The Shadows | Book Review

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for sending me the audiobook of The Shadows, by Alex North in exchange for my honest review.

As someone who loves scary movies, I don't read nearly enough thrillers. So when I find one that intrigues me, I jump on the opportunity. The Shadows is a dual timeline story. The first is set 25 years ago, in which we follow Paul, James, Charlie and Billy, their dwellings on lucid dreaming which led to Billy and Charlie committing a gruesome murder, and Charlie disappearing never to be found again. The second, present time, follows Paul as he comes back to the town for the first time since the murder and a detective whose current investigation's leading her to the same unexplainable assassination from 25 years ago.

I found the concept of this story incredible and when I was listening to it right before bed I got really spooked about going to sleep and dreaming. This was one of those books that I just wanted to make sure some light was on to remember that the story was only that, a story. However, as the book went on I got less and less freaked out, which disappointed me (what's the point in reading a thriller if you don't get scared?).

Even though I enjoyed this a lot, the book got confusing at times. Part of that is due to Paul being an unreliable narrator, something I love, because I was always wondering if he was telling the truth. Another part is the fact that I listened to this on audio and couldn't always keep track of what was "then" and what was "now", but I still loved the narrators and felt like they did an amazing job.

The main issue I had with this book was simply that there were too many intertwining characters and, besides the group back when they were children and the detective, I couldn't keep track of everyone/remember everyone's names. I still really enjoyed the book but I wanted more on Charlie, seen as he's pegged as the main part of the story and is what links both timelines together, and more of the spooky feeling I was getting at the beginning.

I didn't see most of the twists coming but they didn't really surprise me that much, even if they were satisfying. I just feel like it was this incredible build-up that lost its momentum and tied things up a bit too nicely for my liking. I still think this is a very solid thriller novel, the writing was brilliant and it got me interested in reading The Whiper Man by the same author, especially after I found out that this detective is firstly introduced in that one.

I ended up giving this a 3/5 ⭐️. I can't really say how it compares to other books within this genre but I did really enjoy it and found it very entertaining, a great idea that I had never seen explored before.

Love,

N.

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