Review--House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

 

Seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow has always been strange. Something happened to her and her two older sisters when they were children, something they can’t quite remember but that left each of them with an identical half-moon scar at the base of their throats.

Iris has spent most of her teenage years trying to avoid the weirdness that sticks to her like tar. But when her eldest sister, Grey, goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Iris learns just how weird her life can get: horned men start shadowing her, a corpse falls out of her sister’s ceiling, and ugly, impossible memories start to twist their way to the forefront of her mind.

As Iris retraces Grey’s last known footsteps and follows the increasingly bizarre trail of breadcrumbs she left behind, it becomes apparent that the only way to save her sister is to decipher the mystery of what happened to them as children.

The closer Iris gets to the truth, the closer she comes to understanding that the answer is dark and dangerous – and that Grey has been keeping a terrible secret from her for years.

 

Krystal Sutherland's House of Hollow was a mysterious and eerie read! I was eager to continue my spooky reads marathon and while I wouldn't necessarily call this book spooky, it was definitely chilling and down right weird in its mysteriousness--which still pretty much fit the bill for my Halloween readathon!

When Iris was young, she and her sisters, Grey and Vivi, disappeared. They don't remember what happened or where they went. Then a month later, they were found with no memory whatsoever. It was the miracle their parents were hoping for. But life for Iris has been difficult ever since. Growing up she realized she and her sisters were not quite normal. Plenty of bizarre things had happened along the years. Then one day, her oldest sister Grey moved out and Vivi was soon to follow.

Now Grey is a supermodel while her other older sister, Vivi is a rockstar. Both live in the limelight while Iris tries not to draw attention to herself. Then one day Vivi comes into town for a visit and a show and Grey was to join them as well while in the middle of one of her fashion show tours, but Grey never shows up and Iris soon suspects something is very, very wrong.

Iris thinks something terrible has happened to Grey, possibly kidnapped. She and her sister Vivi try to look for clues that could tell them of her whereabouts. Iris starts to see a mysterious figure as well. A terrifying man wearing a bull-like skull mask seems to be stalking her as she sees him quite frequently. Finding Grey becomes her top priority after seeing this man/creature.

The premise of this story was very intriguing indeed! Girls going missing and returning out of the blue and then years later, history seems to be repeating itself with one of them. Having read an abundance of paranormal and fantasy reads over the years, I soon came to the idea that this was a book involving the fae or faeries. The dangerous kind we all know about and sometimes love! Lol. But this is definitely a tale involving the more sinister and dangerous type, the ones you don't want to ever come across!

The mystery within the story was done very well! I was immediately hooked into it wanting to know where Grey was and how it eventually tied into what happened to them as children because that idea remained ever present. The pacing to this was done just right with feeding us little bits of information at at time, enough that leaves a trail of breadcrumbs for Iris and Vivi to follow.

The tone of this one felt a little dark, given the subject manner it was very fitting. There was always a chill to the air that you could feel. Also, it takes place in London, so you can pretty much feel those foggy nights! It was very atmospheric and I loved how Sutherland executed her descriptions! The plot was a very fast moving kind and I was hooked right away into this story and never wanted to put it down...but alas, I did have to work this week!

The ending was positively mind-blowing! I did start to make my own speculations on some of the going-ons and it was satisfying to find that I was right in some aspects! House of Hollow was a most eerie read indeed with just the right amount of spooky. It's not a horror fest kind of novel, but if you know anything about the fae, you know they can be terrifying in their own right! That mysterious kind of horror is what you can expect to find in this chilling read that is perfect for the Halloween season!

Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars