Excerpt & Mini-Review: THE SHADOWS by Alex North
Love a creepy, suspenseful thriller? Looking for something dark and sinister to add to your summer reading list? I’ve got the perfect read for you. I had the absolute pleasure of reading an advance copy of Alex North’s sophomore thriller THE SHADOWS earlier this spring, and this spine-tingling book has stayed on my mind ever since. North made a splash with his novel THE WHISPER MAN last year, and if it’s possible, I loved THE SHADOWS even more. Part coming-of-age tale, part horror-inspired thriller, THE SHADOWS is a must-read for anyone who wants their summer reads served with a side of spine-tingling scares. Perfect for readers of C.J. Tudor and Stephen King, THE SHADOWS is sure to be one of the buzziest - and creepiest - thriller releases of the year. To celebrate the publication of this outstanding work of suspense, I’m thrilled to share a two-for-one blog post with you, spotlighting this exceptional book and sharing my quick thoughts on it!
In today’s blog post, I’m thrilled to share a mini-review of the book and give readers a chance to dip into an excerpt from the book itself! Read on for more information on THE SHADOWS, my quick thoughts, and an excerpt from the book.
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About THE SHADOWS By Alex North:
The haunting new thriller from Alex North, author of the New York Times bestseller The Whisper Man
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 suffering from dementia, 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. Paul learns that Detective Amanda Beck is investigating another copycat that has struck in the nearby town of Featherbank. 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…
Mini-Review:
What do you get when you cross the spine-tingling chills of a horror story with the interpersonal drama and tension of a great psychological thriller? Enter Alex North’s irresistible sophomore release, THE SHADOWS. In THE SHADOWS, our protagonist’s return to the small town of his youth brings him face to face with the dark secrets of his past—and with their present-day implications. For Paul Adams, returning to his childhood hometown is far from a happy occasion. Drawn back home to be with his dying mother, Paul quickly finds himself reminded of dark events he has long since tried to forget when a murder takes place in a neighboring town...a murder with terrifying parallels to a crime that occurred years prior, and defined Paul’s teenage years. Is a copycat killer at work? Or could the original killer - a former friend of Paul’s who murdered one of his peers in cold blood, never to be seen again - be back in town? Alternating between the present day and the past, Alex North draws readers ever-deeper into the dark mysteries at the heart of this sinister and immersive suspense tale.
THE SHADOWS is an intriguing mystery, a dark coming-of-age story, and a genuinely spine-tingling work of suspense all wrapped up in one instantly-captivating package. Central to the intrigue here is the character of Paul himself: a protagonist whom readers meet both as an adult haunted by the memories of his own past, and as a teenage boy whose desire to fit in and forge connections with his peers leads him down some very dark and disturbing paths. Alex North deftly navigates this story’s alternating timeline, pulling readers from Paul’s present to his past and back again with ease, revealing just enough with each timeline shift to keep readers utterly hooked. The more readers learn about Paul’s experiences, the more creepy (and occasionally mind-bending) this story gets. Though THE SHADOWS isn’t what I would personally classify as a horror story, it is absolutely a suspense novel that dabbles in horror, and some of the creepiest elements of this story are where North’s storytelling skills shine most of all—particularly in this book’s genuinely creepy exploration of lucid dreaming. From its setting to its vivid character development and the unsettling mystery at its core, THE SHADOWS is an outstanding new release perfect for up-all-night, read-with-all-the-lights on scares. THE SHADOWS is a story steeped in dread and a sense of foreboding from page one, and Alex North delivers on this promise with a dark, sinister, twisty mystery that’s not to be missed.
I highly recommend this chilling thriller for fans of C.J. Tudor and Stephen King—and any reader who wants a satisfying and utterly entertaining suspense read to add to their TBR list this summer.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. All opinions my own.
EXCERPT: THE SHADOWS By Alex North
“What are you doing, Charlie?” James said eventually.
“I already asked him that.” Billy pulled a face but didn’t look up from his magazine. “It’s a secret, apparently.”
Charlie sighed, then put his pen down on the desk.
“It’s not a secret,” he said. “I was concentrating. When you’re thinking about something important, you want to carry on without being interrupted.”
“Jesus,” Billy muttered. “Sorry.”
“The same way you wouldn’t want me to interrupt . . . whatever it is you’re reading.”
Billy glanced down at the magazine. He closed it.
Charlie smiled at James.
“I was writing in my dream diary.”
“What’s a dream diary?”
Charlie held up the notebook.
“Every morning, I write down what I dreamed the night before.”
I took a mouthful of sandwich. “It’s not the morning.”
“I didn’t say that’s what I was doing right now.”
I swallowed. Annoyingly true.
“I never remember my dreams,” James said.
“Most people can’t.” Charlie put the notebook down. “I used to be the same. Dreams are stored in the short-term memory, which is why it’s important to write them down as soon as you wake up, before you forget. If you don’t, they vanish forever.”
I resisted the urge to do an actual eye roll. I had become used to Charlie’s fascination with arcane bullshit. He’d bring books on magic and demonology in to school, but I always thought it was more to be seen reading them than out of any genuine interest—that it was part of a persona he liked to cultivate. Charlie would have been more than happy for people to believe he spent his evenings cross-legged in a chalk pentagram surrounded by candles. But he usually liked his reputation to have more of an edge to it than talking about dreams.
“So what were you doing?” I said.
“Searching for patterns.” He looked at me. “Making notes on what I’ve discovered. Once you start doing that, you begin to notice the same dreams crop up time and time again. The same themes. The same places. The same people.”
“And so what?”
“It helps with incubation.” Charlie smiled.
And I hesitated for a moment, the sandwich halfway to my mouth. It felt a little like when he had spoken to Hague on the day of the accident—saying something unexpected and odd enough to pull you up.
Incubation.
I didn’t like the word. It made me think of something awful being cultivated in a jar. And, of course, I realized I had been wrong just then—after what had happened to Hague, dreams actually did have an edge when it came to Charlie.
James seemed uneasy too.
“What does incubation mean?”
“Influencing what you dream about,” Charlie told him. “Which helps to waken lucidity. Do you know what a lucid dream is?”
James shook his head.
“It’s when you become aware that you’re dreaming while you’re in a dream. Almost as if you’re waking up inside your dream but staying asleep. Once you do that, you’re in control of what happens. You can do anything you want, live any experience you want, make your dream world exactly how you want it to be. Anything you can think of can be real.”
I looked at James and I could see he was considering that, and I wondered what he would choose to do if he could do anything at all. Get back at the bullies who tormented him? Envision a happier home life? Escape from Gritten altogether? I imagined the idea must appeal to him, and I didn’t like the way he was staring at Charlie as though he’d just been offered something magical.
“They’re still just dreams,” I said. “When you wake up, it’s not like it matters. It hasn’t changed anything.”
Charlie looked at me. For a moment his expression seemed completely blank, but there was an undercurrent to it that set me on edge, as though I’d committed some kind of transgression by challenging him.
“What do you mean?” he said.
I shrugged. “Just that. They’re only dreams. They don’t make any difference.”
Charlie smiled then, and for some reason it unnerved me more than the blankness had. It was the same smile he’d shown to Hague that day, one that suggested he was way ahead of me, and that I’d said something simplistic and childish that he himself had gotten past a long time ago.
They’re only dreams.
A smile that said he knew a secret I didn’t.
Excerpted from The Shadows by Alex North, courtesy of Celadon Books. Learn more here.
Book Details:
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Celadon Books (July 7, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1250318033
ISBN-13: 978-1250318039
Crime by the Book is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This in no way affects my opinion of the book(s) included in this post.
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