Paul Adams was involved with 3 other boys in grade school that got involved with lucid dreaming which lead to violence. The lucid dreams were where the boys were awake while dreaming and each could be in the other's dreams. A murder and a disappearance happen. After those tragic occurrences, Paul could not get out of town soon enough and he never returns until, 25 years later, as his mother's health is failing. The novel moves back and forth in time from 25 years ago to the present. I had a lot of trouble following the plot - the flow between time frames didn't work well for me and there were supernatural aspects that threw a hitch in the continuity of the novel for me. I came away with many loose ends. This is the type of novel that you don't need to put down for any length of time - it was very hard for me to connect back to the storyline. I read Alex North's "The Whisper Man" and really enjoyed it but "The Shadows" was written differently - it could have been just the wrong time for me to read this novel - it was confusing for me.

It took a moment for me to get into, but once I had gotten into the story I could not stop until I finished the whole book. Creepy if not super-scary!

Possible triggers: Hinted at child abuse, child death, bullying, suicide.

*I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to listen to and review this book.*

WOAH. This book has all the bad feels you could want! Lots of sad and uncomfortable topics are subtly dealt with in The Shadows, so buckle up buttercup! It’s gonna be an awkwardly good ride.

I have never read anything by Alex North before, but you had to be living under a rock in 2019 if you hadn’t heard the name before. This is the author who did the hot buzz book of 2019 with The Whisper Man! Like, that book was freaking everywhere! You could not go anywhere online or in a physical book store without seeing that book up front. Just about every book magazine, site, forum and blog talked about how amazing The Whisper Man was. I myself found myself waffling over it every time it was in front of me…. it sounded pretty good, but UGH little kid characters. That is usually a hard no for me, but I did think about it real hard. Ultimately I always ended up putting the book down.

Now, The Shadows has kids in it as well, but I can tolerate teen characters as long as they aren’t stupid angsty and thinking of getting it on with someone most of the novel. I freaking hate that. Not all teens are angsty, sexed up brats, ok? Stop with all those sort of sterotyped teens!

The Shadows did a great job with their teens. This group of kids felt extremely believable. They had a deep well of all the complicated emotions you deal with in your teen years, but it was very subtle. No angst tantrums or outburst. Just regular arguments. Paul does have romantic feelings for Jenny, and he did think of her a lot, but the way it was handle felt very low key. It wasn’t crammed down our throat even though it was a very pivotal part of the plot. I really liked this. I really, really wished more authors handled their teens in this sort of way.

Like I said earlier, there are a lot of difficult topics with this book….. or maybe it’s just me who found them uncomfortable? They did hit a little close to home with a lot of the emotions. We deal with mental health, suicide, PTSD, loss, bullying, grief, child abuse, child death, death of parents, hinted at pedophilia, and wasted time just to name a few. Probably more that I didn’t even think of off the top of my head. A lot of these topics make me squirm a little. I, like probably most people, don’t exactly like to be confronted by hard topics like death of a loved one or the mental health issues we might have from past traumas and guilt. But again, the way North handled these topics was very subtle and low key. There was no shoved in your face child abuse by a parent or bullying. We don’t really see this at all first hand, either. It all comes second hand from Paul, who is kinda maybe an unreliable narrator (?) and police reports. Even Paul dealing with his mom was not overly beating a dead horse. Very subtle…. yet…. somehow you understand the powerful emotions boiling underneath the words. It takes a very talented author who can write like that.

I really connected with these characters and their baggage. Ok, maybe I haven’t had this kind of crazy that is talked about in the plot, but I’ve felt guilt and grief over a choice I made. More than once! Who hasn’t? Even Superman feels that! That weight on your shoulders of “I should have done better.” or ” I should have done that instead of this” and it doesn’t even matter if the reality is you did the best you could in that situation. The voice in your head will never let you forget that you are the one that messed up.

I really felt for all of these kids. And yes, Charlie is freaking bananas…. but I couldn’t help feeling bad for him. When I was a kid, I was dealing with a lot of issues in school that left me feeling extremely overwhelmed and filled with anxiety and depression. Now I didn’t stab any classmates or anything, but I 100% get that feeling of being unable to handle everything that is closing in around you and you are desperate to find an exit sign. Not knowing how to deal with everything, you just want to run far, far away from this dark hole you are falling into. The “bad guys” of this story…. Agh! I don’t know, man…. Yeah, they killed people, but at the same time…. the grief and pressure they were feeling…. D: I can’t help feel sorry for them and what they went through as well as the victims.

