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Shiver the Whole Night Through
After months of bullying and romantic heartbreak, seventeen-year-old Aidan Flood feels just about ready to end it all. But when he wakes up one morning to find that local beauty and town sweetheart Sláine McAuley actually has, he discovers a new sense of purpose, and becomes determined to find out what happened to her. The town is happy to put it down to suicide, but then one night Aidan gets a message, scratched in ice on his bedroom window: 'I didn't kill myself.' Who is contacting him? And if Sláine didn't end her own life... who did?
337 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2014
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185 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
February 16, 2015
This was a big pile of blurgh.
No really there's no other way to describe how I'm feeling right now.
No really there's no other way to describe how I'm feeling right now.
June 24, 2017
Read my full review with GIFs on my blog Lauren Reads YA.
Trigger Warning: self-harm
I really, really wanted to like this book, but I ended up severely disappointed. This book is so incredibly cringe-worthy, I spent at least the last 50 pages or so facepalming.
As we all expect from a typical YA paranormal (romance): our main character gets into a relationship with a supernatural creature, in this case a ghost. This has always been weird to me, especially since Anna Dressed In Blood. Can we please just stop it with these weird-ass dysfunctional relationships because I don’t want to read about that ever again.
The romance is also INCREDIBLY CHEESY. Every time they said anything remotely ‘romantic’ to each other, I rolled my eyes so hard I swear they almost rolled out of my head, all the way around the world, and then back into my head, only to do the whole thing over again with their next interaction.
I speedread through Shiver the Whole Night Through so I could get it out of the way as soon as possible and focus on something more enjoyable. It kind of felt like reading an episode of Supernatural with terribly unlikeable characters.
I don’t think I can recommend this book… Unless you are into ridiculous paranormal romances.
Trigger Warning: self-harm
I really, really wanted to like this book, but I ended up severely disappointed. This book is so incredibly cringe-worthy, I spent at least the last 50 pages or so facepalming.
As we all expect from a typical YA paranormal (romance): our main character gets into a relationship with a supernatural creature, in this case a ghost. This has always been weird to me, especially since Anna Dressed In Blood. Can we please just stop it with these weird-ass dysfunctional relationships because I don’t want to read about that ever again.
The romance is also INCREDIBLY CHEESY. Every time they said anything remotely ‘romantic’ to each other, I rolled my eyes so hard I swear they almost rolled out of my head, all the way around the world, and then back into my head, only to do the whole thing over again with their next interaction.
I speedread through Shiver the Whole Night Through so I could get it out of the way as soon as possible and focus on something more enjoyable. It kind of felt like reading an episode of Supernatural with terribly unlikeable characters.
I don’t think I can recommend this book… Unless you are into ridiculous paranormal romances.
December 18, 2014
Actual rating: 2.5 stars
*This review also appears on my blog Genie In A Book*
Thank you to Five Mile Press Australia for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
Shiver the Whole Night Through didn't quite tick all the boxes for me, but the chilling setting in the woods and Irish influence, along with a darker paranormal twist towards the end did give it some positive points.
Unfortunately one of the reasons why I didn't rate this book higher was Aidan's character and the narratorial voice. While I can understand that writing with his colloquialisms made him more of a realistic teenager in his situation, I did find that his attitude towards his peers and the situation itself was irritating at times. He didn't exactly appreciate his friends or had much respect for the ones who had died, which irked me - though I do get the feeling that perhaps he wasn't 'meant' to be likable in the first place. In any case, I'd leave that one to you to decide if you get to reading this book.
What I did find interesting was the Irish cultural references and glimpses into their history. It's not very often that I've come across novels with this setting, and in combination with the site of Sláine's death being in the creepy Shook Woods I could tell where the author was coming from in setting the ominous atmosphere. There's even a guide to the pronunciation of Irish Gaelic words on the first page which was helpful and showed that there was research that had gone into this book to try and make this aspect authentic.
The paranormal element didn't quite work for me, and the romance seemed to come out of nowhere. Nonetheless, what saved the ending was the darker twist which I wasn't expecting, and the folklore came to life. By the end although I was glad that I'd finished it, this book still was able to portray an eeriness and space for you to wonder where Aidan and Sláine would end up next.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Shiver the Whole Night Through may not be my favourite murder-mystery novel, but that doesn't mean that it won't work for you. If anything, I'd still say to give it a try if you don't mind a more casual writing style and are looking for a snippet of Irish culture.
*This review also appears on my blog Genie In A Book*
Thank you to Five Mile Press Australia for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
Shiver the Whole Night Through didn't quite tick all the boxes for me, but the chilling setting in the woods and Irish influence, along with a darker paranormal twist towards the end did give it some positive points.
Unfortunately one of the reasons why I didn't rate this book higher was Aidan's character and the narratorial voice. While I can understand that writing with his colloquialisms made him more of a realistic teenager in his situation, I did find that his attitude towards his peers and the situation itself was irritating at times. He didn't exactly appreciate his friends or had much respect for the ones who had died, which irked me - though I do get the feeling that perhaps he wasn't 'meant' to be likable in the first place. In any case, I'd leave that one to you to decide if you get to reading this book.
The woods were more than a collection of trees and wildlife: they were some kind of eerie dreamscape, a hellish netherworld into which I'd been drawn. Mysterious, ambivalent, unreal, yet strangely comforting too. The forest, I remember someone writing once, was everything those fairy tales made you feel.
What I did find interesting was the Irish cultural references and glimpses into their history. It's not very often that I've come across novels with this setting, and in combination with the site of Sláine's death being in the creepy Shook Woods I could tell where the author was coming from in setting the ominous atmosphere. There's even a guide to the pronunciation of Irish Gaelic words on the first page which was helpful and showed that there was research that had gone into this book to try and make this aspect authentic.
The paranormal element didn't quite work for me, and the romance seemed to come out of nowhere. Nonetheless, what saved the ending was the darker twist which I wasn't expecting, and the folklore came to life. By the end although I was glad that I'd finished it, this book still was able to portray an eeriness and space for you to wonder where Aidan and Sláine would end up next.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Shiver the Whole Night Through may not be my favourite murder-mystery novel, but that doesn't mean that it won't work for you. If anything, I'd still say to give it a try if you don't mind a more casual writing style and are looking for a snippet of Irish culture.
June 26, 2017
It didn't really meet my expectations.
I was expecting it would have a subtler supernatural theme to it but with a contemporary storyline: Slaine would communicate with Aiden mysteriously from the dead by writing I didn't kill myself on his frosted window and other little things like that--I didn't actually expect Slaine to appear to him as a ghost and talk to him and live in a cabin with him, for Pete's sake--and that Slaine was murdered by someone and it was up to Aiden to prove who it was. I honestly thought it would go down the same route as Liars, Inc. or the Pretty Little Liars series so I was gearing myself up for that but didn't expect that the supernatural historical theme would be more prominent.
Fair enough, it's a supernatural novel, not a contemporary thriller. Okay. But the main problem this book had was it was telling, not showing. Eugh. This is what books that have so much potential tended to be flawed with. The most obvious example of that in this book was near the end. The book doesn't actually let us in to what the main characters think or speculate about by showing us, and instead tells us through the characters' dialogues and we all just somehow have to ride along with it. Sigh.
