This has gone straight into my top five of 2021 . A marvellous masterpieces of suspense, terror and mystery that will leave you knowing at your knuckles and checking under the bed. Someone’s collecting people and not in a good way either, he’s a dark and deranged person who wants to fulfil his horrendous plan. A plan that involves kidnap and murder, his objects are kept locked away and terrorised into play acting his sick desires. Can he be stopped before he inflicts even more hurt and pain or will his plans grow to fruition. A dark , unsettling , psychological thriller that will leaves its taint on you long after you put it down. Be prepared to be shocked, upset and thrilled as you follow the story to its climatic conclusion. Bloody brilliantly written and a one to watch out for next year.

Profiler Connie and detective Baarda investigate a kidnapping of a wealthy woman in Edinburgh. There are another kidnapped victims and it seems the cases are connected.
Connie has some interesting researching methods and her relation to Baarda is effective.

The story is very dark, the perpetrator is obviously very sick man, with tortured soul and he only wants to have a proper family. The lives of the ones he'd chosen are his oxygen.

Gripping and scary story.

My first time reading anything by Helen Fields and if her other books are like this then I am definitely going to enjoy reading them. Connie is an interesting quirky character and bounces well against Baarda who at the start seems a stickler for the rules.. It says it's a stand alone book but there are hints of another story hopefully. It's well written and the storyline although not original has a different angle to it. Definitely worth reading.

For me who is more of a cozy crime reader this book made me feel breathless with tension. It taps into your primeval fear of being trapped. Not the sort of book to read before bed. But I kept picking it up to read more. I did enjoy it but I’m a scaredy cat so read it with the light on.

This standalone from Helen Field is really different from her Callanach series, but exactly the same as in it does not disappoint.
I was gripped from the beginning.
Its set in Edinburgh and centers around a man who abducts people to build his perfect family, he has taken others in the past though for one reason or another they didn`t fulfill their role.
So now he has three people Elspeth, Maggie and Xavier.
They are all unconnected but now find themselves trapped together and held hostage by a man who could snap at any point.
They know they are in a dangerous situation but escaping is never going to be easy.
Will they make it? Can they all survive?
The case falls to Detective Brodie Baarda, on loan from the Met, investigating the disappearances and deaths of people in Edinburgh. He`s aided by an American forensic psychologist DR.Connie Woolwine.
With their investigation throwing up few leads Connie decides she needs to make a personal appeal the kidnapper.
Will she be able to draw him out into the open or will the madman draw her into the shadows with him ?
This is a truly dark read that kept me turning the pages late into the night.
I could easily read more books featuring Baarda and Woolwine, such an easy recommend.
Thanks to Netgalley and Avon books for the chance to read this as an ARC.

After a woman is found murdered in her home and another goes missing, Dr Connie Woolwine a phychological profiler and DI Baroda must search for a very cunning and twisted suspect. A page turning detective thriller. How are will you go for a " perfect family"?

Yet another brilliant book from the very talented Helen Fields. Not a Callanach story but has some of the characters from the Perfect series in it. Telling the story of a man Fergus who without giving too much away is extremely creepy. A superb idea for a story and well executed. I really liked that Overbeck and Ailsa Lambert were included in it.. It is a novel which causes an unpleasant feeling of fear and unease and may keep you awake at night. I loved it

This is a different crime book in that you know who the perpetrator is, and what he’s done, why he’s doing it but it is so creepy and nail biting, I felt I was in that house with those poor people. Towards the end (03:30am) this morning I was on tenterhooks because I didn’t know what was going to happen.

Fergis is one odd bod! He kidnaps people and keeps them on his house, in a man made flat with no windows and no escape. He even forgets to feed them!

When people begin to go missing the Edinburgh police draft in a psychological profiler from the States to get into the mind of the kidnapper. I have to say I really liked Connie and the main policeman Baarda. She was likeable and thorough and she herself was flawed which helped her get inside the mind of Ferris. I had to laugh when Overbeck appeared, she is one bitch and those of us who’ve read the “Perfect “ series with DI Luc Callanach and DCI Ava Turner (brilliant series) will recognise her. All I can say, is God help Edinburgh police having her father n charge!

All in all it was a very enjoyable book and I really felt I was locked up too, it is a stand alone book, but then again I’m sure if Helen wanted to write more with the same characters the door is open.

Read it, you won’t be disappointed.

My thanks to the publishers and to Helen for the ARC.

I liked it, but not completely.

FBI profiler Connie Woolwine and DI Baarda from Police Scotland are investigating the disappearances of three people believed to have been taken by the shadow man. We get conflicting chapters between the police, the three captives and the killer, known as Fergus. At first I was intrigued, but it quickly became apparent this was going to be an erratic story. The POV bounced around too often. I would have preferred more from the police and less from the captives. Elspeth was interesting as I felt she reacted realistically to the situation. Twelve year old Meggy did not. No twelve year old, neglected or otherwise, reacts like that to being kidnapped. Xavier's character was pointless and the story would have served just fine without him.
Connie Woolwine's profiling was the most interesting part, there just wasn't enough of her. Also, I failed to see how she made the connections between the three different victims as killers usually target one specific type of victim ie. adult women, children, etc. With no physical evidence and barely any witnesses I wasn't convinced. I was also really annoyed with her absolute assurance that each victim was still alive right until the end. Sorry, just not convinced. The ending was also extremely far-fetched and I'm sure would have caused a whole host of further issues for the police after the fact.

I did like Dr Woolwine and DI Baarda and I can see them teaming up for a potential series. Connie had a lot of interesting quirks, such as the colour blindness and her penchant for fondling corpses. This was an entertaining, albeit far-fetched, crime novel.
Trigger warning; rape off page.

**Thanks to Avon Books UK and Netgalley for my review copy.

From the publisher (because it's a perfectly succinct summary: He collects his victims. But he doesn’t keep them safe.

Elspeth, Meggie and Xavier are locked in a flat. They don’t know where they are, and they don’t know why they’re there. They only know that the shadow man has taken them, and he won’t let them go.

Desperate to escape, the three of them must find a way out of their living hell, even if it means uncovering a very dark truth.

Because the shadow man isn’t a nightmare. He’s all too real.

And he’s watching.

I absolutely loved this clever tension-filled book. It's dense--Fields does a wonderful job building her world and giving the readers a glimpse into police work, psychology, the minds of victims and perpetrators alike. Backstories are fleshed out and satisfying and there's great chemistry amongst the cast. So the density never feels like a slog: I flew through this one, staying up late into the night to finish. Baarda and Connie are likeable heroes, and one can absolutely relate to Elspeth, Meggy, and Xavier. There's also a chilling antagonist.

I'd absolutely recommend this to any thriller fan. I'm so happy to have discovered Helen Fields here and I'll be sure to seek out her other books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

As a huge fan of Helen Fields’ books, I was delighted to be asked to read an advanced copy of The Shadow Man. And it did not disappoint. Right from the start, it had me hooked and I needed to see how it would end. A man, a woman and a teenage girl are kidnapped and put in a windowless room. But who kidnapped them and why? As the story unfolds, you will want and need to know what will become of them all. Definitely one of my favourite books of the year.

I rarely give out five stars but this was an easy decision. I love this author's books and one of the few authors whose books I will automatically purchase without reading the synopsis.

This one was unbelievable. Kept my heart racing throughout the entire book. Particularly the end. Oh holy cow that ending. I'm going to need therapy. Deep, long therapy.

Best mystery/thriller this year. Sublime. And I absolutely fell in love with the characters. Please make this a series. Please. But give me time to save up for therapy.

This book was filled with tension from the beginning.
As usual there was some major twists which for me as a reader i had no idea they were going in that direction
I shall be recommending this author to friends who love the same genre as me

You could cut the tension in this book with a knife.

I loved having the viewpoint of the psychologist, rather than just the typical storyline with police. It gave this one a completely different feel.

The Shadow Man is an anxious and scary race against the clock... that'll leave you double-checking your locks and squinting into dark corners.

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for the ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this title.

I am a big fan of Helen's books and I couldn't wait to read this book, If you like tense, creepy, scary books, then this is the one for you, I loved how when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. Helen never disappoints and always has you guessing. My skin crawled reading this book, it was very eerie but made me want to read on. Three victims are taken and locked up but they have no idea why. What they discover in there will break your heart, The shadow man is a dangerous man who has got issues himself, what will happen when his victims try to escape, him being weak himself, will they make it? It all wraps up into a outstanding ending. I cannot wait to read Helen's next book.

Thoroughly enjoyed the previous books by Helen Fields and, as anticipated, this did not disappoint.
A dark tale with so many twists and turns I was gripped from the outset.
Hopefully the start of a new series featuring Dr Connie Woolbine.
4.5 stars

THE SHADOW MAN
BY HELEN FIELDS

Helen Fields has crafted a standalone thriller called "The Shadow Man," which is bone chillingly creepy. I really loved this chiller about a mentally ill man who has Cotard's Disease which is a fancy diagnosis for feeling like you are dying and your body is decomposing. This scary man is experiencing psychotic delusional episodes which happen in cycles allowing him to function enough to murder and abduct innocent unsuspecting targeting individuals of all ages and escape getting caught. In the very beginning pages you know who this psychopathic criminally insane person is. He changes his name frequently. His real name is Harris Povey but he is currently going by the name of Fergus Ariss whose psychopathy may be the result of his mother committing suicide shortly after she gave birth to Harris murdering his twin brother before she does herself in. He was raised by his grandmother in a farmhouse that is conveniently in the rural countryside so that his abducted victims screaming for help can't be heard by neighbors. Soundproofing in the most natural environment that has allowed him to go undetected for so long.

Connie Woolwine is an American forensic psychologist that has been consulted from superintendent Overbeck from Edinburgh, Scotland. Connie is teamed up with Detective Inspector Baarda to profile and catch this demented serial killer and abductor. Fergus is very scary and I was scared by his actions and I really cared about his victims. He has taken Elspeth who in his crazy thoughts thinks she is his wife by having her dressed like a bride and he forces her to exchange his supplied wedding bands. Elspeth goes along with his delusions because she thinks it will keep her alive maybe long enough for her to get rescued if she is lucky. He next abducts a twelve year old girl named Meggy whose stepmother is always late picking her up from school. He stalks and studies his victims. The last of his abductions is a young man named Xavier whom is a paraplegic who is wheel chaired bound.

The three are trying to escape while Connie and DI Baarda race to find the identity of this pattern of abductions that they deduce are linked. I really loved this dynamic duo as I witnessed how well they worked together while investigating these crimes. I would love to see a sequel or a series with these two interesting characters. I have never read Helen Field's before but I really hope she writes a continuation with Connie and DI Baarda. This was a very pleasant discovery for me. I highly recommend this creepy, chilling thriller to fans of this genre.

Publication Date: February 4, 2021

Thank you to Net Galley, Helen Fields and Avon Books UK Publishing for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#TheShadowMan #HelenFields #AvonBooksUKPublishing #NetGalley

What did I just read!!!!!
A ghost enters the life of a woman, a girl and a man, takes them away into a nice fantasy for himself that soon turns into the worst nightmare for all three. Because he's not just a ghost, he's a monster and he's all too real.

‘Positive motivation is overrated.’ Connie reclined her seat and closed her eyes . ‘The only trigger human beings really respond to is abject frigging fear.’

Ok. I will be honest I don't know where to start. I read this for 5 hours in one ago because, yeah,it was that UNPUTDOWNABLE !!!! And I am still reeling from the ending so forgive me if I don't sound coherent enough.
Let's start.
Characterisation: layered, multiple characters each unique in their own way. Can't decide who's the best. Meggie, little kid who's smart and incredibly brave. Neglected at home but knows how to stand up to bullies really well. She's the life of this book.
Elspeth, a philanthropist wife, with kids. Presents the picture perfect mother and wife, but has her own faults. Malleable ( sometimes too much) but resilient and often has good survival instinct.
Xavier, parapelgic man who comes in at the last half of the book but still leaves an impression. Wish I had seen more of him.
Connie, our forensic psychologist brought in from the States, who sees things in black and white, literally. Working in a male dominated profession and a few emotional baggages of her own, she has learnt to cope with great sarcasm and unconventional methods that, no doubt, get the results and earn her respect from even the most sceptical ones. Her involvement in the investigation goes too far and the choices she has to make might change how you see things. You will respect her.
Brodie, handsome partner of Connie wish I had seen more of.

Again congratulations to the author on creating such a thrill ride. Yes, nearly 5 hours and I wasn't bored once.

"Blood droplets from his face burst juicily as they hit hers"

That's how vivid the writing is. Unique way of presenting and creating scenarios that grabs your attention and never lets go.
The author might have focused a little too much on the female characters to the point that the male characters get sidelined but it's more than compensated with the way the monster is represented.

And the ending! Oh boy the ending! I don't want to give anything away because one has to read it themselves to see it... But holy shit the ending!!!!!

I don't know when the author will be releasing her next book but let me go back and read the rest of her work because Helen Fields just might be my new favourite author.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A huge thank you to Netgalley, Avon and Helen Fields for a copy of this outstanding book in return for an honest review.


"The paint had run, as if the windows themselves were crying at the sickness of the world they hid."

Sickness doesn't even cut it! The horrors throughout this book are so awful its so good!
Fergus is a very ill and very messed up individual and having a lot of the book in his perspective was bloody fantastic!

"Fergus Ariss waited to see if this time, at last, he would stay dead."

Connie and Baarda are an amazing couple of characters, I really really hope to see more of these two.

Fantastic story! 5* highly recommend

This is the best book I have read for quite a long time. It kept me hooked throughout. The characters are great and you really start to feel and care for what’s happening. it really is a great dark read especially at this time of year and I look forward to reading other books Helen has to offer .