a spooky book with a good story, was very gory and graphic and had a tense atmosphere. i felt the need to keep reading to find out what happened. an intense story which was well written

I wouldn't be able to purchase this one for any of our school libraries because it was pretty gruesome in nature. I did enjoy it, but do like reading things of this nature. It is not for the queasy or faint of heart, that's for sure.

dnf at 15%

unfortunately, this book isn't for me. the writing is putting me off - the banter between the characters comes at the weirdest moments and it's not even funny. i disliked how most of the jokes were based on no longer socially acceptable terms for mentally ill people and so on.

WOW.
This was an incredible, graphic, intense, and just utterly mind blowing.
This book was one that I had a little bit of a hard time reading because of how violent and graphic it was, but it was still such an intense and exciting read. The writing I found was really amazing. The dialogue was written well, and it had a very impressing world building. Overall a great and crazy read.

This book's premise was intriguing. I love anything that is cult related. However, I found myself feeling very, meh, about it.

The story was fine. Where it fell short for me was more the writing. The author choosing to fixate on female character's appearance was annoying, except for one, because, well, she was his partner. 🤔 and the cult seemed to be full of minorities, and while the author may not have noticed they used "assume they're white if not specified" quite often. We're also introduced right away to our "hero" who is interrogating a transgender woman, whom the main character keeps referring to as "the man in the dress" and that's supposed to be justified because he has a transgender neighbor that he likes very well.

As a heterosexual white female, I understand that I will never understand what it is like to be in any other community. However, I do try to learn and be aware of other experiences than my own, and the situations in this book did not sit right with me.

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Graham Masterson, and Head of Zeus Publishing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Shadow People follows friends and coworkers DC Jerry Pardoe and DS Jamila Patel as they work around the clock to track down and stop a ritualistic cult of cannibals. The cops quickly realize that they are dealing with something more primal and must work quickly to stop this insanity.

This book was crazy! I’m going to be honest in telling you that it took me a while to get through the beginning. It just didn’t grab my attention correctly. That being said, the pace of the second half more than makes up for this. I also wasn’t aware that this is part of a series (though it worked great as a standalone novel). The funny thing about this? I own the second book, but it’s still stuck in the TBR of infinite books 🙃

So yeah, I guess the point of this is to tell you that 1.) The Shadow People is an interesting read, even if it may take a second to get into it (at least that’s how it was for me) and 2.) prepare yourself for lots of cannibalism, other heavy themes, and weirdness. This is not a book for everyone.

It’s a 3.5 rounded up to a 4 star read for me. The end more than made up for the pacing in the beginning. Now to go check out the other books in this series…at some point.

First thing's first. I have not read the first 2 books in this series. My partner read The Children God Forgot, and enjoyed it. I offered to read this one, and enjoyed it very much, for the most part.

First, the bad (not much of it). I did NOT like Jerry. I get that the author is going for the "Everyman" approach with him, but he comes off like a numpty. His humor is obnoxious, callous and lowbrow. He's not particularly intelligent or well-trained. Sorry, Graham.

Jamila, on the other hand, is intelligent, quick-witted and easy to like. I enjoyed reading her parts, although they were sparse. More Jamila, please!!

Overall, the book was dramatic, interesting and thoroughly DISGUSTING. I loved it. I will be reading the first 2 in the series and anything that comes after.

CONTENT WARNINGS
CANNIBALISM. CANNIBALISM and CANNIBALISM. Lots of talk of roasting and eating human body parts. VERY visceral and descriptive. Sexual organs mentioned many times. No actual sexual content, but mentions of activities and organs.

Thank you to Netgalley, Graham Masterton and Head of Zeus Publishing for allowing me to read this book. All opinions are my own.

What a wild ride. This was the goriest, most terrifying experience I think I've ever had while reading.

Set in London, two detectives investigate a crime scene in which human bodies appear to have been cooked and eaten. Even worse, (how can it be worse you ask), a devil worshipping cult may be behind it.

Our main characters, DS Jamila Patel and DC Jerry Pardoe were both very different (Patel is Pakistani and Muslim, Jerry is English and an atheist) but they made a fantastic detective duo that was a-lot of fun to follow.

