Better than The Whisper Man but still not great

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I know I'm in the minority here, but I actually liked The Shadows more than The Whisper Man. It was more focused, centering on one character rather than trying to juggle 4 narrators across two timelines. While having Amanda as a secondary narrator really didn't work for me (she really doesn't have much of a role beyond detailing the copycat murder and other "now" crimes), I really liked seeing Paul's growth as the story went on.

I docked a star from this one because the last act relies on a lot of reveals that didn't really fit in the story, but there was one in particular that I thought was brilliant and actually caught me totally off guard. Thinking back, I can see exactly how it fits (which is my favorite kind of thriller twist) but I still didn't see it coming.

This book also relies on some really weird aspects: lucid dreaming, local urban legends, cult mentality... But the explanations do make sense when you get there (though there wasn't quite enough time spent piecing things together, I think).