The Shadow Man

by Mark Brownless

‘A fantastic twisty horror tale, like The Chalk Man by C J Tudor.’ Books and Emma blog Idyllic memories. A perfect childhood. A secret buried for thirty years. None of us could remember why we drifted apart. We spent our childhood marauding around our village in our little gang, coming of age, and getting into ‘bother’ as Mum called it. But nothing bad ever really happened. Or did it? Children see things that adults don’t. There was something in the shadows, something terrible, but the adults were too busy to see. Thirty years later I started to remember – the school friends I hadn’t thought of in all that time, people going missing – it was like I’d been made to forget. And then the dreams started. Dreams that I knew I’d had before. Horrific dreams of fear and fire and death. Dreams of the Shadow Man, lurking behind it all, a terrifying ghost, an urban legend hanging over my home village like an evil spirit. My memories were returning, haunted by the supernatural horror that was slowly unlocking them one by one. I realised I’d have to go back, to reunite with my friends, to face the Shadow Man once more. The Shadow Man – a terrifying psychological horror thriller. ‘Excellent 80s supernatural horror… Better writing than Stranger Things…’ Audible review ‘Kept me going til the very last page.’ Rachel Read It blog

Genres: Thriller, Horror

261 pages, Paperback

First published April 21, 2019

About the author

Mark Brownless lives and works in Carmarthen, West Wales. He has been putting ideas on paper for some years now but only when the idea for The Hand of an Angel came to him in the autumn of 2015 did he know he might be able to write a book. Mark likes to write about ordinary people being placed in extraordinary circumstances, is fascinated by unexplained phenomena, and enjoys merging thriller, science fiction and horror.

Reviews

[Honestmamreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

That cover 😮 have you seen it. What is it or who is it lurking there just beneath the cover? And that is the whole idea about The Shadow Man. Who or what is The Shadow Man? Lurking in the shadows and your dreams? Is it truth or just a myth.

I had proper 80s nostalgia from this book, I loved the past narrative that was set in 1985. I loved all the little references to how things were back then. Flip and her gang of mates are living in a small town. There's nothing much to do so they wander around making their own fun, as young kids do. They are the gang of friends that don't quite fit in with the in crowd.

In the present narrative, Janey the only member of the gang who hasn't moved from the small town. Calls each of the gang to return. The Shadow Man is back!! Now this is very much Stephen King IT vibes along with The Chalk Man by C J Tudor vibes. A bunch of misfits get into strife with some unknown entity roaming around wreaking havoc on the town. It's been done before but you know what I enjoyed it. The similarities between The Shadow Man and those I've mentioned are merely the gangs and location, the development of the story is different and Brownless takes us on a journey to mess with our minds.

The pacing of the story is slower than what I am after in horror thriller books. But I do see that Brownless was giving us an understanding and laying down the foundations of the characters and background. And this is were the creepiness and atmosphere gets built up. As the reader we are never quite clear on what to believe and given that the characters themselves are only slowly piecing together the memories of what happened. It puts us on am even keel with the characters knowledge.

It may be because I've read quite a few thriller books and have grown up on horror films, but I did actually figure out quite a few of the main parts of the story. This did not detract at all my enjoyment of the story. It only fuelled my competitiveness to work it out fully.

Can you figure out the mystery of The Shadow Man like I did. Would your memory serve you well? Let The Shadow Man into your imagination and take over.

[Nicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow and wow again,Now this is the sort of gripping thriller that I really love and enjoyed reading so much that I didn't want to put it down. The story keeps you guessing,has a satisfying number of twists and character danger situations.Enough background information about the main characters to give them depth but not so much that it slows down the pace and comes across as padding.

Philippa Dover (Flip) hasn't seen her group of friends Katie,Clara,Sally and Janey for over thirty years. They used to be really close,spending their days riding their bikes along the lanes and tracks near their home village of Laurendon in The New Forest and swimming in a lake in the woods. But despite their closeness and for reasons that Flip can't remember,the friends drifted apart.

But after Flip receives a surprise email from Janey and starts having horrific nightmares of fear,fire and death. Dreams of The Shadow Man,a ghostly urban legend who seemed to hang over their home village like a evil spirit. She begins to wonder if something happened to them back then,something that she has somehow been made to forget. To uncover the truth,Flip returns to the scene of her childhood,back to Janey,because she never left. But does she really want to know the truth?

Because,they are funny things,memories

You just can't trust them.....

After opening with a chilling,spine tingling nursery rhyme,the reader is launched into a compelling thriller that flips back and forth between the present day and 1985. The chapters set in 1985 evoked memories of my own youth,going out on my bike straight after breakfast and not returning home until.tea time or when it started to get dark. There was also references to the pop culture of that decade, Duran Duran (one of my favourite groups) The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries (one of my favourite tv shows) and the unexplained magazine (I do remember that magazine but I never read any issues) The interactions and banter between the lead characters in both the present day and the past were realistic and the group were a mixed bag of believable,likeable personalities (well four of them was likeable anyway),each one of them added their own individual dynamics to the group. My favourite characters were Flip and feisty,opinionated Katie. I loved the setting for this book,the isolated village,the trails through the fields and trees,the hidden lake and mysterious underground caverns. The isolated setting,mysterious deaths and the legend of The Shadow Man added sinister undertones and intensity to this chilling thriller.

This is a extremely,well written mystery/thriller with a constant sense of the supernatural lurking in the background and a added dash of humour. It has suspense and thrills and the story is complex and utterly gripping,holding the reader captivated from the first page,right through to the last.I would love to watch a film adaptation of this book and if I could I would have given it far more than five stars. I loved this mesmerising story,it is definitely going to be one of my favourite reads of this year.very very highly recommended.

Many thanks to the author or Anne Carter of Random Things Tours for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review

[Lel Budge · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shadow Man by Mark Brownless is a psychological horror thriller.

I found this to be a fast paced, gripping, nail biter of a thriller that will keep you on edge from start to finish.

There are some similarities to Stephen King’s, IT, bit without Pennywise but set in Lincolnshire, UK.

A group of young friends experienced some horrific events one summer, but they have since forgotten them…a form of selective amnesia……but then 30 years later the dreams begin.

So, Philippa, Sally, Clara and Katie return to their home village to meet with Jamey, who had never left.

Their memories then start to return and they remember the Shadow Man and the burnings…..

“The Shadow Man comes out at night

The Shadow Man in plain sight

The Shadow Man is gone by dawn

Taking souls for us to mourn”

Has the Shadow Man returned after 30 years?

Can the women put an end to this ? Will they all survive ? Or will The Shadow Man burn some more?

I loved the believable characters, the relationship between the friends and the interaction between them and the banter and insults they trade felt so familiar and real.

This is an utterly compelling read, the creepy Shadow Man is a thing of nightmares and I’m going to be very wary of looking out of the window at night for a long time!! !(even without the ‘shrooms). If you like horror and a creepy thriller then you’ll love this.

Thank you to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for the opportunity to participate in this blog tour and for the promotional materials and a free copy of the book and this is my honest, unbiased review.

[Zelda FeatzReviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author asks just how accurate our memories are with this book. Looking back, are our memories reliable and accurate? Or do we remember things a little differently from how they were? I find this topic extremely interesting and have often wondered the same thing. I do believe it’s in our nature to remember things with a slightly rosier tint, remember a better version of true events.
I started reading this book without reading a blurb, which is out of the ordinary for me. After the first couple of chapters, I was reminded of Stephen King’s IT. The Shadow Man holds some similarities to IT but the author created an ending that you would never see coming. I was wrapped up in this book and eager to see where he was going to go.
Flip has blank stops when she looks back at her teenage years, spaces of time that are simply empty. When an old nightmare returns and she receives an email from an old friend she has forgotten all about, she returns to the village where she grew up.
Reunited with the four girls she spent her childhood with, these five women compare notes and slowly start uncovering the memories they had all left in the past. Are the dreams they are having truly what happened back then? Together they set out to uncover the truth of their youth, the truth about The Shadow Man.
As a Stephen King fan, I was a little concerned at first that this story held some similarities to IT. However, as I kept turning the pages, I soon discovered that while there might be a few things that reminded me of IT, the author essentially created a brilliantly creative story very different to IT.
I raced through this book in two sittings, eagerly turning the pages wanting to know who or what The Shadow Man was! The ending holds a surprise that I did not see coming, making The Shadow Man a fantastic read for me.
The five women in this book are a dazzling mix of personalities. I enjoyed how different they were, yet they were a tight group who depended on each other in their youth and easily fell back into that routine when they were reunited.
Halfway through this book, I was convinced I had the storyline all figured out. When the author did an about-turn changing everything around, that is when I decided I loved the book. The Shadow Man is full of surprises that will keep you entertained right to the end.
This book will appeal to horror and thriller fans and I must add that if you enjoyed IT, give this book a try, you will love it.
visit the blog for more https://featzreviews.com

