Krystal Sutherland

House of Hollow

'This story will steal up your spine, slip beneath your skin, and stick to you like honey.' -- Samantha Shannon The Hollow sisters - Vivi, Grey and Iris - are as seductively glamorous as they are mysterious. They have black eyes and hair as white as milk. The Hollow sisters don't have friends - they don't need them. They move through the corridors like sharks, the other little fish parting around them, whispering behind their backs. And everyone knows who the Hollow sisters are. Because one day the three Hollow sisters simply disappeared. And when they came back, one month later, with no memory of where they had been, it was as if nothing had changed. Almost nothing, Apart from, for example, the little scar that had appeared in the hollow of their throats ... and a whispering sense that something is not quite right about them, despite (or maybe because of) the terrible passion to be with them that they can exert on anybody at will... A thrilling, twisting, novel that is as seductive and glamorous as the Hollow sisters themselves....

Dinah De Vries

"Cate told me that the three of us were all born in the middle of storms. Grey was lightning, Vivi was thunder, and I was the sea in a tempest"

Seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow has always been strange. Something happened to her and her two older sisters when they were children, something they can’t quite remember but that left each of them with an identical half-moon scar at the base of their throats. 

Iris has spent most of her teenage years trying to avoid the weirdness that sticks to her like tar. But when her eldest sister, Grey, goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Iris learns just how weird her life can get: horned men start shadowing her, a corpse falls out of her sister’s ceiling, and ugly, impossible memories start to twist their way to the forefront of her mind. 

As Iris retraces Grey’s last known footsteps and follows the increasingly bizarre trail of breadcrumbs she left behind, it becomes apparent that the only way to save her sister is to decipher the mystery of what happened to them as children. 

The closer Iris gets to the truth, the closer she comes to understanding that the answer is dark and dangerous – and that Grey has been keeping a terrible secret from her for years.

Keira 💫

Flower

Josi

୨ৎ : 'my sisters. my blood. my skin. what a gruesome bond we shared.'

while the suspense was very anticlimactic, the story was so beautifully written and i felt like i was in the story. while i feel like there could have been more, i really enjoyed the characters. 

they were so fun to read about and i loved learning more and more about them. the hollow sisters, even tyler, were just so special to me. 

this story was sad, somewhat eerie, whimsical and just overall beautiful. i really enjoyed this and do recommend it despite the mid rating. 

୨ৎ : 'my sisters. my blood. my skin. what a gruesome bond we shared.'

— ☆ 3.5/5

while the suspense was very anticlimactic, the story was so beautifully written and i felt like i was in the story. while i feel like there could have been more, i really enjoyed the characters. 

they were so fun to read about and i loved learning more and more about them. the hollow sisters, even tyler, were just so special to me. 

this story was sad, somewhat eerie, whimsical and just overall beautiful. i really enjoyed this and do recommend it despite the mid rating. 

the atmosphere was so eatable omg, the descriptions of rot all throughout this and especially in the halfway was super cool. the “romance” between tyler and iris was kinda off like that should have been platonic,, and also this was clearly an american writing about the uk bc what 17 year old in the uk is worrying about health insurance 0_0 but overall a rlly cool rot girl summer book

Was not for me. The story by itself is interesting, not much of a fan of how it's written. If you prefer a simple, light story that gives you slow, ruminative, fever-dream-like experience, you might enjoy this.

TYLER I LVOE YOU. When he died I was so shocked.😳 THE TWIST 😝

Katie Roberts

In honesty I liked this book, the writing is atmospheric and vibrant, the central concept was one of the most unique I have ever read and there was good character development. However, my reading experience was soured a bit by two albeit subtle mentions of Israel, in this time and age I refuse to entertain even subtle references to the genocidal zionist state of Israel. It is given legitimacy by continuing to mention in literature where the purpose is not to discuss its violent nature. Therefore what was a well-written and unique book has an entire star knocked off its rating by me. 

