The Hollow Boys
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Thriller; Mystery
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May 2026
Viper Books
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UK & Commonwealth: Profile books Ltd
Two children lost. The wrong one found.
It's a warm evening in September when nine-year-old Danny Yates comes back from the dead. He walks into town half-starved and silent, ten months after he and his best friend Will Keefe were presumed drowned. And when Danny does finally speak, he swears that he's not Danny. He's Will.
Danny's mother is convinced that her boy has come back wrong. More than that, the town itself is now at risk from whatever dark force returned her son. Chief of Police John Deacon is more interested in how the sinister disappearance of two boys could have been written off as a tragic accident, and who was responsible. What happened to Danny to make him take on his friend's name, his personality? And does Danny's return mean there's a chance that Will is still alive?
Also by Tariq Ashkanani
Selected Praise
“An atmospheric noir set in a doomed town full of characters burning up with secrets that finishes with an emotional gut punch. I loved this book”
“A brilliantly unsettling piece of purest American Gothic. I absolutely loved it. The twists and turns kept me guessing all the way to the end, and the small town setting was masterfully drawn”
“Fire and ice, sin and redemption, despair and hope, this story has it all and I read it in one frantic sitting, totally transported. This is Ashkanani at the top of his game”