Book Review: A Glimmer in the Hollows

Reviewed by Chelsey Tucker

A supernatural thriller full of secrets and suspense

A Glimmer in the Hollows by Lorna Selley begins twenty years ago, deep in Appalachia, on Halloween. This is the night Olivia Garcia, accompanied by her babysitter Jessica, disappears into the state park.

Since then, the town of Driftwood has experienced several cases of missing children, all last seen in the same wooded area. Decades of rumors about ghost children, UFOs, and various other theories have swirled around, but the truth remains elusive.

Elliot, a former reporter, descends on Driftwood with the intent of delving into the bewildering child disappearances; he plans to use it as the foundation for his forthcoming novel. However, his arrival takes a dramatic turn when he crashes his rental car, a direct consequence of his encounter with a child possessing eerie, glowing eyes near Driftwood State Park. Curiously, the town seems unshaken by this incident, further deepening the mystery surrounding these events.

For several years, Jessica has toiled away at the same library, leading a life marked by anxiety. However, one fateful night, while residing in her deceased parents’ house, she encounters the missing children in her backyard. “They stared back at Jessica, fearless and feral, with opal-bright eyes that punctured the dark.” Filled with uncertainty, Jessica grapples with whether it is the pills and alcohol clouding her judgment or if the stories are true, as the eerie glow of their eyes bare into her soul.

Jessica and Elliot meet for the first time inside a cave in the woods where they come upon more questions than answers. The stakes escalate when Andrew Harding, Jessica’s ex and now a hotshot detective, arrives and takes notice of her suspicious behavior. This thrilling new adult novel keeps us on our toes with near misses and a perplexing array of clues about the children’s whereabouts and the enigmatic presence deep in the woods.

This thriller intensifies the suspense by skillfully alternating perspectives. These shifts in viewpoint, told in scene from the present and from 20 years ago, serve as pivot points, injecting the narrative with a pulse and mystery. There are times when I longed for the exact time to those dates, but I still can piece enough together.

Internal and external turmoil keep the tension taut, and it even allows for a depth in the attraction Jessica and Elliot feel for each other. This fast-paced thriller will leave a lot of supernatural fans entertained.

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