“This is absorbing, headlong reading, a play on classic horror with an inventiveness of its own… As with all the best illusions, you are left feeling not tricked, but full of wonder.”– The New York TimesThe haunting new thriller from Alex North, author of the New York Times bestseller The Whisper ManYou knew a teenager like Charlie Crabtree. A dark imagination, a sinister smile–always on the … Charlie Crabtree. A dark imagination, a sinister smile–always on the outside of the group. Some part of you suspected he might be capable of doing something awful. Twenty-five years ago, Crabtree did just that, committing a murder so shocking that it’s attracted that strange kind of infamy that only exists on the darkest corners of the internet–and inspired more than one copycat.
Paul Adams remembers the case all too well: Crabtree–and his victim–were Paul’s friends. Paul has slowly put his life back together. But now his mother, old and suffering from dementia, has taken a turn for the worse. Though every inch of him resists, it is time to come home.
It’s not long before things start to go wrong. Paul learns that Detective Amanda Beck is investigating another copycat that has struck in the nearby town of Featherbank. His mother is distressed, insistent that there’s something in the house. And someone is following him. Which reminds him of the most unsettling thing about that awful day twenty-five years ago.
It wasn’t just the murder.
It was the fact that afterward, Charlie Crabtree was never seen again…
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If you liked The Whisper Man, you’ll love this. Alex North has crafted a second novel which is just as gripping as his first and even scarier. Hugely atmospheric and deliciously creepy, it’s about how the past encroaches on the present, and how dreaming influences reality, until in the frightening world of The Shadows, it becomes harder and harder to tell one from the other… and the nightmare takes over.
I became a fan of Alex North after reading his first book. The Whisper Man. When I read about North’s inspiration for The Shadows—the horrid but true-life Slender Man case—I was immediately intrigued. It’s difficult to imagine how the assailants in the Slender Man case could have been motivated to such an atrocious act by an internet forum. North takes that idea and puts his own spin on it, changing the killers from teen girls to teen boys.
The book is told in first person and third person with two timelines, past and present. As a teen, the main character, Paul Adams, was involved with a group of four, led by Charlie Crabtree, an anti-social obsessed with lucid dreaming. Paul breaks ties with the others when Charlie’s behavior becomes fanatical. When a good friend is killed and the death attributed to Charlie (after which he disappears) Paul is saddled with grief, guilt, and anger. He leaves town at eighteen, hoping to put the tragedy behind him.
Twenty-five years later, another teen is killed, the murder eerily reminiscent of the tragedy in Paul’s past. At the same time, he returns home, needing to deal with his mother’s dementia. The past returns in the form of internet forums devoted to Cratbtree, the old killing, and a sinister cult-like figure known as Red Hands.
North is a good storyteller and he spins a complex tale. I was surprised by the major twists at the end and the tale held my interest. Paul’s POV is delivered in first person in both past and present, while a detective in the present is relayed in third person POV.
I am a fan of books that switch between past and present, and although I enjoyed this book, there were moments that frustrated me. The gaps between past and present often stretched too long. When there was a huge hook ending on a chapter in the past, the stretch to return took too long because of the need for two POVs in the present. By that time, I had forgotten or lost the momentum from the past. Add in lucid dreaming sections, and scenes occasionally became muddled for me.
There was also a storyline that I felt was plodding, but at the end becomes a key element. Brilliant, really. Overall this is a slow burn, and the reader needs to stick with the story. Not as riveting as The Whisper Man, but still an intricately spun tale. I think it may have been better sticking solely with the main plot thread. I generally love complex novels with multiple threads, but in this case, it bogged things down a bit too much. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for review ratings.
The problem with having a first book that is as incredible as North’s, The Whisper man, is that it’s hard to repeat that magic twice. The Whisper Man is my favorite read of the year and I was thoroughly excited when I finally got The Shadows. Then I realized it didn’t have the same narrator which made me sad but I pushed on anyway. It’s a good book, a very good book even, it’s just that it didn’t quite pull me in the way The Whisper Man did. I wasn’t invested in the characters but the bar was set so high I’m trying not to hold that against this story. All in all, it has lots of plot twists, a few thoroughly creepy moments and a solid mystery to figure out along the way. I enjoyed the book and can’t wait to see what North releases next.
