This second book in The World of Shadows has a somewhat slower build than the first book, but that doesn't make it any less compelling. As Arthur and Niccolo search for the Bishop, they must also learn to trust each other. Niccolo soon finds that his naiveté about the world and the evils that lurk may either be his undoing or push him to lengths he never believed possible, while Arthur learns that his resolve to do things differently may not be so easy to accomplish. The story builds in suspense as well as action as our heroes uncover the Bishop's terrifying plans. With a heart-pounding conclusion unveiling a plot that is the stuff nightmares are made of, The Vatican Children is a solid addition to the series and has this reader anxiously awaiting what comes next.

As the World of Shadows is an ongoing story, I highly recommend reading The Everett Exorcism before starting this one. The series is wonderfully written and impossible to put down from the very first page.

Aaron has returned home after his mothers death, to settle up her affairs and sort through his childhood home and get it ready to sell. Once he's there he begins to relive the terrors he experienced as a child when something emerges from his bedroom cupboard.

Ryker again explores light and dark in this read and it reminded me a little of his novella Nightmare Man. This time he taps into childhood fears of monsters hiding in shadows, who only appear when it's dark and you are alone.

To be honest it didn't really engage me much at the start, I found Aaron a hard character to sympathise with but as the read continued I started to warm up to him. His brothers childhood disappearance created a great emotional storyline and helped to flesh out Aaron and add depth to the read.

There were some nice creepy scenes in the story but it was the ending that stood out for me, very effective.

Recommended.

Oh, now this story packed a punch! I love when novellas manage to suck me in so wholly. Alan Ryker proves that it doesn't matter how many pages he has to work with, he can write one hell of a story.

 

Since this is so short, I won't go too into detail. I wouldn't dare take the experience away from you. Instead I'll simply say that this story is very well done. Aaron's character, with his locked away memories, is believable. I understood his pain, felt his unwillingness to fight the demons lurking inside him, and cheered him on as he bravely fought anyway. There were plenty of moments that had me shivering, because the writing definitely evokes a sense of dread. Best of all, everything wrapped up in a way that I wasn't expecting.

 

In The Shadows Of Children starts a bit slow, but keep going. Trust me. It ends up being well worth it!

 

This was an eARC from Netgalley.

Home is where horror lives....and that horror has one Hell of a halflife.

Alan Ryker breathes new life into the boogeyman in this powerful tale concerning childhood fear, weaving the old stories and the new mythos into a relentless nightmare with the power to terrorize adults as easily as it does children, returning the fear that parents wield to modify childhood behaviors, the fear it feeds on....the very fear that may have created it in the first place.

Highly recommended!

When I was a kid, I saw an episode of "In Search of..." (the one hosted by Leonard Nimoy) in which a ghostly, white-faced figure stepped out of an open closet and quite literally scared a young woman to death.

It was at that point that I became conscious of open closet doors at bedtime and ALWAYS thereafter made sure to close the door even if it meant braving the dark and the two steps to the closet after the lights had been turned out to address a forgotten door.

Over time the fear that something would step out of the darkness has subsided and the act of closing open doors has become a matter of habit and not the result of some childhood fear....I thought.

I would like to thank Alan Ryker for bringing those thoughts back to the foreground once again. Closet doors closed.


4 STARS