The Shadows

I started this book in 2020 and read 51%. I have finally decided not to continue reading it. I did not care for the plot nor did I understand it. I realized that the more I read this book the more confused I became. I really wanted to love this book but I think the author is just not for me.

This book felt more like a nonfiction true crime book/podcast/documentary than an actual thriller. Even though I don't really read/listen/watch them, I just didn't get the feeling that this was meant to be a book? Maybe I would've liked it more had it been a podcast or a fictional documentary.

Also, as much as I don't really want to say this – Paul Adams was not an interesting character. It was like waiting paint dry, if I may be so bold as to say.

I felt like this book kept hinting at something supernatural, like the murders or the murderer were something supernatural, but looking at some spoiler reviews tell me that's not the case. And it just, I don't know, feels like North tried to push that ‘is it supernatural, is it not?' angle in a way to keep people reading? If a book is supernatural or includes a supernatural plot/characters – I want to know. I don't want to ‘keep reading for the suspense'.

I appear to be in the minority on this one, but it never clicked for me. I found the writing rather dry and the characters pretty flat, and the only thing that really kept me going was to get to the reveal, which was...meh. I didn't hate it, I just kind of nothing'd it. 2.5 lucid dreams out of 5, rounded down.

3.5
spooky

This took me sooo long to finish a week to be precise! And it gave me major IT vibes and at first I liked it but as the story went on it became kinda annoying:(Also it was really creepy at times coz it was set in a very spooky atmosphere!“As you get older, it [time] all begins to blur into one. You start to think life was never any kind of straight line. It was always more of a ... scribble.”Didn't expect the twist but it wasn't so shocking I saw some reviews saying that [b:The Whisper Man 41940236 The Whisper Man Alex North https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541864083l/41940236.SY75.jpg 63202631] was better so maybe I should give that a go? The plot sounds interesting for that too so I just bumped it up my tbr:)

3.5 stars rounded up

I started out really enjoying the book with it's suspenseful writing style and fast pacing. I liked how a lot of the chapters ended with mini cliffhangers and how its penchant towards the dramatics weren't ever too overdone but just right. The shifting point of views I could take or leave but that was never a problem. I liked Paul as a character and found him even painfully relatable at times. Parts 1 and 2 were solidly written and actually a lot of fun.

That being said, Part 3 kinda let me down. The first twist was confusing to me and it felt like the story lost a bit of the realism it previously had. THE SECOND TWIST lost me. Whatever the opposite of a Chekhov's Gun is, this twist was.

Overall though the good outweighed the bad and I did have fun reading it. It for sure met my expectations.

Rating: 4.13 leaves out of 5
Characters: 3.5/5
Cover: 5/5
Story: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Genre: Horror/Thriller/Mystery
Type: Audio
Worth?: Hell yes!

Another book off my road trip list and I have to say I have been hitting the good spots. If it wasn't for this list I would still be on the fence about reading this. I'm not the biggest fan of detective stories, but this is interchanged between the main characters Paul and Amanda. It really had me thinking that you could kill people in your dreams. But then when I found out who was really killed and that James wasn't the one to die. Mind blown. Very much worth the read!

This was a fun read but the twist/ending is a lot less exciting than you are led to believe it will be...and once you find out what it is, the rest of the book feels a bit lame.

After enjoying The Whisper Man by Alex North, I was excited to read this next novel by him. Like The Whisper Man, The Shadows mixes mystery thriller and paranormal horror. It seemed like the perfect read for October. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this one the way I did the previous book.

The book follows two points of view, a detective investigating a recent murder and a man who lived through a traumatic experience 25 years before. Paul Adams was once part of a group of boys who sought to control and escape into their dreams. Charlie Crabtree, the leader of this group, and another boy commit a heinous murder, and Crabtree disappears without a trace. In the present day, other boys are mimicking Crabtree's crime, which leads to the present day investigation. Could Crabtree still be alive and instigating these new murders? That question leads both the detective and Paul down a path that threatens lives.

The setting of the book is perfect for the story line. The town is rundown and desolate, which fits with the desperation of the characters. The woods, or The Shadows as the townsfolk call them, are massive, dark, and creepy. It feels completely possible that a ghost or other paranormal being could be roaming its depths.

I found the first half of this book very entertaining. The possible paranormal/supernatural element adds a spookiness to the book that I found enjoyable. The mystery of whether Crabtree is alive was also engaging. I was invested in finding out what was going on. However, when some things began to be revealed, I did not like the direction the story took. I found the reveal of the murderer to be un satisfying. The plot became to complex and convoluted for me. I would have preferred a more straightforward resolution.

In the end, I found the book to be just okay. I didn't care for the ending, so that lower my rating. However, I would recommend it as a dark and somewhat spooky read. It made for fun Halloween reading.

Another perfect read for my Spooktober. Spooky, eerie, and haunted woods..what more could I ask for.

3.5 ⭐️/5. Intriguing book that was very fast paced and kept me interested through the end. The last 30 pages semi-dragged, but I feel as though that is because the ending wasn't as intense as I thought it should be. I did appreciate the sequencing of events the author did and the fact that the lucid dream theme tended to blurr the lines a little bit. The ending with the solider and the slit wrists returning to the shadows was a good Easter egg, I just wish that there was a better pattern. 2 incidences is just a coincidence, but 3+ is a sequence. Pretty good though and with a nod to the authors debut, the whisper man, I'll move onto that one next.

