{"id":10274,"date":"2024-06-16T19:31:46","date_gmt":"2024-06-16T23:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=10274"},"modified":"2024-06-16T19:31:46","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T23:31:46","slug":"book-review-night-shadows-by-stephen-l-brayton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-night-shadows-by-stephen-l-brayton\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Night Shadows by Stephen L. Brayton"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cover<\/a><\/p>\n

Night Shadows <\/em>by Stephen L. Brayton<\/p>\n

Black Rose Writing, 2024<\/p>\n

ISBN: 9781685134143<\/p>\n

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition<\/p>\n

Buy:\u00a0Bookshop.org<\/a> | Amazon.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Night Shadows<\/em> fits perfectly in the B level ranks of horror fiction.\u00a0 There is nothing really new or unique in it, but it\u2019s sure entertaining, and enough to keep the pages flipping.\u00a0 It\u2019s a decent one for a few hours of horror escapism.<\/p>\n

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The ingredients that make up the story are all ones you\u2019ve seen, many times.\u00a0 Weird, killer creatures?\u00a0 Got it.\u00a0 Two mismatched law enforcement agents?\u00a0 Yep, it\u2019s here.\u00a0 A book of black magic styled after the Necronomicon<\/em>, and an eccentric professor to explain it all?\u00a0 Check.\u00a0 Plot twist at the end that can be guessed?\u00a0 That’s here too.\u00a0 All the usual elements, but still fun when used well, which the author does.\u00a0 There\u2019s enough go-juice in the writing to keep the reader\u2019s interest and the pages moving, just not at the “up all night” (sleep all day) level.<\/p>\n

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The best parts of the book are probably the night shadows (the book\u2019s antagonists) and the cop on cop interplay.\u00a0 The shadows are nasty fun and do a good job wreaking bloody havoc around Des Moines, Iowa, as they multiply the city\u2019s homicide rate exponentially over the course of a few nights.\u00a0 The book is messy enough for the gorehounds, especially when the strip club gets trashed. The mismatched cops bit works well, with Detective Reznick\u2019s sarcastic, everyday-joe attitude paired with Agent Campisi\u2019s Vulcan-like demeanor.\u00a0 Everything goes smoothly in the story, until it purrs comfortably across the finish line of its 236 pages.\u00a0 If a bit of touch-up could have been used anywhere, it would be with the mystery element.\u00a0 The idea of a house being present that has no business existing was excellent, and could have used some more elaborating.<\/p>\n

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Bottom line, In the Night Shadows <\/em>is not a must-buy, but it is a fun read. if you have the spare cash, give it a look, and enjoy watching the city\u2019s darkness tear apart its inhabitants.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Night Shadows by Stephen L. Brayton Black Rose Writing, 2024 ISBN: 9781685134143 Available: Paperback, Kindle edition Buy:\u00a0Bookshop.org | Amazon.com     Night Shadows fits perfectly in the B level ranks of horror fiction.\u00a0 There is nothing really new or unique in it, but it\u2019s sure entertaining, and enough to keep the pages flipping.\u00a0 It\u2019s a<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5670,83,5291],"class_list":["post-10274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-black-magic","tag-horror-fiction","tag-paranormal-investigations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10274"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10285,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10274\/revisions\/10285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}