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A review by charlyritter
Der Schatten by Melanie Raabe
4.0
This was similar to the other books I have read by her insofar as the main character is a woman that gets increasingly more unreliable both to the reader (up to the point where you are not quite sure anymore whether you can trust her account) and with her ending up not knowing whether she can still trust herself or those around her.
This isolation of the main character was even exacerbated in this one since it does not only stem from plot developments and/or the main character being a recluse in a place she has lived in for a while but is already tied to the very premise of Norah having recently moved to a new city where she knows very few people.
As always, Melanie Raabe's writing style is beautifully lyrical which makes it pleasantly stand out in the thriller genre, all the while being addictive and really making you want to keep reading and find out how everything is connected.
I liked Norah as a character, if not always as a person. The descriptions of just having arrived in a new place where you are desperately trying to get a new start were relatable. I especially loved how the cold, anonymous city was described, together with Norah's frequent brushes with death through signs or posters she saw in the city. I most definitely did NOT call the twist(s) at the end – while I did note down one suspicion about 60% through that turned out to be kind of correct, it did so with a totally different character constellation than what I expected.
Speaking of twists, now for the things I did not like: It was just one too many for me personally. After the Big Plottwist head been revealed, I personally would not have needed any further (albeit minor) twists -- they felt kind of manipulative and try-hard to me. I would have been fine with just having Norah's reactions described. I personally could also have done without the very last paragraph on the very last page because to me it seemed at worst contradictory to what state of mind she had just reached towards the end, at best not full-on contradictory but still not quite in the same vein of the sense of belonging, cutting ties and break with the past that the ending seemed to have been about to me. I do see why [that thing I’m not spoiling] makes sense in context, but I'd personally have preferred to think it to myself, not for it to be explicitly in the book.
This isolation of the main character was even exacerbated in this one since it does not only stem from plot developments and/or the main character being a recluse in a place she has lived in for a while but is already tied to the very premise of Norah having recently moved to a new city where she knows very few people.
As always, Melanie Raabe's writing style is beautifully lyrical which makes it pleasantly stand out in the thriller genre, all the while being addictive and really making you want to keep reading and find out how everything is connected.
I liked Norah as a character, if not always as a person. The descriptions of just having arrived in a new place where you are desperately trying to get a new start were relatable. I especially loved how the cold, anonymous city was described, together with Norah's frequent brushes with death through signs or posters she saw in the city. I most definitely did NOT call the twist(s) at the end – while I did note down one suspicion about 60% through that turned out to be kind of correct, it did so with a totally different character constellation than what I expected.
Speaking of twists, now for the things I did not like: It was just one too many for me personally. After the Big Plottwist head been revealed, I personally would not have needed any further (albeit minor) twists -- they felt kind of manipulative and try-hard to me. I would have been fine with just having Norah's reactions described. I personally could also have done without the very last paragraph on the very last page because to me it seemed at worst contradictory to what state of mind she had just reached towards the end, at best not full-on contradictory but still not quite in the same vein of the sense of belonging, cutting ties and break with the past that the ending seemed to have been about to me. I do see why [that thing I’m not spoiling] makes sense in context, but I'd personally have preferred to think it to myself, not for it to be explicitly in the book.