Thank you to @netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the free ALC.

Book Rating: 🌟🌟🌟💫
Narration Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Overall Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Story:
The Shadows focuses on Paul Adams, who reluctantly returns home to look after his ailing mother. When Paul was a young boy, his friend, Charlie Adams, was involved in a brutal homicide and then vanished without a trace. After Paul was initially accused of the crimes Charlie committed, he left town and vowed to never return. Now, Paul reads about a murder that has occurred nearby that resembles the crime that changed his childhood and realizes that maybe he did not have the entire story of what happened all those years ago.

The Shadows is a creepy, immersive thriller that has a great plot, but is leisurely paced. It was easy to read, but I didn’t have that “I need to finish this NOW” feeling that I love in thrillers. I loved the Slenderman vibes that this book had and Charlie is one the more disturbing characters that I have read lately. One twist in this book caught me off guard, but the ending fell a little bit flat for me.

Narration:
What really bumped this book up to 4 stars for me was the narration. John Heffernan and Hannah Arterton are fantastic as Paul Adams and Detective Amanda Beck. I love multiple narrators and both fit their characters’ voices perfectly. As was the case with the audiobooks The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup and The Hiding Place by C.J. Tudor, I feel the audiobook really elevated this story and I enjoyed it more through listening than I would have with reading the physical copy.

Overall, The Shadows is a solid mystery that isn’t at the level of Alex North’s debut, The Whisper Man, but is still a fun book to read when you are in the mood for a more spooky type of suspense. Fans of C.J. Tudor will love this book!

ALC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Shadows is a psychological thriller about a few boys who become obsessed with lucid dreaming and it somehow ends up in 2 of them murdering someone else. The story follows Paul Adams in both present day and 25 years ago when the murder happened as well as Detective Amanda Beck in present day.

25 years ago, Billy was found covered in blood, holding a knife. His friend and accomplice in the murder, Charlie Crabtree, was nowhere to be found. 25 years later, Paul Adams, who was linked to this case, is forced to revisit his hometown to tend to his dying mother. After discovering that his mother has been keeping newspapers and other materials on the murder, Paul begins to look deeper into his past. As the story progresses, Paul’s mental state begins to fall apart as he gets more and more paranoid.

I read this as an audiobook and the narrator did a pretty good job at setting the mood and creating an ominous atmosphere. I don’t usually like to read thrillers because they freak me out lmao but I think this one was pretty worth it. The themes of lucid dreaming, ghosts, and shadowy figures might not be scary per se, but I’ve always had a deep fascination for all of the above and it’s always creeped me out. I wouldn’t say that this book scared me, but it has left me with a feeling of eeriness and foreboding.

In the first half, everything creepy that occurs has an air of mysticism to it and it seems more supernatural, but as everything begins to click into place, the logic behind everything made more sense. I liked how most of the “magic” parts of the plot were explained in a way that was more logical (because it makes it a little less creepy to me LOL)

TW: Death, murder, suicide, excessive violence, blood.

Do you remember your dreams when you wake up? How powerful can they be? How about nightmares?
25 years ago, one of Paul’s friends was murdered by two of his other friends. Now he’s coming back to the town where everything happened. A lot of questions are still unanswered. After all this time, maybe Paul and Amanda (the detective working on a similar case) are going to discover what really happened. Will the nightmare come to an end or will it become reality?

I got this book as my first audiobook on Netgalley and let me tell you, it was a treat! Hannah Arterton and John Hefferman, narrating for Amanda and Paul’s perspective were a perfect fit for the characters. They conveyed all the emotions and distress of Amanda and Paul. They gave life to the two characters and it made everything so real I thought I was with them at times. Some scenes gave me chills and will probably fuel my nightmare for the next few weeks.

The pacing of the story was perfect in my opinion. Not too fast so we’d get lost but not too slow either. I was never bored. The story is super enticing and I was into it by chapter 4. I couldn’t stop reading and devoured the book in two days.

I think the story was perfect for the audio format as it was easy enough to understand that way and the descriptions are so vivid that you could easily picture the scene the narrators were reading.

In conclusion, this audiobook was amazing, the horror was present from the first minute to the last. I highly recommend it to everybody who enjoys horror, thrillers and for fans of Stephen King even though their writing style is quite different.

I loved listening to this book! I felt like I was listening to a ghost story while sitting around a campfire. There were so many twists and turns that I was guessing until the end. The narrators were great and really added a lot to the characters. I didn't feel as attached to the characters as I did the story, but I feel like that worked out well for this book.

I highly recommend this thriller. It was properly spooky at times and had many layers to its mystery.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me listen to this audiobook!

This was a book full of twists and turns. I had no idea who was the murderer in either timeline until it was revealed.

I really enjoyed the writing...being told by dual perspectives and timelines. It had a great pace and was a complete surprise to me. I really liked that there were so many aspects to the story that there were actually several different mysteries that needed to be solved. The narrators were great and I felt like they really helped make the story enjoyable.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

WOW!! first, thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for this audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this audiobook and was well and truly spooked at points (always a great sign). The narration is absolutely brilliant, I preferred John Heffernan over Hannah Arterton but I think it was just because he sounded a little bit more confident as a reader.

