Today I’m pleased to be taking part in the blog tour for Hinton Hollow Death Trip. My review is written with thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the tour and Orenda Books for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

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.

Review:

I thought Will Carver could not get any more twisted. I was wrong. In Hinton Hollow Death Trip, he demonstrates his wonderful way with words once again and gave me a lot to think about to boot.

Hinton Hollow Death Trip is narrated by Evil, and whatever this says about me, I ended up being able to really appreciate his point of view. It took me a while to get my head around this, but it’s actually a brilliant idea. It gives Carver the opportunity to show us around inside his characters’ heads; to think about what led them to the point where we see them now, and to ask ourselves what we would do in similar situations. There is also some brilliant dark humour, which made me laugh even when I probably shouldn’t have!

The town of Hinton Hollow is one of those small towns where everyone knows everyone and there is always gossip. We all know of a place like this and Carver recreates it perfectly. The whole novel felt really claustrophobic and I loved the atmosphere that runs from start to finish.

It might not be a conventional novel, but Hinton Hollow Death Trip does have several plots running at the same time. I was intrigued by each one and I wanted to know how each one would be resolved.

Hinton Hollow Death Trip is quite open ended so I will definitely be thinking about this for a while after turning the final page.

Hinton Hollow Death Trip is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: