Fans of “The Strain” books should be happy to see Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan back with what appears to be the start of a new horror series.

Whereas “The Strain” dealt with a vampire epidemic, “The Hollow Ones” follows a being that possesses people sending them on murderous rampages.

Subtitled “The Blackwood Tapes Vol. 1,” readers meet Odessa Hardwicke, a FBI agent placed in a terrible position after she and her partner encounter a murderer at the end of a killing spree.

Odessa meets an older FBI agent who has dealt with similar possessions in the past. He urges her to contact Hugo Blackwood. She soon reaches out to the mysterious Blackwood – an immortal man battling eternal bad spirits.

Hogan and del Toro take readers on a journey to 16th century London, the 1960s Mississippi Delta and modern-day New Jersey/New York.

Like they did with “The Strain,” the authors combine modern folks and ways with arcane traditions and mysticism of the past in “The Hollow Ones.” They have a smart way with characterization and have a winning combination with the relationships between Odessa, Blackwood and Earl Solomon, the older FBI agent.

They bring an almost cinematic style to the storytelling which isn’t surprising given del Toro is also the Oscar-winning director of movies such as “The Shape of Water” and “Pan’s Labyrinth.”

Given “The Strain” was a series of books, the “Vol. 1” in “The Hollow Ones” subtitle and the story’s set-up, readers who enjoy this book should expect to see more “Blackwood Tapes” horror novels in the future.