The Shadow That Lives There

by Eric Havens

"It was built.

No one could quite remember why, or how, or even when.

But it was built."

 

Blair and Alison hated the house. It was where their mother died, and where their father was murdered.

 

Both sisters had left it behind, leaving it to their childhood, to the past. But the house was patient. It waited.

 

Until it was time.

 

Time for the sisters to finally return to face the house, each other, and most of all, the shadow that lives there. 

188 pages, Paperback

Published November 21, 2023

About the author

Eric Havens is an award-winning screenwriter and novelist whose work includes, ‘Call Girl’, “The Stylist”, “A Message of Hope From the Terminally Depressed”, and “The Devil and Me”. They have won several ‘Best Screenplay’ awards from an array of film festivals as well as placing in the quarterfinals of the prestigious Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. Their novels have been praised as “the right blend of brains, heart and pulp”, “captivating from the first page”, and “apocalyptic and hard-boiled”. An internet commenter once claimed that, “Havens is truly, truly terrible.”

Havens is also a longtime critic and journalist for several film sites such as Downright Creepy and Boom Howdy.

Reviews

[Dustin Dye · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shadow That Lives There is a psychological horror thriller that unfolds like a mystery. The ghost story is more of a hanger for a drama about a family that has become estranged, and the haunted house is a setting for two sisters to confront their past and forgive each other. It's actually a sweet story, but will also give you the chills at times. While I was reading it, I found myself a little jumpier in the dark. Eric Havens doesn't pull punches, so you'll be continuously surprised by the turns the story takes. The prose is also top-notch. It's poetic without becoming overly verbose or veering into the purple, a crime committed by too much genre fiction. Buy it wherever *better* books are sold.

[Ayah Abdul-Rauf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved the concept behind this book, and I thought the dialogue was written really well, which is rare. The house as a metaphor for what was going on between the siblings was an awesome concept, I just didn’t feel like it forced them to face their demons, so to speak. They never really had a heart to heart about it what was bothering them, except for the house itself. And there were a lot of single line paragraphs, which isn’t bad but just not my facorite style to read. I did like the idea though so I would be curious to check out more from this author!