Into the Hollow by Karina Halle Series: Experiment in Terror #6
Published by Metal Blonde Books on November 12th 2012
Pages: 447
Goodreads
Perry Palomino has fought her demons – and won – but the battle is far from over. She’s now left broken and on her own, leaving behind her life and family in Portland to focus on giving Dex Foray – and the Experiment in Terror show – a second chance. But their past mistakes continue to tease and test their relationship, as does the wild and desolate terrain of the Canadian Rockies.
The snow-covered peaks and ravenous forests hide an urban legend too unbelievably frightening to be true and the only way the duo has a chance of surviving is if Perry can let in the very man who sent her to hell and back.
At the end of the last book On Demon Wings, Perry was freed from the demon that had possessed her with the aid of her sister Ada and the man she swore to never see again Dex Foray. Into the Hollow begins with Perry having to make some tough decisions. Her parents, who have never believed in Perry’s uncanny abilities, are hovering around – one step away from committing her to a mental institution.
Dex urges Perry to leave with him and move into his apartment. Perry, seeing no other real option, decides to take him up on his offer though she still feels raw and hurt about what happened and blames Dex for her being in such a state that a demon was able to take possession of her. Dex is keen to prove to Perry that he is a changed man but Perry doesn’t want to know. He hurt her too badly and she is unwilling to allow him back into her heart.
After Jimmy, their former boss at Shownet, brings up the possibility of reviving Experiment in Terror, Perry jumps at the chance to return to ‘normality’. Although she isn’t keen on putting herself in any kind of supernatural danger, this seems like a pretty cut and dried case. There have been sightings of a large, clawed beast in the Canadian Rockies who some believe to be Sasquatch.
Perry scoffs at the idea that ‘Bigfoot’ could really exist and when Jimmy gives her the option of staying behind the camera for once, she talks Dex into resuming their investigative show.
Dex does not want to put Perry into any further kind of danger but allows her to talk him into it – sharing Perry’s belief that the attacks and sightings are more likely to be the work of a wild animal and that the whole thing may just be an elaborate hoax.
However, there may in fact be more to the story than they believe and when the two of them end up camping out in the wilderness with only a creepy guide for company they soon end up fighting for lives once again, trying to survive out in the wild and avoiding attacks by the creature that is dogging their every move. Add to this the building tension between them, and they are in for an explosive and terrifying ride.
I am loving Dex more and more with every book and he really steps up here. Perry dubs him Dex 2.0 and it is clear he is a changed man (though at the same time still the lovable, charming, perverted rogue he has always been). Dex would do anything for Perry and really lays his heart out on the line in this book.
As for Perry, well I actually found myself getting a little irritated with her in this book (still love her to bits though). I understand that she is still hurting but it is her anger at Dex that is holding her back and only by letting go of this does she truly free herself. Perry has made some bad decisions too and I am glad that Dex calls her on this.
This was another exciting and thrilling chapter in the series. Not as spooky but definitely action-packed and full of tension (in more ways than one). Cannot wait to read Come Alive when it is released (though I still have And With Madness Comes the Light to tide me over).
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