A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow

by Matthew F. Jones

In a split-second decision that will shatter his life, insurance salesman Jack Spinks stops to help a young woman walking alone down a back country road. After getting into his truck the mysterious young woman grabs the steering wheel and forces the truck off the road, sending it plunging over a cliff and into the woods. What begins as a simple act of kindness spirals into a nightmare as Jack finds himself trapped in a dark and perilous world, hunted by the woman's cryptic pursuers. As he fights for survival, Jack's journey uncovers a haunting connection to his own past—one that may hold the key to unraveling the mystery and escaping the deadly forces closing in on him. From the highly acclaimed author of A Single Shot, A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow is a pulse-pounding crime thriller that weaves together psychological suspense and a gripping mystery, where every step brings Jack closer to a truth he's long buried—and forces him to confront who, or what, he can truly trust.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

236 pages, Paperback

Expected publication January 27, 2026

About the author

Matthew F. Jones, is an American novelist and screenwriter who grew up in rural upstate New York and currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Reviews

[Karen Murtagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this novel straight through, taking breaks only to be certain I was in fact sitting safely in my living room. There was an urgency to the writing that made me feel like I was watching the story unfold in real time. From the opening paragraph I was pulled into this dark, mysterious, occasionally hallucinogenic, sometime terrifying world, and couldn’t turn away until the novel’s shocking yet, thankfully, redemptive end.

I’m not sure what genre to call ‘A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow’ – noir, literary fiction, psychological thriller with a touch of horror. This novel is all those things and as twisty and unpredictable as real life. If you’re looking for conventional storytelling this isn’t it - the characters, plot lines, the world, cut against the stereotypes and conventions of much of contemporary fiction. It’s partly for me what made the novel such a compelling read. The characters are multi-dimensional and hard to figure out. For much of the novel you’re never certain if Jack Spinks, the novel’s deeply troubled protagonist, is a good or bad man or what his motives are until, suddenly, it all makes sense.

A truly stunning novel, unlike anything else I’ve read. Highly recommended.

[frey · Rating 1 out of 5]

(Thank you for the opportunity to read this as an ARC)

This story certainly has a gripping premise.
The atmosphere is there, the mystery is there, the intrigue is there - but I had issues with this novel that I just couldn’t look past.

It’s a confusing read - and not just in a stylistic way. From page 1 I found the flow of sentences to be choppy, running on, and (perhaps) lacking a proof-read?
“…He pulled her forcefully into the cab the girl, half coming-out of her shirt…”
“In the next second the cab was filling up with water and Spinks realized they’d crashed into a massive maple tree felled mid-stream in a brook running hard with late spring run-off from the mountain at the hollow’s top.”
It just made the novel difficult to read and I think it would benefit from a little more fine tuning.

Another thing I struggled to look past was the random erotica and the way the female character is described. It’s not beneficial to the story and just comes across as perverted.
We have the main woman being stripped out of her clothes within chapter 1 and by the end of the chapter we have in depth descriptions of her pubic hair and her breast size…

Like I said, there’s potential here and the novel is very atmospheric, however it (currently) isn’t something I would recommend to people.

[Louise Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

Veteran Jack Spinks is driving when he sees a young woman stumble out of the trees to the side of the road. Deciding to be a good Samaritan, he stops to help her, and his whole life changes in an instant. The girl is obviously traumatized, but when a car blocks his path, she freaks out, claiming demons are out to kill her. This leads to them having to trek over a mountain and through woods, and Spinks starts to wonder about his own sanity as the night progresses.

This is one of those books where you don't know what is going on, and if things are as they seem. A great concept, though I struggled with the writing style. Still a great story and well worth a read.

[Laurie Shapero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matthew F. Jone’s latest book A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow is an intriguing page turner full of action from the very first page. I couldn’t believe how quickly I was drawn into the story. I typically shy away from mysteries and psychological thrillers of any sort, but this book hooked me in immediately.

