Dark Hollows by Steve Frech

 

I received Dark Hollows by Steve Frech from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I rated Dark Hollows 3 out of 5 pages.

In Dark Hollows, the reader is introduced to Jacob Reese, a simple soul, running a coffee shop and renting out a quaint cottage in The Hollows, Vermont with his best bud, a rescue dog named Murphy.

Everything goes swimmingly for Jacob until he rents his cottage to the wrong mysterious person, a person with a vendetta, a person from Jacob’s past that Jacob swore for a fact was long gone. Jacob is forced to relive his past and hunt down this person and their masked identity while rushing against the clock. In doing so, Jacob’s whole world begins to crumble, and he is forced to resort to his old ways to exact revenge on the person who is turning his life upside down.

This book was just so-so in my opinion. The characters were developed, and their backstories were intriguing, but I felt the book fell short when it came to the buildup to the main showdown between Jacob and this mysterious person. I found myself wishing we could just get the point instead of the exacerbated points made such as who wins the Halloween costume contest every year and the banter between Jacob and townspeople at this point. A lot of details could have been left out in my opinion.

Further, when the big reveal happened, it wasn’t as climatic as I imagined. It was surely not something the reader would possibly guess, which was refreshing, however I expected something more intense, more dramatic. It paled in comparison to the hell that Jacob was going through. I did, however, appreciate the ending and Jacob’s decision or non-decision. It was the perfect fit for this book to end on those terms.

Overall, this book just left me wanting more, more action, more intensity. It felt all too belabored which I think took away from the overall angle the author was working towards. I can’t say I wouldn’t recommend this book but I can’t say I would either. It’s worth the read if you’re bored and looking for something to just fill a book void but not something I would recommend rushing out to read because you need to have it.