Everyone has baggage and managing the best you can with it is the under current theme of this book. Doing your best to handle difficult thing is all we can do. It’s hard to let go of guilt and grief over a choice you made years ago. It can eat you up and ruin the rest of your life. This is something the main character, Paul tries to wrap his head around through the whole book and it is something that each character in the book deals with in their own separate ways. You see Paul struggle with coming to terms with things throughout the whole book and the author did a great job showing the process of his character’s growth.

I really liked the way this author writes. It is a fictional novel. We all know that, clearly… but the way the author writes. It felt like very believable. If that makes sense? I don’t really know how to explain it becasue it is a crazy situation, yes, but at the same time it really did feel like this sort of thing could easily happen to people. Very smooth, subtle flow. Feels like the author really understands how people feel and act.

There were some really WTF twists about some of the characters that were pretty cool. One of them had me mentally running through past dialogue to see how the twist turned about. I was very surprised about the killer at the end. I seriously did not see that coming at all and I’m not exactly sure how I felt about it. I totally understand the reason and why they did what they did, but… I don’t know. It was just so out of left field.

One slight problem, maybe, is that there were a lot of characters in this story to keep up with. You had a group from the past story line and you had a group from the present story line. Mostly, this was ok because they were mentioned enough times that I got a feel for who was who. Sometimes, though, there were minor characters mentioned for one “scene” in the very beginning and then never mentioned again until one of the characters at the end of the book would bring up their name again and I was like, “Wait……..Who is this again? ” I’m pretty bad with remembering names though, and the author did clue us in to who it was with context clues, so it wasn’t too terrible. In the end you could always figure out who was who.

There were two different narrators for this book, one for the female lead and one for the male lead. Both narrators felt like they really fit that character’s voice. I especially liked the way Paul sounded. Very defeated by life and the narrator did a great job capturing that feeling. Also, it felt really nice having both the main characters having different narrators because they really are coming at the same problem from completely different directions. It helped define the two different attempts to figure out the same problem.

The Shadows is a very entertaining book. I wouldn’t call it a horror book, but it does technically have “real life horror” in it. I would say this is more of a thriller / suspense novel and anyone who is a big fan of thrillers will probably really enjoy this book. This book was uncomfortable in all the right ways. The author is very talented writer.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I was super excited to read The Shadows by Alex North, so when I had the chance to grab the audiobook from Netgalley I jumped it... mistakes were made!

I found the first half of this book difficult to get into. I found myself bored and just wanting to turn it off and find another audiobook. Thankfully, the story did pick up and I found myself quite satisfied with the ending.

The writing style was fine. The story itself gave off major IT vibes (but thankfully this was a lot shorter). The characters were fine, during the second half if the book I definitely grew to like them more than I had for the first half.

So what did I really dislike about this book? Well, The Shining, The Stand and Pet Semetary are all mentioned in this book. And by mentioned I mean details were given about endings... This bugged me so badly as I have only read 1 of these and the other 2 are on my tbr. Also, I didn't enjoy the narrators of the audiobook. I can't give a real reason why as they simply just didn't work for me. I really think I would of enjoyed the book more had I of just read a physical copy myself.

Overall, I ended up enjoying the ending. While I can't recommend the audiobook (for obvious reasons) I do think that if The Shadows was on your tbr you should still check it out.

I devoured this book, revelling in the slow, suspenseful build up until the final shocking twist.

The Shadows reminded me of The Whisper Man (North's debut novel) in the best of ways. Both feature a crime involving children, both teeter on the edge of the supernatural, and both deliver a deliciously slow burn that finally culminates in a wholly surprising ending - no small feat for someone who tends to pick most plot twists a mile away.

Alex North is fast becoming a favourite author of mine. His ability to write nuanced and unique stories that flow so effortlessly is a thing of wonder. I was engrossed in the life of Paul Adams, a man returning to his home town after 25 years to tend to his dying Mother. I felt his regret and his fear when he realises the crime from his childhood was being replicated. I was equally fascinated by Detective Amanda Beck, a returning character from The Whisper Man (both can be read as stand alone novels) who is investigating the recent crimes.

