The Hollow by Jessica Verday
Release Date: September 1, 2009
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 544
From: ALA Chicago
Interest: debut author
When Abbey's best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quick to accept that Kristen is dead? and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone. Then she meets Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral, and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again...but also special.
Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? And could this secret have led to her death? As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen's betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her—one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian, as well as her own sanity..
Three words; lots of pages.
Lets start this review with a positive. Something that Verday did beautifully was depict the emotional loss that Abbey felt. The loneliness, confusion, and hurt were accurately displayed.
However,The Hollow just did not hold my interest. I'm surprised that I made it through the entire novel, but I really wanted and hoped to see it get better. For me, a lot of those 500+ pages were filled with mundane details that I had no interest in knowing and that really had no significance to the overall story line. Abbey can't sleep, Abbey sleeps in, Abbey sleeps in study hall, Abbey bakes cookies, Abbey falls down.
The whole mysterious death of a friend, not really touched on all that much. The romance, no chemistry. I was excited to see these elements displayed and explored, if only they had been. The plot was, for a lack of a better word, very flat.
Characters are often able to redeem a meager plot. For me anyways. But there just wasn't enough emphasis on the characters themselves or the character's relationships. Leaving the reader with no emotional connection to any of them.
I kept having that moment of intrigue when I felt like I was finally being sucked into the story, only to be kicked out again and again. The ending had no resolution, just more unanswered questions. I can understand a cliffhanger ending, even marvel at them at times (okay and get really pissed off at them sometimes too), but to give the readers no closure? I didn't favor that at all. Sure, there was a revelation... but no resolution. I've read all those pages and I still have no idea what is going on.
The story and Verday have great potential, it just didn't happen in The Hollow.