Title: The Shadows
Author: Alex North
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Horror
First published: July 7th 2020
Publisher: MacMillan Audio
Finished reading: July 16th 2020
Pages: 336
Duration audiobook 9 hours 5 minutes
Narrated by Hannah Arterton & John Heffernan
“And as I listened to the ominous thud of silence in the house behind me, the foreboding I’d had all day moved closer to the dread I remembered feeling twenty-five years ago.
Something awful was going to happen.”
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and MacMillan Audio in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
After having an excellent reading experience with The Whisper Man last year, my expectations for his newest story The Shadows were high. The blurb sounded both thrilling and creepy, and I’ve been looking forward to read this story ever since I first heard about it… And I can say that my expectations were more than met. What a delightfully creepy and engaging read! Fans of well written thrillers with that psychological horror vibe will be in for a treat.
While I have to say that I’m an audiobook newbie, I think I picked the right book to give them another chance. This dark and atmospheric story managed to grab me from the start, and that sense of foreboding and danger kept me interested the whole time. The story is narrated by Hannah Arterton and John Heffernan; each tackling one of the two POVs of The Shadows. One of my main issues with audiobooks in the past was that I was never able to connect to the narrator’s voices, but I had no such issue here. I felt that both narrators did an excellent job giving a voice to main characters Amanda and Paul, and they really made the characters come alive for me. I think their voices fitted the characters very well, and I liked the pace and flow of the story throughout. The only bit of the audio that bothered me a bit was the chapter where Amanda was reading about the forum as it didn’t flow as naturally, but that might just have been me…
I do have to say I had some issues with the Netgalley Shelf App; it seemed to skip certain chapters while listening and it didn’t remember the place where I stopped correctly each time I took a break. This of course has nothing to do with the audiobook itself and I didn’t take it in account when rating and reviewing The Shadows, but it could get confusing and sometimes even frustrating trying to hunt down those missing chapters. I’m not sure if it was my phone or the app, but I do hope my next audiobook won’t do the same thing!
As for The Shadows itself: I absolutely loved the idea behind the premise as well as the execution and the building up of suspense. The hint at the supernatural, the psychological horror vibe, the idea behind the dream diaries… The mystery around what happened 25 years ago as well as what happens in the present really gave the story that edge. The story is told with the help of a dual POV, where we switch between detective Amanda Beck and Paul. On top of this, Paul’s POV divided between flashbacks to 25 years ago and the present… The flashbacks both helping to clear up questions about the past as well as adding suspense and that sense of foreboding in the present. I enjoyed each storyline equally, as they all completemented each other and slowly merged into one. There were some well executed plot twists along the way as well, and I definitely liked the direction the story took.
The characters in play are without doubt intriguing; they are well developed, flawed and very interesting to read about. Sure, they might not all be exactly likeable, but their background and stories will keep you invested and I personally couldn’t wait to discover the truth about it all. The psychological horror element is very well done, and I loved how everything was explained in the end. I had a brilliant time listening to The Shadows and I’m really tempted to revisit the story on my kindle in the future.
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