Each page provides you with a little bit more information about the characters, and details of the story and circumstance with added surprises along the way. I couldn’t believe how my first impressions of the characters changed the more I got into the novel. I was shocked how who I thought the characters were at the beginning turned into the characters who they were at the end. Good guys to bad guys- can this be for real? It takes a lot of expertise and imagination to deceive the reader in this way.

This novel has so many twists and turns that you have to pay close attention to each sentence so you don’t miss a detail. There is no drifting off to sleep with this book. The descriptions are so real that you feel you are right there in the woods with them. The plot thickens, and the book has a very startling ending.

The author includes discussion questions at the end of the book, which I appreciate as I am part of a book club.

[Jamie Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

So glad I had the chance to read this book early since I loved the author’s first book, A Single Shot.
From the very first page I was drawn in and finished the book in short order. Loved it but kept the light on at bedtime just in case. Highly recommend!

[Rachel Drenning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack Spinks is a good man, yet has a very dark side as well. It's a dark side that's merited for the life he's had to live. Who's to say when violence is justified and when it's not?

Jack meets a strange girl on the hollow that somehow reminds him of his passed away daughter. It's takes awhile, and it isn't at all linear, to get to the story of what happened to Jack's wife and daughter. It's a very sad story indeed. The girl is mixed up in some bad people. Are they demons or are they just very demonic men? Is there a difference? Iris, the young girl, has a story herself, and it's a very sad one too. 

This is a depressing tale, not going to sugar coat it, but it's just flows so beautifully. This is a very different book than the author's first novel. He's come a long way in his writing. 



This story was mixed around and coming at you from different angles, but if you stick with it, it comes together at the end.

I love unreliable narrator tales. And this definitely that. You never know who's good , or evil , shadow , or ghost. If I had to call this novel a certain genre, it would probably be southern noir magical realism. Which is my absolute favorite. 4 stars , highly recommended.

[Edward Wassermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure. I’ve been a major fan of everything Jones has written since I read “The Cooter Farm” way back in the 1990s and have never understood why his work has not gotten more main stream attention. Perhaps it’s because Jones does not write formulaic fiction or ‘comfortable’ fiction. Nor does he follow trends. You cannot label his work as this or that genre. Each of his novels is unique unto itself, like a great painting.

“A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow” – his first new novel in over fifteen years – is no exception. It is a stunning, absolute page-turning work of art by a uniquely talented writer. One gets the sense in reading the novel that Jones carefully choses every word he writes. This makes for a gripping read, where one has to pay attention to every sentence. They all matter. There is no fluff in Jones’s prose. It challenges the reader to pay attention and rewards those who do with a story that comes together over the course of the novel like a finely handcrafted tapestry. Jack Spinks, the novel’s protagonist, is a complicated man. Sharing time with him can be a bit uncomfortable, even disorienting. At times he - as well as the novel itself - is outright frightening. At other times it is haunting, heart-wrenching, moving, even humorous in unexpected places. In short, Jack Spinks is authentic. He is a real person haunted by demons. Over the course of the novel we find out why – a truly stunning reveal that brings the two alternating story lines of the novel together and sets it on an even more pulse-pounding course to its heart-stopping end. As intricate as the story is, it moves like a bullet. I could not stop reading it. Jones’s prose is truly his own, he mimics no one, and, for me, it is absolutely captivating. And the dialogue is spot on for the world and the people inhabiting it. For readers who love literary thrillers or for anyone who just loves great writing, of whatever genre, I can’t recommend ‘A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow’ highly enough.

EHW

[Steve Dworetzky · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, excellent book. Great plot, but as importantly so well crafted, well written. Great background with back-and-forth scenes to tie in the angst of our protagonist. As well, the similes the author uses are so spot on, not over the top, very subtle and really puts you right there. Cleverly put together where so many aspects tie in together. Comes full circle. A page burner, tough to put down. Hated to have it end. Hopefully, more to come from Mr. Jones?

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Netgalley ARC - as ever, thank you for the opportunity to read and review.

