The Shadow Friend by Alex North
My TL:DR Five Word Review: Thriller with plenty of twists
The Shadow Friend was another very good read from Alex North. I really enjoyed the Whisper Man and so when I saw The Shadow Friend I knew I had to read it and I’m so glad I did. It feels like Alex North has plenty of fresh ideas and can spin a creepy tale that seems to border on the supernatural without ever actually crossing the line.
Shadow Friends is a book about murder. Two school boys killed one of their classmates. One of them seemed to disappear and one was brought to justice. Another friend, not involved in the murder escaped the village and never came back until his mother was taken to hospital following a fall.
Paul Adams escaped his hometown following the death of a friend. Twenty five years later his mother has suffered a fall and Paul travels home bringing back to the surface unwanted and painful memories. It appears that not everyone is happy to see Paul return and his steps seem to be shadowed. Couple this with a new investigation following a copycat murder in a nearby village and you have the makings of a tense, chilling and mysterious story.
I really enjoyed this. The tension practically oozes off the page and the mystery of it all held me fairly spellbound. I simply had to know what was going on and the curiosity drove me forward at a fairly relentless pace.
To be honest, I thought the first half of the book was gripping. We flip back and forth learning a little of Paul and his earlier years. Charlie Crabtree is one of Paul’s friends, although I use the term loosely because Charlie is one of those characters that you just know is ‘one for the future’. Charlie dominates the small group of friends and Paul is the only one to challenge his strange ideas of lucid dreaming eventually forcing Paul from the group entirely. Which is probably something of a break given the turn things take.
Then the second half seemed to ramp the suspense up even more.
At the same time that Paul is mentally torturing himself about the past and feeling guilt over what he could have done differently, his movements are being shadowed, his presence in town isn’t welcome and somebody wants him to leave. However, the investigation I referred to above is taking on a life of its own, the investigating officer has connected the dots and although this is clearly a copycat killer it seems that an online chat group could possible lead to the original perpetrator’s whereabouts being uncovered. Charlie has taken on a dark cult status with a following that talks of the crime he commited. Unfortunately, the new investigations seem to prompt a new round of killings – but, I’ll stop there because spoilers are highly likely and nobody wants a runaway blabbermouth now do they?
The characters. Paul is likable and carries the story with ease – certainly to the extent that I found myself wanting to shout directions and instructions at him from the safety of my own living room like the cheap seats of a theatre (he’s behind you). Charlie is a very easy to dislike character. He’s manipulative and scheming and has a very dark streak. The author does provide some history and a better understanding of Charlie’s motivations as the story progresses and this was a welcome inclusion that really helps to firm the foundations for events.
I enjoyed the setting. We jump back to the school years with the bullying and awkward teenage boy moments. There’s the forest that seems to back onto the boy’s houses and that takes on a life of its own with overgrown trails, snapping twigs and an overall ghostly atmosphere and there’s the overall creep factor which was here by the bucketload.
In terms of criticisms. I don’t really have much to say here. I had a couple of little issues here and there but nothing that really merits mention.
On the whole I found this a thoroughly enjoyable read. It’s dark and twisted – in fact, the main twist – omg – did not see that coming at all. Then of course there’s a good number of other little twists but that main one – wow, what a sucker punch that was.
Chilling, riveting, creepy. Another winning instalment by an author that I will definitely be keeping an eye on.
My rating 4 of 5 stars
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
Top Ten Tuesday : Books I Loved but Never Reviewed
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s topic :
Books I Loved but Never Reviewed
I really like this topic because it gives me the opportunity to shout out about some excellent books that I unfortunately, probably due to timescales for review books, didn’t get to review at the time I read them. All of these book are ones that I bought and although I read and loved them the reviews got put off and then I sort of lost momentum. I confess I feel quite guilty! Anyway, here are some lovelies for you:
- The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
- Starsight by Brandon Sanderson
- King of the Road by RS Belcher
- Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
- The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso
- American Gods by Neil Gaiman
- How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper
- Envy of Angels by Matt Wallace
- Phantom Pains by Mishell Baker
- The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
Driftwood by Marie Brennan
My TL:DR Five Word Review: My oh my. How unusual.