[Michelle Ryles · Rating 5 out of 5]

At just under 250 pages, this is a book that you can easily read in one sitting, which is exactly what I did. Not just because it's a reasonably short book but also because I simply couldn't put it down.

As a pre-teen in mid-1980's, the dual time-frame in this book was very nostalgic for me; it brought back memories of long hot summers riding around on our bikes until 10pm and sledging in the never-ending winters. This is a huge thought-provoking element of the book; in my memories, it didn't rain in the summer, yet in reality it's summertime in Britain so it'll have rained nearly every day, for as Mark Brownless says, 'our memories edit out the rain'. It's always intrigued me how a long forgotten memory can appear from a simple trigger, such as a sight, smell or sound. The human brain is a wonderful, complex organ that stores information and fires it back out at us when we thought we'd lost it forever.

Philippa (Flip) and her friends were spooked by the Shadow Man in their youth, a dark ghostly presence that burned its victims alive. After leaving their home village, they had forgotten about the Shadow Man but several years later they all shared a common dream and returned home to visit the one friend who never left, Janey. Something happened to Janey in the past, although none of the girls can quite remember what happened, but remembering this will prove key to catching the Shadow Man once and for all.

This was pretty spooky at times and although I did guess the plot quite early on, I still had an element of doubt as to who or what the Shadow Man actually is. I think I'd totally bought into the childhood memories and felt how scared the girls were whilst their village was being terrorised. There was even talk of the possibility of spontaneous human combustion at one point and I remember being fascinated by this hot topic (no pun intended) back in the day.

I deliberated a little over my rating for this one; although I guessed the shocking twist, I still couldn't put it down. So because I was so hooked, I think it does deserve the full five stars, although realistically it's a 4.5 from me but I never do things by halves.

Nostalgic, thought-provoking, completely addictive and pretty scary at times, The Shadow Man is a must read for anyone who wants something a bit different in a thriller. I definitely want to read more from Mark Brownless, past and future, and I'm delighted to discover that he has another tales of the unexpected style thriller in his back catalogue.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shadow Man by Mark Brownless is the kind of book I want to read all the time. This keeps you guessing from start to finish. I loved the twists and turns.

I love the flipping back and forth between present day and 1985. It created a really interesting reading experience while I tried to put the past and present together like a puzzle piece. Also, the past references were enjoyable. It brought a unique atmosphere to this book, and I was able to get lost in it.

I really enjoyed the characters. They had unique personalities and felt real. I connected with Katie the most, but enjoyed each character.

I really enjoyed The Shadow Man. This was right up my alley, with the suspense and thrills. I’m looking forward to more from this author. Highly recommended!

Thank you to Zooloo’s Book Tours for the review copy and opportunity to honestly review on the blog tour. All opinions are my own and unbiased.

[Dee Groocock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in the 1980’s, Philippa, Katie, Janey, Clara and Sally were all teens looking for fun during the summer holidays. With unexplained deaths and talk of human combustion in the village they lived in, the girls all became scared of someone Janey called The Shadow Man.

Thirty years on and all of them are summoned back by Janey, who has never moved out of the village. All of them start to have nightmares again and they begin to recall the horrific details of that one summer.

This is a well written thriller that I couldn’t put down. With plenty of twists along the way, it is a compelling, spooky and complex read. Plenty of nostalgia for me, reading about their childhood days back in the 80’s.
This is not something I say often but I think it could be turned into a great film.

[Mellisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: A group of former school friends, long estranged and haunted by recurring nightmares, begin to remember a buried childhood secret. Drawn back to their home village, they must confront a terrifying past and the legend of the Shadow Man that still lurks there.

