First of all, I origianlly received an ARC of this thanks to to Macmillian and Bookish First in exchange for an honest review. I loved the phsyical version of this, so of course when I saw it on the list of audiobooks through Net Galley, I had to jump on it!

Paul Adams has returned home to his mother's deathbed after being away for twenty-five years. When he was a teenager, a gruesome murder took place that left Paul's world shaken. He'd known the boys, been friends with the boys, and he left and never returned, trying to forget.

But the case didn't end there. Charlie Crabtree, the dark young man who pulled the young boys together in to the shadows of a dream, disappeared. And his disappearance sparked a series of other murders. The past continues to haunt Paul when his mother insists there's more to it all.

I haven't read The Whisper Man, but I've seen it alllll over! I read an excerpt of The Shadows, and was instantly pulled in, and I was lucky enough to win an ARC of it from Bookish First, and now an audiobook from Net Galley! This was dark and gritty, and very creepy. I loved so much of it, and though I'm not usually a fan of switching POV (3rd and 1st) I didn't care because I was so pulled in! The readers are treated with flashbacks of Paul's youth, and little by little, we can put the pieces together.

About the audiobook. Like with the book, we have two narrators: third person that follows the detective (voiced by Hannah Arterton), and first person (voiced by John Heffernan). I looooooved Hannah's narration. I liked some of John Heffernan, but it was honestly a bit strange to match the voice to Paul, who is definitely a quieter character. Overall, really loved listening to the audiobook! I thought the pacing was good, and both narrators were clean and crisp!

This was an AMAZING book, and though it's completely outside of my usual genre, I loved it! Cannot recommend this enough. And Netflix? Get ON IT!

Listening to a book can really enhance them especially if you have the right people reading it. The Shadows by Alex North is read by Hannah Arterton and John Heffernan. While Arterton’s voice worked fine for this novel, Heffernan is the one who really shined for me. He was subtle with his change of tempo or inflections when it came to the various characters and I thought he really pulled out the creepiness and “dead eyes” feel to Charlie Crabtree.

When I mentioned that Arterton’s voice was fine, I think it had more to do with her character, Det. Amanda Beck, who for the most part I felt the story could have been written without. It seems strange to say a novel could do away with an entire main character, and there were a couple of parts where I could see her being needed, but for the most part whenever the story went back to her, I felt like I was being pulled out of it.

As for the storyline itself, it was very good, but I never got the scare factor that a lot of other readers talk about, but this could be due to watching and reading a lot of horror. So while this might be classified horror, and others may call it a thriller, for me it was more of a suspense, or even a mystery. The Shadows kept me going from chapter to chapter at a steady pace, but at the same time I was never rushing ahead to see what was going to happen next. And it definitely has a strong Stephen King vibe in regards to a group of kids facing a horrific event and then seeing how they are reacting to it years later. So if you enjoy King, there’s a good chance you’ll like The Shadows.

There were a few interesting twists and one I am still thinking about days after finishing the book. It did wrap up everything very well and goes to show how adults are not infallible and when children grow up and realize that their parents make mistakes and had lives without them, it can be a very disturbing realization.

Audiobook: As the story bounces between two narratives, there are two narrators: a male for Paul Adams and a female for the detective. As far as audiobooks go, there is nothing unique about this one. Each narrator, showed some emotions during exciting situations but nothing that stood out to me. Some narrators are capable of having voices for each character to allow the listener to know who is speaking…this is not one of those audios. One of the biggest struggles that I had was with the female narrator…her voice had an echo to it that absolutely drove me nuts! For awhile I was convinced that it was my headphones but I listened on two types of headphones, my phone speaker & synced through my phone. One thing I did appreciate, however, was that it was clear in the audio when the timeline changed (Then vs Now). It can be challenging in audiobooks to address the chapter, character or timeline change and I felt it was incredible clear when a shift occurred.

Story: Last year I read The Whisper Man & really enjoyed it as far as thrillers go. Alex North did NOT disappoint with The Shadows! Jumping between two different murders, 25 years apart, it follows Paul Adams whose returning to his childhood home, the one filled with his greatest nightmares and so many secrets, to see his ailing mother. The town where, 25 years earlier, a child was murdered and another disappeared without a trace. There he must face the truth that he spent so long trying to forget. And he must answer the question….is it just another copycat or did Charlie survive 25 years ago and started killing again?
When it comes to a murder ghost story, the only way you can tell it is with split timelines (my favorite) and Alex North did an excellent job! I felt his story was laid out where there was minimal room for useless plot lines. It was clear, entertaining and with enough twists to not make it completely predictable. I found myself engaged in the story throughout its entirety and wanting to know what happened to Charlie, wanting to know what happened to the child murdered 25 years before, what did everyone else know that they weren’t saying….?

This book was amazing! Alex North set the bar high with The Whisper Man and he did not disappoint. This book is about a crime that threatens to both break and unite friendships. If crime/horror/mystery novels are your thing, I highly recommend this audiobook.

This book was all over the book community and I knew I had to read it. I got the audio book from NetGalley and listened to it and was so excited. Unfortunately, I struggled with it. It bounced around between timelines and characters and I was so confused. I don't know if it was because I was listening to it and that made the difference (I love audio books) or if it was just confusing. About 80% through, it finally had my attention and got really good.

The ending was great, even though I struggled with the first part, so I'm still giving it three stars.

Whisper Man by Alex North was creepy and I totally loved it!
Shadows was something I was hoping to be more creepier but it wasn’t (according to me)
Twenty-five years ago, Charlie Crabtree committed a crime which was beyond imagination, there was something sinister about the guy and Paul Adams knew all too well not to be friends with Charlie. But as Paul is lured into the dream diaries and the lucid dreams that Charlie suggests and implants ideas in Paul, Billy and James head it all gets too much and even in the current days people still believed that there was something evil in the woods where Charlies was last seen!
Paul is visiting his mother in the “now” part of the story as she has had a fall and needs help, she is old and senile which makes it even harder as she also seems to suffer from memory lapses! She is insistent that there’s something inside the house!
There’s a murder case also being investigated by Detective Amanda and it’s too similar to what had happened 25yrs ago, is that a copycat killer or has Charlie returned?
This story is told in before and after timelines and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the netgalley audio copy of this book, this one gets good 3.5stars from me.
#shadows #netgalley

Paul’s attention is grabbed one day when the mysterious Charlie Crabtree steps and stands up to his friend’s tormentor at school. We’re used to the defender being the hero, but there’s something about Charlie that immediately presents us from seeing him as such, and what happens next suggests that Charlie may have knowledge of future events, and may even be able to control them. Paul and his friend are sucked in to a manipulative schoolboy power-play, which centres around recording their dreams. If you ever kept a dream diary as a teenager, looking for patterns and ‘messages’, then this will really take you back.

This is not, however, a schoolboy action novel, and ‘the murder’ is hinted at several times in the first half of the novel, although the nature of this crime, and indeed its victim, is not revealed until later on in the novel. This worked well - there was enough to get my head around in the early stages, with Paul’s past, and the story of Detective Amanda Beck, who is investigating a murder in the present. Predictably, the two crimes are linked, but whether the latest case is a copycat crime, and what happened to Charlie after ‘the murder’ takes a while to become apparent. It was a little confusing to have two timelines, 25 years apart, and two main characters, but they did quickly connect and it added depth to the narrative.

It’s characters are believable, even though the character of Charlie takes the believable to its extreme point. Charlie Crabtree, is a malicious, twisted and troubled boy. Not all boys like this turn to the types of manipulative behaviour that he is shown to, but the threat is always there. In contrast, Paul Adams represents the normal child, the one who is offered the temptation but sees the wrong and turns his back. I enjoyed watching how Paul acted as a teenager, and how these traits were continued as an adult.

The settings are familiar - we all have a dark wood that we found scary as a child, we all had places that we were warned not to go - and although the descriptions of setting where sometimes a little vague, my brain simply inserted my own scary places, and I think that made it all a bit creepier!

The current trend of the dual-narrative point of view again features in this thriller, and this was enhanced by it being read by two different voices, belonging to John Heppernan and Hannah Arterton - both of which I enjoyed listening to. Audiobooks can sometimes be spoilt by a reader who does not understand the novel’s tone or pace, or by those who feel the need to put on silly voices, or mispronounce unusual words, but these two sounded like they were telling me the story in confidence, and thus sustained by attention throughout.

I’d enjoyed reading ‘The Whisper Man’ last year, and found it difficult not to compare the two narratives. However, ‘The Shadows’ did not disappoint - if anything, it is creepier, darker and more worrying than its predecessor.

Thank you to NetGalley UK for allowing me a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Decent narration and creepy premise. Didn't totally creep me out as I expected but was still entertaining. The first audio book I've listen to without immediately falling asleep so I was pleasantly surprised.

I enjoyed listening to this book. I already planned to read this from book of the month. This book was sad and the mystery was good. I highly recommend this book.

This was a lackluster story. The blurb read like this was supposed to be a mystery/thriller but it was neither of those for me. I felt bored and disconnected the entire story. The back and forth timelines/POVs were confusing and left me scratching my head. As for the mystery/horror side of the story, I never felt it. I was not creeped out, on the edge of my seat, or remotely scared. What this felt like was an adult Fanfic story of the popular YA series, The Raven Boys.

