Shadowmaker [Paperback]

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Dell Publishing (1994)
• ASIN: B000HIA5RI
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Shadowmaker, February 23, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Shadowmaker (Paperback)

Sixteen year-old Katie Gillian moves from Houston, Texas to a small Texas town called Kluney. She has to give up her ballet lessons and make new friends, but that is least of her problems. One night she sees shadowy figures standing out in front of her house. Later mysterious crimes begin to happen. In the beginning, the crimes are not all that serious- things like petty theft and shoplifting. Then, they start to get serious- household burglaries, major thefts, armed robberies, and even murder. Somehow, Katie finds herself right in the middle of it all. Her and her mother are already disliked in the town because her mother is a journalist and is causing trouble that might make a large portion of the town lose their jobs. Katie has to find out who is committing these crimes before she becomes the next victim. This was a very good book because of the theme, exciting climaxes, realistic setting, and unexpected ending.

One of the reasons why I enjoyed this book is because of the theme. "The newcomer in town isn't always the bad guy." Throughout the book, Katie reports traces of crimes to the local sheriff and he immediately dismisses the idea of the crime being committed by anyone who has lived in Kluney for a while. When a carnival comes to town one of the workers is found shot and dead one night and the sheriff places the blame on one of the other carnival workers because they are from out of town. In the end of the story, the person is found who has been committing all of the crimes, and surprise, surprise he is from Kluney Go figure.

Another element of this book that made it a good read are the exciting climaxes. During the story, whenever someone comes on the block where Katie's house is dogs start to bark. It's like an alarm. So, in a particular part of the story when the villain is approaching Katie's house late one night all of the dogs start barking. Katie then spots a shadowy figure standing by her window watching her. Moments later, her the doorknob to the front door of her house began rattling and she heard strange noises. Then, everything stopped. They were gone. Many events similar to this one happened in the story and added to the suspense.

Something else in the story that I liked was the realistic setting. When Katie and her mother come to Kluney no one trusts them or likes them, because they outsiders. This is something common found in real life, but not so much in literature. Also, the people in small Texas town have an accent. This may not be uncommon in books, but I think it makes the book even more enjoyable. Everyone in the book calls Katie's mother "Miz Gillian", and it makes the book fun.

The final thing in the story that made the book more interesting was the unexpected ending. Throughout the entire story, the author was hinting at different people who could have committed the crimes. In the end, it was the person who was so obvious no one would have expected it to be him. He was mean to Katie during the story, but he never seemed bad enough to commit murder. Overall, this was a very engaging novel and would be a good read for mystery lovers.

S.Brown