Customer Reviews

Listen to the Shadows

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Listen to the Shadows Joan Hall Hovey Zebra Books 1991 ISBn 08173606X P.B. Mystery/Thriller

Katie Summers jumps into her car to go home after waiting several hours for her date that never shows up. Katie's eyes are drawn to her rearview mirror, her eyes are stuck there as she looks at a sightless glaring set of eyes looking at her, a scream bubbles up in her throat, she loses control of her car and hits a wall,everything goes black. This is just the beginning of a mystery that will leave you breathless. Katie is being stalked and she has no idea who it might be or who would want to hurt her. >From the moment that I started reading this book I was hooked. The author has a way of pulling you into this thriller very early on and keeping you there until the very end of the book. Along with an excellent mystery you get a very tender love story between Katie and Dr. Jonathan Shea. Ms. Hovey keeps you wondering just who the stalker is up until the very end. This is a book that will stick with me for a long while, as I was reading it my heart would beat fast and the hair on the back of my neck stood straight, and to me that is the true sign of a good thriller. When you read this one make sure that the lights are on and that all your doors are locked.

I love suspenseful novels that keep you guessing, and this is one! I'm usually very good about picking the killer but EVERYBODY was suspect to me in this book. When an author can hide the killer the entire time, it's a real treat. I wasn't surprised at who it turned out to be because I knew it had to be one of the several people I suspected.

In addition to the suspence, this novel has a thread of romance. You easily fall in love with the characters and invest in their relationship. I cared what happened to these characters and cared about the survival of their relationship.

If I had to complain, I would say that I wished it was even more scary. I was expecting to be scared out of my wits but it was hard to relate to a woman who lived in the middle of nowhere with no electricity in the 90s. I think if the setting had been an apartment in the city, I would have been more likely to feel frightened because I would be thinking this could happen to me. Instead, I was distanced from the situation because I could not relate to the setting.

However, I think this is a wonderful novel and worth the read. I highly recommend!

Katie Summers jumps into her car to go home after waiting several hours for her date that never shows up. Katie's eyes are drawn to her rear view mirror. Her eyes are stuck there as she looks at a sightless glaring set of eyes looking at her. A scream bubbles up in her throat. She loses control of her car and hits a wall. Everything goes black. This is just the beginning of a mystery that will leave you breathless. Katie is being stalked, and she has no idea who it might be or who would want to hurt her.

From the moment that I started reading this book I was hooked. The author has a way of pulling you into this thriller very early on and keeping you there wondering just who the stalker is until the very end of the book. Along with an excellent mystery you get a very tender love story between Katie and Dr. Jonathan Shea.

This is a book that will stick with me for a long while. As I was reading, my heart would beat fast and the hair on the back of my neck stood straight, and to me that is the true sign of a good thriller. When you read this one make sure that the lights are on and that all your doors are locked.

Written with the finesse and grace of a master, Joan Hall Hovey's first novel, LISTEN To THE SHADOWS, is an engrossing tale of fear and danger certain to keep the reader awake, turning pages long after bed time, and listening carefully to everything around them.

A man without a conscious stalks artist Katie Summers. She hasn't seen him, but she senses his presence. A tingling on the back of the neck, a flicker out of the corner of the eye, and an instinctual awareness of danger are her only warnings.

Stood up by her date late one night, Katie leaves the restaurant alone to drive through a storm to her remote country home. She doesn't notice the headlights following her. But when she does glance in the rearview mirror, the sight of a dead man's sightless blue eyes staring back at her results in a nearly fatal accident. She doesn't know, as she lies unconscious and bleeding, with her car crushed by a telephone pole, that her stalker lurks close by, watching.

After four days in a coma, Katie awakens in the hospital. There she meets Dr Johnathan Shea, a sexy, vibrant, man carrying a heavy load of guilt over the loss of a young patient. A romantic interest develops, spiced by fierce attraction, sexy intrigue and danger. But the question remains as to whether he will be enough to protect Katie from a madman.

Joan is a powerful new voice in the world of suspense and mystery. Her tight plot, well-developed characters and originality will satisfy the reader's craving for tension and danger. I certainly look forward to more novels by the promising author with great eagerness.

Joan Hall Hovey's suspense thriller LISTEN TO THE SHADOWS is a great read, really creepy at times. The central character, Katie Summers, is a woman artist living alone in a farmhouse who is stalked by this evil stranger(?).

Not a book to read if you are alone in a farmhouse. I was introduced to this New Brunswick author with her novel CHILL WATERS. Also a great read. 5 stars. Looking forward to reading her others, NOWHERE TO HIDE and her newest just out, NIGHT CORRIDOR.

LISTEN TO THE SHADOWS grabs you from the opening page and it is a real page-turner. My kind of thriller. Hovey's characters and dialogue are well-developed. There enough plot twists and turns to keep even the most jaded thriller/mystery reader interested.

As an animal lover, I found one particular scene involving a cat to be especially gut-wrenching and upsetting. That's hard to do with a retired journalist who has seen his share of carnage.

I highly recommend this book.

James A Anderson, Author
DEADLINE

I stayed up late and got up early to finish this book. There were plenty of suspects and just enough information to keep you guessing at who it could be. It moved along at a pace to keep you engaged but not too fast to spoil the ending.

As my title says, I found "Listen to the Shadows" to be a good read for the most part. In fact, I flew through it in 2 days--incredible by my standards! And although I "figured things out" (in quotes to avoid creating a spoiler) early on, this didn't at all lessen my overall captivation with the story-for me, finding out the motive was essential. However, the reason I added "For the Most (90%+) Part" is due to the story's climax, which seemed to be very abrubt--almost as if the author suddenly remembered an imminent deadline was rapidly approaching. While this created an element of disappointment, it was not nearly as disappointing as the final resolution and closure to the story, the latter (closure) of which, unfortunately, teetered on the edge of the ridiculous. Rather disappointing, given that the bulk of the story (literally 90+%) was very well done. And I want to conclude by emphasizing that percentage. It was a good, suspenseful story overall, and worthwhile to read.

This was my first book by this author, and I enjoyed it. Since this one, I have purchased/downloaded 2 other of her books.

Listen to the Shadows was the first thriller I've ever read and it definately has me searching for more. There was something happening throughtout the whole book and I could not stop reading it. It was finished in two days. If you want action, suspence, and romance this is the book for you. The characters come alive like no other novel I've read.

I can tell whether I'll like a book, be bored with a book, or absolutely hate it two chapters into any given one. This one had me from the beginning. Hovey is an excellent author. One thing that is exceptional in her writing style is her detailed writing. It's like you are in the book. It was great. And by the end of this book I am not ashamed to admit I was a little scared to turn my lights off. That's how well she had me believing there was a psychopath killer in the room with me. It was very suspenceful but had the right amount of romance in it. Jonathon and Katie was a believable couple in the sense that I believed that their relationship was real and that they truly loved each other by the end of the story. I look forward to reading other books by this author.