Details:
Series: Experiment in Terror
Pages: 238
Edition: Kindle
Publisher/Date: Metal Blonde Books / November 12, 2012
Price: $3.99 on Amazon (free for Amazon Prime Members)
★★★★★★★★☆☆
I’m trying to write this review without using the words “rainbow,” “sunshine,” “unicorn,” or “happy pants dance.” It’s hard.
Simply put: Karina Halle brought it in Into The Hollow, her sixth novel in the Experiment in Terror Series.
With Perry and Dex back together as a team, the series returns to its investigative roots, which had been all but absent in the past two books (Lying Season and On Demon Wings) in favor of relationship drama. Not that there isn’t some wicked romantic tension between them in Into the Hollow (perhaps more than ever), but the partner dynamic reminds us of why we fell in love with Perry and Dex six books ago.
With so much history and hurt behind Dex and Perry, they can never go back to the way they were, and I appreciate Halle’s acceptance of this. After Lying Season I worried Perry would run back into Dex’s arms as soon as he so much as glanced her way, despite the pain he caused her. (I know On Demon Wings came after Lying Season but she didn’t really have the opportunity to feel anything toward Dex given the whole being possessed thing). Once trust has been destroyed, it takes more than a few nice words or apologies (or even rescuing from being possessed) to get it back. If you can get it back. The emotional and tragic dynamic between Dex and Perry in Into The Hollow was honest and heartbreaking.
The inception of “Dex 2.0” was not only refreshing, but surprising. Throughout the series, his quirky, sarcastic personality had become less "cute" and more borderline sociopathic – yes, I get that he’s all kinds of messed up, but still! – and I had no reason to suspect this book would be different. I was wrong and I’m okay with that. The best part was the ways in which he changed. It wasn’t just his personality, Dex changed his entire lifestyle. He’s mentally and physically healthier, and I think that will be good for Perry, who needs something stable in her life. They need to be strong, together, if they are going to face whatever is coming toward them.
And that’s enough of my psychoanalysis of the Perry-Dex Dynamic.
The plot...it was enjoyable. I have to admit, there wasn't much focus on the "quest for sasquatch", but it was at least suspenseful.
Perry returns home from the hospital after proving she is mentally sound. Even though her little sister, Ada, corroborated her story that Perry was possessed and they willingly traveled with Dex to Idaho in order for a shaman to perform an exorcism, her parents think it is a mental break and had Dex arrested on kidnapping charges. She’s faced with two choices: continue living with her parents under constant scrutiny for signs of mental illness (and likely be committed just as her grandmother had been) or move out. Not having a job, that would mean living with Dex, the man who broke her heart, or Maximus, the traitor who sided with her parents and sent her to the hospital. She did not want to live with Maximus.
Living with Dex is awkward and Perry desperately needs the money to get her own place. They’re offered an opportunity (and more money) to film another episode of Experiment in Terror, this time investigating a Sasquatch-like creature. Despite Dex’s opposition to Perry going out on a case after she’s already been through so much, she sees this as a step toward her freedom. And it’s not like Sasquatch is real, right?
Perry and Dex travel up into the snowy wilderness of British Columbia to probe for the creature they don’t believe exists. Stuck in the middle of nowhere with their uncomfortable relationship and a seedy hunter/mountain as their guide, they begin to wonder if the real danger exists inside or outside the cabin.
The ending will leave you wondering "What's next?"
The seventh book in the series, Come Alive, is scheduled for release in Spring/Summer 2013. According to the teaser, it involves "Perry, Dex, Maximus, New Orleans and voodoo." I can't wait to see what Halle does with this one.
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