Thanks to Patrick Delaney, NetGalley and Oblivion Publishing for this copy.

A girl wakes up at a train station in her hometown, a place she hasn't visited in years. As she groggily wanders through Silver's Hollow, she begins to realise the town is very similar to how it used to be... And yet there are subtle, terrifying differences.

She continues her tour of the town in perpetual darkness, accompanied by a creepy police officer, who appears to know more than he admits. The nameless narrator is confused, suffering from amnesia, and the characters of the town offer no help... Other than to mention "the emergency"... The story continues to get stranger as we race to its conclusion, and we are left pondering what is real or not.


I'm finding it difficult to review this book. When I initially started it, I found the staccato short sentences quite jarring. I thought I was going to struggle to get through the book... When suddenly, I found myself halfway through, needing to keep reading!

There are a few flaws for me. There are occasional moments where I feel we are told, rather than shown certain things, but these are few and far between.

Where Delaney shines, is how he created tension. There is a feeling of dread underlying this book. The whole story is claustrophobic, and as a reader, it made me want to rip through the pages to get out of it (in a good way!).

I really needed to know what was happening. Who are these people? Where are these people? What's going on?! How can the narrator, and myself, escape this weird place? WHAT. IS. GOING. ON?!

For some, this dreamlike (or nightmarelike) confusion could be off-putting, but I found it fascinating.

If you're a fan of trippy, fast-paced horror, then this one is for you.

Book Review for Silvers Hollow by Patrick Delaney
Full review for this title can be found at: @fyebooks on Instagram!

Not for me. This is a mystery box story about a woman waking up at a train station with no memory, but I wasn't gripped by the mystery at all and didn't finish the book.

I found it all a little clumsy and almost got the impression I was reading an early draft rather than the final work. At one point a character asks "Are you alright?" and the other character replies "Nothing. Nothing at all." ??

The book is certainly fast=moving and many readers will no doubt enjoy unravelling the mystery but I didn't connect with this one.

Y’all, I needed someone to talk to the whole time I was reading this. ‘Cause, WOW! My head was spinning, and my mind was all fuzzy and stuff. I didn’t even know what I was reading.

I’m going to try to explain this, but fair warning, it’s not going to pretty—or even remotely coherent. Deal?

Okay, so, this woman is at a train station, right? The train drops her off and leaves, okay? She doesn’t know why she’s there or why her head’s bleeding. Following me?

Then, this creepy cop picks her up and demands to know why she’s at the train station—because the trains haven’t gone through there in 20 years. Mmmm-kay.

But see, it turns out that she’s in her childhood hometown, but things are kinda different. It’s darker and colder, or something. Oh, and time is all funky. Apparently, the town doesn’t have it anymore. Time, I mean. Like, it’s not allowed. Or something.

The other people there are just odd, and our main character has some...baggage. And then, this other thing happens. I can’t tell you, but...what the what? Plus, there’s this hint of... Nope, can’t tell you that either.

She doesn’t know. I didn’t know. I just really kept hoping the author knew. ‘Cause this whole kerfuffle is on him.

I swear, it was like I was reading a dream. Like, the author had this bananas dream, and he’s telling me about it, and I’m nodding politely while secretly wondering if I should call someone, you know?

Anyway, I absolutely loved every word of it, and I read it in one sitting. Side note: there aren’t chapters, per se, just breaks, which I can only assume is a stylistic choice because chapters help readers keep track of time, and in a story without time, the lack of chapters adds to the disorienting feel of things. Patrick Delaney is bloody brilliant!

Fingers on the preorder button, y’all. This is a good one!