A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow was totally not what I expected, and that wasn’t a bad thing. Drawn in by the supernatural aspect I was ready for a whole different experience to what I was left to play over in my mind.

Being an ARC I had to really concentrate, often repeating paragraphs to truly understand what was being envisioned, but that did not detract from a very engaging story that builds in suspense and then veers off in many different tangents.

The character profiles are solid, and the time hops build on this really well. There were occasionally events where I was left questioning how or what was going on, and some parts I struggled to form in my mind, but not enough to detract from the story.

I look forward to seeing the published novel and recommending it highly.

[Eleonora Dall'oco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Regal Houses Publishing for this book!

I. Am. Frightened.
For the first hundred or less pages I was frikking SCARED! And when the story goes ahead I was less scared but more understanding about it, and I don't know, I am really happy to have read it! I found the writing style really good, really deep into the darkness that the author want to express, I think this is a really good book!

So thank you again and good job, I hope to see this translated someday into my country ❤️

[Jennifer Loschiavo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dont usually like mystery thrillers but this one was different. It was charged with true fear and a strange energy and emotion that gave me chills. Very well written and it didnt drag too much. It did a little bit in the middle but it kinda felt worth it once it got to some crucial points in the twisty plot points. Decent read.

[Sally Cranston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the writing and was immersed in two compelling stories throughout. A tragic and tender account of evil, love, war, and forgiveness.

[A E GRANIERI · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very excited to find a new author that grabs me the way Matthew F. Jones does. I couldn't put this book down! As you are reading you can't wait to see what's next.

[Robert Griffith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Immediately pulled in and held me until the finish works as a thriller but also as a interesting psychological portrait of a deeply scarred person who eventually seems to find some form of redemption

[Spring (Infinite Ink Society) · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Stayed up all night with this one. Not because I had to, but because the book refused to let me go until it had properly haunted my soul.

A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow is spiritual horror soaked in backwoods dread, grief, and poetry sharp enough to draw blood. Jack Spinks is spiraling through memory, war trauma, guilt, and a forest that seems sentient—or maybe just vengeful. There are demons (literal and emotional), dead girls, and a crow with enough judgment in its beady little eyes to make you question your life choices.

By the end, I was emotionally raw, spiritually shaken, and deeply suspicious of every tree, shadow, and piece of metaphorical dialogue.

So why four stars?
Because the first 80 pages felt like trying to understand a dream told by a haunted man on benzos. Gorgeous? Yes. Confusing? Also yes. Took me a bit to latch on, but once it clicked, I was feral.

This book is not here to comfort you. It’s here to stare at your wounds and ask, “What if this is holy?”
Dark, lyrical, gutting—and I loved (almost) every second of it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, and to the crow in the story for staring directly into my soul and finding me unworthy. You were right.

[Lauri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an intense, intricate thriller, with much violence and lots of twists and turns. A guy is driving down a remote road when he stops to help a young woman who is clearly frightened. She is being chased down by someone in a car, and after crashing over a riverbank, they are on the run through the woods. There are very bad people in those woods and it's like a big jigsaw puzzle to figure out how they all fit together. This was my first book by Matthew Jones, but I dare to say that it won't be my last. The guy definitely knows how to keep the tension up!

Thanks to author, the publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review.

[FaithfulReviewer (Jacqueline) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Regal House Publishing, the author and NetGalley for a DRC in return for an honest review

⚠ Trigger warnings for moments of #ExtremeViolence #Murder/Suicide #PTSD #IntrusiveThoughts ⚠

This book is a standout in Contemporary Fiction. Told through the eyes of a totally unreliable narrator Jack Spinks, the narrative drags the reader through a single harrowing night in the Appalachian wilderness, where memory, grief, guilt and redemption bleed together like rain on a dirt road. As a character Spinks is a deeply flawed individual. He has a complex backstory and is psychologically disturbed by past events that he struggles to deal with on a daily basis - his way of coping is alcohol and drugs. A recurring theme within the narrative are mentions of demons running loose in the forest - there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the only demons are the ones that live rent free in Spinks' own head.

