The Hollow Ones (Blackwood Tapes #1) by Guillermo Del Toro, Chuck Hogan
Hardcover, 326 pages
Published
August 2020
by Grand Central Publishing
A funny aspect of writing about this partnership is how much I have thought about the fame and success of the team writing this book. Guillermo Del Toro is one of the greatest living filmmakers and thus I consider him to be one of the greatest living storytellers period. He is a great director but one thing I have really loved about GDT from my first introduction to him (Devil's Backbone) is that he is a serious writer. Writing is not just a step towards the movie he is a serious storyteller who takes writing seriously.
Chuck Hogan is no slouch a great writer who writes in a different genre, but wildly successful as well. Prince of Thieves is an incredible work of crime fiction. There is a misunderstanding by many that GDT hired Hogan to write these books. There is no doubt that this partnership does work that way. In the Strain trilogy, there were certain parts that felt more Hogan and GDT. As that trilogy went on the blending of voices got more seamless. That blending continues to get smoother.
The Strain trilogy is probably been a little overshadowed by the TV show based on it, but I much more prefer the novels. The show tried to follow the story but it extended the grey area between books one and two for too long and never reached the epic scope of the novels. It appears that this is the first book and I thought maybe the authors were using a similar set structure.
As book one of the Strain, The Hollow Ones is a mystery but unlike that book, I think more of the stage is set here. From the author note, we know that Hogan and GDT wanted to use the name of Hugo Blackwood as a tribute to the influential author Algernon Blackwood who is one of the authors who is considered to be an ingredient in the development of Lovecraft. This is a trick this team has used before when the master in the strain's name was a tip of the hate to PKD Eldritch Palmer.
The Hollow Ones follows a few characters, while our main point of view is Odessa Hardwicke. As the novel progresses a partnership develops with Hugo Blackwood who is not exactly eternal but he has lived a long life and we get flashbacks to the 16th century and the 1960s with Blackwood. From a narrative angle, it is important that we start with Odessa who like the reader is confused by the inciting incident of the book.
Her partner Walt Leppo who she knows as a good man suddenly snaps and Odessa is forced to shoot him in self-defense. The concept he is temporary insanity, what if there was a ghost or unseen monster that was lurking and causing all these incidents of mass murder that seem unexplainable?
I don't personally feel there is anything groundbreaking or mind-bendingly amazing here. This is a good and very solid dark fantasy/horror novel. The thing is this is a year of masterpieces. I am glad I read this, I think serious Guillermo Del Toro fans should read this. I just personally think this year has produced at least 5 horror novels already this year I would make a priority first.
If there is a weakness in this novel it is that Blackwood is a character that we just got a glimpse of. That seems to be on purpose. I assume in later books those details will get filled in. This novel does everything the story needs but I feel the crimes the Hollow Ones create needed more set-up and pay-off to give them more depth. The novel is perfectly 330 pages which are publishing standard these days but it felt this book needed a few more pages to add a little depth to the crimes.
Even though Guillermo Del Toro has won best director he has a mountain of unmade projects and I for one am super glad he is giving us novels as well as films. My only real sadness is that we don't get any of his concept art. You know he has done some. I am down for more Guillermo Del Toro novels with Chuck Hogan or on his own.
They clearly make a good team. I have lots of questions about how they write together and the process. Overall I liked this book. I think Guillermo Del Toro has shown in films like Shape of Water and Devil's Backbone that he can bring the emotional depth. The thing is he also made Pacific Rim as well. That is a movie I like, but it doesn't reach the level of awesomeness we know he is capable of. I like this book but suspect that book two will be more powerful. That is reason enough to read it.
Chuck Hogan is no slouch a great writer who writes in a different genre, but wildly successful as well. Prince of Thieves is an incredible work of crime fiction. There is a misunderstanding by many that GDT hired Hogan to write these books. There is no doubt that this partnership does work that way. In the Strain trilogy, there were certain parts that felt more Hogan and GDT. As that trilogy went on the blending of voices got more seamless. That blending continues to get smoother.
The Strain trilogy is probably been a little overshadowed by the TV show based on it, but I much more prefer the novels. The show tried to follow the story but it extended the grey area between books one and two for too long and never reached the epic scope of the novels. It appears that this is the first book and I thought maybe the authors were using a similar set structure.
As book one of the Strain, The Hollow Ones is a mystery but unlike that book, I think more of the stage is set here. From the author note, we know that Hogan and GDT wanted to use the name of Hugo Blackwood as a tribute to the influential author Algernon Blackwood who is one of the authors who is considered to be an ingredient in the development of Lovecraft. This is a trick this team has used before when the master in the strain's name was a tip of the hate to PKD Eldritch Palmer.
The Hollow Ones follows a few characters, while our main point of view is Odessa Hardwicke. As the novel progresses a partnership develops with Hugo Blackwood who is not exactly eternal but he has lived a long life and we get flashbacks to the 16th century and the 1960s with Blackwood. From a narrative angle, it is important that we start with Odessa who like the reader is confused by the inciting incident of the book.
Her partner Walt Leppo who she knows as a good man suddenly snaps and Odessa is forced to shoot him in self-defense. The concept he is temporary insanity, what if there was a ghost or unseen monster that was lurking and causing all these incidents of mass murder that seem unexplainable?
I don't personally feel there is anything groundbreaking or mind-bendingly amazing here. This is a good and very solid dark fantasy/horror novel. The thing is this is a year of masterpieces. I am glad I read this, I think serious Guillermo Del Toro fans should read this. I just personally think this year has produced at least 5 horror novels already this year I would make a priority first.
If there is a weakness in this novel it is that Blackwood is a character that we just got a glimpse of. That seems to be on purpose. I assume in later books those details will get filled in. This novel does everything the story needs but I feel the crimes the Hollow Ones create needed more set-up and pay-off to give them more depth. The novel is perfectly 330 pages which are publishing standard these days but it felt this book needed a few more pages to add a little depth to the crimes.
Even though Guillermo Del Toro has won best director he has a mountain of unmade projects and I for one am super glad he is giving us novels as well as films. My only real sadness is that we don't get any of his concept art. You know he has done some. I am down for more Guillermo Del Toro novels with Chuck Hogan or on his own.
They clearly make a good team. I have lots of questions about how they write together and the process. Overall I liked this book. I think Guillermo Del Toro has shown in films like Shape of Water and Devil's Backbone that he can bring the emotional depth. The thing is he also made Pacific Rim as well. That is a movie I like, but it doesn't reach the level of awesomeness we know he is capable of. I like this book but suspect that book two will be more powerful. That is reason enough to read it.
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