Aiden's voice, though authentic, was a tad annoying. How he was bullied also didn't seem realistic. His girlfriend cheats on him and he's the one who gets bullied for it? No no no. That will never happen in real life. The girl would get shit for it, not him. She's going to be ostracised for cheating on her boyfriend and would most definitely get called a slut or other demeaning, misogynistic terms. The methods he was bullied with all seemed silly and over-the-top. There was one mention of someone hurling a brick or a rock through his window with a picture of his ex-girlfriend wrapped around it. Seriously? It sounds like an adult man who has never been bullied in his life's idea of what bullying is in 2014. I just really didn't understand why Aiden was being severely bullied (to the point that a Facebook hate page was made about him) because his girlfriend cheated on him while she got little to no shit when she was the one who cheated. It was just so bizarre and backwards and would never happen in real life--unless they already hated Aiden from the start, but it said no one really paid much attention to him before he was cheated on.
I also wasn't into the idea of Aiden and Slaine's insta-love. The fact that they didn't know each other before she died kept being brought up in the story, so when they somehow fall in love out of nowhere was a bit weird to me. I don't know about you, but if I ever met a ghost of someone who went to my school but didn't really know them before they died and asked me to help solve their murder, I'd be too busy thinking Holy shit, I'm talking to a ghost! to actually fall in love with them. But to each their own, I guess?
There were some other unbelievable things in the book, like Aiden sleeping in a forest alone near where Slaine was found dead just because he felt like it... eh. It all just sounded like a badly written horror movie.
But it wasn't all bad. Its flaws didn't deter me to want to keep reading and find out what was behind Slaine's death. The ending was also good. If you don't mind supernatural cheesiness, this is right up your alley.
If you liked this book, you might also like:
The Diviners by Libba Bray
Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Yellow by Megan Jacobson
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
I was expecting it would have a subtler supernatural theme to it but with a contemporary storyline: Slaine would communicate with Aiden mysteriously from the dead by writing I didn't kill myself on his frosted window and other little things like that--I didn't actually expect Slaine to appear to him as a ghost and talk to him and live in a cabin with him, for Pete's sake--and that Slaine was murdered by someone and it was up to Aiden to prove who it was. I honestly thought it would go down the same route as Liars, Inc. or the Pretty Little Liars series so I was gearing myself up for that but didn't expect that the supernatural historical theme would be more prominent.
Fair enough, it's a supernatural novel, not a contemporary thriller. Okay. But the main problem this book had was it was telling, not showing. Eugh. This is what books that have so much potential tended to be flawed with. The most obvious example of that in this book was near the end. The book doesn't actually let us in to what the main characters think or speculate about by showing us, and instead tells us through the characters' dialogues and we all just somehow have to ride along with it. Sigh.
Aiden's voice, though authentic, was a tad annoying. How he was bullied also didn't seem realistic. His girlfriend cheats on him and he's the one who gets bullied for it? No no no. That will never happen in real life. The girl would get shit for it, not him. She's going to be ostracised for cheating on her boyfriend and would most definitely get called a slut or other demeaning, misogynistic terms. The methods he was bullied with all seemed silly and over-the-top. There was one mention of someone hurling a brick or a rock through his window with a picture of his ex-girlfriend wrapped around it. Seriously? It sounds like an adult man who has never been bullied in his life's idea of what bullying is in 2014. I just really didn't understand why Aiden was being severely bullied (to the point that a Facebook hate page was made about him) because his girlfriend cheated on him while she got little to no shit when she was the one who cheated. It was just so bizarre and backwards and would never happen in real life--unless they already hated Aiden from the start, but it said no one really paid much attention to him before he was cheated on.
I also wasn't into the idea of Aiden and Slaine's insta-love. The fact that they didn't know each other before she died kept being brought up in the story, so when they somehow fall in love out of nowhere was a bit weird to me. I don't know about you, but if I ever met a ghost of someone who went to my school but didn't really know them before they died and asked me to help solve their murder, I'd be too busy thinking Holy shit, I'm talking to a ghost! to actually fall in love with them. But to each their own, I guess?
There were some other unbelievable things in the book, like Aiden sleeping in a forest alone near where Slaine was found dead just because he felt like it... eh. It all just sounded like a badly written horror movie.
But it wasn't all bad. Its flaws didn't deter me to want to keep reading and find out what was behind Slaine's death. The ending was also good. If you don't mind supernatural cheesiness, this is right up your alley.
If you liked this book, you might also like:
The Diviners by Libba Bray
Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Yellow by Megan Jacobson
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
January 17, 2015
Reviewed for Confessions From Romaholics
I wanted to love Shiver Through the Night and three quarters way through the book, I was totally enjoying this book . Even thought the narrative voice of Aidan Flood the loner came across as a little whinny kid. Until the changes brought forth to try and wrap up the book and it went downhill from there. I get the reason of creating this whiner protagonist that seems to find everything wrong in his world, he had his life turn upside down in the last year. The opening of book gave us the vivid picture of this with the bridge scene and we soon came to discover as it not easy being Aiden Flood as there was so much trouble and words inflicted on him that affected him. These days he doesn’t seem to care about anything and Podsey is the only one he can call a friend but he has to find problems about him as like everyone one. The only saving part that happens so fast that cuts out the the page after page of whining is that the local beauty is killed and everyone thinks it is a suicide. The town makes a fuss and Aiden is somewhat forced to talk about it since everyone is and then something happens that change his outlook of his day to day life.
The suicide is more than and he discovers that fact when he mysteriously get a message saying that 'I didn't kill myself.' He soon throws himself into as he thinks that he can solve it for no particular reason and it becomes the centre point of the story.
Who did it?
Is the question that lingers on his lips for most of the story despite others thinking otherwise. It the only thing that partly saves the book that there more to this small town that the suicide and it slowly takes over the whole town as they all form opinions on what is happening as it affecting everyone in some way.
It should be about that mystery, however the writer decides to delve into a few storylines around this mystery. Aidan is totally a misfit because of his past and I thought it was looking up he would let up the whining and become more of a teenager then a little kid. Everything seems to be fixing themselves but he has to whine about his life as if he was perpetually in a bad mood and put his foot into it.
The book promised true love on the back as part of the what’s in it and did I must say but it seemed a bit creepy . Falling in love with a ghost girl is one thing but making this his true love , this was another thing I slowly grew to have issues with as everything clashed together three quarters way in. I had to wonder, what she saw in him, and why he was so agreeable to think that he was in love with her. Add in the villain that comes so left field that they weren’t on your radar, you have to think that the story has the lost the plot when it come the who did bit.
When the supernatural was explained and we discover the reasons for the troubles that has plagued the small Irish town for the last few weeks, I felt disappointed as the idea was introduced too late. There had been hints about Slaine’s background and the fact he was doing research about her but to discover that there was more to someone else that he wasn’t thinking about. I felt gypped, I would of rather seen a different ending then what I got.
