HOLLOW

An autistic high schooler gets trapped in a nightmare when her friends disappear during a hike.

Cassie Davis hasn’t spoken to her best friends, Blake, Melody, and Jac, since she moved from middle-of-nowhere Deep Glen, New York, to New York City four years ago. She couldn’t tell them how her autism diagnosis and a breakdown led to her parents’ divorce, culminating in Cassie and her mother’s move back to Deep Glen. When her friends invite Cassie on their weeklong hike in the Catskills, Cassie agrees, hoping to mend their rifts. Instead, arguments abound, Cassie wakes to find Jac and Melody gone, and then a storm separates her from Blake. Fortunately, she’s rescued by handsome Kaleb, who invites her to take shelter in the Roost, an off-grid community. Kaleb and his mother understand Cassie better than her own mother, who pressures Cassie to overachieve even though her autism, anxiety, and trichotillomania overwhelm her. But why does it seem like they don’t want Cassie and her friends to reunite? Though some secondary characters feel underdeveloped and some plot points remain unresolved, Grothe’s debut novel viscerally depicts Cassie’s anger and discomfort as she grapples with self-doubt and the emotional toll of masking. Ominous crows and uncanny dolls deepen the uneasy atmosphere, which is further charged by romantic tension between Cassie, who’s pansexual, and Jac, who’s queer. Most characters read white, and Jac is Jewish.

Insightful and creepy, if slightly uneven.