Publisher’s Synopsis:
You knew a teenager like Charlie Crabtree. A dark imagination, a sinister smile – always on the outside of the group. Some part of you suspected he might be capable of doing something awful. Twenty-five years ago, Crabtree did just that, committing a murder so shocking that it’s attracted that strange kind of infamy that only exists on the darkest corners of the internet – and inspired more than one copycat. Paul Adams remembers the case all too well: Crabtree – and his victim – were Paul’s friends. Paul has slowly put his life back together. But now his mother, old and senile, has taken a turn for the worse. Though every inch of him resists, it is time to come home. It’s not long before things start to go wrong. Reading the news, Paul learns another copycat has struck. His mother is distressed, insistent that there’s something in the house. And someone is following him. Something lurking in the shadows. Which reminds him of the most unsettling thing about that awful day 25 years ago.
It wasn’t just the murder.
It was the fact that afterward, Charlie Crabtree was never seen again….
Narrated by:
Hannah Arterton
John Heffernan
Edition:
Audiobook
Disclosure:
I received a copy of this book from Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. They give me no money, nor do they in any way influence my thoughts – those are 100% my own for better or worse.
My Thoughts:
This was my first time reading Alex North, and I’ve heard nothing but good things about him. For that reason, I’m going to assume that a lot of the issues I had with The Shadows were more due to the fact that I’m an absolute failure at retaining anything I hear in an audiobook, because to be honest, although I liked the story premise a lot, I felt like this book was just kind of all over the fucking place and I was constantly having to rewind and replay entire sections just to figure out what was going on.
The Shadows goes back and forth in time, from when the murder happened/Charlie Crabtree disappeared to the present when the latest copycat has emerged. Honestly, while I understand the necessity for moving back and forth like that for the sake of the story, it made it even harder for me to keep up with just what was happening and when. It just felt like there was enough going on, and enough characters being mentioned that even if I had been holding the book in my hands I probably still would have had to keep a running list of who everyone was and what their purpose in the story was.
The narration was extremely well done – don’t mistake what I’m saying as having anything to do with the quality of the narrators’ work. They were both fantastic – they had voices that were easy to listen to, good pronunciation/inflection/etc. I just feel like The Shadows was a little too all over the place for me to be able to enjoy the narration. It felt like every single chapter bounced from one timeframe/narrator to the other, and it was a little bit jarring.
About the Author:
Alex North was born in Leeds, England, where he now lives with his wife and son. The Whisper Man was inspired by North’s own little boy, who mentioned one day that he was playing with “the boy in the floor.” Alex North is a British crime writer who has previously published under another name.
Rating:
I still think there was a good story somewhere in The Shadows, I just wasn’t able to get into it. I think that some day I will probably pick up a physical copy and give it another go. At which point I will re-review. But for now, this is it.
I think I might just hate audiobooks, but just in case, I do still own a few that I’m going to have to listen to eventually, so…hopefully they will go better for me.
The Shadows By: Alex North Macmillan Audio ISBN: 9781250754578 Published: July 7, 2020 Hardcover, E-book, Audiobook 9 hours, 5 minutes 336 Pages
