Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Shadow Friend by Alex North

33 reviews

boba_n_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I was pleasantly surprised to find The Shadows to be even more captivating than the other Alex North book I have read, The Whispers. 

This novel follows Paul Adams--a man who, as a child, was accused of brutal and ritualistic murder of a fellow classmate. Back then, Paul befriended Charlie--a boy obsessed with lucid dreaming and exacting revenge on his "enemies." It's clear Charlie was a part of the murder, but he disappeared without a trace. Thankfully, Paul was set free, but as soon as he could, Paul left his childhood home behind. It's been 25 years, and Paul still has no desire to return. But, when his mother's dementia worsens and she has a concerning fall, Paul has no choice but to come home. While in the dreaded town, Paul discovers that a detective is visiting to try and find any clues to help her solve a copycat murder of the one from Paul's childhood. Suddenly, Paul finds himself dragged back into the past, and he's discovering that, even as someone who was close to the murderer and victim, there are still things he does not know about what happened. 

This book was creepy in the best way possible. The reveal was a tad lackluster, but I quite enjoyed the lead-up and the dual timeline showing Paul in both the past and the present as well as the point-of-view of the detective. Anyone who loves psychological thrillers and mysteries will eat this book up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, and Child death

Moderate: Animal death and Suicide

Minor: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Drug abuse

amareenicole11's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

This one took awhile for me to get into... it wasn't until about halfway that it picked up. The writing was lacking descriptive qualities that would have added to the storyline. The ending was a little "meh" to me and I found myself getting lost and confused at parts with all the flashbacks and changes in pov. All in all, not a bad story. It didn't have anything particularly unique in my eyes - in the woods setting, ghost story, murder, creepy dolls, etc.. all the stereotypical horror attributes. The most intriguing part of the whole thing was the ending where North describes his own experience with lucid dreaming, which I found exceptionally frightening. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Suicide

opplecopter's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Bullying, Dementia, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Animal death

cozmicdotcom's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Car accident, Dementia, Animal death, and Alcohol

cyndi1966's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Child death, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Death, Suicide, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Dementia, Mental illness, Animal death, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Bullying

rcd229's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I've read so many books at this point in my life and I have such an overactive imagination that not a lot surprises me. Or if it does, it doesn't surprise me all that much. Usually if I'm reading a good mystery and I guess a good ending, I mostly just enjoy seeing how said ending was arrived at rather than being wowed by any plot twists because I generally see them coming. Not gonna lie, I did not quite see this one coming. The writing and the setup is done in such a way that I didn't even consider the big twist until I was already past it. So I'm fairly impressed. I read The Whisper Man a while back and thought that that, too, was a really good, albeit ***extremely*** messed up story, and I am no less appreciative of this (although this, while very dark, is definitely dark in a deeply sad way rather than the way The Whisper Man turns out).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Dementia, and Grief

Minor: Torture

ashleycmms's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Death of parent, Violence, Death, Child death, Blood, Dementia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Animal death

bxnnny's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

i read the whisper man a few months before reading this one and i ultimately liked this one much better. i didn't find this story as predictable and i was much more intrigued by the story and mystery. both books are set in the same universe but this one isn't a direct sequel - you can read them each independently of one another. the lucid dreaming bits were interesting and the twists were decent but not amazing. i liked the flashes to the past that piece the whole puzzle together gradually throughout the book, but also felt that some of it was slower-paced than i would have liked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Violence, Grief, and Suicide

Minor: Gaslighting, Animal death, and Child abuse

haleybre's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Child death, Death, Dementia, Violence, Death of parent, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Murder, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Grief, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

belysagan's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child death, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, Dementia, Violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Suicide, and Body horror