Thanks to Angry Robot and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Daniel Church's 'The Hollows.'

This is a terrifically enjoyable mixture of English folk- horror, cosmic, and Lovecraftian horror. If you like Ramsay Campbell, especially, or James Brogden 'The Hollows' will really resonate with you.

Set in a depths-of-winter Derbyshire village and surrounds we're treated to the very early introduction of the aforementioned Lovecraftian monsters as a slightly fish-out-of-water policewoman investigates the death of a local troublemaker. It unfolds from there and we're introduced to a really great cast of main and supporting characters.

The horror and terror unfolds over just a few pre-Christmas days as an ancient horror begins to seep out of the earth to wreak its periodic havoc on the inhabitants of the area.

Many of the village characters you'd expect to find are here - the bobby, the doctor, the clergy, the shopkeeper, the despicable businessman, and the outsider farmers - but they're all so well done and updated from the stock characters you might expect that it all feels very fresh even though it's a treading fairly well-worn path. It's really well-paced and I found myself ripping through it with glee.

I don't know how he would do it given the nature of this story but I'd love to encounter these characters again in a future novel from this author.

Well done to Daniel Churchman, I loved it.

A truly creepy "creature feature" from Daniel Church - A small village cut off in winter where something evil lurks

The setting is descriptively chilling and the fear factor is high as an eclectic group of characters band together to survive the darkness.

The underlying tension stalks the reader throughout and it is both scary and entertaining.

Great writing and a modern take on classic horror, The Hollows is well worth a read if you are a fan of the genre. Great stuff.

DNF at 42%.

The book seems well-written and well-thought-out. Unfortunately, I can't connect it and started to feel like forcing myself to finish it. I decided to DNF it for now, but I want to emphasize it's the case of "It's me, not you" DNF :)

Thanks to the publisher for giving me the possibility to try it. I may give it another try soon.

I really enjoyed this book. I don’t tend to go for horrors as I mainly read at night. But I made an exception for this one and I’m glad I did. It was exciting. Very well written. The plot was great. Highly recommend