It's been a little while since I've devoured a book as quickly and feverishly as I did SILVERS HOLLOW. It's nightmarish, uncanny, and absolutely captivating.

I love how the author drops us right into the narrative with the protagonist, both of us lost, confused, and increasingly afraid as the story goes on. The story starts with a nameless young woman who has been picked up from a train station by a police officer and can't remember why she's there. As we go on there are strange little disturbances and hints that things aren't quite right. It's perpetually night, but there is no moon or stars. It's the town she grew up in, but it's a ghost town, and the few people remaining are treating her very oddly. The sideways glances, the looks of fright, the vague remarks. It's the empty house she grew up in, and the red door, and the disturbing memories that are clawing their way to the surface.

Why is she there? Why is everything so strange? And what is the "emergency" everyone keeps referring to?

I don't want to say too much as this is DEFINITELY a book to be experienced instead of explained. I love the way it was written so much. The atmosphere and pacing are perfect. I sensed the timelessness of an out-of-body experience. I felt adrift in a starless nightmare, the kind where the terror is subtle until it suddenly isn't. I knew something was off, but I couldn't figure out what. I thought of Channel Zero's second season NO-END HOUSE, the TV version of THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, Rob Zombie's song "Perversion 99", and remnants of various psychological thrillers.

I loved everything right up until the very end. It's weird, but I'm very indecisive about ambiguity, especially when it comes to endings. Typically I don't mind it, but there are times I dislike it. Unfortunately, this is one of those times. Because the majority of the book is all questions and few answers, the way it ended was simultaneously intriguing and frustrating to me.