2.5 – 3 stars. This wasn’t the mystery for me, the book did deliver what it promised was in it but it was a bit creepy thanks to the protagonist
For more of my reviews, visit Confessions From Romaholics.And drop by the blog's Facebook page
I wanted to love Shiver Through the Night and three quarters way through the book, I was totally enjoying this book . Even thought the narrative voice of Aidan Flood the loner came across as a little whinny kid. Until the changes brought forth to try and wrap up the book and it went downhill from there. I get the reason of creating this whiner protagonist that seems to find everything wrong in his world, he had his life turn upside down in the last year. The opening of book gave us the vivid picture of this with the bridge scene and we soon came to discover as it not easy being Aiden Flood as there was so much trouble and words inflicted on him that affected him. These days he doesn’t seem to care about anything and Podsey is the only one he can call a friend but he has to find problems about him as like everyone one. The only saving part that happens so fast that cuts out the the page after page of whining is that the local beauty is killed and everyone thinks it is a suicide. The town makes a fuss and Aiden is somewhat forced to talk about it since everyone is and then something happens that change his outlook of his day to day life.
The suicide is more than and he discovers that fact when he mysteriously get a message saying that 'I didn't kill myself.' He soon throws himself into as he thinks that he can solve it for no particular reason and it becomes the centre point of the story.
Who did it?
Is the question that lingers on his lips for most of the story despite others thinking otherwise. It the only thing that partly saves the book that there more to this small town that the suicide and it slowly takes over the whole town as they all form opinions on what is happening as it affecting everyone in some way.
It should be about that mystery, however the writer decides to delve into a few storylines around this mystery. Aidan is totally a misfit because of his past and I thought it was looking up he would let up the whining and become more of a teenager then a little kid. Everything seems to be fixing themselves but he has to whine about his life as if he was perpetually in a bad mood and put his foot into it.
The book promised true love on the back as part of the what’s in it and did I must say but it seemed a bit creepy . Falling in love with a ghost girl is one thing but making this his true love , this was another thing I slowly grew to have issues with as everything clashed together three quarters way in. I had to wonder, what she saw in him, and why he was so agreeable to think that he was in love with her. Add in the villain that comes so left field that they weren’t on your radar, you have to think that the story has the lost the plot when it come the who did bit.
When the supernatural was explained and we discover the reasons for the troubles that has plagued the small Irish town for the last few weeks, I felt disappointed as the idea was introduced too late. There had been hints about Slaine’s background and the fact he was doing research about her but to discover that there was more to someone else that he wasn’t thinking about. I felt gypped, I would of rather seen a different ending then what I got.
2.5 – 3 stars. This wasn’t the mystery for me, the book did deliver what it promised was in it but it was a bit creepy thanks to the protagonist
For more of my reviews, visit Confessions From Romaholics.And drop by the blog's Facebook page
April 20, 2015
I seem to be on a pattern lately. The last three books I’ve read, including this one all have something in common: murder. Don’t worry, I’m not going crazy or something. Hahaha! I’m just a completely normal teenager enjoying mystery novels lately.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It kind of gave me the creeps while reading it. I particulary enjoyed reading this one night last week, when I was wide awake around 1AM. Really, the time added some effect to the story. Anyway, I haven’t heard about this book before, let alone the author but I’m really glad I had the opportunity to read this because it’s been one of the most enjoyable reads for me this year.
I didn’t know if she meant the weather conditions or the world in general.
The story was told in the point of view of Aidan Flood, who lives in a small town in Ireland. Aidan has been bullied and given shit by his schoolmates and other people for months but he’s decided to keep all of it to himself. He almost decided to end his life until Slaine McAuley ended up dead. Aidan has found himself drawn into finding conclusions as to what really went down, especially after attacks happened one after the other.
Aidan was kind of the typical YA hero. I didn’t seen anything about him that may really distinguish him from the other YA heroes I’ve read from other books. This doesn’t mean that I didn’t like him though. I liked his curiosity and willingness to pursue it and find answers, even though the answers were quite peculiar and unusual, he totally kept his chill most of the time.
This book kind of reminded me of Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes because in one part of this book, the attacks were trying to be pinned down to Aiden. It was a good thing for me because I had no idea who was behind the attacks and I doubted Aiden as well. It’s one thing I love about mystery/suspense stories, where the narrator seemed to be a bit unreliable because it adds tension to the story. At one point in the story, I was really sure who the suspect was but OH I WAS TRULY WRONG.
I love how the story expanded from reality to the supernatural. It’s not often that I read books like this one so I really appreciated it, because I love horror/thriller movies. This is the kind of the story that piques the curiosity of readers as well. This book has a bit of a romance that is very unusual but I did find it adorable.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It kind of gave me the creeps while reading it. I particulary enjoyed reading this one night last week, when I was wide awake around 1AM. Really, the time added some effect to the story. Anyway, I haven’t heard about this book before, let alone the author but I’m really glad I had the opportunity to read this because it’s been one of the most enjoyable reads for me this year.
I didn’t know if she meant the weather conditions or the world in general.
The story was told in the point of view of Aidan Flood, who lives in a small town in Ireland. Aidan has been bullied and given shit by his schoolmates and other people for months but he’s decided to keep all of it to himself. He almost decided to end his life until Slaine McAuley ended up dead. Aidan has found himself drawn into finding conclusions as to what really went down, especially after attacks happened one after the other.
Aidan was kind of the typical YA hero. I didn’t seen anything about him that may really distinguish him from the other YA heroes I’ve read from other books. This doesn’t mean that I didn’t like him though. I liked his curiosity and willingness to pursue it and find answers, even though the answers were quite peculiar and unusual, he totally kept his chill most of the time.
This book kind of reminded me of Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes because in one part of this book, the attacks were trying to be pinned down to Aiden. It was a good thing for me because I had no idea who was behind the attacks and I doubted Aiden as well. It’s one thing I love about mystery/suspense stories, where the narrator seemed to be a bit unreliable because it adds tension to the story. At one point in the story, I was really sure who the suspect was but OH I WAS TRULY WRONG.
I love how the story expanded from reality to the supernatural. It’s not often that I read books like this one so I really appreciated it, because I love horror/thriller movies. This is the kind of the story that piques the curiosity of readers as well. This book has a bit of a romance that is very unusual but I did find it adorable.
January 27, 2015
For a book to legitimately scare me is a rarity, and one honour I've only ever really bestowed on Stephen King in the past. But I was reading this until 11 last night, with my window open, and jumping at every noise and gust of wind! I also think I dreamed of it too, and at once stage when my partner did his usual throw an arm over anything near and draw it in, in his sleep mind you, I think I reacted rather violently. Hah, nice.
Firstly I loved the setting. The rugged, isolated town. I never really got a feel for how many people lived there though, because Aiden doesn't know all of the victims. It made me think it wasn't the small town vibe I thought was happening originally.
I think the point of Aiden was you weren't meant to like him. He isn't exactly the forgiving type, and he's got that typical teenager mood the whole book. I do think he grows out of it a little though. I honestly thought the bullying would have a supernatural element, the way the whole town turned on him like that. I mean, I get the isolated and alone thing, because I've been bullied myself. However, mine was always done when I was alone, and almost no one knew it was happening until it was over. I can't believe everyone just turned a blind eye!
