Brian Keene’s Dark Hollow (originally published on my blog, jonathanjanz.com (http://jonathanjanz.com/2011/12/03/br...)I read for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is to learn how other writers work their magic. But if I were to divorce the writer part of me from the reader part of me—something I could never completely do in a non-hypothetical world—I’d say that there are three things I want from a story:It should make me think.It should make me feel.It should entertain me.The above demands aren’t necessarily listed in order, nor are they isolated circles on a Venn diagram. No, they’d overlap and crash into each another and enhance one another and all that crap, but for now, let’s separate them for the sake of Keene’s novel. And if you somehow jumped into this post without reading the title, we’re talking about Brian Keene’s Dark Hollow today (sometimes called The Rutting Season).Despite being the only living horror writer who has never met or corresponded with Brian Keene, I’m becoming a huge fan of his. Most folks have been reading him for a decade or so, but I only got into his stuff in the past couple of years. I realize I’m late to the party, but that’s alright by me—I’ve always been a late bloomer. So why do I like him?One word: hoodies.Okay, so his proclivity for eighties heavy metal aside, let me share a few other reasons. To begin with, he’s an incredible writer. Secondly, he works as hard as anyone to do right by his fans. A third reason is that he says stuff like this. And if all that isn’t enough, did I mention that he sometimes hangs out at my favorite horror forum?So let’s talk a little about Dark Hollow, keeping in mind the three things I want from the books I read.It should make me think: If you’ve ever read Keene, you know he pulls off the delicate balancing act of respecting those authors who have come before him without ever aping them. That’s quite a feat. In Dark Hollow it becomes apparent very early on (as early as the opening epigraph) that Keene knows he’s treading where guys like Arthur Machen, M.R. James, and Algernon Blackwood once dwelt. The antagonist of the book is unique to Keene, but when Hylinus rears his terrifying head and the woods begin to do funny things, you can’t help but remember Machen’s “The Great God Pan” or Blackwood’s “The Willows.” But because Keene’s work is so original, the memory of those other authors never distracts or diminishes the spell Keene casts. To the contrary, the largely subconscious recall of those authors and those works makes what happens in the forest even scarier than it already is.Further, Dark Hollow does what every great horror novel should do—it makes you think about what you would do if you were placed in the protagonist’s situation. Adam Senft, Keene’s author hero, goes through hell in the book, and because Keene takes us from sympathy to empathy to identification with Senft, we can’t help but view events through his eyes and wonder just what the heck we would do if we too were faced with the horrible and the inexplicable.Speaking of Adam Senft…It should make me feel: Let me ask you…have you ever gone through something terrible? Have you ever watched one of your dearest loved ones experience a personal hell and felt those anguished flames consume you too? Have you ever felt incapable of performing some daunting task or felt helpless in the face of some problem? Ever been betrayed by a loved one or seen someone you love do something that was totally alien to his or her personality? And what about dogs? You like them? If so, just how much? What would you risk to keep your best canine friend alive?The above questions only scratch the surface of the emotional turmoil that churns in Dark Hollow. I defy you to read this book and not see someone you love in Adam’s wife Tara. I defy you to remain unmoved by the anguish she and Adam are enduring. I defy you to not gasp in terror as Adam’s dog Big Steve falls into harm’s way.How ’bout Adam’s buddies? Cliff, Dale, and Merle are so well-drawn and so likeable that you’ll be thinking back to the friends you had in your hometown (unless they were jerks). Or, if you’re lucky, they’ll make you appreciate the friends you still have. And that’s not to say the supporting cast is generic—it’s anything but. Each character is distinct without trying too hard to be. Keene doesn’t give one guy a Swedish accent and another some weird facial tic. He makes each one a living, breathing person, and that attention to detail pays off big-time in the book’s waning chapters.It should entertain me: If you’ve come this far, you already know how much I love this book. I don’t love it just because Keene stimulates my intellect and my heart—though he stirs both of those things. I don’t love it because I can see, even from my relative newcomer’s vantage-point, that he’s constructing (or adding to) his own incredible mythos.I love it because it thrills me.Dark Hollow includes a blasphemous book that would make Lovecraft shudder, an episode in an abandoned house that could trade punches with Jake Chambers’s spine-tingling battle with the monstrous house in Stephen King’s The Drawing of the Three, sensory details that make the room around me disappear until I’m standing terrified in LeHorn’s Hollow, and a climax that makes good on the promise of all that came before.So there you have it. Dark Hollow is a great read. If you’ve never read it, you should. Then you’ll know why everyone who loves horror is thankful we have Brian Keene.