Review:The creepy atmosphere in the book builds slowly at first, then tightens its grip until it is impossible to stop reading. There were moments that genuinely unsettled me, and the tension never really let up. Just when I thought I had it figured out, the story pulled the rug out from under me with a twist I never saw coming.

[Anthony Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

An fun but sinister thrill ride

This is a novel with hints of IT and Stranger Things. It's nostalgia mixed with horror and I really enjoyed the dynamics of the characters, which fluctuated between them being children and then adults. Great twist at the end. I will definitely look forward to reading more by Mark Brownless

[Sandra Leivesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting psychological thriller following a group of friends in dual time-lines - the 1980s and present day. The story is quite creepy and kept me guessing throughout. An enjoyable listen.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice quick easy read. The characters are well drawn and all interesting in their own way, it actually took me back to my youth which I enjoyed. Nothing complex, but an enjoyable read.

[timj26 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent coming of age thriller
Well written characters and perfect small town setting especially if your a child of the 80s
Great narration and twist ending highly recommended
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Your hometown is boring, but for Flip and her friends the little village that starred as backdrop to their childhood is anything but. She has felt disconnected from it since leaving school but when Janey, the only friend of the group the stay behind, calls them back to help with recurring fatalities they can't say no, can they?

Huge thanks to Zooloo's Book Tours for letting me be a part of this blog tour! It's been an exciting read, that's for sure! My fellow bloggers and their reviews are always worth checking out, head over to @zooloo2008 on Twitter, or @zooloosbookdiary on Instagram to see!

My first reaction to 'The Shadow Man' was definitely something I jumped into before really settling into the plot, looking back I needed to connect to the pace Brownless set for the reader instead of trying to connect to the standard thriller pace I expected. Brownless takes off running with the story, depicting Flip's return to her hometown, with a mysterious amnesia surrounding it, and the reunion with her childhood friends, however, he then slows us right back down to establish connections with the characters whilst switching between "THEN" and "NOW" chapters to slowly reveal the memories Flip has forgotten. Whilst I initially didn't like this approach, almost a literary whiplash of pacing, I really liked the effect it left on me for the rest of the novel. It established that this book can provide the fast delivery of information but by slowing down the pace it left the anticipation of what is to come at the forefront of the reader's mind.

My aim for all reviews is to not give away the "big reveal" and all I can say about this one is wow. The further into this novel I read the more I enjoyed myself, it is definitely one of those pieces that rewards the loyal reader as the most captivating chapter was the climax of the plot. There was some hint toward the reveal which I actually enjoyed in this instance because it made me go "of course!"which worked to the advantage of this publication. Some thrillers aim to keep the revelation secret right up until the word that gives it all away, I cannot see this working for 'The Shadow Man' because it connects the whole life of the characters so revealing something out of the blue wouldn't have been good storytelling. Brownless took the option to give the reader underhand hints that give us the satisfactory feeling of "obviously" at the end which was definitely the best option, in my opinion.

Honestly? This was a wonderfully creepy read, I would have liked a stronger introduction to Flip as although I enjoyed being dropped straight into the plot I didn't feel as connected to her as I'd have liked until the latter half of the novel. A deeper understanding of her was slowly developed as her memories came through but a better comprehension of her adult character could have knocked this up another level, the same can be said for the other main characters.

Zooloo's Book Tours is a new publicity company that I cannot thank enough for introducing me to this novel! I thoroughly enjoyed picking up my Kindle each night for this, and obviously thank you to Mark Brownless for producing such a thrilling small village thriller! Having recently read another "small town thriller" that was more of a disappointing "small town drama" 'The Shadow Man' was a welcome reprieve!