I think this one might stay with me, weird dreams aside. I really wasn't sure I'd like it due to the mixed reviews, but I was in the camp higher stars! I definitely recommend you try it, and remember that you aren't meant to like Aiden!
Firstly I loved the setting. The rugged, isolated town. I never really got a feel for how many people lived there though, because Aiden doesn't know all of the victims. It made me think it wasn't the small town vibe I thought was happening originally.
I think the point of Aiden was you weren't meant to like him. He isn't exactly the forgiving type, and he's got that typical teenager mood the whole book. I do think he grows out of it a little though. I honestly thought the bullying would have a supernatural element, the way the whole town turned on him like that. I mean, I get the isolated and alone thing, because I've been bullied myself. However, mine was always done when I was alone, and almost no one knew it was happening until it was over. I can't believe everyone just turned a blind eye!
I think this one might stay with me, weird dreams aside. I really wasn't sure I'd like it due to the mixed reviews, but I was in the camp higher stars! I definitely recommend you try it, and remember that you aren't meant to like Aiden!
October 23, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. It is instantly gripping, has characters you care about, and touches on important issues. Set in an isolated town in the west of Ireland, it draws on Celtic imagery and folklore and serves it up with a contemporary twist. It does what every good book should do - when you get to the bottom of the page, you want to read the next one. Narrowly misses out on five stars, but you get the sense of an author getting to know his characters and setting. The next one will be five, I'm sure.
April 4, 2015
I think this is going to be a DNF for me. Not because it is awful but because I'm not interested enough to want to finish it when I have other books in the house I am dying to read. Might come back to it at some point.
July 3, 2017
Originally posted at http://mythoughtsaboutbooks.blogspot....
I’ve had this in my giant Read For Work When You Get The Chance pile under my desk since it came in based entirely on the title. I was expecting something gloomy and noir, a murder mystery with Twin Peaks forest vibes and potential Leadbelly/Nirvana soundtracks.
Kind of. It wasn’t as noir as I expected, and I certainly wasn’t expecting a character investigating their *own murder*. Shiver The Whole Night Through is essentially a paranormal romance with some detective work and supernatural badness thrown in, set in n a gloomy Irish town with a tragic, famine related history.
When we first meet Aidan Flood, he is teetering on the edge of the town’s ancient bridge, about to plunge to his self-inflicted death. He has endured months of merciless bullying and psychological torture because his then GF cheated on him, and sees suicide as his best option. Being cheated on is honestly the reason. I feel like this is one of the book’s weakest aspects- I can’t imagine a scenario where this is believable. Kids can be ruthless devils, everyone knows this. You do not need to invent such a weird reason for someone to be bullied. Being poor, as Aiden is, or a bit of a loner, as Aiden also is, is motive enough for him to become a target. The GF cheating story just felt completely unnecessary and redundant and kind of weakened the book’s premise for me.
Anyway, he decides against death at the last minute and goes home- only to discover the following morning that Sláine McAuley, a popular, beautiful, clever girl that was the year above him at school, has been found dead in the haunted Shook Woods. The town is bereft. The police say hypothermia; Sláine simply laid herself down in the cold and froze to death, no matter how out of character it might sound. Unconvinced, Aiden refuses to believe that Sláine was suicidal. Not that he has ever spoken to her…but she didn’t bully him. His suspicions are confirmed when he receives creepy, frozen messages telling him “I didn’t kill myself”. Drawn to the scene, Aidan returns to the woods to look for clues, or to catch the killer, or mope…but what he finds is more unusual than that. It’s Sláine- not alive, but not entirely dead either; a powerful, more beautiful than ever, ghost like entity. And she wants answers.
Together, Aidan and Sláine delve into the town’s tragic history and examine some of its shadier characters in an attempt to discover who killed her and why, and if the murder is in some way connected to the unnaturally long, sub-zero winter the town seems to be caught up in. Just the town. The rest of Ireland is fine, it’s just the town and the surrounding woods and mountains. Meanwhile, some kind of feral animal is savaging the school’s numerous bullies, leaving them mangled and half dead- they all have one thing in common, Aidan.
I absolutely loved the setting- the mountains and the woodland that made the town so isolated, the reason it suffered such devastating losses during the famine. The author really did a great job of creating that neglected, shabby town vibe. The problem families that think they’re the Corleones, the dodgy estates, the crummy high streets. I really liked Aidan as a character, he was such a real person. Yes, he was quite annoying, smoking too much because he thought it made him edgy, being a dick to his adorable best friend Podsy, feeling sorry for himself and brooding endlessly on why life is So Unfair. Though Aidan is a bit melodramatic, he really aspires to get out of there and live a life, which is interesting considering where we first meet him. He’s an interesting character, and his inner monologue is always compelling, even if it doesn’t always make sense. Definitely not flawless, he would annoy the hell out of me for sure. But teenagers are often like that- it’s the age where you start to *understand* how messed up everything is, and how miniscule your capacity to change any of it.
Once I’d cast off the shackles of logic, this book was actually genuinely engaging and enjoyable, like a really Irish episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where as long as you don’t think too hard about the practicalities of a mortal human dating a supernatural creature, you’ll do just fine. There were things that didn’t make sense, like why Sláine would choose to reach out to a boy she doesn’t know, how obsessed Aidan gets about his ghost girlfriend, the bullying motives, and the ending is a bit of a Scooby doo special…however. The writing is top notch, really atmospheric and foreboding, successfully combining Irish history with the supernatural and the old school, ancient power of the forest. The prose was really impressive, and successfully papered over some of the logic gaps that I might otherwise have had a hard time with.
So though it’s a mixed bag, I still enjoyed reading this novel and would definitely recommend it to Murder Mystery readers and fans of Paranormal Romances. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever read a PR, I’m not sure I’d have read this if I’d have known that was the core plot. But I’m all for new things. Not as much Nirvana/Leadbelly as I’d hoped, but you cannot say that it isn’t an appropriate title.
I’ve had this in my giant Read For Work When You Get The Chance pile under my desk since it came in based entirely on the title. I was expecting something gloomy and noir, a murder mystery with Twin Peaks forest vibes and potential Leadbelly/Nirvana soundtracks.
Kind of. It wasn’t as noir as I expected, and I certainly wasn’t expecting a character investigating their *own murder*. Shiver The Whole Night Through is essentially a paranormal romance with some detective work and supernatural badness thrown in, set in n a gloomy Irish town with a tragic, famine related history.
When we first meet Aidan Flood, he is teetering on the edge of the town’s ancient bridge, about to plunge to his self-inflicted death. He has endured months of merciless bullying and psychological torture because his then GF cheated on him, and sees suicide as his best option. Being cheated on is honestly the reason. I feel like this is one of the book’s weakest aspects- I can’t imagine a scenario where this is believable. Kids can be ruthless devils, everyone knows this. You do not need to invent such a weird reason for someone to be bullied. Being poor, as Aiden is, or a bit of a loner, as Aiden also is, is motive enough for him to become a target. The GF cheating story just felt completely unnecessary and redundant and kind of weakened the book’s premise for me.
