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Shades & Shapes in the Dark: A Dark Occult Horror Novel
We all have demons we must confront. For Clarissa Lamont, it was never a metaphor.
At nine years old, Clarissa stumbles upon something sinister in the forest. She does not yet know it is the beginning of a forty year nightmare, one marked by loss, terror, and the bodies of those she loves.
As the darkness follows her into adulthood, Clarissa searches for answers in ancient occult magic and among others who understand what she has seen. To survive, she must learn to fight back against a force as old as humanity itself.
This novel begins and ends with Clarissa’s final confrontation with the creature she calls Demon.
Dark, atmospheric, and unsettling, perfect for readers of occult horror, slow burn dread, and character driven supernatural fiction.
At nine years old, Clarissa stumbles upon something sinister in the forest. She does not yet know it is the beginning of a forty year nightmare, one marked by loss, terror, and the bodies of those she loves.
As the darkness follows her into adulthood, Clarissa searches for answers in ancient occult magic and among others who understand what she has seen. To survive, she must learn to fight back against a force as old as humanity itself.
This novel begins and ends with Clarissa’s final confrontation with the creature she calls Demon.
Dark, atmospheric, and unsettling, perfect for readers of occult horror, slow burn dread, and character driven supernatural fiction.
- GenresHorror
345 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 17, 2025
2 people are currently reading
1115 people want to read
About the author
Michael Kilman
17 books49 followersMichael Kilman is an anthropologist who occasionally visits other worlds and reports back what he finds. When he isn’t writing fiction or no-fiction he creates educational content as an instructional designer or works on his YouTube series ‘Anthropology in 10 or Less.’
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 9, 2025
I received a free copy of this as an ebook through a Goodreads giveaway. Below is my honest review of the novel.
I'm struggling greatly with this review. The book has a great concept and characters, but fumbled the execution in a few fundamental ways. I want to give this a 3.5/5, but because Goodreads only does whole numbers, I don't know whether this score deserves to be rounded up or down.
Let's start with the good: the characters all felt very real to me. There were good decisions made and LOTS of bad decisions made, but all of them made sense for the characters making them (with one exception we will get to later). All the adults not believing Clarissa is completely realistic in this setting; to them she was likely the victim of horrific crime that her mind wasn't able to process and so they acted based on that understanding. Ted is kind of my favorite for what a complex character he is. He obviously loves his wife and wants to be a good parental figure to Clarissa but man is he a mess. Clarissa was clever, and snarky and someone you want to see win. Monica wasn't always the greatest friend but she did her absolute best.
The general concept is strong. I want to read the sequel(s) to see where this goes. I want to see Demon defeated. I just hope that future books fix the issues I had with this one. Those issues being:
1) This needed another readthrough by an editor. There were incomplete sentences, punctuation missing (mostly closing quotation marks), and things like the first scene with the White Raven switching between singular and plural descriptions- maybe in an earlier draft there was more than one?
2) Overdependence on "little did she know" style foreshadowing. We understand that Clarissa is retelling her story, but the number of times a scene ends with "but that chance never came" or something similar is too much.
3) A obsessive need to include references to as many pop culture touchstones as possible to establish timeframe. The author obviously loves 90s pop culture, but this one got to me because one of the first instances of it was wrong. Sailor Moon may have had a small following in the US in the mid 90s, but the movies did not play in theaters, certainly not in suburban Philadelphia (if it were a West Coast city with a larger Japanese population I might have let it slide). In fact the first Sailor Moon movie (R) wasn't even released on VHS until 1999, which is after the X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons stopped airing, so the various references end up contradicting each other. I had to look up the exact years, but just reading this jumble of media felt wrong just based on my memory of how old I was when I was watching them. Being a huge Sailor Moon fan since I was in middle school, the reference to seeing it in theaters just threw me through a loop that bothered me for the entire time I was reading the book. It's a small thing to most people, but it completely blew my sense of immersion.
4) Finally, something that cannot be fixed because it is an essential component of an important scene... but no parent would leave their daughter alone with a police officer just weeks after she had been through such a traumatic experience. Audrey leaving the room was the most unrealistic action taken in the entire book and I cannot believe the author would even consider writing that interaction the way it happened.
I DO like that we learn about Clarissa, Monica, and even Ted through what media they like and how they interact with it.
I want to read the next book when it comes out, I just hope it addresses these weaknesses in the writing. If it does get better then I'll definitely recommend the series to friends with the confidence that "it gets better after it finds its footing in the second book."
I'm going to end this giving it 3 star, which Goodreads describes as "Liked it". That is accurate. I liked it well enough. I'll read the next book, but the next one will have to do better to keep me on for the planned books 3 and 4.
I'm struggling greatly with this review. The book has a great concept and characters, but fumbled the execution in a few fundamental ways. I want to give this a 3.5/5, but because Goodreads only does whole numbers, I don't know whether this score deserves to be rounded up or down.
Let's start with the good: the characters all felt very real to me. There were good decisions made and LOTS of bad decisions made, but all of them made sense for the characters making them (with one exception we will get to later). All the adults not believing Clarissa is completely realistic in this setting; to them she was likely the victim of horrific crime that her mind wasn't able to process and so they acted based on that understanding. Ted is kind of my favorite for what a complex character he is. He obviously loves his wife and wants to be a good parental figure to Clarissa but man is he a mess. Clarissa was clever, and snarky and someone you want to see win. Monica wasn't always the greatest friend but she did her absolute best.
The general concept is strong. I want to read the sequel(s) to see where this goes. I want to see Demon defeated. I just hope that future books fix the issues I had with this one. Those issues being:
1) This needed another readthrough by an editor. There were incomplete sentences, punctuation missing (mostly closing quotation marks), and things like the first scene with the White Raven switching between singular and plural descriptions- maybe in an earlier draft there was more than one?
2) Overdependence on "little did she know" style foreshadowing. We understand that Clarissa is retelling her story, but the number of times a scene ends with "but that chance never came" or something similar is too much.
3) A obsessive need to include references to as many pop culture touchstones as possible to establish timeframe. The author obviously loves 90s pop culture, but this one got to me because one of the first instances of it was wrong. Sailor Moon may have had a small following in the US in the mid 90s, but the movies did not play in theaters, certainly not in suburban Philadelphia (if it were a West Coast city with a larger Japanese population I might have let it slide). In fact the first Sailor Moon movie (R) wasn't even released on VHS until 1999, which is after the X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons stopped airing, so the various references end up contradicting each other. I had to look up the exact years, but just reading this jumble of media felt wrong just based on my memory of how old I was when I was watching them. Being a huge Sailor Moon fan since I was in middle school, the reference to seeing it in theaters just threw me through a loop that bothered me for the entire time I was reading the book. It's a small thing to most people, but it completely blew my sense of immersion.
4) Finally, something that cannot be fixed because it is an essential component of an important scene... but no parent would leave their daughter alone with a police officer just weeks after she had been through such a traumatic experience. Audrey leaving the room was the most unrealistic action taken in the entire book and I cannot believe the author would even consider writing that interaction the way it happened.
I DO like that we learn about Clarissa, Monica, and even Ted through what media they like and how they interact with it.
I want to read the next book when it comes out, I just hope it addresses these weaknesses in the writing. If it does get better then I'll definitely recommend the series to friends with the confidence that "it gets better after it finds its footing in the second book."
I'm going to end this giving it 3 star, which Goodreads describes as "Liked it". That is accurate. I liked it well enough. I'll read the next book, but the next one will have to do better to keep me on for the planned books 3 and 4.
July 29, 2025
Shades & Shapes in the Dark is a haunting and atmospheric start to what promises to be a gripping supernatural saga. Clarissa’s story isn’t just about battling external demons it’s about the quiet, terrifying endurance of trauma across time. The eerie forest setting, the emotional depth, and the slow unraveling of ancient occult secrets create a strong, immersive experience. Michael Kilman blends horror and magic with a very human core, making Clarissa's journey one that lingers with you long after the last page. I can’t wait to see how her battle unfolds in the next books.
April 17, 2025
Just finished reading my advanced copy. This story really drew me in, sometimes making me feel as if I were right there with the main character. I stayed on the edge of my seat from the intensity and dark mystery throughout the whole story. I can't wait for the next book in the series.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews