“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…
more
The Shadows does not disappoint !
Alex North (would love to read his other books under his other name) writes a deep, dark atmospheric book that one can get lost in.
The ambiance of The Shadows will have you looking over your shoulder while peering into the shadows.
Paul returns home as his mother is ailing and now he has no choice but to confront that horrific murder that took place so many years ago.
There are twists and turns, I thought the book was going one way but I was fooled.
One of the quotes I love is: “Perhaps life was just a matter of doing what you thought best at that time and then living with the consequences as best you could afterward.”
I cant wait for Alex North’s next book , no pressure.
I think The Shadows would be an awesome audio book.
My second book by this author and though this one took me a bit longer to become fully invested when I did it was like a runner-way train and what a ride.
Amanda is investigating a crime which she believes is a copycat of one committed in Gritten many years previous.
Paul is the now grown-up boy whose school friends murdered a classmate.
With Paul’s mother dying he is back in his home town for the first time in years and almost instantly upon arriving home things start to occur knocks in the night, sinister red hands and a creepy doll posted anonymously through his door.
This story flits seamlessly between past and present as this whole story plays out.
It was quite the spooky mystery, told from the POV of Detective Amanda Beck and the now grown-up Paul Adams.
An Intricate web of small tangible things that unbeknown were all deeply connected.
It was like one branch with many offshoots it was quite a feat the way everything here eventually slotted together so neatly and I was majorly impressed with the finished picture here.
Enjoyed this one a lot.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of The Shadow Friend.
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9460945-bex-beckie-bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
http://www.beckiebookworm.com
Thank you to Bookish First & Celadon Books for my review copy.
This book had a very strong start and I couldn’t put the book down but it did stall in the middle. I’m happy I pushed through because the book got really good and the twist took me by surprise. The WHOLE book I was thinking one thing and then the author went and pulled the rug from under my feet!!!!! I still can’t stop thinking about that twist. Well done. This was a well written story and for the most part the pacing was good. I enjoyed this book way better than The Whisper Man and highly recommend reading this book.
Paul Adams returns to his hometown, where he hasn’t been in a very long time, to visit a mother he had no idea was gravely ill. He had zero plans to ever return. He wanted to forget all about the things that happened with his friends 25 years prior. Now things are happening all over again and it’s time to figure out what’s what.
When this was first up for grabs I knew I was going to use my points because after reading (and absolutely loving) The Whisper Man last year, I knew I had to have it. Do I regret that? Not at all. Did I love the book? No. Did I hate the book? No. Am I comparing this to The Whisper Man? No. The book was simply just okay. It’s a psychological thriller so I expect the way this was paced. It’s supposed to sink it’s claws into your brain and you notice way too late. I felt more like..i was mostly reading to see what happens at the end. I couldn’t really immerse myself in the now of the book. I can absolutely see why people are loving this but for me it was just okay. This, by no means, mean that I won’t be as excited whenever he writes another book.
The Shadows by Alex North is one scary, creepy, and unpredictable blend of suspense, mystery, and the supernatural. A perfect blend to keep up readers all day and night. Paul is a teacher who is revisiting his small home town to see his dying mother. At the same time, he has fierce memories and dreams of a horrible murder that occurred there when he was a young boy. A long time ago, Paul was friends with a strange boy, Charlie. Who knew then that Charlie was the kind of boy that should never have been allowed to be around others. Perhaps Paul? Weird dreams, memories, violent events happening now and then. The Shadows is a terrific book that has it all.
I was so excited when I received an arc from the publisher through BookishFirst for The Shadows as I loved The Whisper Man.
Paul is forced to come home to the town he has avoided for years when his mom takes a turn for the worse. 25 years ago, a friend of his was murdered by another friend, Charlie, who also disappeared that night. Now, there seems to be a copycat and two detectives are determined to find out who is responsible and if it is tied to the same murder all those years ago. Paul wants to find out too and if there’s a chance Charlie is still out there.
This book was creepy and bizarre; it had me turning the pages faster and faster as I wanted to find out the truth. Supernatural and thrillers are my kind of genres and Alex North delivered again with this story.
With that said, I do have two complaints. There are too many characters in this book, which is sort of a peeve for me as I get easily lost when there are too many. It also didn’t help that the story goes back and forth between the current year and 25 years back. For the most part, it flowed nicely, but there were times I was catching myself saying “who, what, which year are they in?” The Whisper Man continues to be my fave from the two but he did great with this book as well. If he comes out with more, I will definitely pick them up. 4 stars!
Alternate timelines, alternate narratives, lucid dreams and twists and turns that leave you completely floored while sending you on a search of your memory or the previous pages to see where it all fits together, or to find where you lost sight of what was happening. Such an awesome story of myth, horror and a town’s long unsolved (but not forgotten) crime. The cover is great and immediately caught my attention. Alex North nailed it with The Shadows, I regret not reading The Whisper Man yet and will be reading that as soon as possible. An author well worth your attention! The story evolves slowly, wraps up quite fast and intense with a nice, swift transition between the two. The Shadows is definitely a new favorite that I will be reading again
Thank you Celadon for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
The Shadows
By: Alex North
REVIEW
Alex North has once again freaked me out with The Shadows. I don’t read many scary books because I’m easily disturbed. I did read The Whisper Man, and of the two books, it’s my favorite. That doesn’t take away from The Shadows, though, because I found this story very enjoyable. The looming presence of sinister creepiness that cloaks the story is a well executed atmospheric character and one of my favorite aspects of the story. This tangible vibe sets the stage for lucid dreams, which I thought were rather bizarre. I don’t believe in the idea of this type of dreaming, so it was a suspension of disbelief scenario for me. Regardless, the dramatic tension never swayed and kept me riveted yet wanting to cover my eyes. I was surprised by the bloodiness of the story because it was just unexpected. Who wants to read a predictable story, though? I don’t give spoilers- so, no details here-but I think fans of the bizarre, freaky or intangible will find The Shadows a satisfactory tale. The fraidy cats, like me, should dive wildly, headfirst, into this book, embracing the terrifying, yet oddly fun, madness and gore and hair raising words on these pages. Nightmares be darned!
3 stars
I loved the roller coaster ride I went on while reading The Whisper Man, so I was excited to get an ARC of The Shadows. I was attracted to the cover with the play of the hand from Alex North’s first book. For me, The Shadows was not another roller coaster ride but a ride that was stuck.
The prologue was good but then the story started to be confusing. I like two period stories but this one did not work for me. The past was twenty five years ago and centered around four high school boys, our protagonist, Paul, Charlie the creator of “lucid dreams” and James and Billy.
The Now found Paul returning home after twenty five years to visit his mother who was in hospice care. He had not seen her since leaving for college after the murder by the teenagers where Charlie escaped and left James and Billy holding the bag. I just felt the plot for Paul sounded strange. He lived only four hours away and could not go home to see his mom? Paul discovered secrets in his mother’s attic including red hand prints. In the present there was another murder. What do the two have in common and were other murders discovered.
I suggest starting a chart of characters. I stopped reading a few times confused about the characters and finally made a chart. This might have influenced the enjoyment for this book. I will try a future Alex North book as I did so like his first book. This one, however, did not work for me. Thank you BookishFirst and Celadon for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I dug the dual timelines and the fact that it had to have been tricky to alternate the narrative from first person to third person when weaving the past and present. It’s not complicated as other reviewers are claiming, rather it was masterful; more on that later. I can see why Paul would want to run from his past, but I think burying that kind of pain can be tricky. I love lucid dreaming, so shared lucid dreams sounds appealing, and I was curious to see if that was actually what was happening or if there was more.
We get to see Amanda, who we met in The Whisper Man, a character we’ve come to appreciate because of how skilled she is. I liked the fact that this book had nothing to do with the previous, but that she got to play a role. For someone so desperate to leave the past behind, Paul got obsessed with trying to figure out Charlie. I don’t want to say more on the “Charlie-lucid dreaming” so I don’t spoil it, but I was underwhelmed. I think it would have been near impossible to pull off, but…maybe? I was also thrown off that Paul didn’t see his mother as an actual person until he was 40. Maybe the fact he hadn’t seen her in over two decades aided in that, but I would like to think we come to that realization much sooner in our lives.
