Don’t Let the Forest In meets The Whispering Dark in a queer YA cult horror following a recently diagnosed autistic teen who becomes enmeshed in a community of outcasts harboring sinister secrets.
“One of the best horror novels of the year, full stop. Haunting, heartfelt, and downright creepy.” —Kamilah Cole, bestselling author of So Let Them Burn
After a meltdown in her school cafeteria prompts an unwanted autism diagnosis, Cassie Davis moves back to her hometown in upstate New York, where her mom hopes the familiarity will allow Cassie to feel normal again. Cassie’s never truly felt normal anywhere, but she does crave the ease she used to have with her old friends.
Problem is that her friends aren’t so eager to welcome her back into the fold. They extend an olive branch by inviting her on their backpacking trip to Hollow Ridge, in the upper reaches of the Adirondacks. But when a fight breaks out their first night, Cassie wakes to a barren campsite—her friends all gone.
With severe weather approaching and nearing sensory overload, Cassie is saved by a boy named Kaleb, who whisks her away to a compound of artists and outcasts he calls the Roost. As Kaleb tends to her injuries, Cassie begins to feel—for the first time in her life—that she can truly be herself. But as the days pass, strange happenings around the Roost make Cassie question her instincts. Noises in the trees grow louder, begging the question: Are the dangers in the forest, on the trail, or in the Roost itself?
In a world where autistic characters rarely get to be the hero of their own stories, Cassie Davis’s one-step-back, two-steps-forward journey to unmasking makes Hollow as much a love letter to neurodiversity as it is a haunting tale you’ll want to read with the lights on.
A Booklist Editor’s Choice: Books for Youth
Read if You Love:
Don’t Go in the Woods
Deadly Road Trips
CottageGORE
Malevolent Masks
Cults
Nerd-core
Wound-tending
First Love
About the Author
Taylor Grothe is a neurodivergent (ASD) NB horror writer with an MFA from Fairfield University. Their work has appeared in Haven Speculative, Shortwave Magazine, Coffin Bell, Parents, Verywell Family, Brevity’s writing craft blog, and an anthology published by Bag of Bones Press. Taylor acted as a special editor for the Brevity special issue Trans Experience in 2022. They live in southwestern Connecticut with their spouse, two daughters, a Portuguese Water Dog, and two cats. Hollow is their debut novel.
Praise For…
Folk horror meets survival thriller in Grothe’s harrowing debut. . . . Visceral third-person narration closely follows Cassie, rendering her complex emotions palpable, while a tender queer romance adds heart. Lush prose conjures vivid imagery that increasingly unsettles as Grothe’s tale tips from tense to terrifying. —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Grothe excellently integrates intrusive, post-traumatic thoughts and stims, leaving readers feeling as unsettled as Cassie when things get more supernatural. A fantastic lost-in-the-woods horror and a new voice to keep an eye on. —Booklist (starred review)
Grothe’s debut novel viscerally depicts Cassie’s anger and discomfort as she grapples with self-doubt and the emotional toll of masking. . . . Insightful and creepy. . . . —Kirkus Reviews
A creepingly eerie plot. . . . The folk horror elements are all there. —School Library Journal
One of the best horror novels of the year, full stop. Haunting, heartfelt, and downright creepy… this book punched me in the face and stole my lunch money and all I could say was thank you. —Kamilah Cole, bestselling author of So Let Them Burn
An eerie and unsettlingly atmospheric debut, Taylor Grothe balances the tension of slow creeping horror with the distressing experience of unmasking, asking us to confront who we truly are when we strip away the weight of other’s expectations—no matter how painful. —K. M. Enright, Sunday Times bestselling author of Mistress of Lies
Both heartfelt and haunting, Taylor Grothe strikes the perfect balance between an immersive coming-of-age story and a chilling horror. Cassie is a heroine who you cannot help but love, protect, and root for— and who I would definitely follow into the shadowy woods. —Lyndall Clipstone, author of Tenderly, I am Devoured
Bone-chilling, haunting, and hopeful, Hollow is the kind of book that will leave you wanting to sleep with the lights on while simultaneously holding your hand in the dark. Cassie Davis may not think she's a hero, but she will be one for teen readers for years to come. —De Elizabeth, author of This Raging Sea