This is a superb book, but it was a challenging read. Speaking as a British person, I struggled with much of the dialogue as it is written in a thick Southern (US) dialect. I had to read it in a Southern drawl for it to make sense. Run-on sentences abound* (a pet hate of mine) that often span entire paragraphs and while they fit the stream-of-consciousness style of the narrator, they also make for dense, difficult reading in places. This is not a polished or easy ride, but it is a meaningful one. If you hang on in there and learn to adapt then this will be a worthwhile experience, as the storyline and imagery provided by the author Matthew F Jones are outstanding.

The atmospheric setting of the woods in this book are as much a character as Spinks, Callender and Poncet are - in the same way that the house is a character in J J Walker's 'The Flowers at Flood House'. The ever-pervading darkness of the forest mirrors the atmosphere of the text itself, casting a sense of oppressive foreboding over every scene. This is a Southern Gothic psychological horror, with a foot firmly planted in rural noir. The horror isn’t in monsters or ghosts — it’s in the moral ambiguity of the choices people make, the violence they justify and the inescapability of guilt.

The atmosphere, tension and most of all the setting, in this book, brought to mind the 1972 classic film 'Deliverance'. Both stories are brutal and psychologically disturbing and yet we lean into the uneasiness and find ourselves compelled to witness the events through to the end.

All the characters are flawed — some irredeemably so. There are no clear-cut 'good guys' and 'bad guys' If you like books with unreliable narrators who are just as broken as the people they’re fighting against, then this is the book for you.

*I feel I need to share an example of the run-on sentences, that should really be amended before publication -

“He recalled Callender telling him that a few years back he'd found Jesus and been born again and Spinks wondering what good being born more than once into a world that had him trapped and crippled in a sixty-foot hole rapidly filling with water was doing him and that he would have been better off if he'd foregone his second birth for swimming lessons.”

Whilst this writing is evocative, it becomes quite exhausting to have run-on sentences like this on every other page. This book isn’t out until January 2026 and frankly, it’s a good thing, as I think the proofreaders have a monumental task ahead. If the final version can tame some of the more indulgent sentence structures while retaining the raw quality of Jones’ voice, this will be a real knockout.

I like the added touch of Book Club Discussion Questions at the back of the book. They will present readers with a deeper understanding of the text.

This book is a dark but beautifully written descent into one man’s personal hell. It will crawl under your skin and stay there.

#AReckoningUpBlackCatHollow #NetGalley

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

She lunged at the cab of his truck. Marine veteran, now insurance salesman Jack Spinks “wasn’t sure if the edge in her voice was a manifestation of anger, fear, shock or lunacy.” Yanking open the Durango’s passenger door, she hollered that “demons” were after her. “The girl, taking advantage of his diverted attention…jammed the gas pedal to the floor…” sending the truck careening down a fifty-foot bank into a stream. In pursuit, a dark vehicle with orange running lights, carried two travelers she claimed wanted her dead. Jack Spinks, Good Samaritan, saves a life! To the occupants of the vehicle with orange running lights, it appears that Spinks has kidnapped a young, scantily clothed girl. And so begins this unsettling thriller filled with contradiction, jump-started with Spinks’ dilemma. Is she telling the truth or is she a “stone liar or delusional?”

She appears to resemble Jack’s young daughter Iris, an incentive to carry the mumbling, incoherent girl out of harm’s way and deep into the woods. Are the woods safe? There are dark shadows and shapes “darting through the air”. Branches breaking and mournful cries fill the void signaling danger. Jack had an eerie feeling that the eyes of Sheriff Grey Poncet and Deputy Carl Ames “were moving across the water toward him and the girl like two invisible light beams.” The men claim to be police officers…are they?

As an insurance salesman, Jack Spinks had just made an insurance pitch at the home of Sebastian Poe. Funny, three young girls, wearing clothing similar to the rescued girl, waved to him through a window. Jack was tipsy and stoned when he left Poe’s dwelling for home and traveled up Black Cat Hollow Road.

