{"id":10356,"date":"2024-08-18T22:22:09","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T02:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=10356"},"modified":"2024-08-18T22:22:09","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T02:22:09","slug":"book-review-what-waits-in-the-shadows-by-wil-forbis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-what-waits-in-the-shadows-by-wil-forbis\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: What Waits in the Shadows by Wil Forbis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/What_Waits_In_The_Shadows_Forbis.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-10357\" src=\"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/What_Waits_In_The_Shadows_Forbis-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Cover art for What Waits in the Shadows by Wil Forbis\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/What_Waits_In_The_Shadows_Forbis-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/What_Waits_In_The_Shadows_Forbis.jpg 284w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>What Waits in the Shadows<\/em> by Wil Forbis<\/p>\n<p>Self published, 2024<\/p>\n<p>ISBN: 9798877647923<\/p>\n<p>Available: Paperback, Kindle edition<\/p>\n<p><strong>Buy:\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4dQmxIL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Remember all those stories as a kid about the monster in the closet?\u00a0 In the case of <em>What Waits in the Shadows,<\/em> there actually <em>is<\/em> a monster in the closet.\u00a0 Not only can it talk, it rips heads off people and tosses them out like a basketball.\u00a0 This makes for a pretty good story,<\/p>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<p>Ever since Lisa Kallman, as a kid, witnessed the above treatment of her dad by the monster, she&#8217;s been trying to put it behind her, and after years of therapy, she seems on the verge of a normal life.\u00a0 This part is a little paint-by-numbers: of course she works in mental health, has the new house, a great fianc\u00e9e, and so on.\u00a0 It gets more fun when the monster shows back up again and starts not just going after her, but those around her as well.\u00a0 There is some decent suspense here, and the scenes where the monster destroys someone in bloody fashion are good fun.\u00a0 The secondary character of Jeremiah O&#8217;Brien adds a nice flavor to the book: he&#8217;s the guy wrongfully imprisoned for killing Lisa&#8217;s dad.\u00a0 Would you <em>really<\/em> expect the authorities to believe a story about a closet monster ripping off heads?\u00a0 Of course not!\u00a0 Jeremiah&#8217;s story thread, as he is hell-bent on revenge for a stolen life, adds a good perspective to the book and helps keep it from becoming too predictable.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The end of the book is wrapped up nicely, and the big reveal about the monster shows good imagination: it&#8217;s a nice twist on the story.\u00a0 This book might have been a bit more fun if a few hints had been sprinkled throughout the story: little clues are good for keeping readers hooked.\u00a0 As it is, you&#8217;ll think it&#8217;s just a garden-variety monster until the end.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The one part that really should have been fixed is the strange formatting.\u00a0 The book has 1.5 spacing for the lines, but is double-spaced between each paragraph, which is not normally done. Also, there are no indents for paragraphs in the entire book: all the type is slugged to the left hand margins.\u00a0 As a result, the book comes in at 245 pages, although it would probably be closer to 150-175 pages if formatted correctly.\u00a0 I&#8217;m not sure if this was the author&#8217;s choice or an error, but it should be corrected in future printings.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line::it&#8217;s worth a look.\u00a0 While not a must-read, it is good enough to check out when you have the time.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Reviewed by Murray Samuelson<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Waits in the Shadows by Wil Forbis Self published, 2024 ISBN: 9798877647923 Available: Paperback, Kindle edition Buy:\u00a0\u00a0Amazon.com &nbsp; &nbsp; Remember all those stories as a kid about the monster in the closet?\u00a0 In the case of What Waits in the Shadows, there actually is a monster in the closet.\u00a0 Not only can it talk,<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-what-waits-in-the-shadows-by-wil-forbis\/\">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":[5742,5741,645,749,1179,5739,5740],"class_list":["post-10356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-boogeyman","tag-closet-monsters","tag-horror-book-reviews","tag-horror-books","tag-monsters","tag-what-waits-in-the-shadows","tag-wil-forbis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10356","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=10356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10358,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10356\/revisions\/10358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}