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A review by honnari_hannya
The Shadows by Alex North
3.0
3.5 stars
For fans of books like THE WITCH ELM by Tana French, or any book by Jane Harper. Creepy, intense, and highly character driven.
A dual timeline story that meanders between the "before" and "after" of an incident that left our main character, Paul, traumatized 25 years ago. I quite liked the way this story was structured, and how Alex North unfurled the story through the novel, revealing bits and pieces of the "real" story the deeper the readers got to know Paul—a really interesting character, whose denial of the past makes him a terrifically unreliable narrator. I also really enjoyed the way North played with our expectations, and how, until the very end, it was never quite clear if this novel was going to make that jump from thriller to horror.
There were a few elements that I don't think worked as well as they could have. The final reveal was slightly disappointing—not quite out of left field, but still a little bit out of place. Especially because the main source of tension was drawn from the fraught relationships between this small, troubled community and the intimate friendship between the four boys at the heart of the novel, and that wasn't necessarily how things were resolved at the very end.
I also didn't really think Detective Amanda Beck played a particularly important role in this story. I have not yet read THE WHISPER MAN, but from what I understand, she features in that novel as well. Here, she mostly took a back seat and appeared only to give us more context about the people Paul lost touch with—a role that could have probably been fulfilled some other way. Her POV chapters were the least interesting parts of the book.
The performances by Hannah Arterton and John Heffernan for the audiobook were terrific. Well paced, clear, and had just the right touch of drama without being over acted.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan for providing this free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
For fans of books like THE WITCH ELM by Tana French, or any book by Jane Harper. Creepy, intense, and highly character driven.
A dual timeline story that meanders between the "before" and "after" of an incident that left our main character, Paul, traumatized 25 years ago. I quite liked the way this story was structured, and how Alex North unfurled the story through the novel, revealing bits and pieces of the "real" story the deeper the readers got to know Paul—a really interesting character, whose denial of the past makes him a terrifically unreliable narrator. I also really enjoyed the way North played with our expectations, and how, until the very end, it was never quite clear if this novel was going to make that jump from thriller to horror.
There were a few elements that I don't think worked as well as they could have. The final reveal was slightly disappointing—not quite out of left field, but still a little bit out of place. Especially because the main source of tension was drawn from the fraught relationships between this small, troubled community and the intimate friendship between the four boys at the heart of the novel, and that wasn't necessarily how things were resolved at the very end.
I also didn't really think Detective Amanda Beck played a particularly important role in this story. I have not yet read THE WHISPER MAN, but from what I understand, she features in that novel as well. Here, she mostly took a back seat and appeared only to give us more context about the people Paul lost touch with—a role that could have probably been fulfilled some other way. Her POV chapters were the least interesting parts of the book.
The performances by Hannah Arterton and John Heffernan for the audiobook were terrific. Well paced, clear, and had just the right touch of drama without being over acted.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan for providing this free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.