Published in ebook 12th June 2020 and 13th August in paperback from Orenda Books.
Read August 2020.
Things in the small town of Hinton Hollow, population 5,120, are about to go seriously awry...
It all starts with a boy put on a train by his mother, in an attempt to keep him safe from the something that is about to visit this small town.
That something is Evil, who is travelling in the wake of DS Pace as he returns to his childhood home in search refuge from the terrible events that haunt him.
Unfortunately, Evil has a plan to occupy the attentions of DS Pace and the next five days are about to have very little to do with rest and relaxation.
Hinton Hollow is abut to become famous for the worst of reasons....
**********************************************
This is the kind of book that is very difficult to review, because it follows the darkest of paths and it quite simply, is not going to be for everyone - although to be fair Will Carver goes to great lengths to let us know this is not going to be a hearts and flowers, happy ending kind of story from the start.
DS Pace is a troubled man, who is bogged down with the weight of his past deeds... and misdeeds. He seems to have been chosen by the personification of Evil to follow a dark and tortured star, and you know from the outset that very bad things are going to happen in Hinton Hollow on his return.... and happen they do. Events in this small town take on a wicked momentum with the arrival of Pace and his shadowy companion, and as Evil's plan unfolds the inhabitants are forced to dance to his dastardly tune.
The action plays out in an unusual and rather original way, as a series of vignettes interspersed with the sardonic and philosophical narration of Evil himself, and we actually get to know him and his way of thinking pretty well over the course of the book. In fact, he is rather likeable in a strange way, unlike the inhabitants of Hinton Hollow, and you almost find yourself agreeing that they had it coming simply because they could have chosen to live good lives if they had really wanted to.
Coming in cold to the trials and tribulations of DS Pace, as I have by not having read the first two books (yet!), I am still not sure what to make of this unsettling tale. It is as disjointed and shocking as the twitching corpse of an RTA casualty - and yet, it is also a darkly compelling exercise in human frailty. Our tale may be narrated and the action directed by Evil himself, and yet it only takes for him to nudge the characters, sometimes with the very lightest of touches, to awaken their basest instincts and force them off the straight and narrow onto a course of action that leads to a downward spiral into depravity, murder and mayhem - it's strangely voyeuristic.
There is also something quite unnerving about the implication that the bar of what is now considered "good" in this day and age has been set so low that it does not take much to nudge even so called upstanding citizens towards the dark side, that will stay with me for a long time.
Be in no doubt, this is a chiller of a book, and parts of it are so disturbing that they are hard to read - think the combination of the insidious menace and violent happenings of a Stephen King tale and you will get the picture. If this is not your bag, then you should pass this one by, but if you are up for something quite original and discomfiting that will challenge your view of what can be done with a crime fiction tale then Will Carver's Hinton Hollow Death Trip should definitely be on your to-be-read pile.
Hinton Hollow Death Trip is now available to buy from your favourite book retailer in paperback, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Will Carver and Orenda Books for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
From the cover of the book:
DS Pace is a troubled man, who is bogged down with the weight of his past deeds... and misdeeds. He seems to have been chosen by the personification of Evil to follow a dark and tortured star, and you know from the outset that very bad things are going to happen in Hinton Hollow on his return.... and happen they do. Events in this small town take on a wicked momentum with the arrival of Pace and his shadowy companion, and as Evil's plan unfolds the inhabitants are forced to dance to his dastardly tune.
The action plays out in an unusual and rather original way, as a series of vignettes interspersed with the sardonic and philosophical narration of Evil himself, and we actually get to know him and his way of thinking pretty well over the course of the book. In fact, he is rather likeable in a strange way, unlike the inhabitants of Hinton Hollow, and you almost find yourself agreeing that they had it coming simply because they could have chosen to live good lives if they had really wanted to.
Coming in cold to the trials and tribulations of DS Pace, as I have by not having read the first two books (yet!), I am still not sure what to make of this unsettling tale. It is as disjointed and shocking as the twitching corpse of an RTA casualty - and yet, it is also a darkly compelling exercise in human frailty. Our tale may be narrated and the action directed by Evil himself, and yet it only takes for him to nudge the characters, sometimes with the very lightest of touches, to awaken their basest instincts and force them off the straight and narrow onto a course of action that leads to a downward spiral into depravity, murder and mayhem - it's strangely voyeuristic.
There is also something quite unnerving about the implication that the bar of what is now considered "good" in this day and age has been set so low that it does not take much to nudge even so called upstanding citizens towards the dark side, that will stay with me for a long time.
Be in no doubt, this is a chiller of a book, and parts of it are so disturbing that they are hard to read - think the combination of the insidious menace and violent happenings of a Stephen King tale and you will get the picture. If this is not your bag, then you should pass this one by, but if you are up for something quite original and discomfiting that will challenge your view of what can be done with a crime fiction tale then Will Carver's Hinton Hollow Death Trip should definitely be on your to-be-read pile.
Hinton Hollow Death Trip is now available to buy from your favourite book retailer in paperback, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Will Carver and Orenda Books for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
From the cover of the book:
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 Trip recounts 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.
About the author:
He spent his early years in Germany, but returned to the UK at age eleven, when his sporting career took off. He turned down a professional rugby contract to study theatre and television at King Alfred’s, Winchester, where he set up a successful theatre company.
He currently runs his own fitness and nutrition company, and lives in Reading with his two children.
Good Samaritans (DS Pace Book One) was book of the year in Guardian, Telegraph and Daily Express, and hit number one on the ebook charts.
No comments:
Post a Comment