Billy Coffey

I fell in love with this book! The Curse of Crow Hollow is a spine tingling story related to you slowly through a folksy down home narrative that made me feel I was a trusted friend sitting around a spooky campfire being let in on a secret.

It is a story of superstition, suspicion, mob mentality oh and lets not forget the witch! Is she or isn't she? Can she really curse a whole town or is it all in their own minds like some mass hysteria? When a birthday party gone wrong leads a group of teens to the witch's door long hidden secrets make their way to the light and evil can live not just in a witch's shack but in the hearts of men.

I received an advance copy for review.… (meer)

This is a Southern gothic tale of a small town in a hollow between mountains. They are a law unto themselves. The preacher and the mayor run things and the part time constable is a garbage dump worker. A story of good and evil but really this is not a Christian fiction as some might say and I am surprised that it is published by Christian book seller. It is a negative picture of Christianity. And in the end, there is no evidence that good really wins. The narrator is unnamed. The story seemed to me to be a retelling of the Salem Witches hysteria with a couple of added twists. Over all, it was entertaining audiobook.… (meer)

Twenty years ago, Philip McBride died in Happy Hollow. His death was ruled a suicide but was it just a tragic accident? Or was his death something far more sinister? In Billy Coffey's The Devil Walks in Mattingly, only one person knows the truth about what happened that day, but three people are tortured by their actions that may have led to Phillip's death.

Neither the past nor secrets truly remain hidden and no one is more aware of that than the sheriff of Mattingly, Jake Barnett. He is slowly being crushed by the weight of the events from twenty years ago as night after night in his dreams, he relives that day over and over. His wife Kate desperately tries to make amends for her role through good works, but she can never fully escape from her guilt. Taylor Hathcock's grip on reality is forever altered and he sets in motion a devastating chain of events in the present that will eventually make all three of them face what happened on that long ago day.

The Devil Walks in Mattingly is told from each of the key players points of view. Matt's character speaks in first person and his exhaustion, shame and despair are keenly felt throughout the novel. Kate's character always feels a little distant and removed since there is little context for her overwhelming need for penance. Taylor is the most confusing character because it is obvious that he is mentally unstable and there appears to be no rational reason for what he is seeking.

The most compelling of all the characters is not a person, but a place. Commonly referred to as the holler by the locals, Happy Hollow is a place to be avoided but reaching the gate to the holler is a rite of passage for most of the men in Mattingly. The holler is alive with what feels like an evil presence and few dare to venture into the malevolent forest. But it is always clear the holler is key to the unfolding story: Philip died within the holler, Taylor now makes his home in the holler and Jake steers clear of the holler at all costs. But the holler is where supernatural forces will provide salvation and quite possibly redemption, for Taylor, Jake and Kate.

The Devil Walks in Mattingly is not an action packed novel that moves at breakneck speed. It is a slow moving story that builds little by little to a rather impressive and dramatic conclusion that offers almost all of the answers that the readers and the characters have been searching for. But there is one intriguing secret of the holler that remains hidden but since Mattingly is also the setting of Billy Coffey's previous novels, I can only hope he plans to eventually reveal the truth in a future release.
… (meer)

I was enraptured by the past as recollected by an aging Owen, as he watched the pieces of a life fall into places he never believed possible. There was so much heart, so much faith, so much truth finding amidst all the lies, and yet as beautiful as it all was, the end of both the book and a particular character left me...confused.

I admit it...I was split on this one upon turning the final page. The time I spent with Owen and Micky in the past was like watching an old family movie...WITH all the bumps and bruises along the way because let's face it, their childhood wasn't exactly idyllic. They were two peas in a mismatched pod, but they worked...the only problem was all the working was done outside of friends, family, and the community, and secrecy is not the best foundation for a relationship of any sort to start upon. One night, one choice, one moment that would change them all. Some would say the impact on the lives of those involved was for the better. It certainly seemed that way from the outside looking in. Faith was found in not only a higher power but mankind. Sounds wonderful...until it wasn't...but that turn south, so to speak, is where things get fuzzy, for me at least. I'm pretty sure I understood what Micky was getting at and the message she was trying to convey to Owen, but the how was outside of my belief system, leaving me to ponder and puzzle just what it was I had "witnessed".

All in all, the story has a lot of heart, and aims to reach those of its audience with a message of hope for a better tomorrow, the will to act to make it a reality, and the commitment of our true selves to follow a moral path befitting the gift our lives truly are. While I wasn't completely sold, the story still had its moments and they add up to a formidable story well worth the read.



**copy received for review… (meer)