REVIEW: ‘The Hollow Ones’ by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
Image courtesy of Grand Central Publishing / Provided by official site.
The Hollow Ones, the new book by Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, has a subtitle that comes in the form of a promise: The Blackwood Tapes Vol. 1. After reading this taut, fast-paced thriller, that expectation of a second volume is good news, indeed.
Del Toro and Hogan, who also brought readers The Strain horror trilogy, have crafted an intricately woven narrative that jumps around in time and features several compelling characters. The plot definitely is unique, and its uniqueness can cause some head-scratching in the first few pages. But once the major players are accounted for and the story kicks into high gear, the suspense and the action drive the reader deeper into these pages, all the way to a satisfying conclusion.
Odessa Hardwicke, an FBI agent, is the protagonist of this strange, strange tale. She’s relatively new to the job, but hoping to build a life for herself, perhaps alongside her boyfriend in their New Jersey home near the Newark field office. But then her plans are ditched when she’s involved in a shooting following a massacre scene in a house in Montclair, New Jersey. At the end of the scene, Odessa finds herself holding the smoking gun and her partner, Walt Leppo, is on the ground — and he’s dead. The justification for the killing? Odessa saw her partner about to attack the lone survivor of the massacre they were responding to — and this survivor was a young girl.
This complicated scenario in the opening pages takes some getting used to, and definitely a good deal of time to digest. One tip to the reader: Don’t get caught up in the circumstances of the crime and the political backstory that drove Odessa and Walt to the Montclair home in the first place. Those details actually don’t matter too much. The real focal point should be on why Walt went after a child, and what the repercussions might be for Odessa after killing her much beloved partner in the line of duty.
To find some of these answers, Odessa opens up a secret investigation of her own, all while she’s on desk duty at the New York FBI office. This part of the book, which takes the events from the natural to the supernatural, is riveting, even if Odessa’s first connection to Earl Solomon, a much older FBI agent feels too coincidental. There’s a necessary suspension of disbelief to appreciate how they get to know each other.
Eventually, after the suggestion of this other agent, Odessa is paired with a mysterious figure known as Hugo Blackwood, the character who lends his name to the subtitle of the book. He’s a cool dude, a Sherlock Holmes to Odessa’s Watson. Together they pool their efforts and their skills to determine what happened back at that Montclair house and what might be coming around the corner for both themselves and the world at large.
As an exercise in plotting and suspense, The Hollow Ones succeeds on all fronts. These 300-plus pages can be ticked off quite quickly because there’s an urgency to find out what’s up with Blackwood and why this indiscriminate violence has occurred (and may occur again). The authors are also careful with scenes that take place in the past, including in the southern part of the United States during the time of segregation and the civil rights movement. It’s difficult, controversial content they describe, including a divide along racial lines in a small town and the actions of a white supremacist group, but they write these chapters with care. And ultimately these passages help the reader better understand Earl, a pivotal character who in the past is the only Black FBI agent on an unusual investigation and in the present day is handing off a symbolic baton to Odessa, even if she doesn’t quite realize it.
If the reader goes fast enough, any furrowed brows about plausibility and convenience can easily be forgotten (even missed). Instead, zero in on the details the authors use to describe New Jersey (this reviewer is a resident, and they get it right), and see how they are able to fluctuate between time periods and settings with such ease. Del Toro and Hogan should be commended for creating what promises to be a multi-volume examination of supernatural evil, with sporadic commentaries about real evil as well.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Hollow Ones: The Blackwood Tapes Vol. 1 by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Grand Central Publishing. 416 pages. $30. Click here for more information.