Anyway, he decides against death at the last minute and goes home- only to discover the following morning that Sláine McAuley, a popular, beautiful, clever girl that was the year above him at school, has been found dead in the haunted Shook Woods. The town is bereft. The police say hypothermia; Sláine simply laid herself down in the cold and froze to death, no matter how out of character it might sound. Unconvinced, Aiden refuses to believe that Sláine was suicidal. Not that he has ever spoken to her…but she didn’t bully him. His suspicions are confirmed when he receives creepy, frozen messages telling him “I didn’t kill myself”. Drawn to the scene, Aidan returns to the woods to look for clues, or to catch the killer, or mope…but what he finds is more unusual than that. It’s Sláine- not alive, but not entirely dead either; a powerful, more beautiful than ever, ghost like entity. And she wants answers.
Together, Aidan and Sláine delve into the town’s tragic history and examine some of its shadier characters in an attempt to discover who killed her and why, and if the murder is in some way connected to the unnaturally long, sub-zero winter the town seems to be caught up in. Just the town. The rest of Ireland is fine, it’s just the town and the surrounding woods and mountains. Meanwhile, some kind of feral animal is savaging the school’s numerous bullies, leaving them mangled and half dead- they all have one thing in common, Aidan.
I absolutely loved the setting- the mountains and the woodland that made the town so isolated, the reason it suffered such devastating losses during the famine. The author really did a great job of creating that neglected, shabby town vibe. The problem families that think they’re the Corleones, the dodgy estates, the crummy high streets. I really liked Aidan as a character, he was such a real person. Yes, he was quite annoying, smoking too much because he thought it made him edgy, being a dick to his adorable best friend Podsy, feeling sorry for himself and brooding endlessly on why life is So Unfair. Though Aidan is a bit melodramatic, he really aspires to get out of there and live a life, which is interesting considering where we first meet him. He’s an interesting character, and his inner monologue is always compelling, even if it doesn’t always make sense. Definitely not flawless, he would annoy the hell out of me for sure. But teenagers are often like that- it’s the age where you start to *understand* how messed up everything is, and how miniscule your capacity to change any of it.
Once I’d cast off the shackles of logic, this book was actually genuinely engaging and enjoyable, like a really Irish episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where as long as you don’t think too hard about the practicalities of a mortal human dating a supernatural creature, you’ll do just fine. There were things that didn’t make sense, like why Sláine would choose to reach out to a boy she doesn’t know, how obsessed Aidan gets about his ghost girlfriend, the bullying motives, and the ending is a bit of a Scooby doo special…however. The writing is top notch, really atmospheric and foreboding, successfully combining Irish history with the supernatural and the old school, ancient power of the forest. The prose was really impressive, and successfully papered over some of the logic gaps that I might otherwise have had a hard time with.
So though it’s a mixed bag, I still enjoyed reading this novel and would definitely recommend it to Murder Mystery readers and fans of Paranormal Romances. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever read a PR, I’m not sure I’d have read this if I’d have known that was the core plot. But I’m all for new things. Not as much Nirvana/Leadbelly as I’d hoped, but you cannot say that it isn’t an appropriate title.
April 15, 2019
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WARNING. MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.
Bullied and heartbroken for several months, seventeen-year-old Aidan Flood is on the verge of suicide. But his plan is put on hold when the local sweetheart, the beautiful Sláine McAuley ends up dead, in the haunted Shook Woods. The police think she died of hyperthermia, literally frozen to death. Taking his mind of his own problems, Aidan is curiously drawn to her investigation and confirms something is dark at bay when one night he gets a message, scratched in ice on his bedroom window: 'I didn't kill myself.' A dark secret dating back to the Irish Famine puts the small town in danger. Only Aidan can connect the dots between the new arrival, the murder and the dropping temperatures engulfing the land.
Author, journalist, playwright and screenwriter, Darragh McManus’s Shiver the Whole Night Through is his first Young Adult book. His previous works are two crime novels, Even Flow (2012) is a vigilante thriller and The Polka Dot Girl (2013) is an all female cast, noir style mystery. As a journalist, he has written reviews, features and opinion columns for several papers, including The Irish Independent, The Sunday Times and The Guardian, a career spanning over a decade.
McManus lives in the west of Ireland and so this novel is set in a small town of Ireland, which I love because it really made me want to go there, despite how the author creates the dark, scary and haunted Shook Woods, I still want to go. Plus the fantastic discovery of the Irish Famine linking to the present day disturbing deaths is spooky. The mystery unravelling, the twists, the plot and the way it’s been written are seemingly sufficient for a young adult book.
I’m on the fence with Aidan. He’s an eloquent guy for someone his age and an edgy character that feels relatable to those readers who have been bullied. McManus did an excellent job at creating a believable seventeen-year-old male, who suffers despicable amount of suffering, procrastinating and obsession, from the way he speaks, telling his story to the reader to the way he goes about his day, really nailing the whole moody teenager voice. Although the book is in first person narrative from the protagonist point of view, there aren’t many thoughts on the other characters, so it solely is based on Aidan’s version of the events.
I also like the opening of the book:
I stood on the bridge and tried the courage to jump. I stood there and I thought, if it’s good enough for Kurt Cobain, it’s good enough for me.
This ties in beautifully with the title and the fact that Kurt Cobain did a cover of the same title. McManus has also popped in a page of ‘guide to the pronunciation of Irish Gaelic words’ which is very helpful because I couldn’t pronounce the names and places. Similar to Joe Schreiber’s Pretty Lethal where the author encourages the reader to listen to the soundtrack, McManus has mentioned a Spotify playlist on the second page and I’ve checked it out and it as he’s promised, ‘music with a chilly, brittle, spooky and melancholy feel’.
I liked the supporting characters more than the main if I’ll be honest. Aidan’s only friend Padraig (PAW-drig) is a geek with a huge massive forgiving heart, the only person who stuck by him throughout the bullying. Sad thing is, Aiden doesn’t let his only friend in on what’s he’s discovered and Padraig doesn’t push him into telling him. What a good friend. And I like that Aidan isn’t the stupid kind when it comes to knowing who his friends are because he appreciates what Padraig has done for him.
Now I know not every character is perfect because it makes the book interesting if characters did have flaws. I personally didn’t understand Aidan’s weird obsession with people’s incorrectness of pronouncing their names. His ex-girlfriend Caitlin, who cheats on him, pronounces her name ‘like the American version Kate-lin, not Cat-leen’. Then in the next sentence, he’s not even sure why he’s getting worked up on it. I guess people have things that tick them off and mispronouncing people’s names is his tick.
I think at one point, just pass the halfway point, I found it hard to finish with, like the will to read it to the end. I wasn’t bothered with his complaining about how nearly the whole school bullied him, but the damn the cheesiness with Sláine I wanted to pull the trigger. The whole “my guardian angel’ malarkey. He’s basically put himself in a relationship with a dead girl. I just don’t get it. Maybe I’m not thinking like a young adult because I’m in my early twenties, maybe that’s why I was rolling my eyes whenever he says things like ‘day three without Sláine’ or something along those lines. Sure he’s helping her out, but how can they be together? Plus it’s unclear if she is a ghost because Aidan does mention that she can be seen by others and she doesn’t look really dead, more like a vampire. So I probably had this confused look as I read through it.