Masterton wrote this brilliantly - The pacing was well done and sections of humorous dialogue between the horror kept it a gripping experience. I loved the masses of Cockney slang 😂.

As this features cannibals, I understand that this might not be for everyone as it makes for some pretty graphic and stomach churning scenes. However if this is something you might like then strap yourself in for a wild ride. Creepy tunnels, kidnappings, brainwashing, rituals and body horror follow in abundance. The best horror thriller I've read in ages.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for an advanced reader copy.*

An interesting premise, however I had envisaged this book to be gritty and dark, and unfortunately for me the take on occultism and cannibalism, rather dark and disturbing themes, was quite humorous and tried hard to be banter which undermined the horror and dark melancholy of the themes. I think it’s my taste but I was put off by the, “Bit too late for the ambulance, mate”, “Alright, guv” and “alright luv”, and comments on attractive female coppers. A blokish, east end take on the detective genre with plenty of cringe humour thrown in.

I received this book from Head of Zeus via Netgalley for a review. Graham delivers again, great read. A fast paced thriller/horror, with very good character's. Another must read from Graham Masterton

I always get a thrill when I see there's a new Mastertonbook coming out. This is another dark classic from one of my new favourite horror authors!
This book introduces us to a cannibalistic clan living together worshiping their demonic God. This book does not shy away from graphic descriptions of the horrors that they're capable of to satisfy their lust for human flesh and there's plenty of wincing movements throughout. Masteron' real talent is his vivid descriptions that really gets into the reader's mind. The explanations which ties up at the end is quite ingenious and actually scarily believable.
I loved the reoccurring characters being back and their chemistry as partners in the police force. I look forward to hopefully more books with them to see where things are heading. There is plenty of dark and dry humour throughout the book which really adds the extra touch. This is another dark and blood lust filled book! Brilliant.

The Shadow People Review

Thank you Head of Zeus, Netgalley, and Graham Masterson for this gifted copy, in exchange for an honest review!

I’ve read a lot of Horror books in my life, but I’m almost positive that this is the goriest book I’ve ever read. It was awful. Do not read on a full stomach or with a few alcoholic drinks. 🥴 That being said, The Shadow People was a 5/5 ⭐️. 😂 I loved this book, I tend to not read police procedurals because they can be dry. There is no such thing as dry when it comes to this book. I thought it was so fast paced, I was just flying from one scene to the next. This was also a very unique horror, I’ve never read anything like it! It was so gory and twisted and weird. A cannibalistic cult who kill and eat people because their so called god tells them too, not something you read every day! 😄 One of the best feelings (for me) when finishing a book kind of feels like a punch in the gut. That’s because you are shocked at what you just read and you can’t believe it ended like that. That’s how I felt during the last page. I loved it!

Synopsis: Detectives Jerry and Jamila are known to pick up all the very strange cases. When bodies are found in an abandoned carpet factory that are filleted, cooked, and half eaten, they are the first to be contacted. Paintings on the walls of the abandoned factory tell the detectives that they are dealing with a cult that worships evil.

I was looking for a spooky fall read and this definitely lived up to my expectations. With equal parts crime solving and bizarre paranormal circumstances this is definitely up there on my list for fall reads! This was the first book I’ve read by the author and I really liked the style and perspective.

I could not bring myself to finish reading this book. I felt the comments around the perp in the dress to be highly outdated and the situation was almost used as an excuse to be a bit transphobic and make back in my day comments. The world has moved on and we see gender and gender identity very diffirent these days and I think Graham Masterton should really consider his comments. I won't finish this book due to these comments or read another book by him.
The other characters in this novel rely heavily on stereotypes for dialogue and development and I just find it really interesting and dull.
Only rated it a 1 star because I had to give a rating and not because it merits it.

I love a good horror/thriller novel and this one definitely didn’t disappoint! The Shadow People will keep you hooked from the first page. This book was impossible to put down, I really enjoyed it!

This is one of the better books I've read lately. I have read Masterton from his beginning and I love his books to this day.

Thank you NetGalley and Head of Zeus.

The Shadow People is another hit from Gaham Masterton! This one is about a cannibalistic cult . When a few bodies are found (burned and half eaten!) in a basement, Metro police call in Jamila and Jerry (detective partners) as they often work the strange and unusual cases. They believe the people that did this were part of a religious cult that worships the devil and live like cavemen--speaking only in grunts and growls .

At first I expected this to be more like a police procedural, possibly thriller, but this is flat out horror. This should come with a host of trigger warnings and I strongly suggest readers look up these trigger warnings before reading this book.

It’s very dark and not for the weak hearted or weak stomached. I normally don’t read horror this dark and I was unsettled at times but I appreciate that the book was well written and extremely well paced.

This is a good read for October and gore hounds will devour this book!

Don't read this before bed! Masterton has outdone himself on this one - not for the squeamish for sure! Not only is it a nightmare, but the humans are the monsters - and the scenario so close to believable that makes it all the more terrifying.

⭐⭐

(this entire book is a trigger for m**der, t*rtre, etc. bad bad bad)

I wanted to like this really badly. Anything cult-related has always been so intensely interesting to me. Unfortunately, this just. There was not as much good as there was bad.

The Shadow people is an absolutely horrifying and bizarre thriller based around a Satanic Cult that commits unspeakable acts in the name of their beliefs, and the officers who desperately try to stop them in their reign of terror.

First things first — The good. The imagery in some of these scenes, though brutal and sickening, was extremely well done. You could taste, hear, feel, smell everything that was going on. It felt like you were there, and I so really totally did not want to BE THERE. The scenes featuring the cult members themselves were by far the most interesting and terrifying, though with that comes one of my biggest rubs.

In the beginning, a lot of the cultists are described far more than any of the main characters (if you can even pinpoint who the main characters are with all the insane amount of head-hopping) but these descriptions were not flattering. Which, would make sense in normal circumstances. But I found that the cultists described were either POC, mentally ill, or any kind of supposed "other" that I just found, to be frank, horrible, as there was a clear divide the author was drawing whether they meant to or not. This divide continued well into the first segment of the book, to the point where I put it down and almost refused to pick it back up. Instead, I chose to review it.

The head-hopping and unclear understand of just who we were supposed to be following also made this a bizarre read to find footing in. I found myself turning back pages more than once trying to orient myself. It felt strange and disjointed to me, and while I can see that being a useful device in this type of novel, it was not well executed here.

My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for gifting me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It has been a long time since I last read a book in the horror genre. The Shadow People combines the police procedural and horror genres. The story begins when two demolition workers at a disused carpet factory smell meat burning.

“Blimey, somebody’s having a barbecue.”

“Squatters, most likely, innit, bruv.“

To their horror they discover, what they at first think are the remains of a barbecue, cooked by some homeless people squatting in the cellar of the factory is, on closer inspection, the remains of a cannibal feast, they find a supermarket trolley filled with blackened skulls. Panicking they call the police.

The action is set in South London, the dialogues seasoned with Sarf London cockney. Det. Sgt. Jamila Patel and Det. Con. Jerry Pardoe are assigned to investigate, what appears to be a cannibalistic cult. Not only have they found human remains but also artwork showing what appears to be some yellow eyed deity with a goat’s head similar to deities in Pakistan, India and in the Neolithic cave paintings of Germany.

One of the cult members was caught shoplifting art supplies in a branch of WHSmith, he has characteristics shared by others in the cult in that as Jerry observes “he doesn’t half pen and ink” (i.e. stink), he also wears odd clothes and speaks in a mix of growls and grunts unintelligible to the police officers.

This book is not for everyone if gross out horror is not for you I’d give it a wide berth. It maybe best not to read this after a heavy meal. Visceral descriptions of eye gouging and intestine spilling are part of the jam. There are also supernatural elements as the deity is summoned.

Graham Masterton is a veteran writer in the genre, the pacing is good starting slow with a liberal smattering of shocks and building to a thrilling climax. There is an interesting mix of diverse characters. A lot of people go missing every year in London and are never found. The cult members are taken from the homeless population and most of the “opfers” (sacrifices) are also homeless, so nobody really misses them. There is a high body count in this novel. There is some explanation of various cults in history and the linguistics of proto Indo-European. If you can stomach the horror it is a good read and will satisfy fans of both the horror and police procedural genres.

I was born in London, so I understood most of the slang but even I had to check the Urban Dictionary for some terms like “melt” (a complete idiot).

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this book.