I wasn’t prepared for the big twist and never saw it coming. I want to circle back to the alternating timelines though. North writes: “Dreams are a patchwork, stitched together from the things that happen to us in our waking lives.” And the book is written along the patchwork lines. Because in each timeframe, North brings you right to the edge and then switches time, leaving you desperate to piece together the mystery. Time slowly weaved itself together while leaving you eager to have the story made whole, which made it a super thrilling read. Thank you, Celadon Books, for sending this along!
The Shadows’ main character is Paul Adams who returns to his home of Gritten Wood after an absence of 25 years because his mother is in hospice, near her end. Paul left because of the horrifying murder of one of his friends by very disturbed teenagers, Charlie Crabtree and Billy Roberts. Billy confesses and is convicted, but Charlie, the instigator, disappears, never to be seen again. There are rumors that Charlie is hiding in The Shadows, the dark, sinister woods surrounding the town. There have been copycat murders over the years which fuel the idea that Charlie is still out there.
This book is told through Paul’s point of view but also that of Detective Amanda Beck who is investigating one of the copycat murders.
The Shadows is an absolutely compelling read with multiple twists, turns and revelations. It is chilling, spooky, creepy and terrifying and impossible to put down.
You knew a teenager like 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. Reading the news, Paul learns another copycat has struck. His mother is distressed, insistent that there’s something in the house and someone is following him. Red hands!!
If you loved The Whisper Man then you will this one too and Detective Amanda Beck returns! It is along the same lines of a creepy presence that is hidden. This certainly is a suspenseful and scary page turner!
I have been hesitant to write this review because this book wasn’t at all what I expected from this author. I loved The Whisper Man, everything about it, therefore I was highly anticipating reading The Shadows. Unfortunately, for me, it fell short. Here’s why.
There are two timelines, the present and 25 years previous. Now this isn’t usually a problem but you have to add to this the fact that during these timelines they are constantly discussing and referencing “lucid dreams” which was what the young teengers had been doing 25 years ago when “everything went wrong”. It was Charlie Crabtree who had tried to convince 3 of his friends, James, Billy and Paul, that if they did what he said they would be able to be in the same dream together. While in this “lucid dream” state they could also make certain things happen. Paul didn’t like where this was all going and in the end he had abandoned their friendship and been seeing Jenny, a bright, pretty young girl his age. They were developing a very close relationship, “until everything went wrong”.
So you have two timelines and a very large cast of characters. There are the characters from the past and also a new set of characters from some “copycat” murders that have occurred recently. There is also Amanda, a police officer, and her partner who are trying to unravel all of the mysteries and find out what, if anything, they have to do with the present murders.
There were so many characters that I found myself having to write down each group, one from the past and one from the present. Often it was hard to tell whether I was reading fact, or a lucid dream that Paul was having now or in the past.
It was very, very confusing and the story didn’t flow well for me. There were also lots of questions left unanswered which I won’t get into because you have to read the book to understand what I’m talking about.
From the blurb you know this about Charlie “You knew a teenager like 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 had not been back to his hometown since he left to go to college. He never visited his mother and he has a lot of guilt about that. He has come back now to visit her in the nursing facility because she is dying. While there is there he is staying in his old home, sleeping in his old room and having all sorts of dreams, feelings that he is being watched, hearing sounds in the house, etc. He has also discovered secrets in the attic which his mother has been hiding all of these years.
Oh boy this book was confusing! I have given it 3 stars for an idea which I thought was a good one but along the way the writing just didn’t work. It took me 3 days to read this because I found myself constantly looking back at what I had read before!
I will continue to follow Alex North’s books because I think his ideas are wonderful and his writing is usually stellar. I’m sure that there are others who will love this book, it just didn’t work for me.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss.
This novel is set to publish on July 7, 2020.