As tempting to give this book a four star, I’m giving it three and a half for the following reasons. Yes, the book was good on how it captured Irish scenery and the storytelling vibe, but it’s one of those books you’ll read just the once because you know what happens, and if you tried reading it again, it wouldn’t really be the same. Plus the ending wasn’t very clear and McManus just adds this little bit which annoyed me because I didn’t see any clues leading up to the climax. I do recommend it to those who like supernatural, detective style with a hint of romance.
WARNING. MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.
Bullied and heartbroken for several months, seventeen-year-old Aidan Flood is on the verge of suicide. But his plan is put on hold when the local sweetheart, the beautiful Sláine McAuley ends up dead, in the haunted Shook Woods. The police think she died of hyperthermia, literally frozen to death. Taking his mind of his own problems, Aidan is curiously drawn to her investigation and confirms something is dark at bay when one night he gets a message, scratched in ice on his bedroom window: 'I didn't kill myself.' A dark secret dating back to the Irish Famine puts the small town in danger. Only Aidan can connect the dots between the new arrival, the murder and the dropping temperatures engulfing the land.
Author, journalist, playwright and screenwriter, Darragh McManus’s Shiver the Whole Night Through is his first Young Adult book. His previous works are two crime novels, Even Flow (2012) is a vigilante thriller and The Polka Dot Girl (2013) is an all female cast, noir style mystery. As a journalist, he has written reviews, features and opinion columns for several papers, including The Irish Independent, The Sunday Times and The Guardian, a career spanning over a decade.
McManus lives in the west of Ireland and so this novel is set in a small town of Ireland, which I love because it really made me want to go there, despite how the author creates the dark, scary and haunted Shook Woods, I still want to go. Plus the fantastic discovery of the Irish Famine linking to the present day disturbing deaths is spooky. The mystery unravelling, the twists, the plot and the way it’s been written are seemingly sufficient for a young adult book.
I’m on the fence with Aidan. He’s an eloquent guy for someone his age and an edgy character that feels relatable to those readers who have been bullied. McManus did an excellent job at creating a believable seventeen-year-old male, who suffers despicable amount of suffering, procrastinating and obsession, from the way he speaks, telling his story to the reader to the way he goes about his day, really nailing the whole moody teenager voice. Although the book is in first person narrative from the protagonist point of view, there aren’t many thoughts on the other characters, so it solely is based on Aidan’s version of the events.
I also like the opening of the book:
I stood on the bridge and tried the courage to jump. I stood there and I thought, if it’s good enough for Kurt Cobain, it’s good enough for me.
This ties in beautifully with the title and the fact that Kurt Cobain did a cover of the same title. McManus has also popped in a page of ‘guide to the pronunciation of Irish Gaelic words’ which is very helpful because I couldn’t pronounce the names and places. Similar to Joe Schreiber’s Pretty Lethal where the author encourages the reader to listen to the soundtrack, McManus has mentioned a Spotify playlist on the second page and I’ve checked it out and it as he’s promised, ‘music with a chilly, brittle, spooky and melancholy feel’.
I liked the supporting characters more than the main if I’ll be honest. Aidan’s only friend Padraig (PAW-drig) is a geek with a huge massive forgiving heart, the only person who stuck by him throughout the bullying. Sad thing is, Aiden doesn’t let his only friend in on what’s he’s discovered and Padraig doesn’t push him into telling him. What a good friend. And I like that Aidan isn’t the stupid kind when it comes to knowing who his friends are because he appreciates what Padraig has done for him.
Now I know not every character is perfect because it makes the book interesting if characters did have flaws. I personally didn’t understand Aidan’s weird obsession with people’s incorrectness of pronouncing their names. His ex-girlfriend Caitlin, who cheats on him, pronounces her name ‘like the American version Kate-lin, not Cat-leen’. Then in the next sentence, he’s not even sure why he’s getting worked up on it. I guess people have things that tick them off and mispronouncing people’s names is his tick.
I think at one point, just pass the halfway point, I found it hard to finish with, like the will to read it to the end. I wasn’t bothered with his complaining about how nearly the whole school bullied him, but the damn the cheesiness with Sláine I wanted to pull the trigger. The whole “my guardian angel’ malarkey. He’s basically put himself in a relationship with a dead girl. I just don’t get it. Maybe I’m not thinking like a young adult because I’m in my early twenties, maybe that’s why I was rolling my eyes whenever he says things like ‘day three without Sláine’ or something along those lines. Sure he’s helping her out, but how can they be together? Plus it’s unclear if she is a ghost because Aidan does mention that she can be seen by others and she doesn’t look really dead, more like a vampire. So I probably had this confused look as I read through it.
As tempting to give this book a four star, I’m giving it three and a half for the following reasons. Yes, the book was good on how it captured Irish scenery and the storytelling vibe, but it’s one of those books you’ll read just the once because you know what happens, and if you tried reading it again, it wouldn’t really be the same. Plus the ending wasn’t very clear and McManus just adds this little bit which annoyed me because I didn’t see any clues leading up to the climax. I do recommend it to those who like supernatural, detective style with a hint of romance.
September 4, 2019
I wanted to love this book as soon as I had finished reading the blurb. But when I finished the book, I was left with nothing but disappointment. The blurb implied that the genre was mainly a murder-mystery and for the first few chapters it was. But as time went on more and more supernatual sub plots were made until it engulfed the book entirely.
September 12, 2018
As sickly as Twilight - but ghosts not vampires.
You read the back of this book thinking it's going to be a thrilling murder mystery but it's just about this thoroughly weird relationship a human and a ghost have with just a side-sprinkling of actual plot.
You read the back of this book thinking it's going to be a thrilling murder mystery but it's just about this thoroughly weird relationship a human and a ghost have with just a side-sprinkling of actual plot.
March 6, 2018
First time reading this author, thoroughly enjoyed it.
December 28, 2021
Overdramatic and very disappointing
January 31, 2023
Enjoyed, but disappointing ending.
August 7, 2024
this was just something random i picked at the library DO NOT READ THIS I ONLY RATED IT 2 STARS CAUSE OF PODSY MY GOAT.
literally nothing that happened was explained at all.
literally nothing that happened was explained at all.
December 5, 2016
This book has hooks that would catch a GREAT WHITE SHARK! Whilst the premise unravels, it seems to be pretty unlikely and I found myself doubting that I would be able to properly invest in it enough to enjoy it properly, but the attention to detail on the main character's back story found me rooting for Aidan and wanting to help him accept his own flaws and be able to move on.
There was nothing wrong with me, and there never was.It was others who had the problem. I was fine, i was normal and decent and well-adjusted. Mostly good qualities and a few annoying habits, same as anyone else. I wasn't even as mush of a dweeb or an oddball as I always assumed. I was just a regular guy. They were the ones with social or personality disorders
One of the best elements for me, as a bookish nerd who suffered the slings and arrows of tawdry bullies at school, was seeing Aidan grow to rebuff the bullies torments - and with real class!
'Yeah, I was in the Library,' I went on. 'Know why? Because I'm a human being with a brain that I like to use from time to time. I'm not an animal, Rattigan, like you. In ten years I'll be doing dome job you won't even understand what it is, living far away from this kip. But you'll still be here, still stupid, still acting like an animal. Drinking cans in the park and trying to prove how tough you are. What a great future you have to look forward to.'
...
I said 'All you have is brute strength and the willingness to use it. That's all you have, and all you are I know you can beat me up, you're stronger than me. that doesn't change the fact that you're a shitty person, nobody likes you, and hopefully you'll be dead soon so we can have that party I was talking about. Okay? So, I'm going now.'
The murder mystery element is well threaded through the novel, drawing you in as you KNOW that there is no way that Slaine committed suicide. There's more to it, but exactly what keeps you guessing until you're so deep in the plot that you can't help but carry on. It rolls in some deep dark mythology and entwines it beautifully with some Irish History of the Great Famine, something concrete that helps the reader invest more fully in the whole concept.
I have to agree with many of the other reviews who found the Romance thread of the story a bit hard to get on board with (he falls in love with a ghost, basically!) but I found that given his past history of romance and the burgeoning trust that blossoms between Aidan and Slaine it actually develops really well and even the two characters query the idea of their romance, which helps to cement it is far I felt. Love is never easy and is often illogical, so why not fall for a ghost?!!
By the final 100 pages I was totally hooked and found it very hard not to drift back into the book every time I had a spare minute to read. I was pretty pleased with it's big dramatic ending and find it hard to find much flaw in to to be honest!
Love it, I'm looking out for more by this Author, that's for sure!
There was nothing wrong with me, and there never was.It was others who had the problem. I was fine, i was normal and decent and well-adjusted. Mostly good qualities and a few annoying habits, same as anyone else. I wasn't even as mush of a dweeb or an oddball as I always assumed. I was just a regular guy. They were the ones with social or personality disorders
One of the best elements for me, as a bookish nerd who suffered the slings and arrows of tawdry bullies at school, was seeing Aidan grow to rebuff the bullies torments - and with real class!
'Yeah, I was in the Library,' I went on. 'Know why? Because I'm a human being with a brain that I like to use from time to time. I'm not an animal, Rattigan, like you. In ten years I'll be doing dome job you won't even understand what it is, living far away from this kip. But you'll still be here, still stupid, still acting like an animal. Drinking cans in the park and trying to prove how tough you are. What a great future you have to look forward to.'
...
I said 'All you have is brute strength and the willingness to use it. That's all you have, and all you are I know you can beat me up, you're stronger than me. that doesn't change the fact that you're a shitty person, nobody likes you, and hopefully you'll be dead soon so we can have that party I was talking about. Okay? So, I'm going now.'
The murder mystery element is well threaded through the novel, drawing you in as you KNOW that there is no way that Slaine committed suicide. There's more to it, but exactly what keeps you guessing until you're so deep in the plot that you can't help but carry on. It rolls in some deep dark mythology and entwines it beautifully with some Irish History of the Great Famine, something concrete that helps the reader invest more fully in the whole concept.
I have to agree with many of the other reviews who found the Romance thread of the story a bit hard to get on board with (he falls in love with a ghost, basically!) but I found that given his past history of romance and the burgeoning trust that blossoms between Aidan and Slaine it actually develops really well and even the two characters query the idea of their romance, which helps to cement it is far I felt. Love is never easy and is often illogical, so why not fall for a ghost?!!
By the final 100 pages I was totally hooked and found it very hard not to drift back into the book every time I had a spare minute to read. I was pretty pleased with it's big dramatic ending and find it hard to find much flaw in to to be honest!
Love it, I'm looking out for more by this Author, that's for sure!
November 15, 2014
I rarely give a book 5 stars so 4 stars is as good as it gets for me. I don't read Young Adult fiction, and I avoid supernatural books like ebola, HOWEVER I loved Shiver the Whole Night Through. The book when you list out what happens would be the kind of book I would hate, for example, quasi-vampires, people who come back from the dead, serial attacks, and a lot of pathetic fallacy, but what I loved about the book was the central character of Aidan. I teach teenagers every day, I know the way they talk, I know how they "suffer", how they procrastinate and obsess, and I know the way they think and Aidan was spot on.
I had such empathy and understanding for him as a lost boy; clever and sensitive, trusting and caring, honest and genuine, but all the time struggling to be the man the world around him expects him to be. I had empathy and felt solidarity with Aidan, because I saw him as real and genuine, and therefore I went with the supernatural elements of the story and yes I certainly enjoyed it!
The secondary characters were also well formulated and three-dimensional, particularly Podsy who reminded me of friends I had when I was a teenager. The bad-guys were slightly more two-dimensional and had the air of caricatures about them, but they were always less important than the central character of Aidan. The heroine of the book, the ethereal Sláine was equally well developed and layered. She was much more complex than I anticipated initially and while she was a deeply flawed character by the end of the novel, she still managed to come across as believable because of various layers McManus had developed into her character during the novel.
As with YA fiction there's a great thundering plot and an explosive climax, but McManus never loses touch with the characters and we never lose empathy for them and their struggles. I've read all of McManus's fiction and this is by far the best to date!
I had such empathy and understanding for him as a lost boy; clever and sensitive, trusting and caring, honest and genuine, but all the time struggling to be the man the world around him expects him to be. I had empathy and felt solidarity with Aidan, because I saw him as real and genuine, and therefore I went with the supernatural elements of the story and yes I certainly enjoyed it!
The secondary characters were also well formulated and three-dimensional, particularly Podsy who reminded me of friends I had when I was a teenager. The bad-guys were slightly more two-dimensional and had the air of caricatures about them, but they were always less important than the central character of Aidan. The heroine of the book, the ethereal Sláine was equally well developed and layered. She was much more complex than I anticipated initially and while she was a deeply flawed character by the end of the novel, she still managed to come across as believable because of various layers McManus had developed into her character during the novel.
As with YA fiction there's a great thundering plot and an explosive climax, but McManus never loses touch with the characters and we never lose empathy for them and their struggles. I've read all of McManus's fiction and this is by far the best to date!
November 30, 2014
This is a young adult book. Now, I don't consider myself a young adult anymore, far from it, but I read young adult books before like "The Hunger Games" and really liked it so I thought I give this one a go.
This book is a ghost story, with themes like bullying, suicide and friendship woven into it.
Darragh McManus is an Irish writer and his turn of phrase and choice of words are very Irish. The style is chatty, which suited the book very well most of the time but also prevented tension from really building up. The flaws in the book are only minor ones in my opinion, and because he has a great way of writing monologues as well as dialogues, it was a very nice read that never gets heavy, even when it deals with heavier subjects. Several times I caught myself with a smile on my face when I was reading some of the sentences and words that are sooo very Irish. I’m a Dutchman and have lived in the south-west of Ireland since June 2000 so I could actually hear the characters talk. I wonder how Americans will take to the lingo. Just remember that a fag in European English is a cigarette, so when he rolls a fag and lights it, he’s not torturing a person with a different sexual preference. (Why would you call gay people names anyway? They’re just people like anybody else.) Anyway, I really liked this book, especially for the style of writing and highly recommend it also to non-Irish people who don’t mind a bit of colloquial writing. Who knows, you might pick up some nice expressions. :)
Darragh McManus has also written a few books for adults and I have already downloaded his book: "Even Flow", which I will read in the near future.
This book is a ghost story, with themes like bullying, suicide and friendship woven into it.
Darragh McManus is an Irish writer and his turn of phrase and choice of words are very Irish. The style is chatty, which suited the book very well most of the time but also prevented tension from really building up. The flaws in the book are only minor ones in my opinion, and because he has a great way of writing monologues as well as dialogues, it was a very nice read that never gets heavy, even when it deals with heavier subjects. Several times I caught myself with a smile on my face when I was reading some of the sentences and words that are sooo very Irish. I’m a Dutchman and have lived in the south-west of Ireland since June 2000 so I could actually hear the characters talk. I wonder how Americans will take to the lingo. Just remember that a fag in European English is a cigarette, so when he rolls a fag and lights it, he’s not torturing a person with a different sexual preference. (Why would you call gay people names anyway? They’re just people like anybody else.) Anyway, I really liked this book, especially for the style of writing and highly recommend it also to non-Irish people who don’t mind a bit of colloquial writing. Who knows, you might pick up some nice expressions. :)
Darragh McManus has also written a few books for adults and I have already downloaded his book: "Even Flow", which I will read in the near future.
January 2, 2024
Shiver Through the Night
This book involves a little Irish town struck down by the death of one of their own. Slaine was found dead in the woods, appearing to have walked in there and curled up to die. But strange occurrences make Aidan believe that Slaine didn’t kill herself. He must investigate her death and find out what really happened.
Murder mystery/ paranormal romance/ supernatural badass all mixed into one. The author paints the isolated rural run down town well, with enveloping forests and looming mountains. The plot of the book, if you didn’t think too much into the practicalities of it, the whole paranormal girlfriend and human boyfriend, it was easy to follow and had some tense moments that were written very well. Overall not a bad book at all and a quick and easy read.
3/5*
#books #bookshelf #bookblogger #bookreview #books #bookstagrammer #bookshelves #igreads #goodreads #booklover #reader #shiverthroughthenight #darraghmnmanus
This book involves a little Irish town struck down by the death of one of their own. Slaine was found dead in the woods, appearing to have walked in there and curled up to die. But strange occurrences make Aidan believe that Slaine didn’t kill herself. He must investigate her death and find out what really happened.
Murder mystery/ paranormal romance/ supernatural badass all mixed into one. The author paints the isolated rural run down town well, with enveloping forests and looming mountains. The plot of the book, if you didn’t think too much into the practicalities of it, the whole paranormal girlfriend and human boyfriend, it was easy to follow and had some tense moments that were written very well. Overall not a bad book at all and a quick and easy read.
3/5*
#books #bookshelf #bookblogger #bookreview #books #bookstagrammer #bookshelves #igreads #goodreads #booklover #reader #shiverthroughthenight #darraghmnmanus
November 19, 2014
This is one of the best supernatural stories that I have read.
I was deeply touched by seventeen year old Aidan Flood been bullied at school leading him to want to take his own life.
Aidan is woken up by his mother and given some awful news that a girl Slaine McAuley who went to his school has been found dead in Shook Woods. In the middle of the nigh Aidan sees a note scratched in ice on his bedroom window saying I didn't kill myself.
Something has told Aidan to go to the Woods to the spot where Slaine died. Aidan wants to find out what really happened to Slaine. I highly recommend reading Shiver The Whole Night Through as the book is so easy to read with great characters.
I was deeply touched by seventeen year old Aidan Flood been bullied at school leading him to want to take his own life.
Aidan is woken up by his mother and given some awful news that a girl Slaine McAuley who went to his school has been found dead in Shook Woods. In the middle of the nigh Aidan sees a note scratched in ice on his bedroom window saying I didn't kill myself.
Something has told Aidan to go to the Woods to the spot where Slaine died. Aidan wants to find out what really happened to Slaine. I highly recommend reading Shiver The Whole Night Through as the book is so easy to read with great characters.
May 3, 2015
I had all intentions of finishing this book, but I have to say, I couldn't even get on with the names of the characters and I had to keep going back to the translations to see how it was read.
I don't understand why they called the lead character such a complicated name, that you had to have a translations page added in. This annoyed me greatly, which is surprising as I've read a great many books with characters names of great diversity.
I sadly abandoned this book after I couldn't get even 30% through, it was just too slow.. It lacked pretty much anything of interest to me, which is disappointing because the blurb seemed to be really enticing.
I don't understand why they called the lead character such a complicated name, that you had to have a translations page added in. This annoyed me greatly, which is surprising as I've read a great many books with characters names of great diversity.
I sadly abandoned this book after I couldn't get even 30% through, it was just too slow.. It lacked pretty much anything of interest to me, which is disappointing because the blurb seemed to be really enticing.
October 29, 2014
I really enjoyed this gritty debut that is part noir murder mystery, part ghost story with a nice dash of romance in an unexpected way.
Aidan is a an eloquent yet edgy character that feels real and relateable and there is also a fantastic exploration of history, where the whole town has a grim backstory, a sordid past that when examined closely is just down right scary!
if I could it would be four and a half stars!!
Aidan is a an eloquent yet edgy character that feels real and relateable and there is also a fantastic exploration of history, where the whole town has a grim backstory, a sordid past that when examined closely is just down right scary!
if I could it would be four and a half stars!!
May 23, 2015
I saw this book a few times in the library before I decided to give a go. I wasn't too sure of what I thought about it reading the blurb on the back. So I went into it with quite an open mind. After just finishing it I'm going to say I think I liked it. Yes I did say I think. To be honest I'm not too sure. The story was good but it was a little strange to say the least. Maybe I just don't appreciate a good paranormal mystery. Give it a go and see what you think, I think you might like it.
June 17, 2015
A young man in a small town is haunted by the strange death of a fellow student. Deciding to investigate he uncovers something very strange and disturbing.
The characters were fairly interesting but I didn't think the plot was very strong. I don't generally enjoy supernatural fiction so that is probably why I didn't enjoy it.
I think if you enjoy supernatural/thriller fiction with elements of romance then this would be for you.
The characters were fairly interesting but I didn't think the plot was very strong. I don't generally enjoy supernatural fiction so that is probably why I didn't enjoy it.
I think if you enjoy supernatural/thriller fiction with elements of romance then this would be for you.
November 27, 2016
A very enjoyable paranormal romance with a murder mystery. Great writing, engaging storyline, interesting characters and an intriguing mystery. The opening chapter pulled me into the story and the ending was a complete surprise. Recommended reading, especially if you liked the Hereafter series.
Want to read
November 20, 2014DNF for me I'm afraid. The story was intriguing me but the narration bugged me too much to continue.
November 23, 2014
3.5! I really did enjoy this, and it was a great, gritty debut novel, but had a few little problems.. Full review soon on the blog:D
January 8, 2015
Loved the book! I was hooked!
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