The Hollow Man

The Hollow Man: A Novel by Oliver Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Nick Belsey, London Police Detective Nick Belsey, is a man that has hit bottom with a vengeance. He wakes up on Hampstead Heath still drunk by a crashed squad car, no money, no wallet, no home and soon no job. While piecing together his night he casually starts investigating a missing person and figures out how to get himself out of this mess.

It will be oh so simple to step into the shoes of the missing business man, clean out his accounts and disappear himself. Its not like there is a body and no one even knows what Alex Devereux (the missing Russian business man) looks like. The more Nick investigates the missing person the more he is sure he could get away with the crime but he has to move fast. Soon body's are piling up and Nick's own life is in jeopardy.

You always know you have read a good book when you get to the end and you immediately go online to discover when/if more books will be coming. which is exactly what I did with this book.

Unlike most American crime novels this book moves a little slower and spends getting us to the guns blazing end, which is why it works so well. By the time you get to the half way mark you are secretly hoping Nick gets away with his scheming but also solves the big mystery surrounding Alex Devereux. You can't decide to you want Nick to be the good guy or the bad guy.

Unlike typical anti-heroes, bad guys being heroic, you have a "good guy" doing some bad things. And although the main character is essentially solving the mystery he is not doing it for the greater good he is doing it for his own selfish reasons. And that is what keeps you reading and connected to the character.


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