Review of Shadows That Tempt
Posted: 20 Apr 2022, 09:29
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Shadows That Tempt" by Gitte Tamar.]
Often, in murder mysteries, psychopaths have troubled childhoods. Sometimes, childhood trauma may result from abusive parents. Other times, it may be because of abandonment and lack of attention from the parents. Although neither of these can justify psychopathic tendencies, parents should strive to provide an enjoyable childhood for all their children to save them from these traumas. Shadows That Tempt by Gitte Tamar is a fictional book that narrates how an unhappy childhood turned a once innocent and intelligent girl into a monster who enjoys killing anyone she deems a nuisance.
After years of being reminded of how ugly she was, the narrator, a lady, finds solace in reading. Although her father was against this, she insisted on reading as many books as possible. While her other siblings got suitors, she knew no suitor would come for her. One day, while reading, she heard a voice. Later, she realized the voice was coming from a shadow. The shadow became her friend and started instructing her on what to do to make her life bearable. How will this shadow help her? Will she eventually get suitors? How will she treat those who wronged her? How does this turn her into a psychopath?
This book has two hundred and seven pages. It is divided into twelve chapters. Towards the end, the author includes an epilogue. The story is narrated from the first-person point of view and in the present tense. Some themes found in this book include relationship and marriage, friendship and betrayal, family relations, and murder.
I liked several things about this book. First, the author's use of flashbacks helps develop the characters. For instance, the narrator's childhood helped me understand her actions better. Second, imagery and vivid descriptions brought the book to life. I felt like I was right there in the scene most of the time, observing the characters' actions first-hand. Since I only found three grammatical errors while reading, this book appears to have been professionally edited.
Although this is an interesting book, it has some flaws. First, the author's vocabulary wasn't easy to understand. I had to refer to the dictionary to understand the story fully. Although some words, such as boudoir, were available in my dictionary, I couldn't find others, such as pickaxe. The constant reference to the dictionary slowed my reading, making the book less enjoyable. Second, the book was very slow-paced. In fact, for the first fifty pages (around three chapters), the plot was stuck in a single scene. Third, it was very hard to differentiate between the narrator's thoughts and her actions. I often got confused as I couldn't tell when she was daydreaming about killing someone and when she was actually killing someone.
In conclusion, although this book has a great storyline, the aforementioned flaws prevented me from fully enjoying the reading. I, therefore, rate it 3 out of 4 stars. I only deducted one star because, although I often referred to the dictionary, some people, especially native English speakers, may not be affected by this. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading thriller books. There are several explicit murder scenes. Anyone who finds murder scenes disturbing may not enjoy reading this book.
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Shadows That Tempt
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Often, in murder mysteries, psychopaths have troubled childhoods. Sometimes, childhood trauma may result from abusive parents. Other times, it may be because of abandonment and lack of attention from the parents. Although neither of these can justify psychopathic tendencies, parents should strive to provide an enjoyable childhood for all their children to save them from these traumas. Shadows That Tempt by Gitte Tamar is a fictional book that narrates how an unhappy childhood turned a once innocent and intelligent girl into a monster who enjoys killing anyone she deems a nuisance.
After years of being reminded of how ugly she was, the narrator, a lady, finds solace in reading. Although her father was against this, she insisted on reading as many books as possible. While her other siblings got suitors, she knew no suitor would come for her. One day, while reading, she heard a voice. Later, she realized the voice was coming from a shadow. The shadow became her friend and started instructing her on what to do to make her life bearable. How will this shadow help her? Will she eventually get suitors? How will she treat those who wronged her? How does this turn her into a psychopath?
This book has two hundred and seven pages. It is divided into twelve chapters. Towards the end, the author includes an epilogue. The story is narrated from the first-person point of view and in the present tense. Some themes found in this book include relationship and marriage, friendship and betrayal, family relations, and murder.
I liked several things about this book. First, the author's use of flashbacks helps develop the characters. For instance, the narrator's childhood helped me understand her actions better. Second, imagery and vivid descriptions brought the book to life. I felt like I was right there in the scene most of the time, observing the characters' actions first-hand. Since I only found three grammatical errors while reading, this book appears to have been professionally edited.
Although this is an interesting book, it has some flaws. First, the author's vocabulary wasn't easy to understand. I had to refer to the dictionary to understand the story fully. Although some words, such as boudoir, were available in my dictionary, I couldn't find others, such as pickaxe. The constant reference to the dictionary slowed my reading, making the book less enjoyable. Second, the book was very slow-paced. In fact, for the first fifty pages (around three chapters), the plot was stuck in a single scene. Third, it was very hard to differentiate between the narrator's thoughts and her actions. I often got confused as I couldn't tell when she was daydreaming about killing someone and when she was actually killing someone.
In conclusion, although this book has a great storyline, the aforementioned flaws prevented me from fully enjoying the reading. I, therefore, rate it 3 out of 4 stars. I only deducted one star because, although I often referred to the dictionary, some people, especially native English speakers, may not be affected by this. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading thriller books. There are several explicit murder scenes. Anyone who finds murder scenes disturbing may not enjoy reading this book.
******
Shadows That Tempt
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon