The Hollow Inside

At least two murders committed by characters are important to the story. Phoenix is kidnapped at age 9 by her dad's ex-girlfriend, and hasn't seen her dad since. A baby is kidnapped and presumed killed. As the story opens, Phoenix, caught in the act by the man whose house she's burglarizing, knocks him down the stairs and leaves him unconscious and badly injured, briefly considering calling an ambulance and then fleeing instead. A teen punches a classmate who's bothering his sister. Suspicious, potentially deadly "accidents" are part of a revenge plot. Lots of emotional violence, past and present, as characters deflect responsibiity for their own misdeeds (to "protect their family"), gaslight their accusers, and ruin lives. "His power is in the way he draws people to him... He's handsome but approachable. He has a face people want to trust. A strong voice. And just the right words.Always just the right words. Once he's got you, he could bury a knife in your gut, and you'd die telling everyone that it was your own fault."

An affair between a teen and an older, married man has fateful consequences, including a child. Two teen girls share a bed and a makeout session, but don't get past that because they're in the preacher's house. One stares a lot as the other undresses. A teen causes a huge scandal in her small town when she kisses a girl at a party.

Plentiful strong language including "f--k," "s--t," "bulls--t," "horses--t," "screwed it up," "bitch," "a--hole," "ass," "hell," "goddamn," "Jesus!"

Adults drink wine to celebrate. Teen characters sneak liquor and get sloppy drunk. An adult character who's been betrayed by a family member becomes an abusive drunk.

Parents need to know that The Hollow Inside, by first-time author Brooke Lauren Davis, is a riveting, dark, twisty, and brilliantly crafted revenge tale with lots of losers and no clear winners. The story opens as the 16-year-old narrator burglarizes the latest in a long series of houses, something that's been going on for years, being the way she and her "mom" (actually her dad's ex-girlfriend, who kidnapped her years ago) make a living. Caught in the act by the homeowner, she knocks him down the stairs, leaving him bleeding and unconscious while she makes a run for it. This is just the beginning of a whole lot of bad, ultimately murderous deeds, past and present, stemming from a naive teen's affair with a married man, who denied all when she got pregnant, and is now a world-famous self-help author with a "perfect" family. Now the victim, aka "mom," is going for long-planned revenge and taking the narrator along. Teen girls ogle and kiss each other, and share a bed with plenty of sexual tension but also no privacy. Adults and teens drink, and one adult character is a drunk. Abundant strong language, including "f--k," "s--t," "a--hole," and "goddamn."