A Return to The Hollows

Holiday weekends are funny things. Like regular weekends, I have plans -- things to get done that can't get done during the week -- but mostly, I like the time away from the responsibility and demands of weekdays. There are no schedules to keep and usually nothing too pressing that needs to be addressed immediately.

I like to relax and I love the extra time a holiday weekends allows for that!

And that's pretty much what we did this weekend: cooked some good food, saw a couple of movies, caught up on Doctor Who and The Hour, and read.

With Lisa Unger's Fragile fresh on my mind and her latest, Darkness, My Old Friend newly out in hardcover just last month, I decided a return to The Hollows was in order. The two books work as companions and each stands alone, but Darkness does take place just a few months after Fragile.

After recent events prompted Jones Cooper's retirement, he's found himself with a lot of time on his hands. He's taken to watching the neighbors' houses when they are away, watering plants, feeding pets, and the odd job here and there. A visit from a local psychic kicks off his involvement in a local PI's case reinvestigating a disappearance that occurred early on in Jones's career. Marla Holt left behind her husband and two small children and was never heard from again. Now, Michael Holt is grown and wants to know what happened to his mother. Meanwhile, a local wife has hired Jones to find her stepson's mother. But there's more to that missing person's case than immediately meets the eye.

I loved Unger's setup of The Hollows. It's a fictional town in New York that she's built from the ground up. She's filled it with her own people, places, things, geography, and other characteristics, bringing it to life in a way that enriches the stories.

I really can't recommend Unger highly enough for mystery/thriller fans. Standard thriller terms like, page-turner, gripping, and up all night definitely apply to each of her books I've had the pleasure of reading so far. Fun stuff!