A review by errantdreams
The Hollower by Mary SanGiovanni

5.0

At first this book seemed a bit mundane, particularly when held up against some of SanGiovanni’s other work, such as Chills, Behind the Door, and especially Thrall. The bad guy is basically just a man with no face, who sometimes whispers frightening things to people. Luckily things pick up, with the Hollower gradually becoming more. We even get a passage told from its point of view, which is surprising, and carried off well. There’s one spot that maintains that it “could be anywhere it wanted, anyone it wanted, at any time.” Unfortunately this kind of begs the question of how anyone could possibly stop it if it wanted to kill someone. But we eventually see snatches of unusual behavior–such as its unwillingness to touch anyone–that make things believable. Eventually SanGiovanni puts the ‘cosmic’ in ‘cosmic horror’, and the world comes apart at the seams.

The characters have a fair amount of depth. Cheryl’s a little borderline, with her giggling and cooing, but luckily there’s a bit more to her than just that. I liked Sean, who is a believably mature eleven without being overly precocious, and Detective DeMarco is probably my favorite character. She’s practical and smart, but knows when it’s time to believe her eyes and her hunches. The pacing is also quite good, ramping up steadily as the book goes on. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy!


Consider my rating a 4.5
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/02/review-the-hollower-mary-sangiovanni/