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Truth of the Shadows
A DARKNESS IS IN ALL OF US
Cottage Grove Oregon is a sleepy little town, but in the surrounding forests, an ancient nightmare is growing stronger. Dr. Joseph Hoffman, head psychiatrist at Cottage Grove Hospital, wants to believe he has all the answers to his patients’ problems, but there is a darkness within him that always lurks beneath the thin veneer of his competence. That veneer is about to crack.
In his Victorian home at the edge of the forest, his troubled memories hide in untouched rooms under a thick blanket of dust. He thinks he has them under his control, but as he delves into his patients’ twisted stories, the shadows of their insanity begin to follow him home. In order to see what is happening to him, Joseph must turn everything he knows about his past, and his reality, upside down.
As he gets closer to discovering the source of the malevolence that surrounds him, he feels his sanity slipping away. Joseph must uncover the truth before it consumes him. Something terrible is taking over, and he may be the only one who can figure out why.
___________
What are people saying?
“You can’t let someone in who isn’t there.” This was one of my favorite lines in Slade Templeton’s intensely macabre “Truth of The Shadows.” He has a Stephen King-like gift of putting us inside the mind of one teetering on the brink of total madness. Why are we afraid of shadows? Is there someone or “something” hiding in that pitch-black shape? The answer might defy logic and reason. And Templeton’s page-turning novel does challenge us with “the truth.”
-Tom McLoughlin
Writer/Director of Friday the 13th; Jason Lives, One Dark Night, The Unsaid, and Stephen King’s Sometimes They Come Back
“A dark and spiraling journey into the abyss, TRUTH OF THE SHADOWS is a brave and unflinching supernatural thriller that manages to defy expectations.”
—John Palisano,
President, Horror Writers Association
"I soon found myself engrossed in the story and unable to resist diving back into it on every free occasion. Templeton’s characters are authentic and true-to-life, and his plot is imaginative, dark, and unpredictable."
—5/5 Stars, Jack Magnus
"Mr. Templeton handles his own horrific plotline with deft and skill, leaving the reader to deal with an ever-mounting sense of dread without succumbing to inane efforts at denial."
—5/5 Stars, Joel R. Dennstedt
"Author Slade Templeton has crafted a stunning debut work that encompasses the very best of the thriller, psychological, supernatural, and horror genres to deliver a story that touches the darkest corners of our minds."
—5/5 Stars, K.C. Finn
"Slade Templeton uses patients’ delusions, the doctor’s nightmares, and wonderfully strange Native American legends to weave a story that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. I often could not tell whether the visions and occurrences were caused by schizophrenia, drug-induced, or real."
—4/5 Stars, Karen Walpole
“The author’s rich and dark psychological landscape shows a suspenseful tale of evil iconography, while providing room to create a mysterious world. The decisive intensity of the characters comes from the narrative’s beyond world experiences - A book well worth picking up!”
—Brian Perera,
CEO of Cleopatra Records/Cleopatra Entertainment (Iggy Pop, Danzig)
“Enthusiasts of mysterious and suspenseful psychological horror will be keenly intrigued by Slade Templeton's new novel Truth of the Shadows. The book, which explores secrets of the past and the frisson of the unknown, is augmented by audio/visual components for a truly immersive and otherworldly experience in altered reality and perception.”
—Jen Dan,
The Big Takeover Magazine
Cottage Grove Oregon is a sleepy little town, but in the surrounding forests, an ancient nightmare is growing stronger. Dr. Joseph Hoffman, head psychiatrist at Cottage Grove Hospital, wants to believe he has all the answers to his patients’ problems, but there is a darkness within him that always lurks beneath the thin veneer of his competence. That veneer is about to crack.
In his Victorian home at the edge of the forest, his troubled memories hide in untouched rooms under a thick blanket of dust. He thinks he has them under his control, but as he delves into his patients’ twisted stories, the shadows of their insanity begin to follow him home. In order to see what is happening to him, Joseph must turn everything he knows about his past, and his reality, upside down.