Marz 

Keiondrae

natalka

kelsey

what a gruesome bond we shared.

rep: bi mc, lesbian mc

tw: blood, murder, death of a parent, self-harm mention, body horror, bugs, suicide mentions, suicide depiction

Hanna Rybchynska

ghost girl in satin

Okay, I finished it last night and I had the time to sort my thoughts, so here is my review:

Overall, I enjoyed this book and its eerie atmosphere and its lush descriptions of smells, sceneries and characters. I liked to read about the Hollow sisters and their complicated relationships, and I really enjoyed the fast-paced mystery that kept me on the edge of my sit during my reading experience. 
However, I'm not a huge fan of the ending, and I couldn't root for the main character, who's far less interesting than her sisters despite being kind and sensitive. 
I also thought that Tyler could have been developed a bit more.
And I guessed the "plot-twist" right away. 
BUT I did have a good time reading it, mostly because the writing style was beautiful, and the horrific atmosphere was super cool. That scene set in Grey's burned apartment was so cool.
I'm also a huge fan of all the nerdy references. Like, come on, we've got a Hermione Granger wink, at least 2 Narnia refs, Alice in Wonderland, and even The Wizard of Oz! That's for the nerds, and I appreciate it.
I'm also very happy there isn't a romance in this book, and that the MC is bi and Vivi is a lesbian. We love LGBTQIA+ reps in books, and the ones we had were well done! 
I also LOVED the depiction of the Halfway, that was scary in a "wow-hypnotizing-scary-way" :D Ii wish we could've spent more time there. 
Anyway, I'm glad I read this book and I'll definitely read the author's next books.

irina

House of Hollow started off pretty interesting. Three little girls who's appearance are unlike any other. White blonde hair, and black eyes. Something I imagined to look just like a fairy. These three girls when missing as children. Completely gone without a trace for a month, and then mysteriously appears unharmed. Minus the crescent-shaped scare on their necks. The book lures you in on the mystery alone, hinting that there's something dark and mysterious about these sisters. I, of course, just figured they had special powers. Which they did. But boy was I in store for something more. 

I very much loved the ending. When all the pieces fall together and the truth comes out. Always my favorite part of a book. However, the rest of the book seemed to drag on a little. There are only 24 chapters, so it wasn't too painful. Despite it feeling like it dragged on, it added to the mystery. It MADE you want to keep reading to figure out exactly what is going on. Once you get to the point where Grey, the eldest sister, disappears... You're hooked. Yet another mystery that needed to be solved. And boy... did it lead somewhere dark. Not something completely dark where it would need a trigger warning, just a good darkness that one can appreciate. A bonus that I enjoyed was the queer characters!!

There's one thing I will say though, a trigger warning is needed for anyone suffering from an eating disorder. Parts of the book can be very triggering. Overall, I enjoyed this book and the cover art makes so much sense once you finish the book. 

4/5 stars! I recommend!

Isabella 

reminds me so much of the movie 'us' (view spoiler)[which is why i wasn't that surprised on what happened because i already predicted that it would (hide spoiler)] very intriguing but atmosphere wasnt really horror. very fun to read and the experience was good tho.

A New York Times Bestseller! An Instant Indie Bestseller! A dark, twisty modern fairytale where three sisters discover they are not exactly all that they seem and evil things really do go bump in the night. Iris Hollow and her two older sisters are unquestionably strange. Ever since they disappeared on a suburban street in Scotland as children only to return a month a later with no memory of what happened to them, odd, eerie occurrences seem to follow in their wake. And they're changing. First, their dark hair turned white. Then, their blue eyes slowly turned black. They have insatiable appetites yet never gain weight. People find them disturbingly intoxicating, unbearably beautiful, and inexplicably dangerous. But now, ten years later, seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow is doing all she can to fit in and graduate high school on time--something her two famously glamourous globe-trotting older sisters, Grey and Vivi, never managed to do. But when Grey goes missing without a trace, leaving behind bizarre clues as to what might have happened, Iris and Vivi are left to trace her last few days. They aren't the only ones looking for her though. As they brush against the supernatural they realize that the story they've been told about their past is unraveling and the world that returned them seemingly unharmed ten years ago, might just be calling them home.