Even more unsettling were Jack's memories of his tours in Afghanistan. He remembers, in detail, saving the life of a fellow Marine who fell into a deep hole, talking to him for hours, waiting for help to arrive. Jack’s uncomfortable, gnawing feeling was realized when he was apprised of the accident which claimed the lives of his wife and daughter while he was on the battlefield saving another.

A question arose- Was Jack Spinks’ unimaginable, brutal night in the woods a tormented fever dream created by an unhinged mind? Perhaps aiding a traumatized girl, who in his mind’s eye appears more and more like Iris would strengthen his mental outlook. If the events are real, first he must survive the night. His choices are unthinkable. One must ponder whether he personifies good or evil. You, the reader, must decide!

“A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow” is a mind blowing read by author Matthew F. Jones. Highly recommended.

Thank you Laura Marie @ Regal House Publishing for the Print ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Connie Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF’ed halfway through.

Was intrigued by the premise, and the very beginning mystery of this strange young girl taking a hold of the wheel and throwing them off the cliff side. However, the writing style and the flashbacks really muddled the text for me, and I found myself loosing that interest. There were a handful of sentences I needed to read a few times, as they felt rather cluttered and run on, really taking me out of the suspense.

“”””“Maybe to do with the hit she’d taken in the head or maybe to do with whatever before that had caused her to be walking scratched, disoriented and half-dressed down the hallow road the girl, understood Spinks, didn’t recall – or didn’t know – her age anymore than she knew her name or where’d she’d been before she’d stepped out in front of the Durango’s headlights.””””””

Was a lot of lines like that that just did not work for me. Am all for flowery language, but this was more clunk than anything.

When lines were not written to shove every word possible, the dialogue was really good. The dreamy and dazed manner the young girl was speaking in always caught my interest. Her declaring that they want her dead simply because “she was alive”, man those lines really hit. The descriptions of the surrounding forest were really well done.

I didn’t think anything about the description of the female character at first, its horror and a half naked girl is kinda par for some of it. “A girl only fifteen years old”. That was what took me back for a second, after we’ve had references to her losing her top, learning about how her wisp of pubic hair showed beneath her wet underwear, and how “each of her breasts could have fit into the palm of a small hand”. “You’re the same age as my daughter”, ya that was just a lot of weird things right on top of each other that had me side eyeing every description we’d been given.

If a fan of unreliable narrator, then this would be up one's alley. Not only is Jack a very unreliable narrator, but the girl herself is extremely unreliable and unclear about everything, and the forest that they are tracking through is a dreamlike mystery in and of itself. While it was not for me, I would recommend a read if the premise and the manner of writing is of interest.

Honest review given in exchange for an electronic ARC, via Netgalley

[Horror Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading the reviews for this novel it seems there's one thing that people are divided over. The narrative style the author chose to use. Some find it beautiful and gives me book a certain flair while others didn't like it at all.

I'm of the former set. I don't know if hillbilly literary prose is a thing but if it is, this book nails it. The phrasing and run on sentences of the narrative is different than a traditional book but I was really Into it. It makes you pay attention to each word for full context.

Jack Spinks is a former combat vet and now sells insurance and is a low level drug dealer in his small rural town. His wife and child died horrifically and he's not in a good place mentally.

One night driving home he's flagged down by a distraught teenage girl. When he stops to help a vehicle pulls up and the girl freaks out, takes control of his truck, and drives it into a stream where Jack has to rescue her from.

She' seems to not be all there and talks about demons chasing her trying to kill her among other cryptic things. I won't say anything else about the plot except that by the end Jack is going to kill several people and the situation is going to go off the rails really quick.

But is it real? Is there actually a girl? Are the people chasing them demons in disguise or just monsterous humans? Throughout the novel those questions will arise again and again. Because Jack might be a generally good guy but he doesn't seem bothered with killing.

