The Hollow Tree

Shona Sandison Investigation, Book 2

By: Philip Miller

Narrated by: Robin Laing

Investigative journalist Shona Sandison is attending the wedding of her closest friend and former colleague, Vivienne. But the night before the wedding, Viv’s reclusive school friend, Dan, jumps from a roof to his death. Shona is the only witness to the suicide—and so the only person who saw the occult tattoos covering Dan’s body, and heard the unsettling, mystical phrases he was uttering.

Compelled to look further into the tragic incident, Shona sets off on a quest to find out why Dan killed himself and what happened to Viv’s missing brother twenty years prior.

Despite knowing that investigating Viv’s family will mean she could lose her friend forever, Shona travels to a small, forgotten town in the north of England to investigate an insular group of classmates who have held a dark secret for decades.

Haunting and hypnotic, The Hollow Tree is a return to Philip Miller’s dark world of subterfuge, betrayal, and fragile justice.

©2024 Philip Miller (P)2024 Recorded Books

The reader is a true performer!

Loved the capability of the reader to use accents to make each character an individual. I cannot imagine just “reading” the book; he enhanced it all

Mixed views

I listened to this shortly after finishing the first novel in this series, which felt more focused by comparison. This one had an interesting plot, but the beginning and middle contained long, repetitive (and in my view) overwrought descriptive passages that did little to advance the reader's understanding of the characters or the story. They may have been necessary for the author to write to fully flesh out the world he was creating for his own sake, but would have been better left on the cutting room floor before publication. The storyline eventually became more compelling and I'm ultimately glad I listened until the end, but I came very close to quitting about half-way through, which is unusual for me. I probably would not recommend this one to a friend.

A great read

Pithy dialogue, beautifully written, strong plot, humor, great Scottish characters you care about and want to meet again.