Fit the Fourth

Eerie, precise, and salty as a cut on a winter walk. The folkloric structure of the four fits pays off, especially in the way the book toys with voice and witness—Bram Teague stole scenes without ever turning into a caricature. The ending is more of a toll than a bang, which I liked, though I can see why some readers wanted a brighter flare.

The way Hollings uses the lighthouse clock—"its brass mouth keeps swallowing the hour"—is the best kind of horror: mechanical, inevitable, intimate. Anya and Bram Teague felt like real people scraping barnacles off the past, and I loved how the marsh maps in the chapbook became a trap and a guide.

The final gathering on the boardwalk is breathtaking. The bell, the borrowed voice, the last line spoken where the land breaks—it's ritual, but it's also grief. I finished and just sat there, listening for water where there wasn't any.

Also, tiny thing: the detail about the trunk's salt bloom around the hinges? Chef's kiss.

Atmósfera fría y pegajosa, como niebla en la piel. La historia avanza con calma, pero cuando el poema "Fit the Fourth" empieza a revelarse, no pude soltar el libro. El pueblo de Holmswick se siente vivo y condenado. Le faltó un golpe final más claro, pero aún así me dejó inquieto por noches.

Gorgeously written, deliberately paced. I admired the folkloric research and the sense of place, especially the marsh maps and the lighthouse sequences, but I wasn't fully invested until the last third. If you like slow-burn dread with a literary tilt, this will work; if you're after jump scares, maybe not.

Nothing happens for ages. Pages of tide tables, riddles, and soggy vibes, then suddenly we sprint to an ending that pretends to be profound because it's ambiguous. The poem-as-puzzle shtick wore thin fast. Not for me.

This is the kind of coastal horror that gets under your fingernails. Hollings writes brine and rot like a love letter, and Anya Pell is a protagonist I wanted to follow straight into the fog. The imagery of the blue chapbook and that awful bell had me checking the time more than once. Perfect October read.