The Shadow Friend

 

By Alex North

Horror

Thriller

⭐A 2021 Top Rated Read⭐

'This is absorbing, headlong reading, a play on classic horror with an inventiveness of its own'

— New York Times

📕My Review

OH. MY. GOODNESS. This book is amazing! It's creepy-as-heck, dark and disturbing yet highly addictive. When I wasn't reading it I was consumed by thoughts of it. Having loved the author's previous book, The Whisper Man, I wasn't sure if anything else would come close. I needn't have worried — The Shadow Friend is fantastic; if not even more immersive than its predecessor. 

25 years earlier Paul Adams had been taken into police custody on suspicion of murder. He was released the same evening after another boy, Billy Roberts, wandered into the village bloodstained and clutching a book and a knife. Billy made a full confession. He and his friend, Charlie Crabtree, were responsible for the brutal killing. But Charlie was never charged. He disappeared. Some believed he entered another dimension — a dream world — by offering a sacrificial killing. Now an adult, Paul has returned home to visit his dying mother. Little does he know the past is about to be thrust into the present. . .

Being a huge fan of horror and scary stories this book and I were destined to collide. With excellent characterisation and an unnerving plot, there wasn't anything not to love. Tense, foreboding and chilling — I was gripped. This is exactly the type of novel that ignites my imagination and the reason why I read. It's superb and not to be missed.              

Book Source: Ebook library loan

My Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Paperback: 400 pages

Publisher: Penguin (1 April 2021)
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Buy From: Amazon UK | Waterstones | Book Depository | Hive | Amazon USA | B&N

📗The Blurb

If it had happened to you, you would have run away too.

Twenty-five years ago, Paul's friend Charlie Crabtree brutally killed their classmate - and then vanished without a trace.

Paul's never forgiven himself for his part in what happened. He's never gone back home.

Until his elderly mother has a fall. It's finally time to stop running.

It's not long before things start to go wrong. His mother claims there's someone in the house. Paul realises someone is following him. And, in a town many miles away, a copycat killer has struck.

Which makes him wonder - what really happened to Charlie the day of the murder?

And can anyone stop it happening again?

📘The Author

Alex North was born in Leeds, where he now lives with his wife and son. He studied Philosophy at Leeds University, and prior to becoming a writer he worked there in their sociology department. The Whisper Man was a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, and is being published in more than 30 languages.

Author Links: Twitter | Goodreads | Fantastic Fiction