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The Shadow Man
Zebra Books - Kensington Publishing Corp. first print Dec 1986
- GenresHorror
363 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1986
8 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Gresham
33 books35 followersSuspense, supernatural, and young adult fiction writer Stephen Gresham (1947- ) has been intrigued by the gothic tradition of the South since moving to Auburn, Lee County, in 1975 to take a teaching position at Auburn University. This area of Alabama provides the backdrop for his novel The Fraternity (2004) and imbues works such as Rockabye Baby (1984) with the horror and fantasy elements of the southern magic genre that guide him as he writes of supernatural creatures and forces.
Gresham was born in Halstead, Kansas, on September 23, 1947, to Chester Gresham, a building contractor, and Helen Kennedy, housewife and wartime riveter. He was raised with five brothers. Gresham's literary passion was sparked by listening to his grandmother read him everything from comic books to Edgar Allan Poe and watching 1940s B movies by horror film producer Val Lewton. Gresham studied journalism for two years at Wichita State University, where he began his professional writing career as a freelance sports reporter at the Wichita Eagle. He then transferred to Kansas State Teachers College (present-day Emporia State University) to earn a bachelor's and a master's degree. In 1975, he completed a Ph.D. in English Renaissance literature at the University of Missouri. While in Missouri, Gresham married Linda Duffy in 1969, and the couple had their only child, Aaron, in 1974.
In 1975, Gresham joined the English Department at Auburn University as a professor of creative writing. By the later 1970s, he had published several pieces of short fiction with two small presses. Gresham is drawn to the mythical South and has described east Alabama as an inspirational place. Moon Lake, Gresham's first novel, uses such a backdrop to tell the tale of two honeymooners who encounter evil hidden in the water hyacinths on Moon Lake.
Gresham's novels have aimed to mesh the supernatural world of ghosts, magic, and witchcraft with the real horrors of places like his boyhood Kansas, with its tornados, polio scares, and threats of nuclear war. The most distinctive aspect of his writing is the centrality of unrequited love and the unexpected yet powerful bonds formed by his characters. When Teddy, the teenage hero of Haunted Ground, battles ghosts at a neighboring farm, he must also come to terms with his adolescence and the wrath of his dysfunctional family. This focus on the destructive innerworkings of families is balanced by a respect for what Gresham refers to as "soul" families, those united not necessarily by blood but by heart or circumstance. Even after Teddy is assaulted by his own brother and neglected by his psychologically unfit mother, he is able to find solace with his cousin Judith, the black sheep of his extended family.
Another characteristic of Gresham's books is his attention to research and historical settings. In the 1990 novel Blood Wings, Gresham researched the field of cryptozoology to create the massive batlike creature from which the novel gets its title. In The Fraternity (2004), two warring vampire fraternities battle against the backdrop of Depression-era America where the only threat greater than the crumbled economy of the Hoover years is the risk of being kidnapped by rival vampires.
In addition to the many novels he has published under his own name, Gresham has also written under two pennames to establish a distinct identity between his suspense thrillers and his young adult fiction. For the 1994 suspense/thriller Primal Instinct, he adopted the name John Newland from the 1950s television series "One Step Beyond." The next year, he paid homage to director Val Lewton when he published two novels, Just Pretend and Called to Darkness, under the name J. V. Lewton. Gresham's best selling novel to date has been Midnight Boy (1987), and Haunted Ground (2003) has garnered the most favorable response from readers. Reception from readers, especially young ones, has been largely favorable, and he continues to publish thrillers.
Gres
Gresham was born in Halstead, Kansas, on September 23, 1947, to Chester Gresham, a building contractor, and Helen Kennedy, housewife and wartime riveter. He was raised with five brothers. Gresham's literary passion was sparked by listening to his grandmother read him everything from comic books to Edgar Allan Poe and watching 1940s B movies by horror film producer Val Lewton. Gresham studied journalism for two years at Wichita State University, where he began his professional writing career as a freelance sports reporter at the Wichita Eagle. He then transferred to Kansas State Teachers College (present-day Emporia State University) to earn a bachelor's and a master's degree. In 1975, he completed a Ph.D. in English Renaissance literature at the University of Missouri. While in Missouri, Gresham married Linda Duffy in 1969, and the couple had their only child, Aaron, in 1974.
In 1975, Gresham joined the English Department at Auburn University as a professor of creative writing. By the later 1970s, he had published several pieces of short fiction with two small presses. Gresham is drawn to the mythical South and has described east Alabama as an inspirational place. Moon Lake, Gresham's first novel, uses such a backdrop to tell the tale of two honeymooners who encounter evil hidden in the water hyacinths on Moon Lake.
