If there’s anything wrong with The Hollow Places, it’s that it has too many descriptions that contrast the novel against movies. Good horror doesn’t need anyone to die to generate fear because it’s happening to people audiences care about. Bad horror kills forgettable characters in increasingly brutal ways. What’s better yet is Kingfisher’s excellent characterization of both Carrot and Simon means that readers actually care what happens to them. That tonal shift helps The Hollow Places to put viewers into this new world. So they think I’m probably a chimera and ate my twin in the womb and it’s actually her left eye.” That feeling of whimsy, much of it generated by Carrot’s excellent voice, comes to a dead stop once they pass through the portal. Turns out my left eye’s got some rare form of color blindness that only women get. Carrot hilariously catalogues the “Glory to God Museum of Natural Wonders, Curiosities and Taxidermy” before introducing us to the rest of the businesses on the street, such as “The boutique clothing store goes out of business approximately once a year, whereupon someone buys it, changes out the name and the scented candles, and proceeds to gently lose money for another year.” When she meets Sam, he’s quick to inform her, “Oh, you haven’t been around for a while! Yeah.

As they move through this world, Kingfisher shifts the tone, which she has great control over throughout. Carrot and Simon find mysterious writing on the wall saying “Pray they are hungry,” and a Bible from a different universe (which calls to mind the extradimensional Bible in Helen Phillip’s excellent 2019 novel The Need ) long before they realize they are being hunted. The way Kingfisher builds up her monsters before they appear on the page is one of The Hollow Place ’s strengths.

The hollow places by t kingfisher