ALONE IN WOLF HOLLOW

by Dana Brookins ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1978

A well-made, mildly scary adventure featuring Bart and Arnie, two likable motherless kids shipped off to an unsuspecting alcoholic uncle who fell to pieces after his wife's death. Uncle Charlie's smelly, messy home is located in a spooky hollow full of strange noises and shadows; but the boys are happy to be together, Bart (the older) busily cleans and cooks, and it seems that things are working out until Charlie's only friend, the local barmaid, is murdered in that hollow. Unstrung, Charlie cuts out, and the boys, covering up his absence, stay on alone until a too-eventful Christmas Eve wraps up all the little mysteries: Mr. Clenning, the kindly grocer who gave the boys delivery jobs, turns out to be Madge's killer, and he attacks Bart and Arnie when they catch on; the shadowy presence that had followed the boys on their first midnight walk through the hollow, and thereafter watched their house at night, turns out to be a harmless loony who surfaces to save them from Mr. Clenning's clutches; Old Lena, the black hermit who chases people with a shotgun, is the loony's nice friend and comes with him to share the boys' holiday dinner; and finally Uncle Charlie arrives home on cue, as Arnie has expected all along, having dried himself out at AA. It's too much, too neat, even for Christmas Eve, but this is the sort of unpretentious story that requires a happy ending.

Pub Date: April 1, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Seabury

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1978

Categories: FICTION