Gresham's novels have aimed to mesh the supernatural world of ghosts, magic, and witchcraft with the real horrors of places like his boyhood Kansas, with its tornados, polio scares, and threats of nuclear war. The most distinctive aspect of his writing is the centrality of unrequited love and the unexpected yet powerful bonds formed by his characters. When Teddy, the teenage hero of Haunted Ground, battles ghosts at a neighboring farm, he must also come to terms with his adolescence and the wrath of his dysfunctional family. This focus on the destructive innerworkings of families is balanced by a respect for what Gresham refers to as "soul" families, those united not necessarily by blood but by heart or circumstance. Even after Teddy is assaulted by his own brother and neglected by his psychologically unfit mother, he is able to find solace with his cousin Judith, the black sheep of his extended family.
Another characteristic of Gresham's books is his attention to research and historical settings. In the 1990 novel Blood Wings, Gresham researched the field of cryptozoology to create the massive batlike creature from which the novel gets its title. In The Fraternity (2004), two warring vampire fraternities battle against the backdrop of Depression-era America where the only threat greater than the crumbled economy of the Hoover years is the risk of being kidnapped by rival vampires.
In addition to the many novels he has published under his own name, Gresham has also written under two pennames to establish a distinct identity between his suspense thrillers and his young adult fiction. For the 1994 suspense/thriller Primal Instinct, he adopted the name John Newland from the 1950s television series "One Step Beyond." The next year, he paid homage to director Val Lewton when he published two novels, Just Pretend and Called to Darkness, under the name J. V. Lewton. Gresham's best selling novel to date has been Midnight Boy (1987), and Haunted Ground (2003) has garnered the most favorable response from readers. Reception from readers, especially young ones, has been largely favorable, and he continues to publish thrillers.
Gres
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 10, 2022
A towheaded kid must battle the evil magic of his wicked stepmother to save the greatest American hero--his dad.
I'm not sure for whom this book was originally marketed, but it certainly starts off with all the hallmarks of a typical 1980s children's adventure. Joey wakes up from a bad dream and asks his home computer (who he calls Cap, which is short for Computer Assisted Playmate) to tell him who the woman in the red cloak was from his dream. And the damn thing answers! I don't remember there being any computers so advanced in 1985 that you could just command them to "Interpret my dream for me," with no further input whatsoever. So if you are one of those people who thought movies like "War Games" and "Short Circuit" were charming good fun, then you won't immediately roll your eyes at this.
But this scene is then followed by cutesy, chicken-fried drivel that is so artificial that it almost made me nauseated. I love the very loving relationship between Joey and his dad, who is a professional wrestler. But it was as if Gresham had been raised on "Father Knows Best" and "Leave it to Beaver," because his dialogue is straight from a 50s sitcom, made all the more disorienting because Joey's old man is a giant Alabama redneck wrestler named "the Strangler." So you end up with exchanges like this:
"Hey, Strangler! How'd ya make out tonight?"
"Just swell, Joey-boy!"
"How'd you get 'im, Dad? How'd you mash that nasty Chain Saw Man?"
"Well, sir, it was like this..."
"I betcha gave him the Deep Throat. Did ya use the ol' Deep Throat, Dad? Did ya squeeze 'im?"
Golly gee, but this just was not what I was expecting at all. Kind of... kind of weird.
Joey's "computer" has superpowers too. It knows all about witchcraft and even creates a "hologram" of Joey that it sends out to collect blood (!) from the evil stepmother in order to reverse a spell she cast. Yep. And you thought your Apple IIGS with 750KB of RAM and the 3.5 inch floppies was the pinnacle of 1980s home computing.
Oh, and it gets worse. Even the computer repair guy is an expert on witches and immediately believes Joey's stepmom is more than a figurative witch, as well as concluding instantly (and correctly) that Joey's pet ferret is a witch's familiar. And Joey's teacher, who is suddenly stricken by hallucinations of spiders and slugs, instantly blames Joey and his ferret for no reason, and sends them both to the principal. Why? What kind of a school is this--redneck Hogwarts?
"What's this--I say--what's this I hear about you casting spells in class, young man? Don't you know it's against the rules, son?"
Now, this story is set in the deep South, where they still believe things like adding Florida Water cologne to the ice jug at high school sporting events will secure the home team advantage. But either Gresham was on serious drugs or he originally wrote this when he was eight, because the logic is nonexistent in this book.