Even the answers at the end will leave you with doubts as to some of it because this is a novel about grief, guilt, and mental illness and a couple of people caught up in a twisted circumstance they don't know how to navigate. It does this with scenes of violence and the possibility that this might all be a delusion. But you'll have to read to find out and it's definitely worth your time to do so. I highly recommend it.

I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley. This review is voluntary and is my own personal opinion.

[Madelon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Via Netgalley kun je boeken lezen en aanvragen die nog niet uitgekomen zijn. Zo kan het dat ik nu al mijn eerste titel uit 2026 heb gelezen. A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow van Matthew F. Jones is bij vlagen een onderhoudende horror, maar als geheel voelt het verhaal nogal onevenwichtig aan.

Spinks stopt met zijn auto aan een verlaten weg om een jonge vrouw die zegt in gevaar te zijn te helpen. Wat een goede, medemenselijke daad lijkt, wordt een nachtmerrie wanneer Spinks en de jonge vrouw uit de handen van hun achtervolgers moeten zien te blijven. Maar is Spinks zelf wel zo onschuldig als hij lijkt?

Leuk
Laat mij beginnen te zeggen dat ik het uitgangspunt van A Reckoning up Black Cat Hollow erg leuk vind. Een man denkt een vrouw te redden, maar als lezer heb je al snel door dat Spinks’ visie op de zaken nogal onbetrouwbaar is en dat hij misschien helemaal niet zo onschuldig is als in eerste instantie lijkt. Dat vond ik een erg leuk gegeven waar Jones op een leuke manier mee speelt.

Op een bepaald moment werd ik echter nogal moe van alle dubbele bodems. Zo’n beetje op iedere pagina vraagt een personage zich af of andere personages wel te vertrouwen zijn en of de eigen visie – door allerlei persoonlijke zaken – niet vertroebeld is. Dat is in het begin nog best leuk, maar uiteindelijk is het vooral heel erg vermoeiend en kon het me vrij weinig meer schelen welk personage nu goed is en welk personage nu kwaadaardig is.

Focus
Daarnaast mist het verhaal focus. Jones wil simpelweg veel te veel. Hij wil Spinks’ verleden uit de doeken doen, hij wil een verhaal schrijven waarin het totaal onduidelijk is wie aan de goede en wie aan de slechte kant staat, hij laat heel lang in het midden wat voor soort horror dit nu is en probeert te hinten naar verschillende subgenres en hij wil door de setting in het bos en de mogelijk bovennatuurlijke krachten een soort Lynchiaanse sfeer creëren.

En het jammerlijke is dat geen van die pogingen echt werkt. A Reckoning up Black Cat Hollow is een allegaartje van ideeën, maar geen van die ideeën wordt echt goed uitgewerkt. Ik verloor dan ook al snel de interesse in het verhaal en de personages en heb driekwart van het boek met halve aandacht gelezen.

Griezelen
Het laat maar weer eens zien dat horror helemaal niet zo’n makkelijk genre om te schrijven is. Het is behoorlijk moeilijk om de lezer te laten griezelen en van griezelen was voor mij bij dit verhaal geen sprake. Nee, A Reckoning up Black Cat Hollow was ‘m helaas niet voor mij. Het doet me de uitstekende horror die ik dit jaar al heb gelezen gelukkig nog meer waarderen.

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[Hope Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. Truly. A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow has atmosphere for days. Creepy roads, ominous woods, a sense that something bad is about to happen if you just keep driving. All excellent ingredients for a solid thriller. Unfortunately, the story kept tripping over itself every time it described the young girl at the center of the mystery.

From the moment she appears, the focus lands less on who she is and more on how she looks. And not in a way that adds tension, symbolism, or character depth. It reads like a checklist of details that no reader actually needed and many readers actively wished would stop. The effect is less “unsettling mystery” and more “sir, why are you describing this.”

I understand that thrillers often rely on unreliable narrators and uneasy encounters. That does not mean every female character has to be filtered through a lens that feels oddly fixated and distractingly male. Instead of heightening suspense, these descriptions repeatedly pulled me right out of the story and made me question the author’s priorities rather than the plot.