DNF at 81% /:
was just not catching my attention at all and even being this far into the book, I don't really feel pressed to finish. had some really good creepy parts but it just didn't hook me!

*4.5 stars. This is such a fun read. It ratchets up tension and has a dreamlike feel to it that is appropriate considering the subject matter. While I can't say I was shocked by the twist, it didn't unpack exactly how I thought it would and, as such, still felt unique. The ending was a bit convoluted but didn't really detract from a strong novel by North and makes me all more more eager to pick up The Whisper Man.

this was so boring. none of the twists helped. the characters were bland and i couldn't muster up a ounce of feeling for them

3.5
I was actually spooked from some parts and enjoyed his writing style. The ending although bittersweet wasn't satisfactory though. I was hoping for a better reveal though but there was an unexpected twist and good cliffhangers throughout.

I don't know if I just wasn't paying enough attention while reading the beginning of this book, or if it was just too jumbled to follow without confusion. I think this book would have benefited from an index because there were a lot of characters that were called different things depending on the point of view. Billy was also William, Mom was also Daphne, Carl was just called Dawson, Paul was just called Adams, etc. It makes it hard to remember when there are like 10 plus characters to follow if half of them have multiple ways of being referenced. This book gave me anxiety more because I didn't know what was going on half the time, than for the thriller aspect. The lucid dreaming, ghosts, murders, it just wasn't cohesive. What happened to the pedo gym teacher? That was just left and never dealt with. The full circle nonsense at the end with Dean Price dying the same way James and Charlie's dad did was more of an eye roll moment than an “Aha” moment. This just wasn't it for me.

3.5 stars. Last year, The Whisper Man was everywhere. Everywhere! I went into it with sky high expectations and well, it fell kind of flat to be honest. So, my relationship with Alex North was over... until I read the synopsis of The Shadows and decided we could try again.

The Shadows pays homage to IT era Stephen King (well that was the vibe I got anyway). It tells the dark tale of four friends and the events that lead up to the brutal murder of one of their classmates. At the same time there is this sinister supernatural character, Red Hands, hovering around the periphery. There are two time lines - and mysteries that extend through both.

It's a spooky, dark, mind bending novel and while it doesn't quite match the coming-of-age feeling of IT, it gives it a red hands go.

5✨ LOVED THIS ONE!! find my full thoughts in my reading vlog >> https://youtu.be/PjzrIjB_ElU

2/5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Celadon Books for sending me an advance copy of this novel

I really wanted to love this thriller since it sounded right up my alley. In the beginning it had a very true crime vibe to it which I LOVED and is one of my favorite things in thrillers. Eventually this book just fell flat for me especially the ending.

Charlie Crabtree has a dark imagination and a sinister smile. Twenty five years before the beginning of the book, he did something awful. He coerced his friend into helping him commit a murder in hopes of leaving this world for one of dreams. Charlie disappeared after the murder and was never seen again causing it to be one of the most talked about on internet—inspiring more than a couple copycats.

Paul Adams, our protagonist, remembers the case more than anybody else because Crabtree, the other murderer, and the victim were all his friends. While Paul never fell for Crabtree's menacing philosophy, his whole world because wrapped up in this one person and he vowed to never let Crabtree have the power over him again. Paul has slowly put his life back together away from the city that caused him nightmares. But his mother took a turn for the worst. Though every part of him screams to be as far away from the murders as possible, he knows it's time to return to the place of horrors.

This book had such an interesting premise but what originally put me off is the timeline. There are chapters that take place in current day and others that are flashbacks to 25 years ago and while that itself isn't confusing, the author managed to make it so. Paul in current day would often refer back to things that happened 25 years ago but each was drawn out so much it resembled that of a flashback leading to confusion.

The writing in this also resulted in me feeling not much suspense. The pacing was just a bit off and made me feel more bored and curious. The ending also didn't really impact me that much and seemed a bit lackluster. I feel like the author could have ended similarly but if he just went about writing it (i.e. using different characters to reveal some things) it could have been more of a big boom rather than a sad sizzle. This book also tried to tie in wayyyyy too many things (his mothers health, creepy house antics, copycat murders, flashbacks to old murders, Charlie's disappearance etc.) and I felt like some of them seemed to be forgotten and weren't fully explained. Sometimes authors do this so everything is not wrapped up in a neat bow but it didn't feel intentional.

With all of that out of the way I do want to get into some positives in this book. I did really enjoy learning about the copycat murders which was done from the detective perspective. I honestly wish I had a bit more of that to cut down on the emotions of Paul's POV. The flashbacks were also quite nice because you actually got to see Charlie which made the reading experience feel more grounded. Charlie was show to be really disturbed which really added to the atmosphere of the whole novel.

There are two things that were hinted at that could have been explored and way more detail and I think would have been a lot better of a focus than some of the other things. The first is the creepiness of the house and the feeling of Paul being watched in it. I definitely think there could have been more which would have aided the atmosphere but the bit we got was really enjoyable. The creepiness was also explained away in a manner I didn't particularly care for, so I wished it would have been for a different reason. I also think it was hinted at that a lot of the online followers of the case seemed almost cult like which could have been amplified a bit more. It would have added more reasoning behind the current day murders and overall would have made the story flow better.

This book was by no means bad but it also had many ways it could have been improved. This is nothing to write home about and there ware much better thrillers out there then this one. The Shadows just tried too hard and was doing too much to focus on any one topic to flesh it out enough.

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 (on Bookish First) 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.