Shadow People

Rating:
Summary: Intense, gripping, a must read
Review: Gabriel has moved to a small town after the death of his brother Ben. Ben's death left a huge gap in his family, one that is impossible to fill. His mother, father, and sister are all trying to deal with the pain by themselves, but Ben is sure that his family is going to be torn apart. Then Ben meets Lydia, Alex and Hollis. His new friends become almost family and he feels a connection to them that he hasn't felt in a long time. Then he and Gem start to get closer and he finds himself caught between his friends and Gem - a dangerous place to be for all of them.

From the opening pages of this book you are taken on a roller coaster ride that drags you through the lives of five young people in an isolated town in the US. Gabriel is the one who really draws you in and he is the main ignition switch for the action that leaps from page to page. All of them have their own individual pains that they need to address, but Gabriel is the one haunted by the Shadow People that lend the book its title.

I have also read "Swallowing Stones" by this author and she deserves recognition. her books are easy to read even though the tackle ideas that are hard to swallow. I loved this book and I can't wait to see what else this author has to offer. I don't want to spoil the end of the novel so all I will say is that McDonald has taken a real life situation and given it a real life ending.

Rating:
Summary: Intense, gripping, a must read
Review: Gabriel has moved to a small town after the death of his brother Ben. Ben's death left a huge gap in his family, one that is impossible to fill. His mother, father, and sister are all trying to deal with the pain by themselves, but Ben is sure that his family is going to be torn apart. Then Ben meets Lydia, Alex and Hollis. His new friends become almost family and he feels a connection to them that he hasn't felt in a long time. Then he and Gem start to get closer and he finds himself caught between his friends and Gem - a dangerous place to be for all of them.

From the opening pages of this book you are taken on a roller coaster ride that drags you through the lives of five young people in an isolated town in the US. Gabriel is the one who really draws you in and he is the main ignition switch for the action that leaps from page to page. All of them have their own individual pains that they need to address, but Gabriel is the one haunted by the Shadow People that lend the book its title.

I have also read "Swallowing Stones" by this author and she deserves recognition. her books are easy to read even though the tackle ideas that are hard to swallow. I loved this book and I can't wait to see what else this author has to offer. I don't want to spoil the end of the novel so all I will say is that McDonald has taken a real life situation and given it a real life ending.

Rating:
Summary: An intense, physchological thriller
Review: I thought this was an excellent book. The plot was well constructed and the characters were excellently depicted. I liked how it explored the rage hidden deep in the dark recesses of the human mind. This was definitely an intense and thrilling book, and I'd recommend it to anyone who is dealing with emotional issues.

Rating:
Summary: Unrealistic
Review: I understand that this book tries to reflect real teenager's feelings and that the ending is considered realistic, but I found Shadow People depressing. Four teenagers - Lydia, Hollis, Alec, and Gabe - start a group called Shadow People, where they plan to go out and release their fury on the unsuspecting town. I don't believe that the feelings and actions of the characters are accurate reflections of teenagers. Sure, we all get angry, but most of us do not blow up buildings because of it. When I read this book I was looking for an intriguing thriller, but the book is neither interesting or suspenseful. I wouldn't waste your time on it.

Rating:
Summary: Shadow People
Review: Shadow People by Joyce McDonald is a book I would recommend for young readers. It is very interesting and the format of the story is unique.

In Shadow People, Gabriel Hart is a teenage boy who moves to Knollwood, an urban town, with his family after his brother Ben was murdered.

He then encounters three other teens, Alec, Lydia, and Hollis, who share the same feelings as he does, anger, lonliness, and frustration. They all meet by accident but are all drawn together by a strong force which they can't explain. Each of them have their own seperate lives and seem harmless to other people, but when night falls they become violent. They destroy as much as they can every night.

However when Gem Hennessey comes into Gabriel's life she becomes all he can think about. She then falls in love with him.

Will Gabriel change his wild ways and chose a calm happy life with Gem or will he stay in his life of destruction with his new "friends". He will have to make his decision when one of his wild nights goes too far and he'll have Gem's life in one hand and his own life in the other.

Which will he chose?

This book was very interesting to me and I enjoyed reading it. I also recommend by Joyce McDonald, Swallowing Stones. That was also a very unique book in my opinion and I believe alot of people will enjoy her novels if they take the time to sit down and read them. They'll be happy they did.

Rating:
Summary: Kev's Review
Review: This book is about kids in bad situations who, both unintentionally and intentionally, make things worse for themselves. They feel that they are so lost that there is no hope for redemption for themselves, and so they act out as a way to vent all the frustration and anger that is a result of these things. At first I really didn't like this book, but the further I read, the more into it I got. In a lot of ways, it portrays a realistic picture of the kind of world that a lot of kids nowadays are living in. I could identify with these "misfits" quite a bit myself.

The problem is, none of the four "misfits" seem to have enough strength of character to try to halt the events which occur. And, while this is quite common, it seems that we can read about these kids every day in the newspaper, rather than have to read about them in a (fiction) book. However, there do seem to be a lot of people who have no understanding how these kids get into these situations, and this book can maybe be used to help enlighten them.

Even so, by the end, i was caught up in the story and really hoping that by some miracle they could find a way out...