From the Booking Desk:

Followers of BOLO Books certainly know that I am a huge fan of Lisa Unger – in particular, I am a fan of her novels set in The Hollows. In the lead-up to her new full length novel, Lisa is releasing a series of short stories featuring the character of Eloise Montgomery. Together, these stories will represent an e-novella which will further connect The Hollows books – from Fragile through to Crazy Love You.

“The Whispers”

In this prequel story, readers will meet Eloise Montgomery long before her debut appearance in Fragile, the first of the full length novels set in The Hollows. At the beginning of the story, tragedy strikes the Montgomery family.  A car accident takes the lives of both Eloise’s husband and her oldest daughter. The body of the story focuses on how Eloise and her younger daughter struggle to cope as the only survivors of this horrible accident. Meanwhile, Eloise begins to have the psychic visions which will follow her for the rest of her life. Women and girls who are needing help from the other side seem to be able to communicate with Eloise in a way that even she does not understand.

This story is a great introduction to The Hollows and to Lisa Unger’s writing style. By necessity, the short story format does not allow for the incredible plotting that readers will find in Unger’s novels, but for those that don’t want to commit to a long work at first, this is perfect. For fans, on the other hand, this story helps to build the back-story of Eloise Montgomery, a favorite character from the novels.

“The Burning Girl”

The middle short story in the series picks up a decade after the action from “The Whispers.” Eloise is still not exactly comfortable with her psychic powers, but she has managed to find a way to live with it. But when she starts to see visions of a girl on fire and can actually smell the smoke, she senses that something is different about this connection. Maybe this time, the vision doesn’t want help.

Whereas the first short story helped to give readers a sense of Lisa Unger’s writing style, this story will give them a good idea of the tone and creepiness of Unger’s longer works. The writing style is still evident, but in this story readers begin to see the depth of Unger’s talent as the various writing elements begin to merge. Even the most hardened horror fan will find themselves fighting chills during the reading of this short work. This story is also where Unger begins to expand on the Montgomery family tree, which will become even more important as we reach the final short story in the series.

From the Booking Desk:

“The Whispers” is available now and “The Burning Girl” will be released on November 25th.  The final story in the series, “The Three Sisters,” will be out just after the new year, followed by Crazy Love You – the new full length novel – in February. Now is the time for everyone to start reading Lisa Unger.

Related Posts: The BOLO Books review of Lisa Unger’s In the Blood