Very creepy and well written. I read and enjoyed The Whisper Man and this was just as good. North writes real page turners that are a cross between Stephen King and Thomas Harris, with a touch of ghost story about them, and with some neat twists. This made me shiver a few times! The book is called The Shadow Friend in the UK
Is there something hiding out there in The Shadows?
When Paul was a young teen, he was accused of committing a brutal murder, until his friend Billy appears, covered in blood, and another boy named Charlie, who was a little strange and a bit dark, disappears. Twenty-five years later, when Paul is called back to town after his elderly mother falls and is placed in hospice, he discovers the mystery surrounding his friend’s death is still on the minds of many in town, including his own mother. Paul would prefer to put the past behind him, but when a strange doll shows up at his house, he is forced to confront the past that he thought, like the doll, was dead and buried.
Detective Amanda Beck is investigating the murder of a young boy, Michael, by two other boys. She makes her way to the town of Gritten Wood after discovering a number of similarities and connections between her case and the murder committed there 25 years ago; it almsot appears to be a copycat murder. As Amanda investigates this murder, she is forced to face her own demons and what she believes to be her own shortcomings.
Alex North scored another hit with this one; it was a great follow-up to The Whisper Man. He creates such complete and interesting, yet mysterious characters. They are very well developed and are easily likable, or dislikable where it applies, and they were characters I really took an interest in. I enjoyed the character of Jenny, but I think Marie is my favorite in the novel. The Shadows does not have a linear timeline; it consists of two separate timelines that are expertly woven together in a way that reveals just enough to not only keep you turning the pages and wanting more thanks to its suspense, but North creates the perfect amount of mystery throughout the timelines as well. Every time I thought I had things figured out while reading The Shadows, well, I didn’t. At one point the novel was beginning to lose me–I felt that things needed to pick up and soon–but about two pages later things went into overdrive, where they stayed up until the end.
Filled with mystery and suspense The Shadows by Alex North is an exceptional, page-turning thriller that is sure to hook any fan of the genre; I highly recommend it!
Thank you to BookishFirst and Celadon Books for sending me an ARC of The Shadows by Alex North, given in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own.
Listening to a book can really enhance them especially if you have the right people reading it. The Shadows by Alex North is read by Hannah Arterton and John Heffernan. While Arterton’s voice worked fine for this novel, Heffernan is the one who really shined for me. He was subtle with his change of tempo or inflections when it came to the various characters and I thought he really pulled out the creepiness and “dead eyes” feel to Charlie Crabtree.
When I mentioned that Arterton’s voice was fine, I think it had more to do with her character, Det. Amanda Beck, who for the most part I felt the story could have been written without. It seems strange to say a novel could do away with an entire main character, and there were a couple of parts where I could see her being needed, but for the most part whenever the story went back to her, I felt like I was being pulled out of it.
As for the storyline itself, it was very good, but I never got the scare factor that a lot of other readers talk about, but this could be due to watching and reading a lot of horror. So while this might be classified horror, and others may call it a thriller, for me it was more of a suspense, or even a mystery. The Shadows kept me going from chapter to chapter at a steady pace, but at the same time I was never rushing ahead to see what was going to happen next. And it definitely has a strong Stephen King vibe in regards to a group of kids facing a horrific event and then seeing how they are reacting to it years later. So if you enjoy King, there’s a good chance you’ll like The Shadows.
There were a few interesting twists and one I am still thinking about days after finishing the book. It did wrap up everything very well and goes to show how adults are not infallible and when children grow up and realize that their parents make mistakes and had lives without them, it can be a very disturbing realization.
My Review of
THE SHADOWS
BY Alex North
Published by Celadon Books
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Well I did enjoy The Shadows with a bit of story and characters taken from the debut novel The Whisper Man, I must say I did not love this book. I was highly anticipating reading this book but I think I feel a bit let down as it lacks the magic & luster that was The Whisper Man. I don’t like the main character Paul or who he has become just disappearing and leaving his mother all those years before.
It takes the former child suspect, Paul from THE WHISPER MAN and ages him 25 years later, narrating the tale of Charlie Crabtree and how he got away with murder. Charlie Crabtree was the real killer in the previous novel; when they were kids & who was responsible for teaching Paul and his friends how to lucid dream and perform violent acts while in a dreamlike state. After the murder occurred, those who were responsible were captured except for Charlie Crabtree who had said he would escape and never return to Earth via his lucid dreaming.