The story itself was really well thought out and I enjoyed the plot that involved a boy returning to his home village and almost having to "relive" a horrific event in his past. There were some twists and reveals that left me utterly shocked, and I especially enjoyed the unreliable nature of Adam the main character. However, I did feel like the story dragged slightly towards the end. It also reminded me slightly of Riverdale and the gargoyle king plot in regards to its confusing dream-state and Red-Hands character (I feel like this bought the rating down a little for me).

3.8 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for an advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Paul Adams returns to his hometown 25 years after his friends committed murder and one of the culprits disappears. Copy cat murders are now occurring and his senile mother is saying strange things.

I enjoyed listing to Hannah Arterton and John Hefferman excellent job narrating the story. I felt there was good flow to their narration. However, there were several times when I thought the story was over and I would look at the time remaining and there was still 50 min, then 30 min, left, and I kept thinking what else is going to happen? I did like the wrap up at the the end.

Paul Adams hasn’t been home for 25 years. He had to come home, to help with his mother. Her care worker found her at the bottom of the stairs and called Paul to come to her in hospice. Paul hadn’t even known that his mother had a care worker, that she had been suffering from dementia. His mother had wanted to protect him, to keep him away from home, from the memories, from the danger. She protected him for 25 years, but now as he sits with his mother and she wakes sporadically, she tells him. “It’s in the house, Paul. In the house!”

Suddenly Paul is a teenager again, remembering everything that happened. The whole school year, from those first days of the term through to the murder. And while Billy was caught right after the murder an sent to prison, Charlie was never caught. He just disappeared, and he hadn’t been seen since.

DI Amanda Beck is struggling. It’s never easy to investigate the murder of a child, but when it’s ritualized, the killers caught still covered in blood, knives and dream journals in their hands, with red hand prints around the victim, she is at a loss. She turns to the one place where where she knows people will be talking about a crime like this—the internet. That’s where she discovers the origin of the myth that created this copycat murder, and where she first comes across the name Charlie Crabtree.

As Paul struggles to make peace with the past, he finds his anxiety rising. He hears noises in his mother’s house. He finds red hand prints in the attic. He finds a reminder from high school pushed through the letter box. Clearly, someone is trying to send him a message. Could it be Charlie, even after all that time, or is someone else trying to scare him?

And then there’s another murder, someone Paul used to know. DI Beck interviews him, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together before others are killed, but will she be able to figure out what’s happened in time, or will the legend of Red Hands find himself yet another victim?

Alex North’s follow up to The Whisper Man is just as compelling and goose-bump-inducing as his first novel. The Shadows is another thrilling, chilling ghost story that takes what you think and turns it completely upside down, with twists that you can’t possibly see coming but that set your heart racing all over again.

For The Shadows, I listened to the audio book, narrated by John Heffernan and Hannah Arterton. Heffernan narrated most of the book, all the chapters that tell Paul’s story. I thought he did a beautiful job with hte pace and complexity of Paul’s journey. I could feel the character’s pain, his shame, his guilt as the pages went on, as the secrets were revealed, as the truths came to light. And Arterton embodied DI Beck as she searched for the answers she needed to put the case and her personal doubts to rest.

I devoured this book in days, reveling in the story, in the secrets, in the voices that transported me halfway across the world and back 25 years in time. If you are a fan of a scary story, North is a masterful writer. There is some violence towards teenagers, which is difficult to read (or listen to), but if you can stomach that, then The Shadows is one not to miss.

A copy of the audio book The Shadows was provided by Macmillan Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks.

One of the creepiest, most unsettling books I've read in a long time. Alex North certainly has a way of amping up the tension, but the resolution was less than satisfying.

The narration by Hannah Arterton and, particularly, John Heffernan was fantastic and made the audiobook a truly immersive experience.

I haven't read The Whisper Man, but I plan to now!

Thank you so very much to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an Audiobook copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.


The Shadows(the title the townfolk give to the woods) are said to be haunted. Inside lives a creature, Red Hands, whom lures children away why they dream, inviting them to stay with him forever; but to do so, first a price must be paid: a sacrifice of another child's life. 25 years prior, two boys paid the sacrifice to Red Hands but only one disappeared. Whatever happened to Charlie Crabtree? With copycat killings taking place, a detective sets out to find answers. Meanwhile, a man who was once friends with not only Charlie and the other killer, but also the victim returns home to say goodbye to his ailing mother. Is there a connection to be found, or is Red Hands more than just a story?