What a strange and strangely unique story this was. On the face of it, it’s a world with different countries colliding together and then shrinking before disappearing from existence completely. A story brought together by different inhabitants from all those countries recounting their own stories, all centering around one particular character, a character called Last who is known simply because he’s been around longer than anyone else. It’s an odd concept, this group of people sitting around recounting their own tales, it feels like a meeting of strangers at a funeral all sharing stories of the deceased, which is also kind of fitting when you consider that each of the worlds here are about to pop out of existence. And, at the same time as being a totally fictional place cram packed with imaginative and quirky details this can also be taken as an allegory, maybe of the history of the world or perhaps a look at disappearing civilisations. It’s not as though we haven’t discovered our share of civilisations that have become extinct and it’s a fascinating part of the world’s history and this particular book takes a look at the way stories are shared and passed down from one generation on to the next until finally they’re so fundamentally changed or parts of them completely forgotten that that particular time and place is eventually lost to us.
So, this story really highlights the way we tell our stories. Short story collections don’t usually work for me but this one did and that’s because it’s not a typical anthology, it’s a complete story told by a number of different people and in that respect it works very well. This is a world that contains multiple worlds, it’s like a collection of all the disappeared civilisations, an imagining that brings them together, jostling for position, almost like flotsam bobbing randomly upon the waves before being sucked into a vortex.
The writing is good, it’s crisp and there is no wastage. To be honest it surprised me that it pulled me into the story because it isn’t really character focused (although Last is the main thread throughout) and I do like my stories to be character led. It’s difficult to get to grips with the characters when they’re discovered in this way and yet I find myself in the strange position of liking Last and in fact I think he could totally be the star of his own show if the author decided to tell his story.
In terms of world building. Well, I had no problem picking this one up and running with it. It’s like if you imagine all the fairy tales ever told belonging to one world, like the Neverending Story, if you like, they’ve all come together for their last gasp before blinking out of existence. And like the Neverending Story there is no shortage of worlds and people – they’re not deeply dwelled upon but they are quite fascinating and sketched in a way that is entertaining and curious all at once.
In terms of criticisms. Well, I can imagine that this might not appeal to everyone in fact I’m the first to confess that when I started this I had that horrible sinking feeling that it simply wasn’t going to be my cup of tea. It certainly doesn’t follow a traditional format and in some respects it feels like a precursor to something else – I certainly hope so. It’s not a swords and sorcery style story, in fact it’s really not a traditionally told story at all – but I find that it worked for me on this particular occasion and even more so because of the style, creativity and ability to make me ponder. I like a good ponder.
Overall, I’d give this 4 out of 5 stars
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
Friday Face Off : ‘We are men of action, lies do not become us’
7 August 2020
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Books by Proxy, Friday Face off, Peter V Brett, The Desert Spear
Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers. The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book (this doesn’t have to be a book that you’ve read), compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below – if you have a cover in mind that you’re really wanting to share then feel free to leave a comment about a future suggested theme. I’ve also listed events that take place during the year, that I’m aware of, so you can link up your covers – if you’re aware of any events that you think I should include then give me a shout. This week’s theme:
Action – a cover that depicts action of some sort
Well, I had no shortage of action covers to fit this week’s theme – what I did have a shortage of was titles with more than one cover to compare. So, I’ve gone back a few years to a series that I still have to complete: The Desert Spear (Demon Cycle #2) by Peter V. Brett
I really like the bottom four covers the most out of this selection but my favourite is
Do you have a favourite?
I’ll be updating the list in order to include forthcoming events that I’m aware of so that you can perhaps link your themes up where possible (if you know of an event you’d like to share then let me know in the comments). As always, if you wish to submit an idea then leave me a comment – or if you’d like to host a week then simply let me know.
Next week – Glasses or spectacles
Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ or one of your favourite covers) (I’ve added some new themes – some of these are slightly different, in order to avoid too much repetition I’m trying to make the themes more of a suggestion that everyone can interpret how they like.
201
14th August – Glasses or spectacles – “One could mention many lovable traits in Smee. For instance, after killing, it was his spectacles he wiped instead of his weapon.”
