Shadows

by Jan Alexander

Maggie Berke, the greatest of Hollywood’s great stars, retired at the height of fame and glory to devote herself to her son’s burgeoning career as a child star. Then tragedy struck. Twenty years later, her niece Mari Andrews comes to visit and finds her aunt haunted by the ghost of her lost child, teetering on the brink of madness.
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A novel from Victor Banis, author of nearly 200 novels and too many short stories to count.

Genres: Gothic, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Pseudonym for Victor J. Banis Also wrote under the name Lynn Benedict.

Reviews

[Adrian Griffiths · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, has this really been republished on Kindle? It's a standard gothic in which a young woman goes to visit her aunt who is a faded movie star, living in a creepy mansion that may be haunted by a ghost! The reveal of who is the "villain" is not much of a surprise but the climactic peril for our heroine was actually quite tense.

It's pretty well written, and despite the corny subject matter it worked well enough for me. If you wanted a textbook example of the genre for research purposes, or as a "taster" of a mass market gothic romance, this would fit the bill perfectly and not be a chore to read, either. I especially love the biography on the back cover that raves about Jan Alexander's experience as an author, when actually this is just a pen-name for Victor J Banis.

[Kathi Miles-avcollie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this tale of old hollywood. The character are great and the mystery is fun and twisty. A little romance thrown in too.