Guys....this book.... it's a piece of art. I couldn't stop listening to it unless I had to, and I resented having to work because it was keeping me from listening. The story is perfectly laid out by alternating between then and now, revealing bits and truths right on schedule to make way for the next big mystery. I never once got bored listening due not only to content, but by out of this world performances by two narrators. I only got half way through before I began recommending it to friends because I just needed someone on this rollercoaster with me. When I started this novel I had no idea what a lucid dream was but the author did such a great job explaining it along with his tale that I had to do very little research to feel like I understood. Paul and Amanda were both great to tag along with, and even after having such a close encounter with childhood teams Paul remained a very relatable and likeable character. I have zero complaints, which is something that very rarely happens for me. Five fantastic and enthusiastic stars from me. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I would recommend this to anyone ages 16 and up, there isn't anything too graphic in it however the subject matter when it comes to dreams could be alot for impressionable young minds, but it's all at parental discression. Keep writing, Alex North, I cannot wait to see what you publish next!

The audiobook was excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed the narration.

I think I was expecting this book to be a little creepier. There was a reveal that took me by surprise, but the ending wasn't as satisfying as I was hoping.

Alex North is a talented writer and it would have been so easy for the different timelines and perspectives to become confusing, but they didn't.

I plan to read The Whisper Man soon!

Why I requested this: I requested the audiobook version of this due to my love thrillers on audio. The premise really sounded like it could be one that could go in a lot of directions. Additionally, with thriller authors, especially if the first work that I read by them was a debut, I like to give them another chance to find out if it was that story or the writer that did not click with me. This was another chance for Alex North.

Pros:
I appreciated the way that the characters, especially the infamous Charlie Crabtree, are written and written about.
The murders, and subsequent investigations, all feel very cult-like due to ritualistic nature of it

Cons:
The way the story mixes between flashbacks and the present day.
The pacing was off due to the way the story was written
Story elements, like lucid dreaming, did not work for me.

Overall: Excellent idea, not so creepy follow-through.

I read this because I absolutely loved the whisper man.

This didn’t live up to my hype!

The synopsis had sound so good but I felt some plots to be repetitive

The narrator did a wonderful job narrating this book.

I really enjoy Alex North’s writing. I think he does a really good job crafting interesting small town mysteries. The Shadows is just another example of this. I know his books are classified as thrillers but I don’t agree. For me, this was more of a dark but cozy mystery. The pacing isn’t fast enough and the subject isn’t spooky enough for me to think of it as a thriller. But I read/watch a lot of mysteries and thrillers so I might expect a lot from my thriller novels. Regardless, this was an enjoyable read. 3.5/5 stars.

This was my first audiobook with the new NetGalley app and I love having this option for free audiobooks. I am an avid audiobook listener and audiobooks get costly. But the audio quality is a little poor. There’s an echo that become hard to ignore if you try to listen faster than 2x speed. Hopefully this is something that will only improve as the app improves over time.

As much as I wanted to love this as much as I did The Whisper Man, it fell a little flat for me. I enjoyed some elements- specifically the character of Charlie Crabtree and the creepy vibe that reminded me of Stephen King’s The Body that was adapted as the movie Stand By Me. The author lost me with the lucid dreams unfortunately. That’s where it fell apart. I continue to listen and did somewhat care to have the answers to who, what, and how, but it lands at 3 stars for me being “just ok”.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to listen to this book in exchange for my honest review.

I give it a 3.5. This is my first book by Alex North and while it was not particularly scary, I enjoyed it. I will read his previous book and future books based on this experience.
I will say that I enjoyed this book as an audiobook and look forward to more audiobooks. Sometimes the narrator can be a make it or break it type of deal for me so they did a good job in choosing this narrator.
Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Shadows by Alex North
Pub date 07/07/2020

This thriller/horror novel had the best creep factor to it, if you loved The Whisper Man then you'll like this one maybe even more.
Paul is coming home, after 25 years of trying to put the town out of his thoughts.
Written in the Now and Then set up. There seems there may be a copycat killer out there copying a murder that took place back when Paul was 15 years old.

"There had been times when it felt like I could hear the pages around me rustling slightly, as though the stories within were shuffling softly in their sleep".

Thank you Netgalley for a audio copy of this book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good thriller.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ like coming home

3.5 stars rounded down to 3. Dualntimeljnes in the book which was interesting and well executed. Both timelines dragged in a lot of places, maybe trying to add too much unnecessary detail to all the characters, not sure but it did get boring at times, not the slow burn that maybe author was going for. Great to see DI Amsnda Beck agsin

Charlie Crabtree is an disturbing teenager. 25 years ago he committed a murder and was never seen again. Paul Adams left town after it happened. But now that his mother is doing poorly he returns home. Shortly after he arrives things start to happen.
What an interesting and thrilling story. It was really good and a lot of parts were super creepy/scary. I loved the way it was told from different points of view and at different points in time. It all came together great in the end! I recommend to anyone who enjoys thrillers and wants a gripping read!
So happy that Netgalley has audiobooks now! The narrators were amazing and kept my attention threw out the entire story. Highly recommend you listen to the audio version of The Shadows!
Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing this audiobook in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Available Now!

I don't think this was that creepy. Not that I liked The Whisper Man that much but I like The Shadows even less in a way. With all the mentioning of Stephen King (whose style I don't really enjoy either) I can't help but thing that Alex North is maybe trying to replicate the feeling of reading a King's book? I don't know. Wasn't my cup of tea and wouldn't consider it a horror.
This book was provided to me by the publisher for a review.