The Hallows

A winter folk-horror set in the Peak District? Sign me up, yes please! This is exactly the type of book that I'm drawn to right now. Something which speaks of things forgotten, something that terrorises communities isolated, something that speaks to the cold, of darkness, of winter.

'The Hollows' is set in a large-ish village called Barstall in the Peak District (I say large-ish because it's got a co-op!) deep in December. The snow is falling heavily and whilst some travel around the area is possible, a storm comes in and essentially makes the village impassable. For a few days they are going to be on their own, but it's okay because in Barstall, folk are used to helping each other out. A police officer, Ellie Cheetham gets a call to investigate the discovery of a body of a local drunk and violent thug who has been found frozen to death in the snow near his home with strange charcoal markings nearby.

I should get this out of the way. When I think about the book there are quite a few little things that bug me and I'll probably mention them in this review, but they are overshadowed by what this book does well. For most of the book a subtle sense of horror and isolation is created. The book moves at quite a fast pace, and I think I always wanted to read more to find out what happened next, and I did get to the end quite quickly. Although I do think the book is longer than it needs to be, I didn't necessarily feel like I was reading a long book and I found I read this one pretty quickly. There's enough in every chapter to keep you interested and something to discover.

The early part of the book confused me a little bit because it read very much like a crime novel. The hint of the occult, or supernatural, or horror was kept way at bay. At first it bugged me a little because I was expecting something else, but as the novel grew I found I appreciated this approach. The reader goes through a similar experience to the central character. She thinks she's in a murder mystery to an extent until she realises she is not, and I like the way we are tricked too. Church tells you to ignore the back cover, you're in a crime novel, before getting under your skin and telling you that things have changed.

The first half of the book is excellent and we learn of the folkloric horrors that are terrorising the populace. When they are unseen they are incredibly evocative and quite creepy. I'd say Church leans on horror tropes quite a lot, but he does them well. We feel what the characters feel. That there is no place to go, that darkness is coming, that you cannot escape and will die horribly. In this first half of the novel as we learn more of the 'Tatterskin' our minds fill gaps, trying to understand what they are, we feel scared and alone.

This sense of isolation, again has worked so many times in horror fiction but Church gets this vibe just right. You can feel the cold, you can feel the isolation. You know the big cities of Manchester and Derby are not far away but you may as well be on the moon (I have to say the Peak District and Pennines are great settings for horror - close to cities but really so far away). You are reminded repeatedly that the people of Barstall are alone, that they are defenceless and that they face impossible odds with no escape.

The characterisation in the novel is a little mixed. A lot of the villager characters are a little too resourceful for my liking, a little too competent outside what I'd consider their comfort zone. I have read people not liking the 'stereotypical villains in the village'. In my view I thought they were great. They lived by their own code and rules. They are definitely not sympathetic, but I think they are relatable, and in rural communities that have become middle class commuter villages they are a reminder of older ways, being distrustful of outsiders and a threat. The descriptions of their home, and the descriptions of the abusive patterns family members face and inflict are unfortunately accurate and are uncomfortable to read (the biggest monster in the book isn't the flesh ripping creatures of the night, it's a bloke called Paul). Maybe it's what you know but I found these more realistic than I'd care for.

My main niggles of the book are interrelated. First the lore of what is happening and why. Church really could have laid on how this is generational, how it has a long history and given us more in the things people say and do. We needed a few old timers to tell us things. Instead, the lore goes deeper than it needs to, and moves from 'something strange at night' to something grander in scale. That took me out of the novel a little because 'village threatening local mystery' is better than end of days scenarios. This also leads onto a number of characters exploring their faith and I couldn't help but feel I was reading a 'Jesus saves the world' book at times (I've been burnt out on book recommendations that do this before). The next thing, is that because the book gives us a whole new level of layers to the story I think the book peaks to early, at about half way through. Then gives us another high, and another, and another. By the time I reached the third, 'you thought this was bad, well this is coming' I felt a little worn out, a little tired of it, and sadly towards the end I was looking forward to it ending and not caring about the book or the bigger picture.

Another minor niggle is the incidence of police dark humour and wisecracking. It kind of breaks the tone in quite a jarring way and it does shift the mood, in ways that took me out of the moment. I think if the novel had maintained it's sense of peril, kept it's scope smaller and restrained the bigger picture this novel would have been great.

Definitely worth a read and enjoyable as the weather slowly warms up!