The Shadows
The Shadows
Author: Alex North
Published: July 7, 2020
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Jessica’s Rating: 2 stars
Dates Read: July 28- August 6, 2020
Book Description:
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 senile, 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. 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. 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…
Jessica’s Review:
After last year’s The Whisper Man did not work for me, I was not going to read North’s newest. But then I read the description, and I decided to give it a chance and this was the wrong decision for me. The Shadows had everything I would be interested in, but it didn’t work out for me. When we found out what happened to Charlie… Ok …. Whatever.. No big deal for me.
The one thing I did actually like was the reference to The Whisper Man in The Shadows, these books are in the same universe! And the covers both just belong together.
I think some of what might not have worked for me was the back and forth nature along with all the lucid dreaming stuff. These boys think they were having the same dream/can make things happen in their dreams.
I know this is an unpopular opinion, but all books/authors are not for everyone and sadly, after both of Alex North’s book failed to deliver for me I have decided he is an author I need to just stay away from.
Many thanks to the publisher Celadon Books for granting an audiobook copy to listen to and review via Netgalley.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK (Published as The Shadow Friend)
The Whisper Man
Author: Alex North
Published: August 20, 2019
368 Pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: August 5-14, 2019
Jessica’s Rating: 2 stars
Book Description:
In this dark, suspenseful thriller, Alex North weaves a multi-generational tale of a father and son caught in the crosshairs of an investigation to catch a serial killer preying on a small town.
After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes a fresh start will help him and his young son Jake heal. A new beginning, a new house, a new town. Featherbank.
But the town has a dark past. Twenty years ago, a serial killer abducted and murdered five residents. Until Frank Carter was finally caught, he was nicknamed “The Whisper Man,” for he would lure his victims out by whispering at their windows at night.
Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home, a young boy vanishes. His disappearance bears an unnerving resemblance to Frank Carter’s crimes, reigniting old rumors that he preyed with an accomplice. Now, detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis must find the boy before it is too late, even if that means Pete has to revisit his great foe in prison: The Whisper Man.
And then Jake begins acting strangely. He hears a whispering at his window…
Jessica’s Review:
Did I just read the same book as all the others who have reviewed this one so far? The Whisper Man has been listed as “The Most Anticipated Read of Fall 2019”. Well, not so much for me as I am in the minority in my opinion of this novel.
I was expecting something along the lines of the movie The Mothman Prophecies. We have so many ideas of the boogey man (IE Slender Man) and then you add a serial killer of children who may or may not be ‘back’ 20 years later it sounds like a book that I would not want to put down, yet it was the total opposite. I was not attached to the characters and honestly did not really care what happened. I kept hoping there was going to be something that would click and pull me in. There were a couple of instances where that almost happened but the book just did not work for me. The only time where I was a little ‘freaked out’ was when the whisper man jingle was said and I heard it in the voice of the card that came along with my arc copy of the book.
The idea of this serial killer is frightening: a killer whispering in kids windows. The boogey man really does exist! It was just predictable as you knew what was going to happen with the main character. There is also a twist involving one of the police detectives and his past that was so extreme that it did not work for me. And if this had been ‘real life’ he would have had to recuse himself from the case. But did he???? No, and look at what happened.
Though The Whisper Man was not for me, if you like serial killer novels and/ or thrillers it may be for you as most reviews are glowing.
Many thanks to the publisher Celadon Press for sending me an arc copy to review. I wish my review had been a positive one.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
