I really enjoyed the narrator, but struggled to get into the book. Because the narrative structure jumps around so much, I found the audio hard to follow. This is definitely one I should read instead of listen to.

Thank you to Net Galley and McMillan Audio for this audio book in exchange for an honest review.
**
I must start this by saying I LOVED the voices of the narrators. It was smooth; and easy to lull myself into the book world.
**
This novel is told from two timelines-
Then: 25 years ago, when Paul Adams was just a kid. Something terrible happened. Someone died; and it is something that although Paul tried his hardest to forget; it was always in the back of his mind lingering.
Now: Paul has returned to his childhood town, because his mother had a terrible fall. Once back in Featherbank, Paul started to become more aware of the past. Of what happened here all those years ago.
*
Now this book had me on the edge of my seat wondering what happened. Who was killed and why. Red Hands. That's what was at the core of this novel. Red Hands. Who is Red Hands.. Well there are a few tales this book will have you believe. But once I got to the heart of Red Hands; I won't lie my heart broke a little bit. None of the sinister, malevolent spirit or person I had in my mind. More of a sad tale, of how Red Hands came to be.
*
As the story unravels Red Hands comes into play in more ones the one. It seemed Alex North was doing a full circle with the story of Red Hands and how he came about.
*
I enjoyed this audio book immensely and can't wait to continue listening.

Unlike other reviews I’ve seen I actually enjoyed this book more than Alex North’s debut novel “The Whisper Man”

I listened to the audio book version. The narration is smooth as silk. Some of the best I’ve heard in a long time and I listen to a lot of audiobooks. Definitely worthy of of an Audie award!

In this novel Paul returns to the town he was raised in due to the declining health of his mother. This return stirs up unresolved feelings about the murder of a friend when he was a teen. The murder was never solved and the townspeople seem to want to forget - but Paul is not ready to let it go. Add to the basic mystery the acts of lucid dreaming and you have one heck of a plot.

My only complaint (hence 4 instead of five stars) was that there is so much going on towards the end of the book that I did get a little lost.

Overall a very enjoyable read or listen. Don’t hesitate to pick up a copy!

Thank you Netgalley and Celadon Books for the complimentary copy in exchange for my unbiased review!

A gripping, original and, at times, terrifying thriller.
Written in two timelines - the awful teenage years of our protagonist, Paul Adams and the adult Paul returning to the grim town of his youth to finally visit his dying mother - we discover that the horrific occurrences of the past still haunt Paul today especially the evil character of Charlie Crabtree, even though he 'disappeared' after the horrific murder 25 years ago of Paul's then best school friend, Jamie .
The two narrators help out with the two POVs, especially the sensitive, appropriate and believable tones of John Heffernan - he was superb.
Copycat murders, lucid dreams and the sinister settings of both the grim, forgotten town of Gritten and The Shadows - the dark and daunting woods behind their houses - make for a gripping read right up until the satisfying end.

Thanks to netgalley Shelf and Macmillan Audio

This book was really good! It was very atmospheric, mysterious, and thrilling. There was at least one big plot twist that I definitely did not see coming! I was really engrossed by this book and kept wanting to listen! The narrator did a great job. I found it easy to follow along and did not find my mind drifting. I would definitely read another book by this author.

More slow-burn crime fiction than fast-paced thriller, The Shadows is Alex North’s second novel, following the knockout debut that was The Whisper Man. One of my new favorite books EVER! While I really liked The Shadows, I didn’t adore it quite as much as The Whisper Man. North is a masterful author, no doubt! And in some ways, this novel felt creepier than his first! Paul Adams is haunted by a wretched murder from 25 years ago—while Detective Amanda Beck (from TWM) delves into the present-day solving of an eerily similar new killing. Throw in some supernatural elements + red handprints and you’ve got yourself a book Imma gonna devour! The time-hopping became a bit confusing, though, and lagged for me at points. I saw a number of reviews recommending the hardcopy book for this reason, and I’s agree! I give it 4 solid stars and look forward to what Mr. North has up his sleeve next!