25 years later, there seems to be copycat murders and someone posing as Charlie Crabtree. Is he actually still around inciting other children into lucid dreaming and murderous acts of violence?
When Paul returns home to attend to his mother now that she’s in a nursing home with failing health, he is pulled back into the past that he tried to escape from all those years ago. He finds out that there have been secrets he never knew while he was away, some are even his own mothers.
I did enjoy a few twists that I did not see coming and saddened at the same time. I still recommend it to readers but please don’t expect it to be another Whisper Man by far. I really hope North starts fresh away from this storyline and writes another compelling, scary chiller!
Read this for Halloween. A perfect thriller I really enjoyed!
Very good murder mystery with spooky twists and turns. I was surprised by a few things and pleased everything was wrapped up by the end. I docked it a star because I thought the ending would be going in a different direction. It didn’t, but it was still good and I enjoyed it enough that I would certainly pick up another from this author.
Paranormal-ish, creepy, dreamy thriller.
Wow! Alex North does it again. I loved The Whisper Man and gave it 5 stars so I knew I had to get The Shadows as soon as it was published. I was a little nervous to read this at night because I am a wimp and The Whisper Man really scared me. This one was a little less scary and more like a true crime book. There were some unexpected twists and turns that I really enjoyed and I spent many hours today reading this book as fast as I could to find out what happened. I could not put it down! This is one of those books that you want to read again once you finish now that you know what you know. The story is really gripping and I felt such sadness as I learned more about what happened and what the effects were from that one day 25 years ago. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes books in the crime, mystery, thriller and horror genres. The Shadows needs to be on your TBR!
Plot Synopsis:
25 years ago, in the small town of Gritten, a shocking murder rocked the community. A teenager was killed and two other teens were held responsible. However, only one was punished for the crime. The other, Charlie Crabtree, went missing and was never heard from again.
However, there are internet forums where the case is discussed and there has been more than one copycat murder. Paul Adams was friends with the murderers all of those years ago and he has put everything from the past out of his mind. He returns to Gritten when his mother, who is suffering from dementia, has an accident and is not going to survive. He hasn’t seen her since he left for college and some of her first words upon seeing Paul are “You shouldn’t be here!”
Now Paul wonders what really happened all those years ago and what his mother knows. He is tempted to run away from Gritten and forget everything that happened but he also struggles with the sense that he needs to find closure. As disturbing things occur, Paul gets the sense that the past is not staying in the past. He also starts to wonder if the internet is correct. Could Charlie Crabtree still be alive?
My review of The Shadows by Alex North
BrillianT! After reading Alex North’s dark and twisty thriller The Whisper Man, I had to read his latest thriller The Shadows. I was not disappointed as Alex wrote yet another eerie thriller that not only hooked me, but kept me on the line all the way to the end of the story. The Shadows is a perfect title as it resonates throughout the story. I love a little “bump in the night fright” and Alex North delivered! I highly recommend The Shadows. (On a side note; I mostly listened to this book and absolutely loved the narrators, Hannah Arterton and John Heffernan. They made the story come to life!)
Celadon Books
#theshadowsbook
*Spoilers*
I loved the first three quarters of this book, it carries the same creepiness level of The Whisper Man and I love the character crossover. I like the nod to Stephen King when Paul and Jenny talk about writing. I enjoyed the mystery and bombshells such as Jenny being the actual victim, and Paul only talking to her in his dream world. I really disliked the ending, I liked the wrap up of the mystery of Charlie, however, I hated that the other deaths were caused by the dad. I felt like that just killed it for me. I will find more of his books to try in the future though.
Loved his first book and this one didn’t disappoint. Mysterious and creepy.
Creepy and well worth a read!
I like the author. Unfortunately this book started out dull, no hook to get me interested. Very disappointing. I got the book because he is an author I like & the reviews were excellent. Well I believe they are all wrong!
This is the story of Paul and his friends. Paul meets a kid named Charlie while he is in high school that talks him and his friends into trying lucid dreams. Charlie thought he and his friends could meet each other in the dreams and “deal with” people they didn’t like. Charlie commits a murder, and 25 years later, Paul is still dealing with the aftermath of that murder. Copycats have tried to replicate Charlie’s murder, and things are getting out of hand.
