Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Chet is a shifter and low life thief, Hannah is his daughter and has inherited some of his supernatural ability. Hannah's mother, Tina, dreams of escaping the abusive marriage she finds herself in wanting to protect Hannah from Chet as he becomes more volatile.

When a job goes wrong, Chet finds himself trapped by Hannah in another dimension where he learns more about his past and how his life could have turned out. Tina takes the opportunity to start a new life with Hannah, thinking that Chet has abandoned them.

The story then jumps forward several years to where Tina is a semi-successful author and is in a happy relationship with Kevin who adores not only her but Hannah. The past catches up with the present with devastating effects.

 

I enjoyed this read a lot more than I expected to, whilst the story itself was a little far fetched I thought the strong characterisation made it more believable and engaging. The story is told through Chet, Hannah, Tina and Kevin and each perspective gives us something new in the story. Whilst Chet was thoroughly dislikeable I thought the author made him more sympathetic as he delved into his past. This was done whilst Chet was confined to the Theatre of the Lost, it would have been great to have had more back story to this other world as time spent there was relatively short.

 

Lesser Creatures remains my favourite from this authors Darkfuse work but this was highly enjoyable and had me hooked after a few chapters. Recommended for those that love the supernatural.

Shadowshift is a novel that opens with an ominous, ambiguous sort of scene, one in which a shadowy figure delivers a young child to a grateful couple. It could be a back-alley type adoption, a rescue situation, or a child trafficking sort of scenario. The fact that we don't know what's going on serves to immediately unsettle the reader, causing us to question everything that comes after . . . and for good reason.

From there, the story leaps ahead, introducing two separate plot-lines that are separated by a few years. It takes a while for them to converge and overlap, but it's an effective way to tell the story. It allows Peter Giglio to show his characters at their best and their worst, to introduce something of an early cliffhanger, and then to string us along for a while, making us wonder how it was resolved. We see Chet and Tina unhappy and poor, and then Tina and Hannah happy and comfortable, with the questions of how and what happened to Chet looming large between the two plot-lines. It's a narrative framework that creates some real tension and suspense, and which does so naturally.

Along with the two plot-lines there are really two very different stories being told here. One is a rather standard story of a long-suffering couple, a life of crime, an escalating pattern of domestic abuse, and an inability to trust in happiness when it does come along. It's a sad, tragic kind of story, at is a little heavy-handed at times, but it really serves to establish the human element to the novel. It carries a suspense all of its own, especially as it causes us to question and doubt Tina's new-found happiness and wonder whether it's too good to be true.

The other story being told here is one of supernatural talents and shadowy conspiracies. Chet is a man with the ability to shapeshift into a cockroach, while his daughter has the ability to control electronics with her mind. Dad likes to scurry beneath locked doors as the perfect thief, while his daughter just tries to make her difficult life a little more tolerable. It's definitely the coolest part of the novel, but it carries with it a deeper, darker suspense of its own. As we discover, their talents are in their blood, and that shadowy figure from the opening chapter is part of an organization dedicated to eradicating that bloodline from the world.

Overall, Shadowshift is a strong, well-crafted novel that manages to build and maintain the suspense throughout. The characters are well-developed, and as cool as the supernatural element is, it's never allowed to overwhelm the human story. There were a few things that nagged at me - like why a greedy man like Chet didn't use his talent for bigger scores, and why a lonely young girl like Hannah was so reserved with hers - and I felt there were a few too many epilogues, when the story could have ended more powerfully without being to tidy, but that didn't keep me from turning pages late into the night.

Chet is a cockroach that works the register at the local Circle K. His daughter Hannah has gifts that she is just beginning to understand. After things go sour during home burglary, Chet mysteriously disappears and finds himself trapped in the Theater of the Lost. If he can find his way out, Hannah and her new family are going to be in grave danger.

I must admit that after I read the synopsis for this one I was a little worried it would be all Twilight shape-shifter lame. It was not. It took a while to get rolling, but once it clicked for me, I really enjoyed it. The characters were fleshed out well in this short format and it didn’t get to “out there” in the theater, which would have been easy to do. An easy, fast paced and entertaining read.

Beware! Major SpoilerAlert: I’m pretty sure that Trust the dog is actually Chet and he is going come back and kill the whole fam damily. Well…at least that’s what I imagined happening in this one. It still could happen. Just sayin’.

 

A pretty good month for reads, 14 books knocked off the old tbr and there were a couple of corkers in there that were absolutely stand out.  

 

The Best of the Month (5* reads):

 

Gifune hits a home run with this one, I haven't given out many 5* this year but this one deserved every star. For me, even better than The Bleeding Season.

Great characters and an engaging storyline that keeps you feverishly turning the pages, it kept me hooked from the first page to the last. Highly recommended. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This has recommended to me a while ago and I have to say it took a few chapters for me to get into it. However, when I did it was an absolutely cracking read. It's reads like two stories in one but the threads of everything start connecting and everything comes together beautifully.

Charlie Parker is also a fantastic character, his wise cracks had me snorting with laughter on more than one occasion. A great start to series. Highly recommended.

 

 

I also read:

A funny dig at SPA's who are behaving like complete twats.  A little repetitious but fun to read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My least favourite of the bunch.

 

Dense and overly analytical read with a storyline that doesn't really go anywhere and has no real focus. The main character was well written for the purposes of the read but not someone you cared about or felt any connection to. Disappointing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's 1985 and 13 year old Ben has just attended the funeral of a boy he despised, he still grieves for his best friend who died the year before, they were inseparable and were obsessed with making 8mm movies. Ben soon strikes up a friendship with Aubrey Rose who agrees to help him make one of his 8mm movies. Ben is ecstatic that the friendship shows promise of leading to more but he starts to have strange dreams and once his movie is developed he sees something that will change their friendship forever.
This is a very dark coming of age tale, it isn't up til the last third of the novella that things start to come together and although I enjoyed it I felt it was a little rushed at the end. The characters were well developed for such a short read, Ben's character was especially engaging.
Of the two books I've read from this author I enjoyed Lesser Creatures more but he is definitely someone I will be reading more of in the future.