Shadowlands by Kate Brian (review)

While taking a shortcut through the woods on her way home from school, Rory is attacked and nearly killed by her math teacher. It turns out that her mild-mannered teacher is in fact a notorious serial killer with a knack for escaping the police, even though they know that he has killed fourteen girls in ten states. They also know that an unfinished job means that he will attempt to kill a girl’s entire family, so the police ship Rory, her sister, and her father off to the secluded island of Juniper Landing as part of a witness-protection program. On the way there, Rory has a horrifically violent and unsettling dream that the killer has caught up with them, and when they arrive at the island, she senses his presence everywhere. Her sister is bitter about the disruption of her life, and she is determined to have a good time partying with the locals, who include a bevy of wealthy, good-looking young people. These teens aren’t what they seem, however, and the reveal at the end is sketchy at best, requiring readers to do a lot of extrapolation and speculation about what’s really going on on Juniper Island. By the end Brian has built up so many tantalizing possibilities that her ultimate choice seems an easy, almost amateurish way out. Along the way, though, there’s lots of the kind of suspense and excitation that attends the serial killer/horror genre, with chapters told from the creepy perspective of the killer peppering the narrative and confirming the suspicions that Rory is trying to keep at bay. Readers who enjoy a tense windup with an unexpected shock at the end may therefore still enjoy this flawed but engaging murder mystery.