I loved the narrator for this. Alex North did it again for me. Wonderful book. The plot was everything I expected from him. Thrilling, mysterious. Can't wait to read more from this author.

The narrators were great for this audiobook. At first, I was having trouble following because there were a lot of names and characters to keep track of, but once I had that, I couldn't stop listening! There was a dream aspect to this book that kept it interesting, and there was a plot twist that had me binge listening to the rest of the book!

I wasn't a huge fan of The Whisper Man; however, I could tell Alex North had a lot of promise. Well I was right! They really nailed this one. I was hooked from page 1 and loved the atmosphere. This book is seriously creepy, and I really enjoyed the supernatural mix they throw into their books. This is not a character driven story, but I expect that going into thrillers.

Unfortunately, the ending was a little lack luster for me. There are so many places it could have gone, but I found the way it ended a little underwhelming. Overall, this didn't diminish my enjoyment that much because the first 3/4 were spectacular.

If you like spooky thrillers, I highly recommend this one. The audio just made it even spookier. The narrator was good, and I think he did a good job adding to the creepiness.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

3.5 stars.

This was my second read by Alex North and continues to show his talented writing and ability to create a fantastically creepy atmosphere. The writing is suspenseful and contains some good moments of added confusion and misdirection. The entire setting is very gritty and mysterious. The pacing was pretty quick and the action was both disturbing and gripping.

I enjoy the somewhat clouded and confusing way that North weaves a story. You never quite have all the information and a lot of the information given isn't really what it seems. There are not a lot of red herrings in this narrative, which may have toned it down a bit in making things convoluted. However, the intensity of this plot was high from beginning to end.

Everything read rather quickly and the heightened suspense definitely made this a page turner. The Shadows was well on its way to being even better than The Whisper Man, which I read earlier this year. However, (and I may be in the minority on this) I found the ending disappointing and I found myself feeling deflated as I completed my read. Without giving any spoilers, it just didn't feel authentic and came across as more of a cop out for me. I would have liked to have seen the plot grow a bit more entangled than it did. Though the twist was surprising, it really wasn't that rewarding.

"The Shadows" is a suspenseful, and occasionally spooky, mystery thriller about a missing murderer, copycat killers, and dealing with grief. Paul Adams was a teenager living in Gritten when Charlie Crabtree and Billy Roberts, two former friends/acquaintances of his, murdered a third friend of Paul's. Billy confessed to his part in the murder and went to jail but Charlie just straight up disappeared, never to be seen again. In present day, a copycat to the Crabtree murder has happened and it would seem as though those boys were egged on by an online persona which or may not be Charlie himself. Detective Amanda Beck is investigating the present crime which leads her back to Gritten to investigate those connected with the original murder. Paul left town and tried to put the whole thing behind him but has now returned to care for his mother who has dementia and other advanced health problems and now he is being haunted by the past in the form of nightmares and pranks/vandalism and no one is really sure who is behind them, if it's Charlie or someone else entirely.

I listened to the audiobook for this and I'm so glad I did because I greatly enjoyed both narrators and thought they did remarkable jobs portraying their characters and conveying how each would be feeling during the events of the book.

This book could be a pretty straight forward whodunnit type mystery thriller but it plays with paranormal/supernatural elements in a very interesting way. When they were teenagers Charlie was an almost cult like personality trying to teach his friends/followers (including Paul) how to lucid dream and achieve their goals while dreaming and this leads the reader (and Paul) to question if the things happening are real or just a very realistic nightmare. I found this element very intriguing and well done. I always like "paranormal thrillers" better in theory than in reality because more often than not there's nothing weird actually going on and it's just a human behind it all. But because The Shadows deals with dreams (something everyone does) and not ghosts or demons it really does make you question the events of the book and lend an air of spookyness to the whole thing. Even though lucid dreaming (especially to the extent discussed in the book) is beyond most people it still felt very believable.

Overall, I really liked this book. I thought that everything was wrapped up in a really satisfying way and while I didn't love every aspect of the story that was just my personal preferences and had nothing to do with the quality of the story. I was surprised by the several things in this book and without going into spoilers I thought North did an excellent job with subverting expectations but still telling a strong, cohesive theory. I haven't read anything else from North previously but I'll definitely be looking for his works in the future and I'm really glad I gave this one a shot because I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did.