That's one reason why I write these reviews, you see. You can't always tell what you are getting into with one of these 80s horror paperbacks, and you certainly couldn't back in the days before Goodreads, BookTube, and blog posts. Serious thrillers with adult themes, strong language, gore, violence, and sex were often given the same dazzling cover art, and laid side-by-side on bookstore shelves with spunky little romps for kids. And these books didn't get a lot of press or critique in popular media, so you had little idea as to the quality of the story and the writing.
In this case, this is definitive low-brow pulp. "But Warren, you horror paperback hellion," I hear you protest, "you primarily review books that require you to suspend disbelief, so how is this any different?" Well, think about the "Jaws" franchise. The first film defined the summer blockbuster because it is a smart, suspenseful character study, a modern retelling of Moby Dick, that just so happens to have an intelligent 25-foot shark, making the story fit squarely in the realm of fantasy. However, when the series crossed into the multi-generational voodoo revenge plot of "Jaws 4," then audiences universally checked out, because it was so silly that it insulted the intelligence of even the most forgiving imagination.
Such is the case with "Shadow Man." But somehow, this book is so over-the-top that it becomes charming in its own way, a hastily written throwaway novel about good vs. evil that definitely falls into the category of so-bad-it's-good. It captures the innocent simplicity of a child's world, and reflects back to us adults just how much we've become like wicked stepfathers and stepmothers by compromising our innocence to obtain material things that are ultimately not as important as love and snuggles.
It also moves along at a brisk pace and will never bore you no matter how you may normally struggle with attention. So there's that.
Set around Halloween, this tale of witchcraft and a child's devotion to his father is a quaint little autumnal read, even if it is overly silly and sentimental. So I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars, rounded to three. Skip it unless you are a pulp fiction fanatic. You know who you are.
WORD OF THE DAY: susurrus
I'm not sure for whom this book was originally marketed, but it certainly starts off with all the hallmarks of a typical 1980s children's adventure. Joey wakes up from a bad dream and asks his home computer (who he calls Cap, which is short for Computer Assisted Playmate) to tell him who the woman in the red cloak was from his dream. And the damn thing answers! I don't remember there being any computers so advanced in 1985 that you could just command them to "Interpret my dream for me," with no further input whatsoever. So if you are one of those people who thought movies like "War Games" and "Short Circuit" were charming good fun, then you won't immediately roll your eyes at this.
But this scene is then followed by cutesy, chicken-fried drivel that is so artificial that it almost made me nauseated. I love the very loving relationship between Joey and his dad, who is a professional wrestler. But it was as if Gresham had been raised on "Father Knows Best" and "Leave it to Beaver," because his dialogue is straight from a 50s sitcom, made all the more disorienting because Joey's old man is a giant Alabama redneck wrestler named "the Strangler." So you end up with exchanges like this:
"Hey, Strangler! How'd ya make out tonight?"
"Just swell, Joey-boy!"
"How'd you get 'im, Dad? How'd you mash that nasty Chain Saw Man?"
"Well, sir, it was like this..."
"I betcha gave him the Deep Throat. Did ya use the ol' Deep Throat, Dad? Did ya squeeze 'im?"
Golly gee, but this just was not what I was expecting at all. Kind of... kind of weird.
Joey's "computer" has superpowers too. It knows all about witchcraft and even creates a "hologram" of Joey that it sends out to collect blood (!) from the evil stepmother in order to reverse a spell she cast. Yep. And you thought your Apple IIGS with 750KB of RAM and the 3.5 inch floppies was the pinnacle of 1980s home computing.
Oh, and it gets worse. Even the computer repair guy is an expert on witches and immediately believes Joey's stepmom is more than a figurative witch, as well as concluding instantly (and correctly) that Joey's pet ferret is a witch's familiar. And Joey's teacher, who is suddenly stricken by hallucinations of spiders and slugs, instantly blames Joey and his ferret for no reason, and sends them both to the principal. Why? What kind of a school is this--redneck Hogwarts?
"What's this--I say--what's this I hear about you casting spells in class, young man? Don't you know it's against the rules, son?"
Now, this story is set in the deep South, where they still believe things like adding Florida Water cologne to the ice jug at high school sporting events will secure the home team advantage. But either Gresham was on serious drugs or he originally wrote this when he was eight, because the logic is nonexistent in this book.
That's one reason why I write these reviews, you see. You can't always tell what you are getting into with one of these 80s horror paperbacks, and you certainly couldn't back in the days before Goodreads, BookTube, and blog posts. Serious thrillers with adult themes, strong language, gore, violence, and sex were often given the same dazzling cover art, and laid side-by-side on bookstore shelves with spunky little romps for kids. And these books didn't get a lot of press or critique in popular media, so you had little idea as to the quality of the story and the writing.
