A compelling and rewarding crime novel where the focus sits with a journalist as she investigates links between the occult and a death by suicide. Shona Sandison travels from Scotland into the North of England on the trail of a twenty year old secret that mixes politics, corruption, and the occult. This is my first meeting with investigative journalist Shona Sandison, you don’t need to have read what has gone before in order to really enjoy this novel however I’d recommend starting with The Goldenacre. Author Philip Miller creates a wonderful balance with pace and a slow-burning suspense and intrigue. My attention was captured from the get-go and my focus remained on a high alert throughout. It’s the process of the case that’s important here, and the interplay and action between the characters. I enjoyed Shona’s spikiness and determination, and believed in her as a main character. There is an intense sense of place, in particular within the woods and wild areas. It is interesting to watch the jigsaw pieces falling into place, though not all settle, and witness how corruption taints and affects everything it touches. Darkly absorbing The Hollow Tree is a thoroughly satisfying and convincing read.
Investigative journalist Shona Sandison is attending the wedding of her closest friend and former colleague, Vivienne. But the night before the wedding, Vivienne's reclusive school friend, Dan, jumps from a roof to his death. Shona is the only witness to the suicide - and so the only person who saw the occult tattoos covering Dan's body, and heard the unsettling, mystical phrases he was uttering.
Compelled to look further into the tragic incident, Shona sets off on a quest to find out why Dan killed himself and what happened to Vivienne's missing brother 20 years prior. Despite knowing that investigating Viv's family will mean she could lose her friend forever, Shona travels to a small, forgotten town in the north of England to investigate an insular group of classmates who have held a dark secret for decades.
Haunting and hypnotic, The Hollow Tree is a return to Philip Miller's dark world of subterfuge, betrayal, and fragile justice.
'The Hollow Tree is both political noir and occult thriller, gripping yet haunting, and surely one of the best crime novels of the year' -- David Peace