This is the first book in what will be a six part horror series known as "The Levi Stoltzfus" saga. While our champion Levi Stolzfus does not appear in this first installment, he is briefly mentioned and the stage is definitely set by his predecessor Nelson LeHorn. For the most part however this is a self contained tale, that tells the heart breaking story of Adam Senft. Adam goes through a gut wrenching journey to protect his wife and friends, from a ancient evil who lurks deep within the dangerous wooded territory of LeHorn's Hollow. During his adventure he is accompanied by his companion Big Steve, who is probably the most believable fictional dog I have ever had the pleasure to read about. Also Adam's neighbors Dale, Merle, and Cliff assist the writer in uncovering the mystery of the missing women who vanished without a trace. The dynamic between Adam and his neighbors feels very organic, I can imagine these four being friends for years. My favorite character had to be Big Steve who was the anchor throughout Adam Senft's journey. I could tell that Brian Keene drew inspiration for this character off of his own dog, who has recently passed not that long ago. =( While the events in Dark Hollow were fictitious, I knew Adam and his dog's relationship were based on Brian's own experiences. This really did make the book a five star rating for me. I could relate to how a dog could become someone's rock, I understood what Brian Keene was trying to say very well. As someone who loves dogs and who has lost one of his own, I couldn't help smile and gush whenever Adam and Big Steve took center spot light. Honestly it was the these small touches that makes me choose Brian Keene over Stephen King any day of the week. Dark Hollow is a mature book that is not afraid to get a little graphic at times. The sexual encounters especially can get a little on the hot and heavy side. None of this is a bad thing in my opinion, it is definitely a different feel from Brian's previous books. It's nice to know Brian can handle graphic sex scenes, while balancing the tension and keeping the story believable. There are ramifications to these scenes, nothing happens without a heavy price to be paid by our protagonists. This is what kept me invested in our characters and the horror they all had to face down. None of the graphic situations felt pointless or gratuitous to me, since they served to underline the severity of Adam's plight. What was most fun for me in this novel was the use of Ab's Elilum (Brother of Ob and his Siqquism from The Rising) who was a major threat in Dark Hollow. I also loved how the Daemonolateria appeared once again and how it referenced the visual appearances of many of the Thirteen. It's these small connections between his catalog of books that keeps me wanting more. It is never a chore to look for these small nods, instead it just makes reading his novels that much more of a pleasure. I like to think of all of his novels as a shared multiverse, which makes waiting for his first Labyrinth book that much of a huge payoff. Overall I am excited to see how this series will continue to play out, the next installment is called Ghost Walk, then A Gathering of Crows is the third part, followed by Last of the Albatwitches which is the newest release. There are two more unreleased novels called Invisible Monsters and the final installment called Bad Grounds. The final two books might have a slight change in the title, but they will bring the Levi Stolzfus saga to a close, which is leaving a lot of fans on the edge of their seat in anticipation. Special thanks to all of my friends who joined me for the Buddy read for this book. Without you guys I wouldn't be the die hard Brian Keene fan that I am now. I look forward to reading the sequel Ghost Walk with all of you soon. Until then stay away from the woods!!Link to our buddy read: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
What do You think about Dark Hollow (2008)?
I never thought the involuntary boner-inducing pipes of Pan played by a rapacious satyr would be the root of a horror novel set in contemporary suburban Pennsylvania, but that's what Brian Keene's Dark Hollow presents and does so in a page-turning fashion. In an interview in a recent issue of Cemetery Dance magazine, Keene said he has no aspirations toward high (or even low) art; he just wants to entertain. In that capacity, he doesn't disappoint. Dark Hollow's protagonist, Adam Senft, a writer of midlist potboilers, is going through a rough patch with his wife, who he loves but hasn't been permitted to make love to since she miscarried their child (the only scene I didn't buy was Senft making eye contact with the dime-sized fetus in the toilet). His sex life on hiatus, Senft sublimates his sex drive with work and long walks with his loyal but cowardly pooch Big Steve (an unambiguous homage to Stephen King) in the nearby woods. After stumbling upon his sexy redheaded young neighbor performing oral sex on a statue of a satyr in a hollow in the woods... I'll say no more. Dark Hollow, while structurally akin to King (especially the band of friends Keene surrounds Senft with and their camaraderie and badinage), is a fresh take on horror and traditional mythology and an enjoyable way to pass a few hours.
—Bob Fingerman
I'd give this 3 1/2 stars if I could.It was an excellent horror novel. The main character and how he interacted with his group of friends reminded me a lot of how Stephen King usually writes. Throughout the book I was excited about what was going to happen next but the best part was the ending. If you want to read this but don't like how it starts, for instance if you get put off by the gross sex scene/s, just keep reading. Dark Hollow would be getting a higher rating from me if it didn't have erotica which isn't really my thing. Especially this unappealing erotica that Dark Hollow has like golden showers and bulging satyr cocks that almost rip women in half. Ripping people apart in books is awesome, just don't try to make is sexy.Keene's a force to be reckoned with and I hope to read all of his books, if possible. Dark Hollow is my least favourite out of the ones I've read by him but it was still really good. Ghost Walk is next on my list to read.
—Hildur
is the second novel of Mr. Keene's that I've read, and I surely wasn't disappointed. Dark Hollow is about a Pennsylvanian Mystery Writer, his wife, his dog, and his drinking buddies who have to deal with a haunted woods near their home where strange piping music has been heard and into which women have been disappearing. This horror novel deals with the sylvanian horror of malevolent trees and the always creepy Great God Pan with punch and gusto. Although the novel comes into the danger zone of becoming a supernatural mystery story where the erstwhile townsfolk have to bone up on lore that will enable them to combat the darkness that abounds, Dark Hollow manages to avoid this in spectacular fashion by giving us a wicked climax, believable characters and chilling moments. The work capitalizes on the male fear of inadequacy and being cuckolded with power adding that to the allegory of the horrors of miscarriage and the slow dissolve of matrimonial bliss. Brian Keene has quickly become my second favorite horror writer of all time. Dark Hollow is a fun and spooky read.
—T.L. Barrett
