The Hole by William Meikle is another blockbuster lead from DarkFuse. The novella is about a series of massive holes that begin swallowing up a small town. Casualties are high, and the survivors are haunted by something terrifying…demons, ghosts, aliens - no one knows for sure. The survivors know one thing: that the situation is likely to kill them and they must find a solution before it does.

This synopsis seems pretty simple, but the narrative is anything but simple. The plot is exciting, the tension is overwhelming, and the story is quite unpredictable. The characters are terrific – nicely drawn and very individual. The story line contains elements of horror and disaster/adventure and Mr. Meikle uses these to their fullest extent. Who lives and who dies is not foreseeable.

One minor criticism is the author’s portrayal of rural townspeople. Everyone uses “ain’t” quite frequently, and many have the habit of using singular pronouns with plural verbs (e.g., he weren’t).  The author seemed to be painting with an awfully broad brush to characterize nearly everyone in this manner.

I strongly recommend this novella. The pacing is excellent, the scares are timely, and the story is jaw-dropping fun.