Dark Hollow was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2000. Charlie Parker has retreated from New York to the small Maine town of Dark Hollow — his grandfather’s town, where he spent childhood summers. The community is shaken when a young woman, Rita Ferris, disappears with her infant son. Parker’s investigation connects her disappearance to a figure from local legend: Caleb Kyle, a monstrous figure who haunted these woods decades ago and whose evil may not have ended with his supposed death.
The novel deepens the supernatural element only hinted at in Every Dead Thing: Caleb Kyle is not merely a murderer but something approaching a folk-devil, a manifestation of the violence that the Maine wilderness has always harbored. The forests of Connolly’s Maine are not picturesque but primordial — places where human civilization is a thin veneer over ancient, indifferent forces.
Parker’s investigation brings him into conflict with the town’s establishment, who have their own reasons for wanting Rita’s disappearance left uninvestigated. Connolly layers human corruption — the exploitation of vulnerable women, the complicity of those who profit from silence — over supernatural horror, making it impossible to separate the two. The evil that Parker confronts is simultaneously banal (men who abuse their power) and cosmic (something that transcends individual agency).
Collecting Dark Hollow
First edition (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 2000): Cloth with dust jacket.
Market values:
- UK first edition, fine/fine: $50–$150
- US first (Simon & Schuster, 2001), fine/fine: $30–$75