Book Review: Hollow Beasts by Alisa Lynn Valdés
By John Valeri
April 28, 2023
Alisa Lynn Valdés is a storyteller of experience and skill. An award-winning print and broadcast journalist, the Albuquerque native served as a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe, and was once named among Time magazine’s Top 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America and a Latina magazine woman of the year. Her bestselling novels include The Dirty Girls Social Club, Playing with Boys, and The Husband Habit; they’ve sold more than one million copies and been published in eleven languages. Valdés joins the crime fiction community with her debut thriller, April’s Hollow Beasts, the first in a new series for Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer imprint.
Poet and professor Jodi Luna—a recent widow with a teenage daughter, Mila—has left the buzz of Boston behind to return to her roots in New Mexico. Assuming the role of game warden from her beloved uncle, she immerses herself in the desolate wilds, where natural wonders fight for survival against dangers of the inherent and manmade kind. The day before flying solo, she issues a citation to a poacher whose menacing demeanor carries the promise of retaliation; as disconcerting as the encounter is, her dread only grows with the discovery of a severed hand that’s been branded with a unique insignia—the first of several bloodied body parts that will turn up over the coming days.
On the trail of hunters who extend their proclivities to human prey, Jodi realizes that the threat may extend to her very own doorstep. Fortunately, her gun-savvy, rock-climbing daredevil of a daughter—ostensibly under the protection of her endearingly skittish uncle—is more capable and cool-headed than most (not to mention amusingly tart-tongued). But is a fourteen-year-old really any match for a group of white supremacists who have no regard for lives other than their own? They may have no choice but to find out. Beyond the case, potential romantic suitors and a young female ally in the Rio Truchas County Sheriff’s Department offer Jodi the promise of starting fresh, though making peace with the past will mean confronting old secrets that beleaguer her homecoming.
Valdés inhabits a range of characters, major and minor—the good, the bad, and the in-between—to tell this story. Her nimble maneuvering highlights both the personal and professional stakes at play in the investigation as well as the truly abhorrent (and unsurprisingly ignorant) nature of extremists’ disregard for their fellow worldly inhabitants. The author’s use of authentic language, cultural and topographical touchpoints, and social (in)justices ensures a level of realism that punctuates the narrative without overwhelming it. It’s a delicate balance done beautifully, and one that offers up moments of enlightenment and justifiable outrage to offset the entertainment value.
Hollow Beasts is a full-bodied triumph of a thriller. Alisa Lynn Valdés has created a heroine worth revisiting in Jodi Luna, who exudes both the strength of a warrior and the carefully protected vulnerabilities that make her utterly human. A dynamic ensemble, the vibrant vista, and sobering civil issues complete the core components for a compelling crime novel. The reminder that we as people are both the hunters and the hunted—indeed, sometimes animalistic in our baser instincts—resonates as powerful and profound. This one deserves to be on your radar. But be forewarned: Once you fall into the author’s trap, there is no escape.
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