Which is frustrating, because the setting really works. Black Cat Hollow is moody, isolating, and genuinely eerie. The pacing is decent, the tension builds, and there is a good story trying to fight its way to the surface. It just keeps getting overshadowed by writing choices that feel unnecessary at best and uncomfortable at worst.

I kept reading hoping the book would course correct or at least justify the early fixation. It did not. The atmosphere stayed strong. The character work did not improve. By the end, I felt more annoyed than unsettled, which is not the emotional payoff I look for in a thriller.

Strong setting, decent suspense, but derailed by awkward and distracting descriptions of a young female character that add nothing and cost the book a lot. Two stars, because the hollow itself deserved better than this particular reckoning.

[Suki · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gloomy tale with heavy atmospheric dread that lingers longer after each chapter. A complex man haunted by his past experiences psychological turmoil as he attempts to save a stranger. It’s a poignant story that reminds us of the profound impact traumatic memories can have on our psyche.

I don’t usually read such heavy stories; however, I was intrigued by the description and thought it would be about something different altogether. I am likely not the ideal reader for this type of story; however, I appreciated the atmospheric dread and descriptive scenes. I felt the confusion and frustration the character felt as they questioned the earlier parts of the story.

The pacing was very slow, and I felt impatient to see how the different narratives would come together. There were moments when I felt lost and needed some time to make sense of how the story was unfolding. I do not usually read stories that contain psychological thrills, however, I was curious to understand the character more towards the end.

Final notes, for fans who enjoy slow-paced cerebral horror that focuses on a character’s regrets and pains, this book is for you!


*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is an advance reader copy (ARC) and may contain errors or changes before final publication. My review is voluntary and reflects my personal thoughts.

[Shannon Mabrito · Rating 1 out of 5]

It takes a lot for me to DNF a book, and unfortunately, I DNF'd at around 50%.

We meet Spinks, a former Marine turned drug dealer as he is left dealing in the wake of his time in combat as well as the untimely murder-suicide of his wife and daugter. When he happens across a young girl barely older than the daughter he lost, he hopes to help. But this leads him on what becomes a wild goose chase through the woods, running from what this strange young girl only says are "demons" hunting her, simply because she is alive.

The descriptions throughout the book felt choppy, forced, often running on and without making any sort of sense. We often found ourselves in flashbacks during Spinks' time overseas and when I left off, giving up on the story, I couldn't quite figure how this particular event in his life tied into the present-time story. Spinks is very unreliable, and while I normally love an unreliable narrator in a novel, adding into the mystery aspect, Spinks just felt like he belonged in a padded room in a straight-jacket versus making any sort of sense whatsoever. It is unfortunte, since I try to finish the books I am gifted with reading as an ARC, but this one just didn't hold enough interest for me to continue.

I appreciate and thank NetGalley, Regal House Publishing and the author for the ability to read as an ARC. The opinions above are that of my own.

[Sarah Warrington · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of this novel is what pulled me into the story—a young woman who needs help on a dark night, but from who or what? Are her pursuers human or demon? What is she hiding from and is she related to Jack Spinks past?

What unfolds is run on sentences paragraphs long, graphic sexualized descriptions of an apparent 15 year old girl by a male writer, and an unrealistic story of a mentally unstable former soldier (how?) that goes on a killing spree. I personally wanted to DNF the book a third of the way through it, but I wanted to see how it ended. The descriptions of women throughout the novel as overly sexualized or weak (even if they are strong) make you wish there weren’t women in the novel at all.

Jack Spinks is also an unreliable narrator which made him a much more interesting character in the long run. My issue with the storytelling of Spinks background of being a former psychiatric patient would typically mean he wouldn’t be taken as a soldier. He kept circling back to he was only angry, not crazy but the story really fell apart even more for me at this point. I wanted more and if Angel Olivet was real she would want more too.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC for my honest review.

