The Shadows - Alex North

Horror/Thriller

Rating: 8/10

A copycat killing of a teenager 25 years after the original murder reopens old wounds in a small town.

At its core this novel is about how the past encroaches on the present and how oftentimes it becomes harder and harder to distinguish one from the other.

Back in his school days, Paul and his best friend fell in with a small, nasty crowd led by a charismatic, seemingly psychic, and possibly homicidal outcast.  Then one day he discovers a brutally murdered body in the playground and the crowd disperses: some to jail, some to death, some to escape. And possibly some to something else altogether.

Drawn back home to see to his dying mother, Paul finds out there have been more murders that mimic the one from his past. As he reconnects with the better parts of his youth it becomes apparent he is going to have to deal with his haunted history sooner rather than later.

Full of creepy and unsettling atmosphere, this might be one for daylight reading.

Footnote: As is the way with this gifted author, the reader doesn’t know as much as they think they do. His uncanny descriptive powers build tangible foreboding as I have only seen with a few of the greats. I won’t bore you by naming names, but you know who I am talking about.