Hollow Out the Dark

Reviews

“With addictive prose and a style all his own, James Wade delivers another powerful read. Part Western, part Southern lit, part thriller, part mystery, part character study set in rural East Texas in the 1930s, Hollow Out the Dark is a mesmerizing story, dark, raw, and original.”

“Hollow Out the Dark is a major achievement in Southern noir, a Prohibition-era crime epic that is at heart an affecting exploration of brotherhood in its many forms. With lyrical prose and sly period dialogue, James Wade builds a propulsive narrative that explodes with revelation. A haunting read that lingers in the memory long after the final page.”

“A war-for-whiskey Western in a small Texas town with prose that sings like Cormac, Woodrell, and Walter Hill formed a boy band. James Wade has packed a wallop of a gothic gut-punch about discovering where one’s moral compass may land while spinning in a Depression-era storm of violence, corruption, and the hardest of times.”

“In Hollow Out the Dark, James Wade’s latest Southern-gothic feat, Wade stitches a propulsive tale with Biblical thread, fueling it with whiskey, tucking secrets beneath the floorboards, and draping the Depression-era landscape with suspense. Wade builds himself a well-deserved seat, pulling it to the literary table to sit alongside the likes of Ron Rash, Faulkner, and Cormac McCarthy.”

“Narrative prowess and atmospheric prose echo the works of Ron Rash and Cormac McCarthy, resulting in a rich, character-driven story.”

“With his characteristic insight and imagination, James Wade takes us to another era and makes it tremble with authenticity. The manner in which Wade sees life so clearly, even in the dark, creates a psychology of characters carefully wrought. Wade’s distinctive lyricism threads the narrative and his pitch-perfect rendering of the biome of the piney woods throbs with metaphor, running through the novel like a river, clean and clear.”

“James Wade is a poet of the dark. With gorgeous lyricism, he writes of men and women caught in the bleakest of circumstances and the choices that must be made when desperate times require desperate measures. It’s been forever since I read a novel so stunning in its language and so moving in its effect. Read this book and prepare to be amazed.”

“In Hollow Out the Dark, James Wade casts a cold East Texas landscape in all its grim glory, reflecting the hearts of the men who battle for their piece of it. This prohibition-era Western is no simple tale of bootleggers and lawmen but a meditation on morality in which even the good must choose their own corruption. Wade imbues poetry, philosophy, and craftsmanship in his prose. From story, to scene, to sentence, his care is present in each word. A joy to read.”

“James Wade’s newest novel, Hollow Out the Dark, is a masterpiece of atmospheric crime fiction; a worthy successor to the likes of William Gay and Cormac McCarthy. Set in East Texas, it is an epic, and age-old, story of greed and generational betrayal—where vengeance is swift and forgiveness a long time coming.”

“If John Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy have a present-day successor, it must be James Wade. As intoxicating and robust as its subject matter, Hollow Out the Dark is a Prohibition-era tale that poignantly reminds us although times may change, the human spirit remains frighteningly and unflinchingly the same. Wade distills language with the artistry of an expert craftsman and the fearlessness of a bootlegger. At once heartbreaking and hopeful, this book cements Wade’s growing stature as a standard-bearer of Southern-gothic literature while proving yet again that he is one of the most distinctive voices of our time.”

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