The Hollow Places is a wonderfully creepy novel, laced with humour and pop culture references, and less than three chapters in I decided that I definitely needed to read more of T. Kingfisher, aka Ursula Vernon.

We’re introduced to Kara, 34, newly divorced, and moving in with her Uncle Earl, taking up residence in a bedroom of his Wonder Museum, a trinket and taxidermy-filled collection. When Earl goes in for some knee surgery, Kara is left to see over the museum, taking in the new arrivals, and sipping coffee from the coffee house next door, chatting with Simon the barista, and selling their wifi.

But something has torn a hole in the wall of the museum, and it leads to a strange otherworldly realm, populated by willow trees that seem malevolent with things existing in their negative space, and something stalking the land. Simon and Kara find themselves trapped in this alternate reality and discover terrors and secrets.

But that’s just the beginning of the tale.

What follows as the pair try to find their way home is an incredibly terrifying and creepy tale that because of the characters and the way the story is told is grounded in a reality that is conveyed believably.

I love the way Kingfisher tells her tale, though I did have the key figured out pretty early on, but that doesn’t change the fact that the story was completely engaging, and the words and descriptions that she uses to evoke her narrative.

Honestly, I’m going to give every willow tree I come across from here on out the side eye because this is a tale that really gets under your skin. It’s an evocative, adventuresome tale that combines my sense of exploration and discovery with a creepiness that comes from the unknown and the horrors that lurk in this strange world, both seen and unseen.

Some of the encounters Kara and Simon have are truly horrific, and some of the artifacts they discover just layer in that terror.

But as mentioned that’s just the start of the story, horror is made all the more terrifying when it comes home, and Kara and Simon, even if they escape this terrifying alternate reality which connects to countless worlds, things may follow them back to what they believe is a safe space.

I loved how Kingfisher writes, the way she tells her story, the wonderful use of pop culture shorthand, and the creepiness that she imbues the willow trees, the world they exist in, and the They that stalk the lands. A land I partially wanted to explore, but even I was questioning my common sense about that as some truly terrifying things occur.

If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend this one, and if you’ve read other work by Kingfisher what one should I read next? I love the way she writes!!