The narration of this audiobook fit the characters and story perfectly. The use of two voice actors brought Paul and Amanda to life with their distinct tones and deliveries. I loved how Amanda (narrated by Hannah Arterton) spoke a little faster than Paul, and had a slightly procedural delivery - giving her extra authority in her role as a Detective. Paul (narrated by John Heffernan) was softer in his delivery and he came across as genuinely scared in places. Both narrators added to the mood of the book and made it a wholly engrossing experience.

I am a sucker for an English domestic thriller, and this ticked all of the boxes for me. The small village setting was absolute perfection and I revelled in the supporting cast of quirky townfolk and wonderfully evocative passages.

“Back then, it felt like my entire life was constrained and controlled by the adults around me, and yet none of them appeared to have noticed the black flower rotting in the middle of the yard. Or else they had decided it was easier to leave it alone—that the grass it was poisoning didn’t matter.”

The writing style of The Shadows was easy to fall into as North 'shows' rather than 'tells', and the plot raced along at a nice pace. I read this one very quickly and found myself clamouring for final reveal, struggling to work out out how everything would end. Of course it concluded beautifully with a satisfying air of completion.

I hope that we haven't seen the last of Detective Beck.

Dual timelines, unresolved murders and lucid dreams.

Paul Adams has to come back to his childhood home- a lackluster, low energy sleepy town with a creepy wood nearby. A new murder has popped up and with it, brought back an old murder that the suspect disappeared. Red Hands and things that make you jump sprinkle into the pages. This gave me many moments of "what is happening..."

However, by the end I'm still not sure what happened. I was a little disappointed and ultimately left me wanting more than this one delivered. I appreciated the dual narrators and I love a good alternating timeline, but this one just didn't creep me out as effectively as I would have wanted for the summer thriller season. This one reminded me so much of The Chalk Man.

John Heffernan voices Paul, who has reluctantly returned to his hometown of Gritten to attend to his dying mother. Gritten holds many sad and frightening memories for Paul, whose friend was murdered when they were teens. One of the murderers turned himself in; the other, Charlie Crabtree, disappeared. Hannah Arterton voices Amanda, the detective assigned to a gruesome murder some hundred miles away from Gritten. Amanda takes the listener down the rabbit hole of online forums and copycat killings as she makes the connection between her case and the murder in Gritten many years ago. As Paul unearths the secrets within his mother's home, there are signs that Charlie Crabtree may still be hiding nearby. Heffernan builds suspense as Paul begins to fear for his own safety, and Arterton's chapters add a satisfying procedural vibe to the story. Author Alex North incorporates the concept of lucid dreaming into the teen characters' fantasy world, adding an intriguing dimension to The Shadows. However, the first few hours of this audiobook get off to a slow start that might lead some listeners to abandon it before getting into the really good stuff. The Shadows is recommended for devoted fans of crime fiction and thrillers.

Mix together creepy, scary, sinister and murderous and what do you end up with? The Shadows, the new great thriller from author Alex North.
Paul Adams has returned to his home town after an absence of 25 years. Only the desire to visit his dying mother could lure him back. There are unpleasant memories for Paul of two of his friends brutally murdered another teen.
Now it appears that there is a copycat murderer on the loose. But is there? Maybe it is someone from 25 years ago - one who was never found - one who is lurking in the Shadows.
Paul’s mother speaks of things from the past. But are these memories real or the ramblings of a dying woman?
Paul must search out the “skeletons” in the closets. As Paul struggles to unravel the past, a police detective struggles to solve a current murder.
Paul and the detective must uncover everything that happened in Gritten 25 years ago.
The Shadows was full of energy from start to finish and was that spooky, creepy story that you don’t want to read late at night. You will enjoy this scary, heart stopping take of murder in the daylight. I received an advance copy of this audiobook from NetGalley. #NetGalley #TheShadows

Actual rating 3.5/5 stars.

Paul left his hometown for university and never looked back. Now, 25 years after the events that fractured his family and resulted in the loss of his childhood innocence, he has returned. An ageing mother needs him, and maybe, he soon finds, he needs the parts of himself that he left behind too.

Like many thrillers I have previously enjoyed, this employed a split timeline that featured the initial mystery alongside a present-day tracing of the previously occurring events. It was interesting to see the two timelines collide and also how the past had such bearing on the present-day youth, who were not alive to witness the dark deeds yet looked back upon them with a religious-like zeal that ensured they remained ever-present in thought.