I really like where this novel is going, but unfortunately, I cannot hold my attention with the audiobook long enough to clearly follow what’s going on. I find the narration distracting at times (which is odd because I love British narrators!!) - but the male just has too chipper of a voice for a horror book. I just don’t think it was the right choice for such a creepy story. So I will be continuing to read this one in an e-book format.

Thank you, nonetheless, to Macmillan Audio for providing me with this audiobook in exchange for an honest opinion.

I just finished listening to THE SHADOWS by Alex North. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed listening to a book. This was an incredibly positive experience. The narrators were well articulated and were able to showcase the emotions of the characters accurately. This book was as dark as I expected. Mr. North has the talent to write dark stories that you cannot put down. Right to the end, I was trying to figure out who was behind the murders and what really happened. This is not for the faint of heart, but it is definitely an awesome read that will leave you jumpy and wonder what is in the deep woods at night. Will you have the courage to pick up this book and read it? I surely hope so.

I really enjoyed the narrators and I loved that they had both a man and woman narrating this dual perspective storyline.
It was creepy, mysterious, and there were a couple twists I didn’t figure out beforehand. At times it dragged a little for me and I didn’t enjoy quite as much as I did The Whisper Man. Overall I felt it was an entertaining read.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I tried, but could not get into the story. The narrator was fine, but I found myself re-listening to several parts and I guess it just did not hold my attention.

When a young boy is murdered 25 years ago and the crime is never solved, a town will continue to wonder. When some of the same mysterious events begin happening again when Paul returns to town, a town will suspect. Detective Beck believes it's more than coincidence and begins to investigate.

The mystery of the murder 25 years ago and the murder of a boy in the present collide in this chilling tale about "The Shadows". I loved the way that Alex North intertwined the past crime with the present and found myself enjoying this one.

The Netgalley audiobook was a bit difficult to listen to at times due to an odd echo when the speed is turned up and I found myself abandoning it and moving to my hardcover instead.

Thank you for allowing me to listen and give my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audiobook. All thoughts are my own.

2.5/5 I read this one right after finishing up The Whisper Man, which I’m not sure was the best decision.

Twenty-five years ago, Charlie Crabtree committed a murder so shocking it became famous and inspired a few copycats. Paul Adams remembers the case well. Crabtree and his victim were Paul’s friends. Paul has started to put it all behind him, but when his mother gets sick, he must come home. It’s not long after that there is a copycat murder. But is it? The thing is, Charlie Crabtree was never found.

For me, this one wasn’t as good. This isn’t a sequel, although they do happen in the same area with some of the same characters. The story was different from The Whisper Man, but I personally felt it was not as good. I had a hard time getting into it and just wasn’t interested in the mystery.

The writing was similar to that of The Whisper Man. I liked how it was set up, but the plot was the issue. I started to get into the story a bit closer to the end, but at that point, the story is almost over. I do think I would read more of Alex North’s books. I like the writing, and clearly a great mystery can be done (my review for TWM is a few posts back), this one just wasn’t for me.

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. The opinions are entirely my own, and any quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different in the final published copy.

While I have "read" audiobooks for years now, this is the first one I was given to review. Let me catch my breath before starting. Wow! OK. Wow! That needed to be said.

Alex North's "debut" novel, The Whisper Man, was a 2019 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Mystery & Thriller. When I finished reading it, I immediately added his second book, The Shadows, to my must-read list.

The narrators of The Shadows are Hannah Arterton and John Heffernan. The combination of North's writing and Arterton and Heffernan's narration provides a story that feels as if the narrators are the characters themselves, sitting by a fire, retelling North's story, and not merely reading the story. It is their narration that helps North bring the listener down the rabbit hole and ending up questioning everything they thought was true. I needed to reread sections to see how I could have gotten everything so wrong.