21st August – Potions – hubble bubble
28th August – Dark road – ‘the road goes ever on and on’
4th September – Cold and crisp – any cover that gives you winter vibes
11th September – A cover with a pattern
18th September – Minimalistic and lacking clutter
25th September – A very busy cover full to bursting with detail
2nd October – A standout font
9th October – Mist/fog – “A thin grey fog hung over the city, and the streets were very cold; for summer was in England.”
16th October – Spider web – “Farewell, Aragog, king of the arachnids, whose long and faithful friendship those who knew you would never forget!
23th October – Ripped/torn – interpret it as you wish
30th October – Forest/jungle – ‘None of the Jungle People like being disturbed.’
6th November – Planets – “You’re on Earth. There’s no cure for that.”
13th November – Bright – ‘The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades’.
20th November – Words only – “Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.”
27th November – Modern sci fi
4th December – Fae – or fairy??
11th December – Lake – the mysterious lake
18th December – Highly Stylised
25th December- Freebie – or day off.
Final Cut by S.J. Watson
My five word TL:DR Review: Not quite what I expected
Final Cut is one of my little forays into psychological thrillers. I read Before I Go to Sleep by this author and loved it so had no hesitation when it came to requesting a copy of this book. A young woman returns to the sleepy seaside village that she ran away from years ago, she has no memory of why she left but she soon starts to uncover the dark underbelly of the village and puts herself into a dangerous spot by asking too many questions.
On the face of it this story has the makings of so many things I love. The setting is really well done and plays so well into the plot. Sleepy seaside village, now suffering from economic decline, hit further by the disappearance of a couple of young girls and the suicide of another. There’s a general feel of despair about the place with the villagers themselves having an almost desperately sad quality. When Alex arrives at the village to shoot a documentary that sadness turns into distrust. This little documentary could shine a spotlight on the village and maybe promote recovery or it could simply be a wolf in disguise, raking up past troubles and dark histories that the inhabitants would sooner forget. Then we have Alex, she doesn’t want to go back to Blackwood Bay and yet she’s not altogether certain why, her earlier memories being so sketchy. There’s this overall creepy feel that something downright nasty is going to be uncovered and I confess that the story gets off to a great start. And yet, this didn’t quite wow me as much as I’d hoped or expected – and that’s the rub with expectations I suppose. To be clear, I read this very quickly and had no trouble with it but at the same time I didn’t quite fall in love with it either.
What I enjoyed about this was the small village town feel that the author does a wonderful job of portraying. The place is very easy to imagine and I had a clear vision of what it looked like. On the one hand there was the quaint cobbled streets, tiny cottages and shops, the local pub and the windswept moors, the history of smuggling and suggestion of underground tunnels, but this is then countered by the foreboding house that sits atop the cliffs, the tacky arcades and the young people huddled together, staring at their phones with an overwhelming sense of boredom. There’s also a lot of dark and seedy material here which the author handles well. Alex has experienced some scary situations and lived life a little on the edge and this element becomes clearer as things progress. There’s also a split timeline with ‘then’ and ‘now’ being explored which is a good way of dropping extra clues (or red herrings) along the way.
Now, I’ve struggled to really understand why this one didn’t quite blow me away. I think there is an element of not being surprised by either the mystery or the eventual twist in the tale – both of those felt a little obvious to me but I’m not sure if that would normally have such an impact on my overall feelings. I think I felt a slight irritation with Alex and the whole lack of memory issue, I don’t know why, it feels like a rather overused trope of the genre and that, coupled with a feeling of going round in circles and yet finding out nothing new for a good chunk of the story really started to change the feel somehow. It seems like Alex is continually chasing her tale, sneaking around taking videos of people, telling all sorts of fabricated stories to try and get people to talk to her and yet by the end of it all, apart from feeling a little exhausted, she’s usually learnt very little in the process and that starts to feel a little frustrating, particularly, when the actual mystery is pretty much staring you in the face. Plus, I do have at least one issue that really doesn’t add up for me but I won’t mention it here as it would be a definite spoiler.
I don’t mean to be overly critical though. As I already mentioned I had no problem reading this one. The writing is enjoyable and I wanted to discover what had taken place. In that respect, I would just mention that this book could be potentially triggering for some readers. I wouldn’t say that it overly focuses on events that take place, more alludes to them, there’s certainly no graphic details, but certain parts of this story might be disturbing for some.
I would rate this 3.5 of 5 stars.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
