Twenty-five years ago, near the English village of Featherbank, which served as the setting of North's debut, The Whisper Man, there were four boys who weren't really close. But three were outcasts at school and the fourth, Paul, tagged along to protect his friend James, who was in the thrall of the group's leader, Charlie Crabtree. Charlie came up with an idea: they would all keep dream diaries, using them to make their dreams converge; then they could control events in the waking world and avenge themselves on their tormentors. Eventually, three went into a dark woods, the Shadows. Only one came out; a mutilated corpse was left behind. The one who came out went to prison, but Charlie Crabtree disappeared, never to be heard from again. Now Paul has come home--his mother's dying, he hasn't seen her in 25 years--and bad things start up again. There's a copycat killing in the woods. Someone follows it on the Dark Net. "Red hands everywhere," his mother mutters. Paul searches for answers. Before this twisty story ends, there are many surprises, including who's been killed and who killed them. VERDICT The conclusion wraps it up too tidily, but overall, this is a successful, creepy thriller. If you like Stephen King, you'll probably like North's new thriller, too.

The pseudonymous North follows up his sensational debut, 2019’s The Whisper Man, with another terrifying spine-tingler set in Featherbank, England. When Paul Adams was 15, his school playground was the scene of the murder of one of his friends. The alleged killer, teenager Charlie Crabtree, was another friend of Paul. Charlie disappeared and was never seen again. After going away to college, Paul doesn’t return to Featherbank until, as a 40-year-old English teacher, he decides he must come home to tend to his dying mother. To his dismay, history appears to be repeating itself with a series of copycat killings of teenage boys. Det. Amanda Beck, from the previous novel, investigates as the bodies pile up and suspects accumulate. Ghosts (real and imagined) continue to haunt Paul, whose senile mother fears something strange is in the house. The complex plot shifts smoothly between past and present with numerous unexpected twists. An overwhelming atmosphere of doom and disaster hovers over the perennial darkness of the nearby woods. This heart-pounding page-turner is impossible to put down.