As he gets closer to discovering the source of the malevolence that surrounds him, he feels his sanity slipping away. Joseph must uncover the truth before it consumes him. Something terrible is taking over, and he may be the only one who can figure out why.
___________
What are people saying?
“You can’t let someone in who isn’t there.” This was one of my favorite lines in Slade Templeton’s intensely macabre “Truth of The Shadows.” He has a Stephen King-like gift of putting us inside the mind of one teetering on the brink of total madness. Why are we afraid of shadows? Is there someone or “something” hiding in that pitch-black shape? The answer might defy logic and reason. And Templeton’s page-turning novel does challenge us with “the truth.”
-Tom McLoughlin
Writer/Director of Friday the 13th; Jason Lives, One Dark Night, The Unsaid, and Stephen King’s Sometimes They Come Back
“A dark and spiraling journey into the abyss, TRUTH OF THE SHADOWS is a brave and unflinching supernatural thriller that manages to defy expectations.”
—John Palisano,
President, Horror Writers Association
"I soon found myself engrossed in the story and unable to resist diving back into it on every free occasion. Templeton’s characters are authentic and true-to-life, and his plot is imaginative, dark, and unpredictable."
—5/5 Stars, Jack Magnus
"Mr. Templeton handles his own horrific plotline with deft and skill, leaving the reader to deal with an ever-mounting sense of dread without succumbing to inane efforts at denial."
—5/5 Stars, Joel R. Dennstedt
"Author Slade Templeton has crafted a stunning debut work that encompasses the very best of the thriller, psychological, supernatural, and horror genres to deliver a story that touches the darkest corners of our minds."
—5/5 Stars, K.C. Finn
"Slade Templeton uses patients’ delusions, the doctor’s nightmares, and wonderfully strange Native American legends to weave a story that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. I often could not tell whether the visions and occurrences were caused by schizophrenia, drug-induced, or real."
—4/5 Stars, Karen Walpole
“The author’s rich and dark psychological landscape shows a suspenseful tale of evil iconography, while providing room to create a mysterious world. The decisive intensity of the characters comes from the narrative’s beyond world experiences - A book well worth picking up!”
—Brian Perera,
CEO of Cleopatra Records/Cleopatra Entertainment (Iggy Pop, Danzig)
“Enthusiasts of mysterious and suspenseful psychological horror will be keenly intrigued by Slade Templeton's new novel Truth of the Shadows. The book, which explores secrets of the past and the frisson of the unknown, is augmented by audio/visual components for a truly immersive and otherworldly experience in altered reality and perception.”
—Jen Dan,
The Big Takeover Magazine
- GenresHorror
262 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 2, 2020
1 person is currently reading
2173 people want to read
About the author
Slade Templeton
1 book23 followersSlade Templeton is a Switzerland-based, American-born musician, record producer, and published fiction author, living and working in Bern. Since a very young age, he has had a passion for anything dark, including art, music, and film. As he often produced piano concerts and recitals for his family at the age of five, titling the pieces "The Storm" and "Nighttime Fairytale," to name a few, it was destined that his world of music and storytelling eventually intertwined. Having written stories with grandiose plots and twists since a young age, he planned to write novels one day.
Truth of the Shadows became his first.
Truth of the Shadows became his first.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 14, 2020
*I received free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
Following the increasingly stressful daily life of Dr. Joseph Hoffman, as he struggles to suppress the painful memories of his late wife and tries to help his patients deal with their own troubled minds, Truth of the Shadows paints a picture of a world where everyone is dealing with various degrees of insanity. Often, Dr. Hoffman finds his patients stuck in a look of their own pasts, reliving the same delusions again and again, and to prove the point that doctors make the worst patients, he is unable to see his own unfortunate loop.