Whilst I remained engaged and intrigued by the mysteries present, I also found the element of lucid dreaming that was introduced, alongside the enlargement in the cast of characters, meant I sometimes became confused by the events occurring. Listening to this audiobook felt, on times, like a lucid dream itself, so muddled did the trajectory of events appear to me. This was not enough to ruin any enjoyment I had throughout the book, or to hamper my shock at the tumultuous closure and grand reveals that came at the end of it.

Paul Adams is suddenly brought back into a past life he wanted to leave behind. He returns to his hometown where a brutal murder had occurred 25 years ago. While trying to come to term with the past, old memories resurface and well as new.

I started this book late in the hours of the night, and the beginning really had me spooked. The book performed a perfect balancing act between the paranormal and reality. I think it set the tone of the book really well and left out just enough to have my intrigued. I loved slowly exploring Paul's past through the flashback of his friend. I also really enjoyed Paul struggling with his morality.

I found the exploration of lucid dreaming combined with the paranormal aspect of the book really fascinating. Learning more about the friends experiences with dreaming and the entanglement of their dreams had me at the edge of my seat.

I think where the book let me down was the payoff at the end. I had no problems with how Charlie's story was tied up but I did want more. I felt that not all of my questions were answered and would have loved to know more about the intentions of the murder. As well, I felt there were loose threads with Jenny's story as well and I felt disappointed by it. Despite this, I did really enjoy the twists the book took and appreciate its vision.

I think readers of mystery thrillers will enjoy this book who enjoy a twist of paranormal. As well if you like ghost story or campfire stories, this is the book for you.

When Netgalley announced they were offering audio versions of books, I jumped at the chance. The Shadows by Alex North is one of their first available and, as such, I did have a few technical issues - the app crashed a few times, the time it took to download the book was insane, when playing it would sometimes just stop (it would work again if reopened the app but as I usually listen in my car and it’s now a $1000 fine for touching your phone, I wasn’t game to unlock my screen and get back into the app, aaahh!!!) and it wouldn’t work in my daughter’s car at all. The reason I want to mention this is just when I (or anyone else) look back and see that it took me almost a month to read this book, I’ll know why. Because I was so enthralled that, if I’d been reading it the old fashioned way, I would have been turning pages like crazy.

Paul Adams’s mother has dementia and has taken a fall, prompting him to return to his hometown to visit. He left home when he was 18, following a horrific murder of one of his school friends and has never returned. The murderer was assumed to be Charlie Crabtree, another schoolmate but nothing was ever truly resolved as Charlie disappeared straight after the murder, and hasn't been seen in the 30 or so years since.

Meanwhile, Detective Amanda Beck is investigating the death of a teenager when she learns of the Charlie Crabtree case and its similarity to the new crime leads her to Paul. Both she and Paul begin to wonder if Charlie could be still alive when more murders are committed.

North’s descriptive prose really sets the mood well. The subject matter of teenage psychopaths carrying out murders, seemingly without remorse, along with the chosen settings of Paul’s mother’s empty house and the woods behind it, evoked some heart thumping thrills and tension. I was expecting that. What I wasn’t expecting was that I’d find the book so sad. I’m not sure if it was just me or not, but I got quite a bit teary on more than one occasion.

I thought I had the mystery worked out early on. Ha! I had no idea. Yes, the twist shocked me and I think the only readers who would see it coming are those who’ve read spoilers. So, be careful reading reviews of this book.

The audio version utilises two narrators: John Heffernan for Paul’s passages, and Hannah Arterton for Amanda’s. I did like both of their voices but I’m not sure if the separate narrators were necessary. Amanda’s parts, for starters, are a lot smaller than Paul’s and there's also a change in tense and timelines. As such, I think it would have been just as easy to follow if Heffernan had done the entire book.

My version of the book is titled ‘The Shadows’ but it’s been released in Australia as ‘The Shadow Friend’. (I thought they were two different books for a minute.) Originally I thought both titles were weak and I would have run with something like ‘Red Hands’. Then, upon finishing the book, the title The Shadows added to one of the final scene’s poignancy and made much more sense, so that’s my definite preference out of the two. Anyway, just make sure you don’t buy it twice.

The book is definitely not for the fainthearted; there are a couple of violent scenes. I’d highly recommend it if this sort of thing doesn’t bother you, however. 4 1/2 out of 5

I'm not sure if thrillers aren't for me, or thrillers by Alex North aren't for me. I felt like nothing happened the entire time I listened to this. I did enjoy the creepy factors, but I forgot about this one as soon as I finished with it. I think maybe this would've been a better movie, but I just wasn't interested in the story.

