4.1 STARS from 68 GoodReaders
Really liked IN THE SHADOWS. It's a well written "gothic" novel with good characters placed in a creepy and mysterious seaside setting.
[Suitable for Middle-graders, YA, and Adults]
IN THE SHADOWS also happens to be a hybrid novel. By which I mean that there are many graphic pages. And if I'm understanding these pages correctly, they are telling a slightly parallel story set partially in the future.
BACKSTORY #1
Cora and Minnie are sisters. They live with their family in a small New England town at the turn of the last century. After the death of their father, their mother opens their home to boarders, which is how they meet Thomas and Charles, and the mysterious, Arthur.
Thomas and Charles are brothers. Thom is older and interested in girls and the new music, Jazz. Charles is younger and dying. We aren't told specifically what his ailment is, but I suspect it's tuberculosis. He is weak and has coughing spells.
Thomas dotes on Charles and loves him fiercely, which makes his slow death hard to live with. So he escapes sometime to the clubs to get some relief. It's coming back from a midnight escapade that Thom happens upon his father talking to a mysterious woman. For the only time he can recall, Thom notes that his father sounds afraid. The subject of the conversation isn't clear, but there is talk about a debt that must be paid, and that the sacrifice must be a large one. Shortly afterwards, Thomas and Charles are packed up and sent to Maine, where the meaning of the threat slowly becomes clearer.
BACKSTORY #3
Arthur is perhaps the most mysterious character of the five young people. We know little about him except that he is older than both Cora and Minnie and orphaned. He arrives at the boarding house with a suitcase that he frets over. In fact, as he settles in to be part of the family, Arthur buries the case in the back yard. He is a boy that lives in the shadows.
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Review: MISTWALKER
Review: THE GHOST BOX
Review: LIV, FOREVER
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THE ARTWORK
Here's an example of Jim Di Bartolo's striking artwork.
IN THE SHADOWS is full of action and suspense. It's a tale of love and friendship, good and evil, and I'd recommend it to readers looking for a good classically spooky story.
Pam~
In the Shadows
(Scholastic)
by Kirsten White
Reading Information:
Page Count: 384
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available
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