Mike Mallow has completed his trilogy of novels, which began in 2020, with “In the Country Dark.”
Borrowing a phrase from John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Mallow’s final entry in the Appalachian thriller series is titled “In the Morning Hour.”
“I wanted a title that represented light,” he explained. “The three books have a theme on darkness. “In the Country Dark” was about going into the darkness, “Burning Without Knowing” was about living in darkness, and the new novel is about finding a way out of the darkness.
The series, now officially called “Light Up the Holler,” began in 2016 when Sugar Grove Naval Station was put up for sale.
“There was the possibility a movie studio could purchase the property, and I wanted to write a story that could be shot locally and cheap if the hypothetical studio ever wanted to do local outreach,” Mallow said.
“In the Morning Hour,” published by Cressen Books, carries forward the series themes of fatalism, regret and the cost of vengeance. It adds to the mix themes of forgiveness and learning to be proud of the legacy a person leaves behind.
The story brings original protagonist, Cabel Walsh, back to West Virginia after a threat arises which could expose his dark secrets. While investigating, Walsh is set against competing priorities from a rogue apprentice, their wealthy benefactor, an optimistic teen with a troubled past, and an upbeat woman accompanying her grieving boyfriend on a tour of healing. When tragedy strikes, the factions band together to stop a ruthless ex-convict from reigniting the machinery of the local criminal enterprise.
While Mallow considers “In the Morning Hour” to be the conclusion to a trilogy, he says that he has left the series open to continue, but through the eyes of new characters introduced in the final novel.
The series has come a long way since its early origins, though Mallow notes that things are ending where they began.
“With Sugar Grove Naval Station up for sale again, we may get that movie studio yet,” he commented.
A native of Upper Tract, Mallow lives in North Mankato, Minnesota, with wife, Traci, and daughter, Hazel. He has a career in newspapers which continues to expand. He is a staff writer for the Montgomery Messenger and Waterville LifeEnterprise, an advertising designer for the Swift County Monitor-News in Benson, Minnesota, and a layout artist for the Grant County Herald in Elbow Lake, Minnesota.
He is in the process of selling to publishers “The Midnight Circuit,” a novel of four intertwining stories taking place across a century of history of the seemingly haunted Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.
On writing, Mallow has returned to his science fiction roots, writing an epic called “Quantum Crossing,” about mankind’s desperate attempt to reunite after being scattered across the local star cluster.
