characters that are part of the story in all of them, but the story is interesting per se, you don’t need to know their connections.
This is not an easy read, it will disturb you and make you re-think the actions and decisions you’ve taken in your life as you start reading, the Evil will let you go away and close the book, you’ll have plenty of time to do it, but once you get hooked to the story you’ll not be able to stop reading, because, who can say no to the Evil? Not me, of course!
Ready for the Hinton Hollow Death Trap?
When I start reading one of the Orenda books I normally don’t know what’s the plot, I know that it will be different from the others, original and special, of course this one is not different, mainly because it’s told by the Evil himself…! No jokes, this is a little “adventure” of his life in Earth, not something big, only 5 days in his life and how he completely changed Hinton Hollow. And, as the Evil himself repeats quite often, he doesn’t kill or throw rocks, he only makes a little wave in the human’s thoughts, the actions resulting of it will depend only to them.
This is the third book of the series Detective Sergeant Pace, you can read it as standalone, yes, but this is not a typical series where there’s a case and the detective investigates it, so I would recommend you to start from the beginning, the books are “special” (if you are looking for a word to describe them) something that I am sure you’ve never read before. There are some characters that are part of the story in all of them, but the story is interesting per se, you don’t need to know their connections.
This is not an easy read, it will disturb you and make you re-think the actions and decisions you’ve taken in your life as you start reading, the Evil will let you go away and close the book, you’ll have plenty of time to do it, but once you get hooked to the story you’ll not be able to stop reading, because, who can say no to the Evil? Not me, of course!
Ready for the Hinton Hollow Death Trap?
thomaswjoyce's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This made for an interesting read, with a very large cast of characters, a troubled main character, and narration from the POV of Evil itself. The main thrust of the story is a mystery centred around the small village of Hinton Hollow, and it is up to city cop DS Pace to solve it, having returned to his hometown with far too much baggage. The characters are great, although sometimes it felt as though there were far too many. The pacing and how the story unravelled was handled very well, and the voices of the characters were compelling, especially the sinister tone of Evil.
sooky's review
4.0
Well, this was weird. But true to Will Carver's style it was utterly fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable. Having Evil as the narrator was certainly not something I came across often, so it was not only entertaining but quite unusual as well.
I'm confused about the ending tho..
I'm confused about the ending tho..