The Shadows novel

A teenager like Charlie Crabbtree with his dark, gruesome imagination and sinister smile, and his lack of belonging to any friend group, might make some of you suspect he could be capable of something dreadful. And indeed, Crabbtree did just that twenty-five years ago, committing a shocking murder that drew people to that peculiar brand of vile behavior found only in the darkest corners of the internet. It inspired more copycat killings. Paul Adams remembers the case well: Crabbtree and his victim, one of Paul’s friends. Paul slowly pieced his life back together, but now his elderly mother, suffering from dementia, is deteriorating. Though every fiber of him resists, it’s time to return home. It won’t be long before things start to go wrong. Paul knows Detective Amanda Beck is investigating a copycat murder that rocked the streets of nearby Featherbank. His mother is anxious, insisting there’s something in the house. Someone is watching him. Those events only serve to remind him of the most disturbing things about that fateful day twenty-five years ago. It wasn’t just the murder itself, but the fact that Charlie Crabbtree was never seen again afterward.