The Hollow People

This book looks like a horror book, so I was scared to pick it up. I’m not to big a fan of scary things, unless, you know, it’s really bad scary like the original Night of the Living Dead (and that was pushing it). But I had taken it out so… It surprised me! It was one of those alternate history book’s (General Winston’s Daughter) that assumed that you already knew how things were. But it wasn’t so bad that you were confused because the characters had no idea what was going on either. This book is a thriller. Filled with mind control, alternate realities, dictators, and unlikely heroes, it ends at the climax. My only problem was that since it is a trilogy, and the book was very short, the author probably could have put all of the books into one.

The story begins on island called Tarnagar, home to a prison/ mental institution. The main character was born to one of the most dangerous criminals of all time right before she committed suicide. He has been raised as the lowest as the low in an extremely strict class-ist society. The other main character is the daughter of a docter and fairly well off but she has doubts about the mind controlling drug they all take at the age of fourteen called Ichor developed by one Dr. Sigmundus. Supposedly the drug destroys all unwanted urges in a person and makes them happy. People who don’t react to it are sent to Tarnagar. The two main characters meet and the book begins. It goes in very weird places from there but still manages to hold on to the original idea. Very good read, although there is a lot of information to take in near the end.