liana

5⭐️


PLOT:
House of Hollow by Kristal Sutherland is a horror book about three sisters that go missing on New Year’s eve and after a month of their parents tirelessly looking for them, a woman finds them naked on the same spot they disappeared, but something has changed: their dark hair is now white and then their blue eyes slowly changed to black. Their mother is happy about her children’s return, but their dad is convinced that something’s wrong wth them. As time passes, they realize that not only they’re beautiful, but that they’re intoxicating and seem to have some kind of power over people. Even though since they came back they’ve always been inseparable, two of them leave home to pursue their respective careers leaving Iris, the main character, alone with their overprotective mother. One day, Iris is invited to her sister’s concert, Vivi, along with her other sister Grey. But when Grey doesn’t appear nor answers their phone calls/messages, Vivi and Iris start to get suspicious that their sister has disappeared. Scared that she might have been missing the same way they all did ten years ago, the sisters start to look for clues to find Grey as soon as possible, but they’re not the only ones looking for her though, because there’s someone following their steps everywhere they go: a man with a dead bull skull mask.


THE CHARACTERS:
The sisters are each very different and unique: Grey is the oldest, she’s really mysterious and kinda creepy. She’s also a model/fashion designer, who finds inspiration in nature and other stuff (that I won’t say because that would be a spoiler); Vivi is the middle sister. She’s all tattooed and full of piercings, she doesn’t give a flying fuck what people think/say about her and she left home to pursue her dream of becoming a bass guitarist; Iris, the smallest one, is different: she’s always looking to please other people. She wants to be like her sister Grey. She’s the outcast of the school, always getting bullied and she’s the only one of the three that wants to have a “normal” life (going to college and find a partner and forget her past). 
There aren’t many characters in this story, but there are two that I think are important to it: Tyler and their mother Cate. I didn’t think I was going to like Tyler (Grey’s boyfriend) that much, but he’s an amazing character. He’s also famous, but when he’s properly introduced, you can see that he’s a normal person with mental health issues who’s willing to find his girlfriend no matter what it takes; Cate is kinda weird. Really overprotective of Iris and she doesn’t like to be called “mom” (which I found it was the weirdest thing ever. I will never call my mom by her name in my life). She’s lost so much and her grief is discussed throughout the book in the way she acts and portrays herself. 


FAVORITE QUOTES:

Of course I remember. I remember everything. You just wouldn’t believe me if I told you.

You shouldn’t be afraid of the truth. It’ll set you free.

You are like dead flowers that grow rampant in your wake: lovely to look at, intoxicating even, but get too close and you will soon learn that there is something rank beneath. That’s what beauty often is, in nature. A warning. A disguise.

There is so much to see here. Mostly horrors, but glimpses of beauty too.

Extra: an extract from the book that I think suits really well the plot:

We were sisters. We felt each others pain. We caused each other’s pain. We knew the smell of each others morning breath. We made each other cry. We made each other laugh. We got angry, pinched, kicked, screamed at each other. We kissed on the forehead, nose on nose, butterfly eyelashes swept against cheeks. We wore each other’s clothes. We stole from each other, treasured objects hidden under pillows. We defended each other. We lied to each other. […]. We played dress up. We spied on each other. We possessed each other shinny things. We loved each other with potent, fervent fury. Animal fury. Monstrous fury.
My sisters. My blood. My skin. What a gruesome bond we shared