The darkness and dread in the story is well built. There is a rich background to the origin of the evil that is tormenting Dr. Hoffman and his patients. At times, the repetition of his daily routine did become a bit of a drag, however the pace quickly ramps up when he finally begins to believe what his patients are telling him. Truth of the Shadows by itself is an enjoyable book to read, but it is a reading experience for the 21st Century. Including an online virtual reality experience with every paperback copy wherein readers can go on to read Dr. Hoffman’s own medical notes and patients evaluations, as well as personal received and sent emails – lending a truth to this fictional story that was not expected and promising more from the story of Cottage Grove. As well as this, for the lucky few who have the limited edition hardback copy, they also have access to a dramatic musical score to accompany the book composed by the author, Slade Templeton, himself.
One point I did like about this book is the underlying message of hope for those in the throes of grief or depression. The novel ends on a hopeful note that leaves the characters with a better understanding of their own minds and hopefully the tools to break their unhealthy loops.
All in all Truth of the Shadows is a dark, paranormal novel that ends on a note of fiction, and thanks to the ingenious extras, continues off the page.
Following the increasingly stressful daily life of Dr. Joseph Hoffman, as he struggles to suppress the painful memories of his late wife and tries to help his patients deal with their own troubled minds, Truth of the Shadows paints a picture of a world where everyone is dealing with various degrees of insanity. Often, Dr. Hoffman finds his patients stuck in a look of their own pasts, reliving the same delusions again and again, and to prove the point that doctors make the worst patients, he is unable to see his own unfortunate loop.
The darkness and dread in the story is well built. There is a rich background to the origin of the evil that is tormenting Dr. Hoffman and his patients. At times, the repetition of his daily routine did become a bit of a drag, however the pace quickly ramps up when he finally begins to believe what his patients are telling him. Truth of the Shadows by itself is an enjoyable book to read, but it is a reading experience for the 21st Century. Including an online virtual reality experience with every paperback copy wherein readers can go on to read Dr. Hoffman’s own medical notes and patients evaluations, as well as personal received and sent emails – lending a truth to this fictional story that was not expected and promising more from the story of Cottage Grove. As well as this, for the lucky few who have the limited edition hardback copy, they also have access to a dramatic musical score to accompany the book composed by the author, Slade Templeton, himself.
One point I did like about this book is the underlying message of hope for those in the throes of grief or depression. The novel ends on a hopeful note that leaves the characters with a better understanding of their own minds and hopefully the tools to break their unhealthy loops.
All in all Truth of the Shadows is a dark, paranormal novel that ends on a note of fiction, and thanks to the ingenious extras, continues off the page.
September 16, 2020
There are places we all know to be scared of: the basement, the attic, the graveyard. Haunted houses, dark caves, scenes of tragedy long abandoned. And the perfect horror fodder: the insane asylum. ‘Truth of the Shadows’ by Slade Templeton takes the old haunted asylum trope and twists it into something new and modern.
Cottage Grove Hospital is not an old abandoned asylum, it’s a sleek new modern psychiatric facility led by Dr. Joseph Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman goes about his days sticking to routine and avoiding thinking about his own past as he tries to help his patients overcome their struggles. But Dr. Hoffman is hovering, about to slide right over the edge between genius and insanity as strange things begin happening at Cottage Grove.
Between his own dark guilt, memories of childhood tales that seem to be coming to life, and a wave of inexplicable occurrences at the hospital, Dr. Hoffman struggles to keep a straight head. Old Native American stories, ancient curses, and strange signs in the woods point him on the right path, if only he can figure out the clues in time to save his patients…and himself.
The story itself is stellar: dark, twisted, and haunting…but Slade Templeton doesn’t do anything halfway, and there’s much more to the story than the book. After finishing the story, you can go to the Cottage Grove website, log in as Dr. Hoffman, and browse through case files, audio clips, surveillance videos, and more. And for readers who purchase the special limited hardcover edition, an included QR code will grant you access to a “book score”, music which follows the storyline of the book. I have listened to the music and it is deliciously creepy.
This is Templeton’s first novel (when not writing he plays guitar and sings in a band, emphasizing the “nothing half way” point) and I already want to read more from him. I highly recommend this book. It releases October 2, 2020, so get your hands on it ASAP. You won’t be sorry.
