cover image LISTEN TO THE SHADOWS

LISTEN TO THE SHADOWS

Danuta Reah, . . Morrow, $25 (305pp) ISBN 978-0-06-019964-7

First published last year in the U.K. under the title Silent Playgrounds, British author Reah's unsettling and somewhat creepy psychological thriller explores the extent to which one child's fantasies prove frighteningly real. The story opens with the police search for missing six-year-old Lucy Fielding and her babysitter, Emma, in a neighborhood park in Sheffield, England. Lucy's mother, Jane, and Jane's best friend, Suzanne Milner, are frantic until Lucy is found safe in nearby woods. Emma is not as lucky—her dead body is discovered in an abandoned section of the park. Lucy, a stoic child with a vivid imagination, explains that there are monsters in the park, yet no one takes the child seriously except Suzanne, and an investigation ensues. Suzanne, a research academic who works with delinquent teens, had been jogging in the park the morning of the murder and thinks she saw one of the teens she counsels hanging around the crime scene. As she works alongside the police and gives credence to Lucy's drawing and stories, the killer closes in on her. When a second body is found and a seedy student drug ring is uncovered, Suzanne realizes that the delinquent teens she researches are not just guilty of petty crime but may be involved in much more sinister and complex activities. This atmospheric thriller starts off with potentially interesting characters and good pacing, but languishes toward the middle with little fresh action to tide the reader over until the puzzling and unexpected ending. The meticulously detailed suburban English setting and Reah's literary touch will appeal to those who appreciate a more sophisticated and subdued suspense tale, but readership on this side of the Atlantic will be limited. (July)