This novel would actually be 3.5 stars if option was available.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there’s one thing that I like doing it’s discovering new authors. Mark Brownless is certainly a new author for me. The synopsis of ‘The Shadow Man’ certainly sounded intriguing and so without further ado, I grabbed a cup of tea, grabbed my Kindle and settled down for what proved to be a fab afternoon of reading. I thoroughly enjoyed ‘The Shadow Man’ but more about that in a bit.
I must be honest and say that ‘The Shadow Man’ is a little out of my reading comfort zone in that I don’t read much in the way of horror stories. They do say that a change is as good as a rest so I entered the book with an open mind. Well as soon as I started reading, I found it nigh on impossible to put the book down for any great length of time. The story intrigued me and I had my own theories as to what was going to happen, so of course I had to keep reading to see if I was on the right track or if I had wandered down another path entirely. The more of the book that I read, the more I wanted to read and the quicker those pages seemed to turn. I became so wrapped up in the story that I lost all track of time and just how quickly I was getting through the story. I found ‘The Shadow Man’ to be a gripping read, which kept me guessing and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.
‘The Shadow Man’ is well written. Mark certainly knows how to grab the reader’s attention and draws you into the story from the very beginning. The story is written using two different timelines. One timeline is the present day and details what happened when the friends meet up again and the other timeline narrates things as they happened back in the day and what led to the friends becoming estranged from each other. The two timelines interlink really well and the story flows seamlessly as a result. Reading ‘The Shadow Man’ felt like being on a fast, scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘The Shadow Man’ and I would definitely recommend this book to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Mark’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Billed as a horror I thought it was more of a psychological thriller although admittedly it is quite creepy in places. The switching between now and thirty years earlier was a bit confused at times but was key to the whole story.

Briefly, a group of girls who had been so close during their school years have all drifted apart. Until 30 years later the only one who stayed in their home village contacted them to say they needed to come back. Reunited, talk turns to the Shadow Man; the reason they are back together. A tales from 200 year’s ago about a man burnt at the stake resonated with them and they believe he is back; wreaking vengeance on the people of the village. Can the women stop him before more people die?

Well constructed this tale did manage to fool me right up to the big reveal. It was scary in places; literally and figuratively speaking. The relationship between the girls was believable and realistic and the drifting apart, well that’s what happens. It’s an enjoyable read and a solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars.

[Livia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shadow Man is a story that snakes between the past and the present ...Over thirty years ago , centering on five young girls on the brink of womanhood, without a care in the world in a summer of Innocence..visits to the lake , bike rides and picnics ...A summer that changes everything..Now, thirty years later , four of the women go back to their hometown, and are reunited with the friend who never left .Each of the five have memory lapses, their dreams dark and shadowy from that summer long ago.The Shadow Man's curse it seems has left this need, this want to find out what happened all those years ago ..But as the memories come pittering back , like a black and white film changing to colour...Can their lives ever be the same again ? The Shadow Man clambers out of the dark and the nightmares will come to life ...Dark Creepy Storytelling ....

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Shadow Man" is a creepy, spine-tingling horror that I didn't want to put down. Switching between "then" (1980s) and "now" gave the characters much more depth for me. This is a great story that reads fast, is written well, and has all the elements that will keep you up at night - both while you're reading and after! I'm looking forward to reading more of Mark Brownless's work in the future.

This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion. My thanks to zooloo2008

[Mary Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great suspense and mystery with a chilling feeling. With each chapter more and more is revealed and no of it I saw coming. Trust me, this book will keep you on the edge of your seat and will shock you until the very end! It's also a story about coming of age and memories of youth. Also about friendships between outcasts. There was totally nostalgia. But this isn't a warm and fuzzy story. This has a dark depth. This narrator did a great job telling the story. Her voice really gave it that magic.

[Between The Pages (Gemma M) · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the first page this story had me hooked and extremely intrigued! It’s a brilliant story, the first I have read by this author. It’s dark in parts. Descriptive. I think this would be perfect to aim at the younger adults Genre.
The story flicks between the past (then) and the present (now) alot, but each chapter is clearly labelled so causes no confusion. Its a brilliant horror/thriller with plenty of twists. It kept me guessing and turning those pages! It’s a fast paced, edge of your seat seat. I enjoyed every minute of it. A look into how reliable our memories really are. A well deserved four stars from me. Highly recommend. Cannot wait to read more by this author in the future.

[Warren Dudley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one. A fantastic twist and some great 80's memories!

[Kerry Morris]

DNF. Really couldn't get into this, it didn't catch my attention at all.

[Kira Townsend · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good review but took me ages to read as I actually started over a year ago. Many turns and plot twist for a horror book however it was a good book.