Description
Five days in the history of a small rural town, visited and infected by darkness, are recounted by Evil itself. A stunning high-concept thriller from the author of Good Samaritans.
It’s a small story. A small town with small lives that you would never have heard about if none of this had happened.
Hinton Hollow.
Population 5,120.
Little Henry Wallace was eight years old and one hundred miles from home before anyone talked to him. His mother placed him on a train with a label around his neck, asking for him to be kept safe for a week, kept away from Hinton Hollow.
Because something was coming.
Narrated by Evil itself,Hinton Hollow Death Triprecounts five days in the history of this small rural town, when darkness paid a visit and infected its residents. A visit that made them act in unnatural ways.
Prodding at their insecurities. Nudging at their secrets and desires. Coaxing out the malevolence suppressed within them.
Showing their true selves.
Making them cheat.
Making them steal.
Making them kill.
Detective Sergeant Pace had returned to his childhood home. To escape the things he had done in the city. To go back to something simple.
But he was not alone. Evil had a plan.
Tracey Harriman (verified owner) –
Detective Sergeant Pace has just returned home to Hinton Hollow. He is not alone.
Eight year old Henry Wallace has just left Hinton Hollow. His mother has made sure he is alone.
Five days in a town with a starting population of 5,120. It won’t be the same figure by the time you have finished reading. That’s if you even start reading. You see, there is a warning. Before the story has even begun. To go and do something else. Because this is not a nice story.
This is the third book in the Detective Sergeant Pace series. In the first book, Good Samaritans, he is a pretty minor character. In the second, Nothing Important Happened Today, he is an integral character but it still isn’t his story. In Hinton Hollow Death Trip, well, the story wouldn’t happen without him. Without him, there would be no Evil in Hinton Hollow and without Evil there is no story.
Evil is the narrator of this story. Yes. You read that correctly. An abstract concept tells a human story. It’s weird. It shouldn’t work. But OMG it does! It really does! No writer does dark quite like Carver. Now he’s taken it to a whole new level.
The quiet town of Hinton Hollow has been beset by a crime tidal wave. And it’s Pace’s fault. For Evil has followed him there. Of course Evil doesn’t murder, kidnap or vandalise. But Evil massages, cajoles and inflames the bad thoughts that already exist. It manipulates and teases. A flicker of doubt you may feel then dismiss? Evil won’t let you dismiss. It will allow that feeling to grow. To burn. To take over all rational thought until you can’t not act on it.
I have a great appreciation for Carver’s writing style. Short punchy sentences. No words are wasted, no paragraphs unnecessary. The story is uncomfortable, sinister and utterly compelling.
I feel I should send Will Carver a basket of baby unicorns. I hope that he surrounds himself with happiness every day and that the dark is something he saves to pour onto the pages of his books and not something that he lets into his soul. I’ve said it in previous reviews of Carver’s work…it felt wrong to enjoy this book as much as I did.
We’re nearing the end of 2020 and this is a serious contender for my Book of the Year. It’s not a book to like, but I couldn’t help but love it! I’m now off to read some Enid Blyton for a little cleansing of the soul.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.