Book Review: The Hollow (Jessica Verday)

When Abbey's best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quick to accept that Kristen is dead?and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone. Then she meets Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral, and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again...but also special.

Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? And could this secret have led to her death? As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen's betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her—one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian, as well as her own sanity.

I have never quite read a book that drove me to tears and chilled me to the bones from beginning to end. The Hollow is one such book, and it is definitely my type of read. Jessica Verday effortlessly combines the mind-numbing emotions of mourning the loss of a loved one with a spine-tingling mystery that once unveiled, would sure be a shocker that I could not help but be entirely fascinated by this book.

What I found most remarkable about The Hollow is how the narration perfectly captures the numbness of grief. Abbey's mourning of Kristen's sudden disappearance seems so real; her longing is palpable and tangible in her voice. I felt that the book, the beginning especially, reflects just how blank and how numb one bereaved can be. While reading I was transported into seeing everything in Abbey's perspective, including the dragging of days, each pitiful stare, and that gut-wrenching pain of emptiness inside...it was enough to make anyone cry. Wonderfully captured - I can only praise the author for this.

I believe the pace of this novel may appear slow and tedious to some. Personally however, I thought it exhibits the author's sensitivity to small details that would or might be later relevant, as well as her careful  setting of the romance. With such intense emotions involved the slow pace helped in allowing the reader to reflect, and ultimately makes the reading experience much more engaging.

The intensity of the emotions in The Hollow is but one part of the novel; the other, the one that scared me half to death rests well with its backdrop of the town of Sleepy Hollow, the notorious setting for Washington Irving's 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'. Having said that, the novel contains and revolves much on this - I have not read it but found no difficulty following the plot. From both this elements spring an unlikely romance between Abbey and Caspian - a romance with such an unlikely twist I was floored. The addictive romance - and the possibility of another with a secondary character - creates such a wonderful blend.

In terms of characterisation, Abbey was mostly the sole focus of the novel. Again, it is the writing that reflects the characters; Caspian is charactertised by his mysteriousness and distanced approach while Abbey is drawn by her grief and penchant for making perfumes. The secondary characters I felt were not properly developed. However, I did not mind this at all considering the complexity of the twists and turns in the plot. I believe that with simple characterisation, Jessica has given the twist more focus and attention - hence the overall result is not crowded and suffocating.

The resolution sealed the deal for me. The mystery took me completely off-guard, and although I have thought about it as a possible twist, I was still in disbelief by the end of the book. The resolution was duely believable, leaving just enough unanswered questions so as to make me want to read the sequel without making it appear like a cliffhanger.

There are questions, I believe, that will arise at the resolution. However, I felt that The Hollow comes close to a tale that will last long - it is open-ended, with just the right amount of mystery and emotions - not to mention symbolisms and literary devices - to remind me of a classic.

I believe I did not give this book justice with this review. It's a haunting tale with ripe, intense emotions to lift it to a pedestal. A must-read.

Five stars.