Mitch's Reviews > Shadowlands

I think Shadowlands is one of the most difficult books I've ever reviewed because it's not nearly what I thought it'd be from reading the summary. I went into this book with expectations of a standard serial killer thriller plot, and came out with, actually, I don't know how to describe what Shadowlands is without spoiling the ending - a bizarre twisty mindbender? I like it, but in order to fully explain my rating the rest of my review is going to be spoiler heavy, so just know this is *not* a thriller in the classic cops and serial killer sense and be warned if you do decide to click on the spoilers.

(view spoiler)[Anyway, what this book actually is is a Lost style mind fuck. In addition to the serial killer, there are supernatural aspects and the book is intentionally written in an unsettling, mind blowing way to throw the reader off from the truth, which is finally revealed by the last sentence. That said, I did spend six years watching Lost, so I think I may have been more than a little overprepared for this book, because I called the entire setup right after the supposed nightmare scene when Rory's father and sister are killed, she's stabbed and dying, and she kills her killer in revenge before she dies. The fact that Kate Brian kept bringing up that particular night, even though it's written dismissively as Rory flashing back to her 'nightmare' as a result of her earlier trauma, only reinforced my prediction. As a result, there weren't exactly any 'WTF moments' for me, because it's obvious to me what Brian's trying to do with the island of no cell phone and internet service, the mysterious disappearances, and I ended up with a pretty good idea of Tristan's role in the whole thing.

That said, the problem for me is that Brian's writing is a little too obvious. The purpose of the island was way too transparent for me and I immediately recognized what was going on. So instead of being confused and thinking about the explanation for all the bizarre going ons, all I could do was look for the obvious clues Brian's planted and muse about how they connected to the overall 'mystery'. So yeah, the island is so isolated because its inhabitants are all dead, the disappearances are really just people moving on after they've resolved their unresolved issues from before their death, and Tristan is like the Grim Reaper or something who gets these people to move on. Like I said, I probably would've been *much* happier had I not kept up with Lost, because everything made *too* much sense for me.

My favorite part of the book, which I don't think most people will pick up unless they reflect back on everything after finishing though because, again, the ending, is Rory's purpose on the island. I've already mentioned that the island is a place for the deceased who still have to deal with unresolved issues from immediately before their death, and obviously Rory has unresolved issues with her father and her sister. So while it's clear something very strange is going on with her father, I actually appreciated how clever Brian made those strange happenings with Rory's father as part of his reconciliation with Rory and her sister over her mother's death. The stuff with Christopher that's brought up too was a really good breadcrumb that eventually led to Rory's reconciliation with her sister, once I picked that up. Overall, I'm impressed how multilayered Shadowlands is, and I encourage anyone who didn't see the ending coming to reread this book just to appreciate how much planning Brian apparently put into this thing.

However, I did pick up on the ending right away, and while that allowed me to look at the clues and mysterious events in a different light, I still think Brian made things a bit too obvious, despite how hard she tried to really keep the ending a huge unexpected surprise. Of course, maybe I'm just too perceptive after watching Lost for so long. (hide spoiler)]