Shadows - Book Review
October 7th 2009 16:36
Shadows (2009)
Written by Joan De La Haye
Review by Sue Gabel
Rebel e Publishers
Can the living be physically or mentally tortured? In Sarah’s world, it definitely seems possible. Sarah is a single girl, pretty and well liked by her few friends and what family she has left. She is quite the loner though, seemingly unable to trust anyone completely.
Soon after her father’s unexpected suicide, Sarah begins to believe she’s going completely mad. She keeps having horrific hallucinations, and can’t tell if they are becoming real or if it’s all just in her mind...
The thing tormenting her the most is the “yellow-eyed freak with the pointy teeth” as she calls him. Everywhere she goes and everything she does, he’s never far behind and seems to pop up in the most inconvenient of places. He’s always laughing at her, leering at her, trying to get her to do unspeakable things to the people around her and also to herself. She’ll see blood everywhere in the room one minute and the next - there’s nothing there. The gory details of what Sarah sees and thinks she’s experiencing would drive any rational person off the deep end.
No one around Sarah sees, hears or feels what she does. The terror and anger she experiences daily is only happening to her. She attempts to reach out to friends, family and even her boyfriend but they all tell her to seek professional help; that she’s “not dealing with her father’s suicide well” and this is the result. Her boyfriend Kevin blows her off constantly not wanting to “deal with her crap”, but he’s actually just too caught up in his own twisted incestual ménage à trois with his own sister Carol and his other lover Denise – who is his sister’s long time lover too! What a triangled web of sick deceit there!
I feel sympathy for Sarah on so many levels. No matter what she does she can’t get rid of this thing that’s attached itself to her. It tries to coax her into killing both herself and others around her. She wakes one morning to find herself kneeling over Kevin on her bed, knife in hand and Kevin screaming at her, “You stabbed me you crazy bitch!” Sarah has no memory whatsoever of what actually happened. She thought it was just another hellish dream she had just awoken from. These days I guess this is a typical morning for her.
As a result of her actions, Sarah is, of course, committed and put on medication in an institution. But the fun isn’t over just yet. Ever hear of the horror stories of perverted doctors in asylums taking advantage of their patients? Was it real or just a myth? Well in Sarah’s case it becomes a reality. But the kicker is Sarah is still not alone. Her freak, who she has now named “Jack”, is still with her. Jack doesn’t like the doctor playing with his “toy” so the doctor is next on his list.
This supernatural story is cleverly written and filled with many freakish twists I would’ve never even imagined, and we do learn all about this thing named Jack. When you finally learn every detail about Sarah’s dysfunctional family, it all becomes crystal clear of where this tale is headed. The author gave tidbits of clues along the way of what Jack was or wasn’t, but let the complete mystery go on until the very end. Her writing reminded me a bit of Steven King’s – it keeps you gripped to the story and wanting more, but never revealing all of the details until they’re ready for their readers to know.
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