I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
On a dark road in the middle of nowhere, a slip of a girl in almost no clothes jumps into Jack Spinks’s car. Filthy, exhausted, and obviously terrified, she begs Spinks to drive and get her away from the men chasing her. When a truck pulls up and he starts to get out to talk to the men driving it, she jumps to the floor of the driver’s side and mashes down on the gas pedal.
Their wild escape ends in a quick accident in the river, and Spinks is stuck in the wilderness with a girl who makes no sense, dark figures chasing them in the night, and a situation that spins quickly and fully out of control.
A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow, by Matthew F. Jones, is a tense thriller with plenty of twists and turns that keep the reader engaged as the main character is unwillingly swept into a load of trouble he never wanted. The writing is tight and atmospheric, using the night and the countryside almost as an additional character. The story includes a whiff of possible supernatural entity, which is what caught my attention and had me requesting this book. Over the course of the story, we discover Spinks’ past, which turns out to be fascinating, broken, and explains how an insurance salesman can survive the extraordinary situation he’s in for so long. I loved the way the story switched between the plot and the glimpses into Spinks’ past until the reader has the full picture. It was well-woven writing.
A few things detracted from the story for me: first, all the women are props for Spinks to measure his morals and ethics against, not actual people. I need all the characters in a book to be fully people with their own motivations and backstories, and I just didn’t get that here for the women. Also, as mentioned above, I really did think this was a supernatural thriller which is what grabbed my attention: for anyone looking for a more modern twisty crime suspense will likely love this. It was well done, the ultimate nature of the danger just wasn’t for me.
I gave A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow by Matthew F. Jones three stars that would’ve been 3.5 if it was possible.
No Pithy Phrase 