North is a British crime writer who has previously published under another name. According to Goodreads, this is Arterton's first narration. While Heffernan has narrated a few novels, he writes mostly for film and TV but also wrote Driver For The Dead, his first comic book series.

This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 7/14/20 and updated on 8/24/20.

The Shadows goes back and forth in time, from when the murder happened/Charlie Crabtree disappeared to the present when the latest copycat has emerged. Honestly, while I understand the necessity for moving back and forth like that for the sake of the story, it made it even harder for me to keep up with just what was happening and when. It just felt like there was enough going on, and enough characters being mentioned that even if I had been holding the book in my hands I probably still would have had to keep a running list of who everyone was and what their purpose in the story was.

The narration was extremely well done – don’t mistake what I’m saying as having anything to do with the quality of the narrators’ work. They were both fantastic – they had voices that were easy to listen to, good pronunciation/inflection/etc. I just feel like the story was a little too all over the place for me to be able to enjoy the narration. It felt like every single chapter bounced from one timeframe/narrator to the other, and it was a little bit jarring.

I received the copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review by Netgalley and MacMillian Audio. Thank you Netgalley and MacMillian Audio!!

Review

The Shadows by Alex North is a nerve-chilling thriller which revolves around a dark and creepiest murder which took place twenty-five years ago. The protagonist Paul Adams is somehow linked with this murder, about which he had been trying to forget for the past twenty-five years and he was also quite successful in it. But once he return to his hometown where the horrible incident had taken place, he realize he cannot after all escape his dreadful past. The demons of the past resurface and comes to attack him brutally. Can he escape this time ?

The author, Alex North had written the story damn frightfully. This is a kind of novel which will scare you to death. Certain sequences were absolutely daunting and nail-biting. This is the success and the plus point of this book. And also in the audio-book John Heffernan had narrated Paul Adams’s side of the story and he had done the job tremendously. The way he had read out the story was totally out of the world experience. He made the book even more interesting and intimidating.

The plot juggles between the past and the present, and that was penned down efficiently without confusing the readers. The book had a handful of unexpected twists. Just when you think that the plot has become more predictable the author hotly serves you with an unexpected plot twist. This will leave the readers jolted and satisfied at the same. Alex North’s writing had all the required elements to make the book darkly thrilling. It seems like the author is an expert in the genre and he knows what he is doing.

The way in which the author had described the dark village and its forest area which is popularly called The Shadows were crystal clear and riveting. Through Alex North’s words the readers will be able clearly see everything in their mind’s eye. The book is mainly based on the dark concept of Lucid Dream, how the teenagers experiment excitedly with Lucid Dream will hype the anticipation of the readers of all age.

Everything about the book – the village, shadows, characters and their dreams had an eerie and dark air to it. This is another plus point of this book because the author had set out a suitable environment for the plot right from the very beginning. He had a clear goal for his plot from the start and to which he had struck on to till the very end, without any diversions.

All the characters in the book were simple, silent and subtle. The characteristic trait of them all remained the same and even the development of the characters were in the same path paved for them. No character acted or behaved out of their characteristic trait. The character of Detective Amanda Beck was very strong and active. Her character in this book is the one to watch out for. And Paul Adams’s character was of a helpless man who had been heavily traumatized by the events of the past. His character is naturally the one, the readers will root for.

The minus point of this book was, certain crucial things wasn’t told clearly towards the end. It almost felt like the author was rushing up to finish the novel as he was so done with it. If he had been a bit more patient and elaborate about few things in the end, it would’ve been a much greater book. All the wonderful elements the author had adjoined into book from the beginning had lost its importance towards the end because of the gallop.

My Views

It was an absolutely thrilling and the audio-book was damn good. I clearly loved John Heffernan’s voice and the way he narrated it. It was spin-chilling. At certain instance it gave me creeps that I couldn’t make myself continue with the book, then I would take a couple minutes break and continue listening to it. It was that scary.

My rating for this book would be 3.5 out of 5 stars

I would recommend this book to all the dark thriller lovers, preferably listen to the audio-book. It’s really nice!!!

I hope you will enjoy this book!!!

Happy Reading Folks!!!

~ Meenu