Twenty-five years ago a gruesome murder occurred that led to years of copy cat murders. The premise of this book sounded eerie and creepy, but the storyline fell flat for me.

First off, I loved the audiobook because it had 2 narrators. One for Paul who was there for the original murder and one for Detective Amanda who is attempting to figure out what is really going on.

However, the novel was long winded and drawn out. It kept switching from present day to the past which can be confusing on audio. I feel like a good 3/4 of the story can be removed and the overall plot not be lost.

Really bummed this one fell flat for me because I loved The Whisper Man.

Alex North amazed me with The Whisper Man so I was cautiously eager to read The Shadows hoping for something as great or better. I don’t expect this book will receive as high a level of praise but from start to finish it was as good for me. I realize that it was ‘reader lust’ for The Whisper Man story whereas The Shadows is ‘reader affection’. This author writes a very effective story that is eerie, creepy good. The characters turn the pages for you with the emotions they bring to the story. While this does have a characteristic from The Whisper Man, I would not consider this book a sequel.

The audiobook has two narrators which was great for telling the story from the perspective of each main character.

I now wait to see what Alex North does next to follow these two excellent books.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the listening opportunity for an honest review.

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I quite enjoyed this. I'm not sure if I liked all of the way the pieces came together but it was well written and I'm excited to read The Whisper Man.

Oof this one has some serious twists that I did not see coming. The narrators were great and the story flowed nicely. I did find some parts a bit confusing - there was a lot going on. This one is certainly creepy and I thought well worth the read.

Alex North is quickly becoming my favorite thriller author! If you liked The Whisper Man, you will love The Shadows. The Whisper Man was my favorite thriller from last year. If possible, I loved The Shadows even more.

A teenager is murdered by classmates, murdered in the same way as another kid 25 years prior. It looks like a copycat murder on the surface, but it goes deeper than that. Charlie Crabtree was the murderer 25 years ago but was never seen or heard from again. The myth is that he disappeared from this world and went to live in his dreamworld. Other kids believe this could happen if they follow in Charlie’s footsteps.

This book is full of creepy characters, lucid dreams, and suspense. The book has alternating Before and Now chapters that keep you going and up too late. I loved the characters and how the relationships with their parents affected the story and their lives. It concluded so perfectly. I just can’t wait for another Alex North book!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Celadon Books for providing the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I alternated by listening and reading my purchased copy of the book, sometimes both at the same time. Since this review is also for the audiobook, I will also mention that the narrators were excellent for Paul and Amanda. This was easily a 5 star read!

This is my first time reading this author. I know I had heard all the hype around his prior book The Whisper Man, so when I had the opportunity to check this out I jumped on it. This is mostly a thriller/mystery and I could easily relate the kids in this story as I was one of those weird kids in the 90's. The use of British narrators really sett the mood and made this that much more enjoyable. Really liked this and definitely need to check out his other book.

I'm sort of torn about this book. It definitely builds a complex mystery and keeps you guessing about what happened, but it unfolds so slowly that it drove me crazy and then dumps this mess on you at the end. I think it could have spread out the details better so we weren't in the dark for 80 percent of the story and then hit with everything at the end.

I had some guesses about what happened, but I was not even close to being right. I feel like there weren't that many clues about the true story so it was difficult to predict. The story of Redhands reminded me a lot of Slenderman, with kids killing other kids in an effort to be taken away by this evil creature.

The narrator didn't have much emotion so the audio was a bit boring, but I did like Amanda's parts as they broke up the story a bit.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this copy of The Shadows.
I thought the narration was spot on. Really enjoyed it.
As far as content, it was okay for me. Admittedly I don’t read a lot of horror. Parts of this were creepy, for sure. The woods/The Shadows as a character is definitely creepy/sinister. I would not want to go in there. I felt the back and forth timeline was a little hard to manage on audio at times, and further more difficult to manage back and forth timeline with lucid dreaming. I definitely didn’t like Charlie Crabtree and found him incredibly manipulative, so therefore I thought his character was well-written. I thought the last 1/3 of the book was better than the first 2/3. Overall, I would recommend the book to fans of the genre and let them experience the book for themselves. Lastly, love the cover art.