Regardless, the audio was well done and the narrators were excellent. The voices matched the characters perfectly. They narrators delivered one heck of a performance, even if the story itself needed work.

North does it again! This book was amazing. Atmospheric to the core. It was a perfect mix of supernatural to scare you out of your wits and believable so that the skeptics don't doubt the story, The writing is really good and doesn't let you put the book down. It was so scary that I had to stop reading it in the middle cos it was after dark and I was jumping at my normal apartment noises.

The narrators of this book are really good - with two narrators for the two protagonists. The audiobook captures the atmosphere of the book really well.

An amazing book, better than The Whisper Man if I say so myself.

This is the first audiobook that I have received for review. I have ended up listening to the audiobook of a lot of arcs I've received and that's how I've ended up reviewing them so I'm thrilled with this development.

There are some teething issues with the new Netgalley app. I listen to audiobooks at two times spend and for whatever reason the book was skipping chapters at a rate of every other chapter and as this was novel changes POV and time period, there is a chance I have missed a chapter before I realise that was happening. Hopefully, this will be fixed soon as its obviously puts a book at a disadvantage if you reading the chapters in random order. Also, it was frustrating having to open my phone every new chapter as well, especially towards the end.

This book has a narrator for each POV character and both were well performed. The acting choices were consistent when there was any overlap. I don't feel like I can comment on most aspects of Audiobooks that I usually do, due to the technical issues I had. There were times I was confused and felt I had missed something that can happen with some audiobooks vs physically reading them, but I had a missed chapters full chapters. I would recommend it in Audiobook form.

The novel is told in two character's POV, The characters are pretty standard to thrillers. You have your modern-day cop, whose kinda just there but there's daddy issues. Then we have past coming back for Paul who has a sad little life. I was invested in the plot and how this was all gonna go down, I do think the characters were secondary.

This is a murder mystery. There are some supernatural aspects up in the air, you decide. The concept is pretty cool. Dreams are a big part of this book and the blending of reality. There's not enough creepy books about dreams.

I never saw a twist coming. but probably should have. It didn't really have much impact on me or the story. Its the sort of twist that could piss people off, but it was set up enough for me to be fine with it. The solution was fine. The climax was good, its paced pretty well.

Overall, I give this 3/5 stars for Hand Prints. This is a fine thriller. It understands the genre, it has some fun tropes. It's possible that the way I consumed this book does affect my rating but I don't think it was ever going to be a Five star read for me though. Its the perfect listening for when you're doing busywork. I've not read North's first book 'The Whisper Man', I'm pretty sure there are references to it in 'The Shadows', but I do own that book, so I will probably read it someday. Nothing amazing but I would definitely pick Alex North again if the summary sounded interesting.

This was a really creepy book, especially the first half. I was scared to go to sleep thinking that may be I will dream about horrible things moving in the forest.
I liked The Whisper Man by the author. The Shadows takes place a little away from Featherbanks - a run down town called Gritten. It's a standalone so you need not read the previous book. When a boy is found hacked to death in a horrific manner similar to a murder that occured twenty-five years ago, Detective Amanda Beck runs against time to find who is responsible. Meanwhile a man comes back to Gritten after decades, only to find that his house still holds the very memories he tried to forget all those years ago. The very same nightmares.
I liked the premise. The meddling with the subconscious, lucid dreaming and its effects - kids experimenting with something they cannot begin to understand. The first half is terrific! I was both scared and excited and shocked at some parts. And sad too. But as the mystery got solved I was a bit disappointed. It felt too easy. Too bland. And of course I have a problem with the unreliable narrator troupe in most books. It feels deliberately misleading.
The narration was really good. The audiobook was a bit buggy, skipping some parts and coming back. I had to delete and reload the file in the app. But I liked listening to it.
Recommended if creepy psychological thrillers are your thing. But beware, it can be disturbing if you have an intense imagination, which I did.
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the audiobook.

This is my first Alex North book and I had very high expectations. I really liked the book! It was super creepy and the pacing was perfect. I didn't predict any twists. I am excited for read more from him. I will recommend this book to my customers.

