The Curse of Crow Hollow by Billy Coffey

Coffey's books are almost magical realism. Evil is personified rather than just being a vague concept. Spiritual warfare is depicted as human interaction, making for a very interesting novel to read.

In this novel, evil has come into Crow Hollow. How the evil has arrived and what the citizens of the small town do about it makes up the story. It graphically portrays what happens when evil is not taken care of immediately. It also shows what happens when sins are covered up and hidden for decades. Sometimes we hope that if we just ignore a situation, it will go away. But that didn't work for Crow Hollow. Hiding a serious evil from the past brought devastation in the present.

This novel seemed like an allegory to me. How the people react to evil seemed like how Christians might behave in a spiritual warfare situation. People bickered and accused each other rather than actually fighting the evil. I think I saw that same kind of behavior in a church split once.

Coffey's novel deals with the kind of Christianity, I guess, seen in the hills of Virginia. It was certainly different than what I am used to. I did not like the the use of a narrator to tell the story. I understand the purpose with the twist at the end, but for me, it just did not work.

Reading the novel did give me pause to think about evil and the danger of keeping evil lying around, out of sight. Destruction will be inevitable.

You can go here to read an excerpt.

Billy Coffey's books combine rural southern culture with a vision far beyond the ordinary. He is a regular contributor to several publications, where he writes about faith and life. Billy, his wife and two children live in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. You can find out more at www.billycoffey.com.

Thomas Nelson, 416 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher for the purpose of an independent and honest review.