A five star read!! A brilliant new character in Dr Woolwine and also a very creepy villain. I like the way a character from the brilliant DI Callanach series is in the book also. Would love to see this as a new series. #NetGalley#TheShadowMan

This is a standalone novel from Helen – whose Perfect detective series I LOVE – and golly, it is clever. A man, woman and child are locked in a flat, put there by someone who wants them for themselves – and shows no sign of letting them go. This shadow man is a ghostly figure but all too real for his prisoners. It’s up to detectives and a specially flown in aid to work out the shadow man’s motives and background, and ultimately, what he plans to do with the unlikely trio. It is quick, it is clever and it is shocking in some areas – literally hand over mouth shocking – but the depth of research and quality of writing is exceptional. Please Helen, write all the books.

When I read the book blurb, I thought we would be looking into the perspectives of the captives. But this book features less of that.

The only thing I liked about the book are the psychology bits and the climax. Rest of the plot is jagged because of the POV shift. The author didn't handle them well.

But still a pretty good book and a really good lead character.

Wow, this book is dark! Seriously creepy and disturbing throughout. The characters are all fabulous and play their role to perfection. I really hope this is the first of a series for Connie as she is brilliant.

A great story keeping you gripped from start to finish and leaving you wanting to know what happens next...

Dr Connie Woolwine is called in to a case in Edinburgh to work with detective Brodie Baarda in the disappearance of a well known local woman, Elspeth.

Elspeth is being held hostage and is soon joined by two others who are all looking to escape the evilest of nightmares, the Shadowman. He is always watching and waiting for them to make the wrong move.

Helen is one of my favourite authors and the ‘Perfect’ series is by far one of the best. So when Avon kindly sent me a copy in exchange for a review it certainly made my day and I devoured it over a few days. Beware the first chapter is not the best to read when you’re in bed alone!

Did I just discover a new author ? ✔️✔️
Have I ordered the Perfect Series (all of them ) between reading this book. ✔️✔️

Dr. Connie is my hero. I love her. Write more about her please. She is so kickass🦸🏼‍♀️and cool 👩🏼‍💻I really feel like we would be BFFs. I need to see where this goes with Baarda.

So she is a super smart , super quick ,forensic psychologist who profiles serial killers and does all sorts of other neat stuff. I could write a paragraph on just that. Baarda seems to be a badass cop, and together they try to find Fergus who believes he’s dying , and before he does he needs to create the perfect family. But things don’t work out every time for him so he’s killed a few along the way. Elspeth, Meggy and Xavier are the perfect family to him.

You meet all sorts of cool characters (whom I hope to meet in her other books that I have on the way📬).

I love these types of books. This book is not for someone who can’t take gory details. But I love them.

DEF A 5 STAR READ. Get this book when it’s available , it was amazing.
Thank you NETGALLEY AND HELEN FIELDS!

This book really seemed up my street and I was pleasantly surprised with the journey the story took me on. I think this is a decently written, well thought out plot with a lot of twists and turns.

<b>What did I like?</b>
- The characters! I like how we got the point of view from nearly all the main people in this book. I thought Connie's perspective was particularly interesting and I really liked reading from Meggy's too.
- I liked the concept of the book. I had originally thought this book would start with the captives together and we would flashback to what happened to get them to where we were but this didn't happen. We saw it in real-time and the progression was very quick (if somewhat unbelievable).
- I thought the ending was decent. I was satisfied where the end headed and I felt like justice was brought.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did but a lot of seemed so chaotic to me. I think the book might have worked better from either one of the captive's point of view, the kidnapper or Connie. I think the flickering between them all, although I enjoyed, affected the flow of the story. I also felt the entire thing felt so rushed and not thought through.

Overall, this was a decent, interesting book with a lot of potentials and is perfect for this time of year!
<I>I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

This stand-alone from the author of the excellent DI Callanach series is a very good introduction to what I hope will be another series. It's pretty gruesome and violent in parts but not in a gratuitous manner and Ms Fields does a good job in exploring the psyche of the "villain" which, while not excusing his behaviour, at least makes it understandable.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Wow this was scary the thought of the Shadow Man makes my skin crawl imagine being kidnapped by him it would give you nightmares we’ll it did me. I think I prefer DI Callanach and DCI Ava Turner instead of Connie but I’m sure I’ll warm to her definitely recommend this book and want to say thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for letting me read it.

I loved this book, a stand alone to the perfect series but which included the dreaded over beck and the charming ailsa lambert.

A very easy book to pick up and get in tom I didn't want to put it down and was as sad to finish it as I was to reach the satisfying ending.

I would love to read about brodie and Connie again as I think they make a great team.

As I was reading I kept picturing this book made into a really scary horror movie! The kind where you have to cover your head with a blanket because you are that scared! The author definitely knew how to ramp up the creep factor, from describing the shadow man to describing his creepy house and what went on inside. The descriptions were so vivid I felt like I was there, which made reading this an intense experience that I thoroughly enjoyed! Who doesn't love a good scare!

The premise of this book is a woman’s worse nightmare...and I loved it! The writer knew how to tap into the fears in the mind’s of women. I would definitely recommend this book to someone because every thriller reader likes to read a book that makes their ultimate terror tangible.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Fergus who is dying decides two kidnap three people. They are Elspeth,Meggy and Xavier. They have tried to escape to no avail. This book has so many twists and turns. Kept me interested until the last page.

This is a stand-alone book by Helen Fields, author of the DI Callanach books which I love, and wow what a rollercoaster of a ride this book is, I couldn’t put it down. The story revolves round The Shadow Man, who kidnaps firstly Elspeth, a young mother, then Meggy a 12 year old and lastly Xavier a young wheelchair bound man. The Shadow Man is seriously weird taking them to a flat he has made in the upper story of his house and there they remain locked up. They have no idea where or why they are held? The three of them must try to escape in order to survive, a feat that seems impossible. In their endeavour to escape they uncover gruesome secrets. Detective Brodie Baada a London detective, and American profiler Dr Connie Woolwise are investigating their disappearance. Helen Fields paints a truly remarkable picture of a man who is a psychopath, not a pretty picture. She also depicts Edinburgh, transporting you into the darker areas. Her prose flows effortlessly as the story with all its nuances unfolds.. A real page turner of a book even if some of the story is a bit hard to digest. A book I would have no hesitation in recommending another cracking read from a Helen Fields. Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books for the opportunity to read this ARC

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. This book was so creepy. I love that "scary" feeling I get when I read a psychological thriller. The author knocked it out of the park. This book was the best book that I have read in a long time.

Oh my! This was both exciting and creepy as hell. Having read a great many thrillers over the years, the scariest tale of all was when an author peeped into the mind of a psychopath to reveal the darkest of thoughts residing there. And nobody could do it better than author Helen Fields. There was suspense at every step, and the dark lanes of the subplots twisted every few corners of the book.
The plot had three people who were taken by a ruthless kidnapper and locked in a house with no windows. Then on the other side of the spectrum, there was Connie a psychologist trying to get to the truth and finding the connection between the kidnapped. This was a police procedural but felt more like a thriller as the excitement ratcheted up every few pages.
The characters from the kidnapped to the police team were etched in detail. To see the kidnapped showing courage brought a singular warmth in my heart coiled around the fear if it would enough for their survival. The author knew how to keep the suspense in the prose, where all the scenes appeared seamless when the truth was finally revealed.
An exciting but completely scary book, I have to admit. It would have been better if there were not one of my midnight reads. Read it during the day if you want to avoid nightmares.

#TheShadowMan #NetGalley
I loved it.
Helen Fields has done it again. She's written a wonderful Book with great suspense and twist. Although I was right somewhat about the ending but she completely blown me away.
Highly recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for giving me an advance copy of this book.

The Shadow Man by Helen Fields is a dark psychological thriller. The dynamics of the police team are interesting, seeing how the characters work together and develop throughout the book - it was even great to have Overbeck back! I have read all of Fields’ other books and highly recommended this one.

This story is dark, twisted, and quite brilliant. It grabs you right from the beginning and you just can’t put it down. This author writes some incredible stories and this one is just as good...if not even better. If you love suspense and thrillers then make sure this is on your list. It does not disappoint!!