Hollow by Taylor Grothe

 Hollow by Taylor Grothe
Publisher:  Peachtree Teen
Format Read:  Hardcover
Number of pages:   352 pages
Published:  September 30th, 2025
Source: Publisher in exchange for an honest review

Opening Lines:  "Cassie Davis was no hero."

It's been four years since Cassie, and her mother left Deep Glen for upstate New York.  Now they're moving back, drawn by the familiarity and sense of normalcy they once knew, before the breakdown, the diagnosis and divorce.  Cassie is anxious, worried that her old friends have moved on.  Can they forgive her for leaving, never calling or explaining what happened? 

Surprisingly, Cassie's old friends extend an olive branch, inviting her to join their backpacking trip to Hollow Ridge.  It feels like the opportunity she has been waiting for, a chance to clear the air and mend old wounds.  At first, things appear to be going well.  The group begins to reconnect; they have an evening of laughter and drinking.  But just as they begin to feel like friends again, a heated argument erupts. The next morning, Cassie wakes to an empty campsite.  Her friends gone.

Cassie begins a desperate search for her missing friends, calling out into the woods and retracing their steps.  After falling on the trail and injuring herself, she's rescued by a boy named Kaleb, who takes her to the Roost, a secluded community of artists deep in the forest.  

At first, the Roost feels like a sanctuary.  Kaleb tends to her ankle injury, and the residents seem welcoming.  Cassie begins to relax and feel more and more like her old self.  Yet something feels off.  The dolls the community makes aren't helping put her at ease and Cassie can't seem to shake the feeling that Kaleb and the Roost aren't what they seem.  

Hollow has one of those book covers that grabs your attention instantly.  The dark, mysterious design with the crow and eye peeking through.  It sets the tone perfectly.  Yep, creepy Halloween vibes for sure.    

Cassie sees herself as a wearer of masks, concealing her true identity and emotions from those around her.  After a breakdown at school in New York, she was diagnosed as autistic, a revelation that reshapes how she sees herself.   The hiking trip to Hollow Ridge is meant to be a fresh start, a way to move forward.  But as their journey unfolds, Cassie realizes that she wasn't the only one struggling.  Each of her friends had their own issues and hidden pains.  Her absence impacted them all.  

Grothe takes their time developing both the plot and the complex relationships between Cassie and her friends.  The slow-building tension works well in developing Cassie's character, and that of the mysterious Roost.  You really get a strong sense of Cassie's anxiety, how it shapes her decisions and colors her perceptions. 

 The story unfolds in fragmented flashbacks of Cassie's memories with Jacqueline (Jac), Blake and Melody.  These glimpses help piece together their emotional history but personally, I would've liked to see more of those moments.    A few additional scenes from their past could have made the climax feel less rushed.  

One of the standouts from the book is its thoughtful representations.  Grothe includes characters and experiences that reflect autism, bisexuality/pansexuality, non-binary identity and trichotillomania.  Read this if you enjoy books with creepy dolls, a mysterious community, and an eerie forest or for fans of Don't Let the Forest In.