The Shadows - Alex North

The Shadows

By Alex North

  • Release Date: 2020-07-07
  • Genre: Mysteries & Thrillers
Score: 4
4
From 374 Ratings

Description

"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 Times

The haunting new thriller from Alex North, author of the New York Times bestseller The Whisper Man


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 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...

Reviews

  • Idk

    3
    By NenaNata94
    Really good until the end. The end was meh. So so.
  • Great read!

    5
    By jross7136
    Twists and turns, keeps you on the edge of your seat! Hard to put down!!
  • Fascinating Thriller

    4
    By User171741
    The Shadows is an excellently written novel about the gruesome murder of a child in a small town and how stories evolve over time to become local folklore and urban legends. The book is a fantastic read. It feels like a combination of Tana French and Gillian Flynn, but with a wholesome quality you get from one of the POVs being that of a child. The characters were well developed and multidimensional, but I also found myself constantly wondering who I could trust. I am someone who is always trying to see all the angles and figure out the ending before it is revealed, but this book threw me multiple times. I'm not sure the ending was the most interesting choice, but I understand what the author was saying by the choices he made. The novel is fascinating and once you start reading, you won't be able to stop.
  • The Shadows

    4
    By Shelly92084
    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.

Comments