REVIEW: The Shadows

The Shadows

Author: Alex North

After 25 years, Paul Adams has come home. And he remembers.  He doesn't want to remember. He would much rather forget Charlie Crabtree, the lucid dreaming...and the murder. Now a copycat murder has occurred and his elderly, senile mother is convinced someone or something is in her house. And Paul is being followed.....

This book is a slow burn. The story takes a bit to rev up, but once the suspense kicks in the creepiness is just as potent as in North's earlier book, The Whisper Man. The timeline jumps between 25 years ago when Charlie Crabtree was weaving his creepy magic and the present. I don't normally care for time jumps, but for this story, it worked. 

I mixed things up a bit for my read of this book. I started out reading the ebook version, but then jumped into the audio book. Narrated by Hannah Arterton and John Hefferman, the audio really heightens the suspense of the story. The two voice actors give a great performance! At just over 9 hours, the audio is an entertaining, suspenseful listening experience!

I'm really enjoying Alex North's storytelling. I like a more subtle, slow-build suspense instead of fast, in-your-face abrupt shock. This story sneaks up on the reader a little bit at a time, revealing just a bit....then more....then more....until the stark realization of what happened 25 years ago hits the reader right in the face. 

Great book! I am definitely looking forward to the next book by this author!

**I voluntarily read and listened to a review copy of this book from Celadon Books/Macmillan Audio. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**