It’s been 25 years since Paul left Gritten. The memories this place holds are too dark and gruesome to ever contemplate a return. But fate has decided it’s time he came back and the secrets he discovers buried in his childhood home are devastating!
The Shadows is a slow paced, creepy psychological thriller that keeps you staring wide awake at the ceiling after you finish reading it. The creepy kids, lucid dreaming and the writing all combines together to give you a truly goose bump inducing experience.
The mystery component of this book was also really well done and kept m guessing till the end.
I would definitely recommend this for readers looking for a thriller that’s equal parts terrifying and intriguing.
Book Rating: 4 stars
Regarding the audiobook- the narrator did an excellent job maintaining the gloomy creepy atmosphere of the book. It definitely gave me chills, especially while listening at night. My only complaint was the echoing of the narration at higher speeds which I think is a problem with the Netgalley Shelf app. I hope it gets corrected in the future. Otherwise the audiobook was excellent!
Audiobook Rating: 3.5 stars (0.5 stars docked for the audiobook quality)

I listened to this full length audio book curtesy of NetGalley. I’m going to say that this is not usually a book that I would read, but I had heard good things about The Whisper Man. This book starts off with Paul, now a college lecturer, returning home because his mother is in hospice and doesn’t have long to live. Twenty five years ago, Paul was taken to the police station because of a brutal murder that took place on the playground near his home. Unfortunately, there seems to be a copycat out there. When Paul was a teenager, he and his friend James met two boys who believed in Lucid Dreaming. The idea that you could actually share a dream with someone and accomplish things together that you wouldn’t be able to do on your own. This isn’t a mystery exactly, so if that is what you are looking for, you may want to give this one a pass. If you like a bit of can-people-really-do-this-and-wouldn’t-it-be-cool-if-they-could kind of book then this is for you. Full disclosure, I received an advance copy for this honest review.

OK, I know this is an unpopular opinion., but this just wasn’t for me. It did pick up after the midway point, but it still wasn’t the best thing I have ever read or listened to on audiobook. It was very slow to get into. I am grateful for the opportunity, but it did not draw me in.

Thanks Netgalley for this ARC. I had this book as an audiobook on their new platform ( it still has alot of bugs in it... should have been tested some more). The app is not taken into account for the book rating.

Personally, whisper man was a tad better. I was hoping that the creepiness factor was going to increase with his second book. It may appeal to alot of people but I didnt "feel" the book.

On the day it began, Detective Amanda Beck was showering and making coffee, at the same time that a little boy was being killed, but nobody knew it yet.

Hundreds of blood-red handprints pressed carefully against the stone.
This time, the Victim is Michael Price.
The latest sacrifice to Mister Red Hands, a "Myth" who haunts the woods, known as "The Shadows".

25 years Ago, Ring Leader Charlie Crabtree, had his friends, Billy Roberts, James Dawson, and Paul Adams believing in the Myth.

He insisted that they keep dream diaries, where they would learn the art of Lucid Dreaming-becoming aware of when you were dreaming so that you could take control of the narrative and influence the outcome.

Like when, in their dream state they kill their teacher's dog, as practice for the sacrifice they will have to make to "Mister Red Hands"(thankfully you are told this but it is not described).

The ultimate success is to be able to disappear into this World, and only Charlie has done that.
Little boys continue to try to emulate him to this day.

Paul Adams, left the area, after being cleared of the murder of Charlie's human sacrifice.

Forced to return, to Gritten Woods, with his mother in hospice, he is drawn into the current day crime investigation because of his involvement with the one in the past.

Clearly this is a complex tale which alternates from the Present to the Past as the author sets things up, and it unfolds slowly.

I alternated reading with listening to the audio version and its two fantastic narrators, and what always surprises me are the words that catch your attention because of the inflection of a narrator, which may have been missed, if I had only been reading this.

If you have not tried audio for awhile, they have improved so much from the days of one person voicing all of the characters. Now, Narrators alternate along with the POV's enhancing the experience.

Despite the story, I did NOT really feel the sense of foreboding or tension which I expected to.

BUT

I am rating this 4 stars, because in a year of thrillers filled with abusive husbands and missing children, this was 100% unique, and it did keep me intrigued throughout.

While I did not enjoy it as much as “The Whisper Man” (5 ⭐️ for me)-I did enjoy it more than I expected to after reading many mixed reviews.

And, it DID manage to SURPRISE me, a FEW times as well!

I look forward to seeing what Alex North dreams up next!

Last year, The Whisper Man was everywhere. Everywhere! I went into it with sky high expectations and well, it fell kind of flat to be honest. So, my relationship with Alex North was over... until I read the synopsis of The Shadows and decided we could try again.

The Shadows pays homage to IT era Stephen King (well that was the vibe I got anyway). It tells the dark tale of four friends and the events that lead up to the brutal murder of one of their classmates. At the same time there is this sinister supernatural character, Red Hands, hovering around the periphery. There are two time lines - and mysteries that extend through both.

It's a spooky, dark, mind bending novel and while it doesn't quite match the coming-of-age feeling of IT, it gives it a red hands go.