[Johnny Washington · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn’t a book you should try and speed read or pick up for a few minutes one day and a few minutes the next. This memorable novel needs your undivided attention because it deserves nothing less. Each sentence and each word you can tell is painstakingly crafted that results in some of the most poetic and unique writing I’ve read. Where else will you find meticulous written sentences like “questions evolving out of shreds of his memory appeared as ghostly figures in horseback galloping out of the fog in his brain.”

The result is an engrossing novel that sometimes reads as a poem while still providing a narrative thriller that has you asking what’s coming next…not to mention is what’s happening actually real or is the main character, Spinks, imagining this?

Jones’s writing brings you inside Spinks twisted but often sympathetic head like few authors can. And he creates an atmosphere that is both haunting and beautiful where I could see this turning into a movie cinematographers only dream of making.

A Reckoning up Black Cat Hollow requires patience and your time but in only the best way. It’s truly unique especially in today’s world of books. Read it.

[Laurence Dickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s a lot to admire in this novel—especially the narrative style, which I actually enjoyed. It has a rough, lyrical quality that suits the Southern Gothic mood perfectly. The run-on sentences and offbeat phrasing make you slow down and pay attention, and I found that part of the reading experience quite immersive.
Where it fell short for me was in the emotional connection. Despite the intensity of Jack Spinks’s story—a man broken by grief and trauma, caught in a violent and possibly delusional spiral—I never quite felt for the characters. Their pain is clear, but it kept me at a distance.
Some of the scenes, especially those with sexual content, felt out of place and pulled me out of the narrative. And while the plot raises interesting questions about what's real and what isn’t, the emotional stakes didn’t always land.
That said, the writing has a raw beauty to it, and I can see why this book would really resonate with the right reader. It just didn’t fully connect with me.

I received an ARC via NetGalley. Thank you.

[bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

War veteran turned insurance salesman Jack Spinks makes a life changing decision when he stops his car to help a woman who is alone on the forest backroads, desperately in need of help, claiming that she is being hunted by demons. Jones has written a story that follows a night of horror, and forces Spinks to confront his long buried grief. The story is told over two different timelines, one in the present where Spinks navigates terror in the woods on his mission to help the woman he has found, and the other in the past where Spinks experiences a life changing event in the military. While I found that the throwback perspectives were crucial for helping the reader understand Spinks' motives, I did also find myself wishing they were a bit shorter.

This book will have you on the edge of your seat, unsure of who you can trust, and what the truth really is. I read this in a single sitting, unable to put it down once I had started.

[Jennifer Leather · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to leave a good review for this book, I really wanted to enjoy it but …

I’ll start at the beginning - the story opening was gripping and atmospheric and I thought wow this is going to be great. I almost didn’t finish it though and I did speed read the end because I was invested enough to want to know what happened to the lead. I feel like the story switched half way, was it a supernatural Stephen king style horror or was it a military war and just normal people? There was a plethora of spelling issues and sentences where I had to read them a few times to understand them because there was a lack of punctuation. I really feel like the proof reader of this book needs to go back and do the job properly because this could be a really good book but right now it’s not
Buy borrow or bin. Sadly as it is right now with no alterations it’s a bin from me.

Thanks to netgally for allowing me to be an arc in exchange for an honest review

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

"In a split-second decision that will shatter his life, insurance salesman Jack Spinks stops to help a young woman walking alone down a back country road."

Writing: Because this is an unfinished ARC copy I do have to overlook the lack of editing however there were a lot of very long, rambling sentences that made it kind of hard to read. I also feel like some of the dialogue was unnatural and just strange.

Characters: I was intrigued by the main character but honestly had trouble forming any kind of opinion of him. He was definitely a damaged person but his actions were just odd. I didn't like anyone else.

Story: The story has promise but the execution just fell flat honestly. It was a quick read so it wasn't hard to get through, it just felt like it was missing something.

Overall: My honest rating would be a 2.5 but I cannot leave 1/2 star ratings. Hopefully before it is released it gets a really good edit and polish.