Cottage Grove Hospital is not an old abandoned asylum, it’s a sleek new modern psychiatric facility led by Dr. Joseph Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman goes about his days sticking to routine and avoiding thinking about his own past as he tries to help his patients overcome their struggles. But Dr. Hoffman is hovering, about to slide right over the edge between genius and insanity as strange things begin happening at Cottage Grove.
Between his own dark guilt, memories of childhood tales that seem to be coming to life, and a wave of inexplicable occurrences at the hospital, Dr. Hoffman struggles to keep a straight head. Old Native American stories, ancient curses, and strange signs in the woods point him on the right path, if only he can figure out the clues in time to save his patients…and himself.
The story itself is stellar: dark, twisted, and haunting…but Slade Templeton doesn’t do anything halfway, and there’s much more to the story than the book. After finishing the story, you can go to the Cottage Grove website, log in as Dr. Hoffman, and browse through case files, audio clips, surveillance videos, and more. And for readers who purchase the special limited hardcover edition, an included QR code will grant you access to a “book score”, music which follows the storyline of the book. I have listened to the music and it is deliciously creepy.
This is Templeton’s first novel (when not writing he plays guitar and sings in a band, emphasizing the “nothing half way” point) and I already want to read more from him. I highly recommend this book. It releases October 2, 2020, so get your hands on it ASAP. You won’t be sorry.
January 13, 2025
I’ve never experienced an audiobook production quite like this one. Rarely just voice alone, the scraping of chairs, haunting music, creaking doors, and ominous footsteps play like a movie for your ears. Further adding to the haunting of the story within is author Slade Templeton’s note gracing the opening pages of this read. With a story based on actual events, driven by darkness and bad decisions, “Truth of the Shadows” is a passionate reimagining of the shadows that lurk inside us all.
Dr. Hoffmann works in the corridors of Cottage Grove Hospital. Nestled amongst the forests of a small town, he’s committed himself to his work. Having chosen work over his own family and patients over his now deceased wife, the routine and mundane life he now leads is one ever dedicated to his patients. But as his own patient’s twisted minds project onto his own, his memories begin to unlock, exposing the lurking shadows within.
Digging up his familial past, his childhood memories, and regrets over his wife’s passing, stirs up a reality that’s nearly too much to bear. After all, the mind may tell us one story, but the cameras tell us another as Dr. Hoffmann begins to succumb to the shadows of his mind. This dark, yet complex, read from Templeton lays bare the intricacies of the mind as reality slowly slips away. “Truth of the Shadows” is likely the best audiobook you’ll experience in 2025, as Templeton’s psychological horror takes hold.
Dr. Hoffmann works in the corridors of Cottage Grove Hospital. Nestled amongst the forests of a small town, he’s committed himself to his work. Having chosen work over his own family and patients over his now deceased wife, the routine and mundane life he now leads is one ever dedicated to his patients. But as his own patient’s twisted minds project onto his own, his memories begin to unlock, exposing the lurking shadows within.
Digging up his familial past, his childhood memories, and regrets over his wife’s passing, stirs up a reality that’s nearly too much to bear. After all, the mind may tell us one story, but the cameras tell us another as Dr. Hoffmann begins to succumb to the shadows of his mind. This dark, yet complex, read from Templeton lays bare the intricacies of the mind as reality slowly slips away. “Truth of the Shadows” is likely the best audiobook you’ll experience in 2025, as Templeton’s psychological horror takes hold.
March 30, 2021
Truth of the shadows is a dark paranormal story about Joseph. He is a Psychiatrist working at Cottage Grove Hospital. His normal routine is to deal with his troubled patients, but strange things begin to happen at the facility. As time goes by, he also begins to struggle with his own past memories. Old Native American stories, strange signs, and twisted dark notions of events create a thrilling journey for Joseph to understand the truth.
I admired the message which the story was telling. It spoke of hope and how one deals with grief and depression. The ending was thought-provoking and allowed the reader to consider how one would understand themselves and stop unhealthy thoughts.
