I loved the roller coaster ride I went on while reading The Whisper Man, so I was excited to get an ARC of The Shadows. I was attracted to the cover with the play of the hand from Alex North’s first book. For me, The Shadows was not another roller coaster ride but a ride that was stuck.
The prologue was good but then the story started to be confusing. I like two period stories but this one did not work for me. The past was twenty five years ago and centered around four high school boys, our protagonist, Paul, Charlie the creator of “lucid dreams” and James and Billy.
The Now found Paul returning home after twenty five years to visit his mother who was in hospice care. He had not seen her since leaving for college after the murder by the teenagers where Charlie escaped and left James and Billy holding the bag. I just felt the plot for Paul sounded strange. He lived only four hours away and could not go home to see his mom? Paul discovered secrets in his mother’s attic including red hand prints. In the present there was another murder. What do the two have in common and were other murders discovered.
I suggest starting a chart of characters. I stopped reading a few times confused about the characters and finally made a chart. This might have influenced the enjoyment for this book. I will try a future Alex North book as I did so like his first book. This one, however, did not work for me. Thank you BookishFirst and Celadon for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The prologue was good but then the story started to be confusing. I like two period stories but this one did not work for me. The past was twenty five years ago and centered around four high school boys, our protagonist, Paul, Charlie the creator of “lucid dreams” and James and Billy.
The Now found Paul returning home after twenty five years to visit his mother who was in hospice care. He had not seen her since leaving for college after the murder by the teenagers where Charlie escaped and left James and Billy holding the bag. I just felt the plot for Paul sounded strange. He lived only four hours away and could not go home to see his mom? Paul discovered secrets in his mother’s attic including red hand prints. In the present there was another murder. What do the two have in common and were other murders discovered.
I suggest starting a chart of characters. I stopped reading a few times confused about the characters and finally made a chart. This might have influenced the enjoyment for this book. I will try a future Alex North book as I did so like his first book. This one, however, did not work for me. Thank you BookishFirst and Celadon for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.