In this case, this is definitive low-brow pulp. "But Warren, you horror paperback hellion," I hear you protest, "you primarily review books that require you to suspend disbelief, so how is this any different?" Well, think about the "Jaws" franchise. The first film defined the summer blockbuster because it is a smart, suspenseful character study, a modern retelling of Moby Dick, that just so happens to have an intelligent 25-foot shark, making the story fit squarely in the realm of fantasy. However, when the series crossed into the multi-generational voodoo revenge plot of "Jaws 4," then audiences universally checked out, because it was so silly that it insulted the intelligence of even the most forgiving imagination.
Such is the case with "Shadow Man." But somehow, this book is so over-the-top that it becomes charming in its own way, a hastily written throwaway novel about good vs. evil that definitely falls into the category of so-bad-it's-good. It captures the innocent simplicity of a child's world, and reflects back to us adults just how much we've become like wicked stepfathers and stepmothers by compromising our innocence to obtain material things that are ultimately not as important as love and snuggles.
It also moves along at a brisk pace and will never bore you no matter how you may normally struggle with attention. So there's that.
Set around Halloween, this tale of witchcraft and a child's devotion to his father is a quaint little autumnal read, even if it is overly silly and sentimental. So I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars, rounded to three. Skip it unless you are a pulp fiction fanatic. You know who you are.
WORD OF THE DAY: susurrus
September 8, 2023
This thing definitely had its moments of so-bad-it’s-good-ness, but overall it felt like it was about 100 pages too long, and it tended to strike me as cutesy-cheesy far more often than it did as fun-cheesy, if that makes sense.
April 7, 2022
The Shadow Man, Stephen Gresham, 1986
My favorite quote: “She haunted herself from within like an old house.” (I think I’ve met this woman)
Notable characters: Joey Stuart; Jeb “The Dixie Strangler” Stuart, Joey’s father; CAP, Joey’s Computer*Assisted*Playmate; Sharina Marie, Joey’s stepmother; Mr. Zeeker, a former engineering professor; The Shadow Man, an evil entity whose existence could use a little more explaining
Most memorable scene: What Joey sees when Miss Sheba comes for tea. I also really liked the scene when Joey comes across a strange girl named Nandina in the woods. But mostly Miss Sheba. Creepy old bat. Never invite Miss Sheba over for tea, you guys
Greatest strengths: The Shadow Man has a lot of strengths but what really drew me into it was the execution. At a time when horror novels were being produced by the thousands, there’s a lot of very forgettable stuff out there. I’d never even heard of Stephen Gresham, but found myself drawn to the cover (that’s usually how it goes for me) and decided to give it a shot, thinking, ‘Meh. Even bad horror is good horror, right?’ The Shadow Man ended up being pretty dang good. I mean, literary gold it certainly is not, but great escapism? Definitely. A little cheesy at times (which is a compliment -- cheesiness is something I look for in my horror). The Shadow Man was fun, unique, and at times, pretty unsettling
Standout achievements: The relationship between Joey and his pet ferret, Snowflake, was pretty endearing. I mean, I don’t want one of those stinky little things, but it was refreshing to read about a character with a pet that wasn’t a dog (take that, Dean Koontz)
Fun Facts: From 1982 to 1991, Stephen Gresham wrote and published 12 novels, two of which were bestsellers: ROCKABYE BABY and MIDNIGHT BOY
Other media: Sadly, The Shadow Man was never made into a movie
What it taught me: Until reading The Shadow Man, I had no idea that Coca-Cola (and other soda pop) used to be called “dope” or “dope soda,” due to the fact that it once contained cocaine. Personally, I think we should bring it back, but alas -- people just don’t want their kids consuming cocaine and whatnot anymore (which is probably a good thing, now that I think about it -- can you imagine what a trip to the grocery store would be like if the place was full of children all jacked up on blow?)
How it inspired me: I teethed on 1980s horror and even now, every time I read it, I’m reminded of why I wanted to be a writer. The Shadow Man took me back to the “golden age” of horror, as they call it, and I recommend it (and any of Stephen Gresham’s books) to fans of that era
Additional thoughts: The Shadow Man kinda reads like a B movie horror film — and I mean that in the kindest, lovingest possible way. Even as I read it, I could see the slightly grainy film and really bad acting. It was great!
Haunt me: alistaircross.com
Read The Shadow Man: https://tinyurl.com/2p8cfyz7
My favorite quote: “She haunted herself from within like an old house.” (I think I’ve met this woman)
Notable characters: Joey Stuart; Jeb “The Dixie Strangler” Stuart, Joey’s father; CAP, Joey’s Computer*Assisted*Playmate; Sharina Marie, Joey’s stepmother; Mr. Zeeker, a former engineering professor; The Shadow Man, an evil entity whose existence could use a little more explaining
Most memorable scene: What Joey sees when Miss Sheba comes for tea. I also really liked the scene when Joey comes across a strange girl named Nandina in the woods. But mostly Miss Sheba. Creepy old bat. Never invite Miss Sheba over for tea, you guys
Greatest strengths: The Shadow Man has a lot of strengths but what really drew me into it was the execution. At a time when horror novels were being produced by the thousands, there’s a lot of very forgettable stuff out there. I’d never even heard of Stephen Gresham, but found myself drawn to the cover (that’s usually how it goes for me) and decided to give it a shot, thinking, ‘Meh. Even bad horror is good horror, right?’ The Shadow Man ended up being pretty dang good. I mean, literary gold it certainly is not, but great escapism? Definitely. A little cheesy at times (which is a compliment -- cheesiness is something I look for in my horror). The Shadow Man was fun, unique, and at times, pretty unsettling
Standout achievements: The relationship between Joey and his pet ferret, Snowflake, was pretty endearing. I mean, I don’t want one of those stinky little things, but it was refreshing to read about a character with a pet that wasn’t a dog (take that, Dean Koontz)
Fun Facts: From 1982 to 1991, Stephen Gresham wrote and published 12 novels, two of which were bestsellers: ROCKABYE BABY and MIDNIGHT BOY
Other media: Sadly, The Shadow Man was never made into a movie
What it taught me: Until reading The Shadow Man, I had no idea that Coca-Cola (and other soda pop) used to be called “dope” or “dope soda,” due to the fact that it once contained cocaine. Personally, I think we should bring it back, but alas -- people just don’t want their kids consuming cocaine and whatnot anymore (which is probably a good thing, now that I think about it -- can you imagine what a trip to the grocery store would be like if the place was full of children all jacked up on blow?)
How it inspired me: I teethed on 1980s horror and even now, every time I read it, I’m reminded of why I wanted to be a writer. The Shadow Man took me back to the “golden age” of horror, as they call it, and I recommend it (and any of Stephen Gresham’s books) to fans of that era
Additional thoughts: The Shadow Man kinda reads like a B movie horror film — and I mean that in the kindest, lovingest possible way. Even as I read it, I could see the slightly grainy film and really bad acting. It was great!
Haunt me: alistaircross.com
Read The Shadow Man: https://tinyurl.com/2p8cfyz7
June 6, 2021
A little background, a boy and his father take on the world as the boy is tested by an evil villain called, The Shadow Man.
When push comes to shove the father who is also an up and coming pro wrestler named, The Strangler, show what love truly is.
The boy is under a supernatural attack, by The Shadow Man and his minions, but have no fear because The Strangler is here... and Cap who is a super smart computer that talks to the boy, and a series of neighbors that periodically check in with the boy.. AND an evil ferret that grows to like the boy.. look what I’m trying to say is that kid has a pretty good support system. LOL
If there is one good thing I can take away from this book it’s that, my goodness, the relationship between the son and father in this book is beautiful.
I’m giving this book 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Why? Because it’s an easy fast read that kept me interested. Even if it was a little squirly. This is a YA horror/fantasy novel. I would also classify it bordering on the line of being a coming of age story. Either way, I enjoyed it.
My only qualm...it was about 100 pages too long, and I wished those pages had more of The Shadow Man in them. Other than that it was a solid book.
December 30, 2025
Ended the year on a total piece of shit. There was a sentient computer friend (likely a RadioShack Tandy model), a shapeshifting demon, several modern day witches (one who lived in an apartment located at the mall), an annoying child protagonist, a neighbor who doubled as a computer specialist and an exorcist, and a WWE wrestler dad (who spoke in an obnoxious dialect). Just awful. The story was disjointed and nonsensical, not scary in the least, contained zero tension, the dialect wasn’t authentic, and the ending was terrible. I would highly recommend not reading this book.
July 18, 2014
Fun, quasi-YA book that reads like a missing link to horror sci-fi films of the 80s. THE GATE meets EVILSPEAK, which isn't a bad thing at all. I was hoping for a sequel.
February 4, 2024
Super quick read. Very tropish of a good vs evil 80s horror adventure story with a Computer App assistant in a time before things like Alexa or siri. I can imagine this story getting updated to modern times fairly easily. I loved the wholesome relationship with Joey and his father, the pro wrestler "The Dixie Strangler". The relationship between all the adults and Joey was also pretty wholesome in a found family sort of way, everyone was helping raise Joey while his dad was out on the road. It was cheesy but this was really endearing and enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews