Release Date: June 12th 2020
Publisher: Orenda Books
Pages: 320
Find it on: Goodreads. BookDepository. Waterstones.
Source: Anne at Random Things Tours kindly sent me an EARC to review for the tour.
Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

It’s a small story. A small town with small lives that you would never have heard about if none of this had happened.

Hinton Hollow. Population: 5,120.

Little Henry Wallace was eight years old and one hundred miles from home before anyone talked to him. His mother placed him on a train with a label around his neck, asking for him to be kept safe for a week, kept away from Hinton Hollow.

Because something was coming.

Narrated by Evil itself, Hinton Hollow Death Trip recounts five days in the history of this small rural town, when darkness paid a visit and infected its residents. A visit that made them act in unnatural ways. Prodding at their insecurities. Nudging at their secrets and desires. Coaxing out the malevolence suppressed within them. Showing their true selves.

Making them cheat.
Making them steal.
Making them kill.

Detective Sergeant Pace had returned to his childhood home. To escape the things he had done in the city. To go back to something simple. But he was not alone. Evil had a plan.

Review

Hinton Hollow Death Trap is the third instalment in Will Carver’s Detective Sargent Pace series. In this instalment Pace is returning to his childhood home of Hinton Hollow, but all is not as it seems. Narrated by Evil himself, the story follows the townspeople as they are gently nudged by evil to show their true selves – encouraged to steal, to cheat and even to kill.

Hinton Hollow Death Trip is completely unlike anything I have ever read before. It’s a unique and compelling tale, and it gripped me from the very first chapter. I loved the way this story was told, narrated by Evil who is incredibly upfront and honest about the way he influences people. It’s a brilliant story, following a variety of townspeople as their lives are irrevocably changed over the course of the five days.

Although this is the third book in the series it is actually my first book by Will Carver, so it can absolutely be read as a standalone. After finishing though I’m definitely going back to read the other ones in the series because this is definitely one of my favourite new crime reads.

Hinton Hollow Death Trip is a clever and inventive tale, Carver weaves a story about real people and the choices they make. I found this book really difficult to put down, it’s a fast paced read and makes some really fascinating insights into what it means to be human. Each of the characters in this story are well created and fleshed out, making the story all the more compelling. Hinton Hollow Death Trip brings a fresh take to the crime novel, and it’s one you definitely don’t want to miss out on.