PERSONAL OPINION:
I remember picking this book up at a bookstore near my house at the end of last year and taking a photo of it to look for more information about it and adding it to my tbr not long after that. Do you know when you have a book that you want to read but always leave it to read others? Well, that’s exactly what happened to me with this one. This month, I decided to take a look on the books that I have to read and found this one and I was like “FUCK I DIDN’T EVEN REMEMBER YOU EXIST” and decided to read it, of course😂.
This book is amazing. A freaking masterpiece. I couldn’t put it down for the life of me, seriously. Once I started I just couldn’t stop reading. I thought this book was going to be more fantasy than anything else, but it ended being really creepy and super graphic/gore. Not only you have the mistery of how the girls went missing, but also how Grey went missing, and who is the guy following them, and why are people so obsessed with them, and E V E R Y T H I N G else!!!!! I think the only thing that I didn’t like was that the chapters are a little long as I prefer reading short ones, but I didn’t even notice once I started because it’s an addiction. I guessed most of the stuff while reading (call it a spider sense, but I always guess these stuff), but others surprised me in a good way. I swear the author put dr*gs on this book, and the way she writes is just captivating and beautiful. 

I recommend this book to people who want to read something different, people who want to get surprised, creeped out, who want to read a book in 1-2 days and to everyone on this planet. 


As I always say, 
  CHECK THE TRIGGER WARNINGS
 before reading the book, because I can assure you, there are a lot (such as SA, stalking, drug use, alcoholism, blood, child death, suicide, gore, misogyny, animal death, vomit, medical content, bullying, murder, grief, etc etc etc). PLEASE CHECK THEM OUT BEFORE READING!!!!!



And last but not least, to my beautiful girl Cara: it was a pleasure BRing this book with you. I loved all our rants, screams and theories and I can’t wait to BR with you again in the near future, my love💗🥰





(English is not my first language, if you find any mistakes please let me know)

if gorgeous and disgusting had a baby, it would be this book. it’s slow going but the author’s writing is too beautiful and compelling for me not to devour this book. the imagery was captivating, and maybe that’s where it lagged—focused too much on the picture than progressing the plot. docked half a star because the ending felt a little rushed and because…damn, the grief I felt for Tyler…

however, a random qualm with the writing: I do not live in London so half the time I did NOT understand where they were. kept dropping names of places and cities and streets as if I was supposed to know where they were just by that 😭

overall, a captivating read. would love to see this as a (well-made) movie someday

Gael Magno

if gorgeous and disgusting had a baby, it would be this book. it’s slow going but the author’s writing is too beautiful and compelling for me not to devour this book. the imagery was captivating, and maybe that’s where it lagged—focused too much on the picture than progressing the plot. docked half a star because the ending felt a little rushed and because…damn, the grief I felt for Tyler…

however, a random qualm with the writing: I do not live in London so half the time I did NOT understand where they were. kept dropping names of places and cities and streets as if I was supposed to know where they were just by that 😭

overall, a captivating read. would love to see this as a (well-made) movie someday

Syahla Aurel

** spoiler alert **
           why do i felt like there is a plot hole in this story? maybe i skipped some part unconsciously or i didnt really understand some parts? the thing that was confusing for me is how can Tyler went through the freestanding door? i thought the one who can go through is when the dead is calling them from the Halfway? (just like how Grey was calling the real Hollows from the Halfway) but Tyler went through it willingly?

edit:
I finally understand this door thingy

paula

4.5

the concept, the mood, the characters, the plot, the rotten magic of it all BUT THAT FUCKING ENDING 

anyway i want more please

TommyBoi

** spoiler alert **
           Meh. This was an okay book. 

Was it the best story? No, I’ve seen better, but for a horror story, it did creep me out. The problem itself of the book wasn’t the plot or the world building. My problem with this book were the characters. 

The beginning of this story was amazing, and if it wasn’t for the end of it, I would’ve rated it 5 stars. 

First of all, I would like to say that I despise Grey. She’s a monster and for someone who says « don’t touch someone without their consent » it seems like she doesn’t even respect that rule. 

A problem with this book is how characters can be such hypocrites. I wasn’t in the story for Iris or grey, but mostly for Tyler who was the only interesting character with Vivi if anything. Yeah, both are idiots but at least they have a reason. Their characters are well explained. 

As for grey, here is why I didn’t like her. She’s a monster. Yeah, she did the things she did in order to get her sisters and herself out of the halfway, but the way she did this is by ruining many other lives. She bends people to her will no matter what, and she even herself said she didn’t have any regrets. 

