On the Other Side of the Wall... There Lurks Some Scary Stuff! (The Hollow Places sci-fi/horror book Review)

Something that every good storyteller knows: a great story doesn’t need flash, sex, an exotic location, a hot hero, or any other element obviously thrown in to grab the audience’s attention… such things are far better used as a dash of pink Himalayan salt, rather than a heavy pour from the navy blue Morton’s canister. (Sure, they can be a lot of fun, but feel pretty one-note in a hurry, if relied upon to be the meat of any story.)

No, what a great story actually needs is something the audience can really relate to, on a personal level… and generally, that isn’t anything very fancy, at all.

So let’s just do the whole TL;DR bit right up front, and say that T. Kingfisher’s The Hollow Places absolutely NAILS some damn fine story-telling, okay?

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Kara—a thirtyish (give or take) gal—is as “regular” as they come: she’s been married for several years, but finds herself recently (surprise!) divorced (her ex-hubby’s decision), out of home (she let him keep the house) and struggling (self-employed as a graphic designer, but not attached to any big design firm, so… yeah, times are tough). [A LOT of us have been there, amiright?]

So, when the uncle she’s incredibly fond of—Uncle Earl, proud proprietor of the fantastic “Glory to God Museum of Natural Wonders, Curiosities, and Taxidermy” (are you hooked right there? because, honestly, I sure was)—reaches out and offers a part-time job (helping him with his life’s work, that two-story-hotbed-of-oddities) with bed-and-board (because frankly, he hasn’t been doing so hot and could use some assistance), Kara jumps at the chance to flee to… picturesque (fine, depends on your standards, that) Hog Chapel, North Carolina… teeny-tiny podunk town (with an insanely-hilarious moniker).

And, everything is pretty good, for a spell. Kara (or “Carrot”, to Uncle Earl) spends her days monitoring the museum—mostly, selling t-shirts and other gewgaws to tourists, and cataloguing the (never-before-catalogued) oddities so that her uncle (and, probably, his insurance company) might finally, someday, know precisely what items have found a home under his roof.

When Uncle Earl’s bad knees finally give out (for good), though—necessitating his traveling to “the big city” (Charlotte) for surgery…and leaving the GtGMoNWCaT in Kara’s hands—well, that’s when things start happening.

It all kicks off innocuously enough, when she finds a big hole, one night, in the drywall (no doubt accidentally caved in by some careless tourist’s graceless stumble). Enlisting the aid of her new friend/next-door neighbor—Simon, the delightfully-flamboyant (also-escaping-reality-by-moving-to-podunk) barista, who provides her with gratis cups-of-joe every day—she endeavors to figure out how to cheaply repair the big gaping hole in one of the museum’s upstairs walls.

The thing is, once they take a closer look at it, there’s obviously something more to it than just a hole; this hole has… extra space, and seems to continue far beyond your everyday… well, literal hole-in-the-wall.

So, our intrepid duo investigate… as you do, when unexpected things suddenly appear. They step through the hole, and find themselves… okay, in a narrow, dark hallway, or sorts. (But, seriously, that in itself is weird enough; this is an upstairs room, not a basement, so there shouldn’t be any surprise hallways or caverns or whatnots.) 

And what they find… oooh, well, What. They. Find.(!!) It isn’t just joists and dust bunnies and insulation and a squirrel carcass or two, in there… no, it’s a friggin’ bunker… complete with the (stomach-clenching) words “Pray They Are Hungry”, etched on one of the walls.

Well, you KNOW they can’t just leave it at that, right?? I mean, pray who is hungry? And, hungry for what?? 

If any place on earth is gonna have cryptic messages from… well, someone… (from another world? reality? alternate universe?), it’s gonna be the Glory to God Museum, now, isn’t it? 

But the real question is… how do a couple of very normal (like, by otherworldly standards) humans, living in a podunk town, deal with such things? It’s only—you know—the Fate of the Entire Universe (as We Know It), at stake, here…
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T. Kingfisher (or Ursula Vernon, as she’s probably more-commonly known) is clearly a storyteller… because she reels off a heckuva fine tale in The Hollow Places. 

This one hits all the notes: Kara (or Carrot, lol) is a more-than-worthy heroine… an everywoman (or do we now have to say “everyperson”?) who is entirely relatable, and likable, to boot. Her compadre-in-terror, Simon (the barista, who, as a Floridian, has a history such that perhaps only other folks from Florida can possibly hope to boast—or deny) makes for a fine foil/partner-in-crime… the sort I really hope I find myself nearby if I’m ever faced with similar circumstances. Uncle Earl… well, if the religious side of my family also had a measure of crazy-fun, they might dream of being as delightful as him.

But let’s not forget the worlds—yes, plural—that Kingfisher creates, because there are definitely two, here. No, I’m not talking about the “regular”, mundane one that all of us—Kara, included—inhabit; rather, there’s the world inside the museum (and trust me, you need to read the book to get a handle on that ball o’ crazypants), as well as… well, the other world(s), just on the other side of that gaping hole in the wall. (Not-a-spoiler: You do NOT want to find yourself in that/those worlds, ‘kay?)

How it all shakes out—because, I mean, you already know it does, somehow, right?—is where all the fun lies. Also, all the scaries, because yep, this one is chock-full o’ scary stuff (that feels all-too-real, believe you me).

A Halloween treat, you ask? Why yes, there’s no trick here… but most definitely, quite a treat. Hope you enjoy The Hollow Places as much as I did. :)

~GlamKitty