title: The Shadow Girlsauthor: Alice Blanchard
series: Natalie Lockhart #4
published: 25 July 2023
publisher: Minotaur Books
genre(s): thrillers
pages: 307
source: library
format: hardcover
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | StoryGraph | Goodreads
rating:
| series rating: the blurb
Someone is playing deadly games. Lieutenant Luke Pittman lies in the hospital in a coma after being attacked by one of their own. Veronica Manes, Burning Lake’s most respected modern-day witch, is dead, her murder left unsolved. Natalie Lockhart has become embroiled in a case with threads that become increasingly difficult to untangle.
Now, a new horror is uncovered, one that shocks the town as never before, and the dark, shadowy path forward for Natalie is paved with challenges that haunt her past―Veronica’s unsolved case. Her sister’s traumatic murder. The long-lost disappearance of her old best friend. Natalie’s obsession with finding the truth leads to a twisted, elemental struggle between good and evil―and nothing will ever be the same again.
The woods have secrets.
The trees are carved with curses.
There’s something wicked in Burning Lake.
- my review
- a few notes
I’ve loved this series… great characters, suspenseful plots, and lots of twists and turns!
The story is set in Burning Lake, New York, a fictional town that rides the wave of its history with witchcraft, turning it into a thriving tourist trade. It takes place just after the end of the previous book, just after the murder of a well-known local witch and an attack on the police lieutenant. With a new body found, it’s up to Natalie to untangle the threads.
Natalie is a great protagonist, smart and independent, sometimes to a fault. She is a strong charactr with incredible insight, which makes her a highly capable and successful detective. But she isn’t perfect as she struggles with both her personal life and her professional one after everything that has happened to her recently.
The world-building is fantastic, with writing that is so atmospheric, so descriptive, that it is easy to create the scene in one’s mind’s eye. The characters are interesting and well developed. And the plot is utterly engrossing, with thrilling twists and turns and gripping scenes. The suspense builds from the first page to the last, and I couldn’t stop turning the pages!
content warning: ❗murder, drugs, sexual assault❗
POV: 3rd person
keywords/phrases: witches, friends, murder, trauma
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2023 Library Love Reading Challenge
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