 An unexplained series of violent murders perplexes a rookie FBI agent I was absolutely thrilled to discover that Mexican filmmaker extraordinaire Guillermo del Doro was reuniting with Chuck Hogan for a new series of books, which kicks off with The Hollow Ones. Between 2009-2011 (was it so long ago?) the pair co-authored the outstanding vampire trilogy The Strain, which was later turned into a TV series. If you like fast paced vampire action, which begins with a single infection and, which over three books lead to an incredibly apocalyptic vision, it is very hard to beat. If you have never tried The Strain, the three books can be virtually read as a single novel and is an intense experience. Hogan seems to have been relatively quiet since The Strain, whilst Guillermo del Toro has co-authored other works with two distinguished YA writers Daniel Kraus (Trollhunters) and Cornelia Funke for an unnecessary novelisation of his most famous film Pan’s Labyrinth (The Labyrinth of the Faun). Was any need for a YA(ish) version of Pan’s Labyrinth fifteen years after the film? Probably not. However, it probably reads better to those who have never heard of the original flick, as if you have seen the film the book is rather redundant. The Hollow Ones is an interesting collaboration and a distinct change of direction from The Strain, in that it lacks the pace, action, and apocalypse of the earlier work. However, it is very nice to see the pair produce something fresh which does not retreat to familiar ground. Although I enjoyed the novel, I could not help thinking of a moderately successful 1987 science fiction film which aspects of the plot are strikingly similar to, simply switch the science fiction element for the supernatural and you have the same thing. It is surely a coincidence as nobody has a monopoly on such plotlines but revealing the name of the film would be a major spoiler! The action begins in present day New Jersey with two FBI agents, Odessa and Leppo, who are called to a violent incident in a house which in the aftermath of, the veteran detective inexplicitly goes berserk and the much younger Odessa has to shoot and kill him. There is absolutely no reason for this moment of madness and in the fallout Odessa is confined to a desk, with an air of suspicion hanging over her, and her career in the FBI both in taggers and hanging by a thread. However, another element of the tragedy makes her very uncomfortable which she keeps to herself; she believes she saw a shadowy smoky presence leave her partner’s body the moment she fired the fatal shot. Odessa is then given a dead-end assignment, clearing out the belongings of a long since retired agent who seems to have had an office cupboard that the agency has forgot existed. At this point I could not held feeling a serious Mulder and Scully vibe, with the X-Files similarly being dumped into an office as far off the beaten track as possible. Odessa tracks down the former agent, Earl Solomon, who although he is very elderly and bedbound in a hospital, she warms to. Solomon becomes an important part of the plot as the action flashes back to 1962, the Mississippi Delta region, to when he was a rookie agent. The fact that Solomon is black is crucial to the story, there were relatively few black agents in the FBI during that period, and even fewer in the Deep South of America, where segregation and racial tensions are convincingly portrayed. There is also a code of silence; whatever you do, do not talk to the police and the threat of violence is always in the air. I am not going to enter into the specifics of the mystery which connects Odessa and Solomon, except that the retired agent tells Odessa to contact a man called John Blackwood by dropping a letter in a non-descript letterbox and, surprise, surprise, when she gets home this guy (as if by magic) is sitting in her house waiting for her. I found this sequence akin to something you might find in a Harry Potter or other kid’s fantasy story and rather twee for an adult horror novel. However, Blackwood was obviously a guy from a different time and place, and he bounced off Odessa well, they never quite became a ‘buddy’ partnership, but their clash of styles and mannerisms was entertaining. There are various other flashbacks to London in 1582, which fill in the back stories around Blackwood, this takes in real historical character John Dee, who was very influential in the court of Queen Elizabeth I and experimented with alchemy and other dodgy types of magic and mysticism. The crux of the story revolves around events which happened in 1582 and vibrate through time until 2020 sucking in both FBI agents in 1962 and 2020. It is great how some of it pieces together, with stylish writing and entertaining set pieces which clash and contrast the supernatural with the modern world of 2020. Although The Hollow Ones had three well developed story strands, ultimately the individual parts were more interesting than what they morph into, which was slightly old hat and many readers are sure to feel they have been here before. The press material implies this is the start of a series and if it is to be successful I would suggest Odessa and Blackwood are given stronger ‘cases’ to investigate so that they do not come across as a poor man’s Mulder and Scully or Charlie Parker. It will be interested to see whether the authors follow the John Connolly (Charlie Parker) route in which supernatural themes are subtlety merged into their detective novels. From the way The Hollow Ones is presented, this is probably a certainly, but Connolly sets the bar exceptionally high and del Toro and Hogan will need to pick up momentum in the follow-up. It will be interesting to see which direction the series takes (and whether the hyper-busy del Toro has time for it in his busy schedule). However, in long running series, Connolly included, it takes time to develop characters with the reader growing into them, which hopefully will be the case with The Hollow Ones as events move on. A convincing opening entry, but I suspect there is better still to come. Review by Tony Jones  A horrific crime that defies ordinary explanation. A rookie FBI agent in dangerous, uncharted territory. An extraordinary hero for the ages. Odessa's life is derailed when she's forced to turn her gun on her partner, who turns suddenly, inexplicably violent while apprehending a rampaging murderer. The shooting, justified by self-defence, shakes Odessa to her core and she is placed on desk leave pending a full investigation. But what most troubles her isn’t the tragedy itself – it’s the shadowy presence she thought she saw fleeing the deceased agent’s body after his death. Questioning her future with the FBI and her sanity, Odessa accepts a low-level assignment to clear out the belongings of a retired agent in the New York office. What she finds there will put her on the trail of a mysterious figure named John Blackwood, a man of enormous means who claims to have been alive for centuries. What he tells her could mean he’s an unhinged lunatic. That, or he’s humanity’s best and only defence against an unspeakable evil that could corrupt even the best of us . . .   the heart and soul of horror fiction review websitesComments are closed.
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