No regrets about killing innocent children and making a man kill himself? I guess that’s how the story was supposed to be horror, by revealing that Greg is horrible, but still. Why the hell is she so easily forgiven by the whole world?? Of course, I know it’s because of her power, but I still despise her and maybe that was the goal of the whole book. 

Enough with Grey. I would like to point out why I didn’t like Iris. 


Iris was a hypocrite. She says she doesn’t want people to be afflicted by her power on purpose, but she proceeds to take advantage of a new mother to tell her where her sister is when clearly, she has nothing to do with Grey. 

Not only that but scaring the shit out of some stupid girl like Justine? Again, using her « witchy powers » to scare someone. I get the idea of standing up for yourself, but the best way to do so is by not giving a damn. Threats aren’t needed.

Do I need to mention how she sympathies with her rapist? Yeah, her power didn’t help when he actually touched her, but he clearly had bad intentions even before being under her « spell » the guy was clearly a predator, and she still forgives him for what he intended for her? Disgusting. 

And shaming people for what they wear? Again, that doesn’t sit right with me. 

Maybe some of you will wonder why I still gave this books four stars. Again, the plot of the world building wasn’t the problem. The story line got my hooked and hence that’s why I read it in like a day and a half, but the characters were pissing me off. 

If the story wasn’t meant to be horror, THEN I would’ve probably given it two stars. 

Feel free to disagree with me

bella <3

nice!! loved how it wasnt afraid to be super weird LOL

rakshu

'Stepping nimbly among the liminal spaces and eerie real-world haunts of our heroine's cipher-sister, this haunting modern fairytale will wrap you up like a glittering fog, before going for your throat.' Melissa Albert, author of The Hazel WoodIris Hollow and her two older sisters are unquestionably strange. Ever since they disappeared on a suburban street in Scotland as children only to return a month a later with no memory of what happened to them, odd, eerie occurrences seem to follow in their wake. And they're changing. First, their dark hair turned white. Then, their blue eyes slowly turned black. People find them disturbingly intoxicating, unbearably beautiful and inexplicably dangerous.Now, ten years later, seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow is doing all she can to fit in and graduate high school - something her two famously glamorous globe-trotting older sisters, Grey and Vivi, never managed to do. But when Grey goes missing, leaving behind only bizarre clues, Iris and Vivi are left to trace her last few days. They aren't the only ones looking for her. As they brush against the supernatural, they realise that the story they've been told about their past is unravelling and the world that returned them seemingly unharmed ten years ago, might just be calling them home.Krystal Sutherland's latest novel is a dark and twisty modern-day fairytale that expertly melds the fantastical with the real as the Hollow sisters discover just how much horror can lie beneath the surface.

Julia McKenzie

This book was a gift and it pleasantly surprised me!

House of Hollow follows the Hollow sisters from childhood and flashes forward to the present where one of them goes missing. Amongst this drama and mystery things get weird and confusing which spices it up. It is paces so well so the reader can understand everything and really soak in the story and the weirdness of the sisters and the situation their in. Had a great ending…could there be a second book (even as a novella)??

This book was so strange yet so good. The descriptions were sometimes stinky dirty, but so creepy. I read this to be outside of my comfort zone and try to read spooky for halloween, and this was a good pick for me. I also absolutely loved Tyler Yang. I'm going to need a second book so he can get justice, fr. He was the star of the novel.

Sarah Campbell

fiona

i love books with the type of horror that's like witchy vibes with like plants and fungi and insects and stuff. so fun

Gabrielle Gonzaga

Super detailed world-building and exceptional thriller aspects. I loved this haunting story and I'm so glad I got to read such an interesting story. The only way I think this could have been better would be if the story didn't feel so bent to the characters' wills. I did really enjoy reading this book, so it gets a solid 4 stars. 4.2 if I include my love for Tyler Yang.

House of Hollow

Reviews

Highlights