I really enjoyed reading this book. The paranormal elements of the story were written so well. The literature had a steady pace and kept the reader intrigued. The author definitely has skill in writing such genre storylines, and I look forward to reading more from him.
I recommend this book to dark thriller readers and those who like paranormal storylines.
I admired the message which the story was telling. It spoke of hope and how one deals with grief and depression. The ending was thought-provoking and allowed the reader to consider how one would understand themselves and stop unhealthy thoughts.
I really enjoyed reading this book. The paranormal elements of the story were written so well. The literature had a steady pace and kept the reader intrigued. The author definitely has skill in writing such genre storylines, and I look forward to reading more from him.
I recommend this book to dark thriller readers and those who like paranormal storylines.
October 10, 2020
Dr. Joseph Hoffman was the head psychiatrist working with a variety of patients.
The writing was good, but it harbored a slow pace as we hear about each patient and what their psychosis was all about. The doctor eventually starts getting anxious when he hears noises in the hospital ward. That starts sending a chill in the reader, until, once again, we get back to the patients. Why did we have to listen to all the patients? Couldn’t some of those scenes or dialogues have been limited? The doctor soon starts questioning his own sanity, which was classic. A psycho doc thinking he’s psycho?
I would’ve liked this better if it had been quicker, which would’ve lent more excitement. I see that it was aiming for a dark and chilly mood preying on the psychological fear and folklore, but it just quite get there for me. It’s a decent horror tale, but I just think it needed more.
The writing was good, but it harbored a slow pace as we hear about each patient and what their psychosis was all about. The doctor eventually starts getting anxious when he hears noises in the hospital ward. That starts sending a chill in the reader, until, once again, we get back to the patients. Why did we have to listen to all the patients? Couldn’t some of those scenes or dialogues have been limited? The doctor soon starts questioning his own sanity, which was classic. A psycho doc thinking he’s psycho?
I would’ve liked this better if it had been quicker, which would’ve lent more excitement. I see that it was aiming for a dark and chilly mood preying on the psychological fear and folklore, but it just quite get there for me. It’s a decent horror tale, but I just think it needed more.
July 31, 2021
My overwhelming impression the entire time I read this was that this book is clearly the writing of someone trying to check boxes on a bucket list - a suspicion I easily verified with a quick check on the author. This brick of a book is flat, tepid, predictable, trite. It is week-old leftover seltzer from a party no one attended. This book isn't the product of someone writing because they feel thay have something to say, this is someone with nothing to say writing a book because they feel they have to say something. Zero substance past a bit of flowery linguistic wallpaper here and there. I found my copy in a used shop and soon donated it to a trash bin. If Stephen King wasn't Stephen King, Dolores Claiborne might like it.
March 23, 2022
The book held my interest throughout, although toward the end, when the drama heated up, I found myself as confused as the protagonist. Maybe that's a good thing--to experience what Joseph does at that point.
I loved much of the descriptions. The plot is great for a paranormal thriller, although I'm not sure that the grandfather's documents really played much of a part in this. If they were left out, it could still have worked just fine.
It's a fun book to read and I did look forward to getting into it each day!
I loved much of the descriptions. The plot is great for a paranormal thriller, although I'm not sure that the grandfather's documents really played much of a part in this. If they were left out, it could still have worked just fine.
It's a fun book to read and I did look forward to getting into it each day!
August 31, 2021
After looking for a good paranormal horror for so long in finally found one! Loved the flow and the twist at the end. And loved the additional online content you find at the very end! I really hope the story continues! Can’t wait!
October 18, 2021
What a book! I won this book from Goodreads. It only took me two days to read because it drew me in and I had to figure out what was going on. I think Slade Templeton will have a good future as an author! If you like paranormal then this book is for you!
June 19, 2023
A must Read
I absolutely loved it. Keep me locked in wanting to know what was next. Recommending to family and friends to enjoy as I have.
I absolutely loved it. Keep me locked in wanting to know what was next. Recommending to family and friends to enjoy as I have.
November 11, 2024
Such a good book, very suspenseful, and I’m not just saying that because he’s my cousin.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews