Customer Reviews

Shadowman Pb

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Shadow Man, a short horror tale about a serial predator stalking a fog shrouded town on the Northern California coast, reads less like an actual novel and more like several stories that have been grafted together to form a much longer narrative. Individual moments are far superior than the sum of its parts. Etchison should stick with what he writes best, short stories.

Shadow Man is a book by an author who supposedly singlehandedly saved the horror short story as a form. I don't know that I'd believe that, having read some of his stories, which tend to be esoteric in places they need to be clear and over-explained in places you can fill in the gaps yourself. All in all, he's not bad, though, if you have an idea of what a good horror story is. If you're someone well read in the genre, his shortcomings are pretty obvious. A lot of his characters' actions are dictated by plot, rather than the characters themselves guiding the story. This novel, however, Shadow Man, has an interestingly scene-centered structure. There isn't a lot of exposition in this one, not much explaining. Things are shown instead of told. Now that's what good fiction is all about. Even if this one reads a little like a bloated short story, at least it's got that going for it. A good read with brilliantly rendered muted and foggy atmosphere. I recommend it, despite all the somewhat negative things I might have put in above. Three stars at least. If you've read widely outside the genre, though, the score will drop, because the awkwardness is all too clear. Keep your horizons narrow and this is beautiful, mind-blowing work.