The Shadows, Alex North

I dug the dual timelines and the fact that it had to have been tricky to alternate the narrative from first person to third person when weaving the past and present. It’s not complicated as other reviewers are claiming, rather it was masterful; more on that later. I can see why Paul would want to run from his past, but I think burying that kind of pain can be tricky. I love lucid dreaming, so shared lucid dreams sounds appealing, and I was curious to see if that was actually what was happening or if there was more.

We get to see Amanda, who we met in The Whisper Man, a character we’ve come to appreciate because of how skilled she is. I liked the fact that this book had nothing to do with the previous, but that she got to play a role. For someone so desperate to leave the past behind, Paul got obsessed with trying to figure out Charlie. I don’t want to say more on the “Charlie-lucid dreaming” so I don’t spoil it, but I was underwhelmed. I think it would have been near impossible to pull off, but…maybe? I was also thrown off that Paul didn’t see his mother as an actual person until he was 40. Maybe the fact he hadn’t seen her in over two decades aided in that, but I would like to think we come to that realization much sooner in our lives.

I wasn’t prepared for the big twist and never saw it coming. I want to circle back to the alternating timelines though. North writes: “Dreams are a patchwork, stitched together from the things that happen to us in our waking lives.” And the book is written along the patchwork lines. Because in each timeframe, North brings you right to the edge and then switches time, leaving you desperate to piece together the mystery. Time slowly weaved itself together while leaving you eager to have the story made whole, which made it a super thrilling read. Thank you, Celadon Books, for sending this along!