Paul returns to the town he grew up in to see his dying mother. After the murder, Paul had walked away from his hometown and never looked back. That included not seeing his mother in many years. His mother – now sick with dementia – tells Paul that there is something inside her house, so Paul starts to investigate. New murders are popping up in town, and what Paul finds in his mother’s house leads him down the path of his past that he swore he would never go again.
This was a pretty good book. I enjoyed North’s “The Whisper Man” earlier this year, and felt that one of his haunting tales were needed for Halloween. This one wasn’t as good as the Whisper Man, but it held my attention. Just like Whisper Man, it drew me in, leading up to the big revelation, but it ended up being not as scary as I hoped. Not as mythical as I imagined. While I found The Whisper Man much more intense, I am not sorry I read this one. I read it slowly over the course of a few weeks, k between some other books, and maybe that was the problem – should have read it a little faster for more story continuit
If you’re looking for a book that will cause the hairs on the back of your neck to raise, make you wary of sleep, but that’s also got heart, may I recommend this book. I’ve just finished it and…wow!
This author weaves crime and hints of the supernatural so expertly that I had no clue how it would end, and was desperate to find out. But what he really excels at is writing books that pack an emotional punch, making me invest in the characters, care what happens to them, and shed tears while discovering.
A thread that runs throughout the book is about lucid dreaming, and it’s something I’m fascinated by. As a child I was haunted by terrible nightmares that seemed all too real, and somehow, without knowing what I was doing, I actually taught myself how to become aware within the dream and then nudge elements of it so that it became less scary and more controllable. It’s something I still do from time to time, which means I’m now able to boast that I don’t have nightmares. My fascination for it also spilled over into the writing of Her Last Secret, which features a woman, Dominique Thomas, who suffers from dreams so vivid she sometimes suffers from parasomnabulism (sleep walking, to you and me!) and lucid dreaming is one of the techniques she uses to control it. The Shadow Friend used this technique to chilling effect, and I absolutely loved it!
Excellent creepy, suspenseful, thriller. Plots, characters, and locations (deep into the Shadows) kept me turning pages and on edge. A couple jaw droppers and ewww’s kept me fully engaged as well. If you enjoy Stephen King, you’ll enjoy this. Great fall read.
If you like creepy, but realistic but a “what the hell is happening” novel! Alex North is your author! His books are so good, that you cannot put them down until you close the back cover! I loved the first one, The Whisper Man, and I loved the one also. It gives you all the good chills, and is a perfect read for fall/Halloween!
Detective Amanda Beck is on another case, except this one is a little more stranger than fiction, she is finding out very quickly! A teenager has been found brutally murdered with hundreds of red handprints surrounding him. Who would do this, what for and what does this mean? Some sort of satanic ritual? A religious cult? Someone even more sinister that she cannot even begin to imagine the meaning behind?
Paul Adams is back in town, a place he swore he’d never return to. Although it has been 20 some years, it was needed. His mother has dementia and got moved into a facility and is headed down hill fast. He has come to visit her, along with all of his childhood memories that he kept locked away in his childhood home. His mother seems to be losing it more and more everyday and often she is not making sense, but Paul feels the eerie sensation creeping back in with the few words he is picking up on that she has never forgotten what happened when he was a kid and that she may hold a key to the unsolved mystery.
As Detective Beck starts digging into the case, she has the help of an IT tech who scours the internet and finds an old unsolved case from decades ago that is similar to the one that just happened, and it appears to be tied to an old legend of Charlie Crabtree who was never found after the almost identical murder had happened 25 years ago. Who was this Charlie and what did he start?
Paul, having hoped to visit his mother and get back out of town finds that he is stuck here. Not going anywhere, and it seems that Charlie is back and doesn’t want Paul to forget what happened. Strange feelings and occurrences begin to happen and Paul finds out that another murder just like the one 25 years ago happened again. Does he know or remember anything that can help, and why did this happen again? He is back in town too, does that have any link?
Detective Beck finds out a few characters from the murder 25 years ago are back in town, maybe they’ll have the answers they need and Paul begins to understand that his mother is maybe not losing it after all, but is trying to tell him a secret of what did really happen that night, decades ago. Can Paul and Detective Beck figure this out once and for all, or will Charlie Crabtrees legend continue to live on and others will continue to get murdered in the same ritual?
This book was SO gripping! I really was running in circles trying to figure out what was going on, who was all involved, who could have been involved and just what the outcome was going to be. His novels are so well written, and you cannot put them down!