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Shadow Dance
Little Timothy Cutter woke from a bad dream to find himself in a nightmare of sudden, shattering orphanhood. He said he knew what happened to his parents. But no one he told believed him.... [only[ one person did believe Timothy-- A drifter named Robert Thorn, who came after Timothy from a hellhole south of the border...to take the little boy with him beyond the border of sanity to a world of darkness where a fiend in human form killed with a kiss...
- GenresHorror
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
4 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
About the author
Douglas Borton
10 books15 followersAka Michael Prescott and Brian Harper.
Douglas Child Borton, Jr. grew up in New Jersey and attended Wesleyan University, then moved to Los Angeles and pursued a career as a screenwriter. After working with several independent producers, he eventually switched to writing novels, a much less stressful occupation. He has published eight thrillers, from Comes the Dark (1999) to Mortal Faults (2006), and currently is at work on a new book. Today he divides his time between the Arizona desert and the Jersey shore.
Douglas Child Borton, Jr. grew up in New Jersey and attended Wesleyan University, then moved to Los Angeles and pursued a career as a screenwriter. After working with several independent producers, he eventually switched to writing novels, a much less stressful occupation. He has published eight thrillers, from Comes the Dark (1999) to Mortal Faults (2006), and currently is at work on a new book. Today he divides his time between the Arizona desert and the Jersey shore.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 26, 2023
Wow, this might be the ultimate fear of the dark horror novel ever. Timothy Cutter is afraid of the dark. A mysterious shadow is lurking under his bed threatening him with the kiss of death. He can ward off the monster but what about his parents? When Robert Thornton, a mysterious stranger appears who talks about the runa, a mysterious shadow entity from the rain forest things get complicated. Can a psychologist like Dr Rachel Weiss help? Can the main characters get rid of the evil once and for all. Is there something like a happy ending? Great evil in one of the best horror novels of the decade. Liked the drawing of the characters and the intriguing back story here. You could make a great TV show with that material. This is top horror from the 1980s. Highly recommended!
June 27, 2023
Well paced and fun story by Borton, which is the pen name of Michael Prescott when he wrote horror novels instead of his usual thrillers. I was a bit torn on this one between a 3 and 4 stars, but settled with 3 in the end, primarily because it just required a bit too much suspension of disbelief. Our lead, little Timothy Cutter, starts the novel being scared of things in the dark, even though his parents have told him over and over that monsters do not exist. Yet, one night, he knows there is something in his dark room coming for him; just a little kiss! Somehow he starts uttering words in a strange language and the shadow monster leaves him, but the next morning both his parents are dead.
Borton then takes us to a drifter down in Mexico, one Robert Thorn, who has been travelling in Latin America for 12 years or so. When he finds a story about Timmy's parents, and another where 5 homeless also died in LA, he is on the move. What is the connection here?
You can tell Borton writes thrillers as the pacing here is exceptional, and yes, lots of thrills along the way! Are there really monsters in the dark? This seems to be the case! What made me knock this down to a three star? I will check out more of Borton's work as this was fun, just not exceptional.
Borton then takes us to a drifter down in Mexico, one Robert Thorn, who has been travelling in Latin America for 12 years or so. When he finds a story about Timmy's parents, and another where 5 homeless also died in LA, he is on the move. What is the connection here?
You can tell Borton writes thrillers as the pacing here is exceptional, and yes, lots of thrills along the way! Are there really monsters in the dark? This seems to be the case! What made me knock this down to a three star? I will check out more of Borton's work as this was fun, just not exceptional.
September 24, 2019
Will make you afraid of the dark again!
Michael Prescott is mostly known for his crime thrillers, but this is one of his earlier works when he was publishing horror under the moniker Douglas Borton (which I think is his real name). But you can see the thriller writer in bloom here, as it feels more like a thriller than a horror. In this case, instead of a serial killer or human psychopath, the villain is an ancient spirit called the runa that steals your souls. If you are a Harry Potter fan, the image of the Dementors may come to mind, a malevolent flying darkness that sucks your life essence through a kiss.
The e-book edition was trimmed by the author by about 75 pages, leaving a very taught and fast-paced ride full of action that keeps you hooked until the end. I read this in just two sittings, and finished feeling satisfied, if not entirely scared. As I said, it feels more like a thriller, though there are some genuinely chilling moments that really capture your childhood fear of what may be hiding in the dark, or under your bed. The opening lines are some of the best in any piece of horror fiction, and may prompt you to leave the lights on for several nights to come.
This book can't be recommended for beautiful prose, as it is straight and to the point. Nor is it one to likely leave you thinking about it for months because of its inner complex themes and messages. It is pure entertainment, and knows its purpose well.
The characters are all rather well fleshed out and believable. Even the child character is likeable, which is unusual in such pulp dramas which either make the kid too mature-sounding for their age or make them flat out annoying. The plot itself does a good job in allowing the reader to suspend disbelief, with only one scene pulling me out of my immersion because it got too sloppy to be believed. It won't be a spoiler to say that this scene involved the heroine walking away from a viscous attack in someone's home and going promptly to bed, without the police getting called, as though she had a bad day at the office rather than escaping a brutal murder attempt.
But overall, "Shadow Dance" proved to be worth the read, even if it did nothing particularly groundbreaking to make it unforgettable. But if you read this book, you will likely be reminded of it from time to time, when the lights are out, and you lay wondering and hoping that it's just your dog making that clacking in the darkness.
Michael Prescott is mostly known for his crime thrillers, but this is one of his earlier works when he was publishing horror under the moniker Douglas Borton (which I think is his real name). But you can see the thriller writer in bloom here, as it feels more like a thriller than a horror. In this case, instead of a serial killer or human psychopath, the villain is an ancient spirit called the runa that steals your souls. If you are a Harry Potter fan, the image of the Dementors may come to mind, a malevolent flying darkness that sucks your life essence through a kiss.
The e-book edition was trimmed by the author by about 75 pages, leaving a very taught and fast-paced ride full of action that keeps you hooked until the end. I read this in just two sittings, and finished feeling satisfied, if not entirely scared. As I said, it feels more like a thriller, though there are some genuinely chilling moments that really capture your childhood fear of what may be hiding in the dark, or under your bed. The opening lines are some of the best in any piece of horror fiction, and may prompt you to leave the lights on for several nights to come.
This book can't be recommended for beautiful prose, as it is straight and to the point. Nor is it one to likely leave you thinking about it for months because of its inner complex themes and messages. It is pure entertainment, and knows its purpose well.
The characters are all rather well fleshed out and believable. Even the child character is likeable, which is unusual in such pulp dramas which either make the kid too mature-sounding for their age or make them flat out annoying. The plot itself does a good job in allowing the reader to suspend disbelief, with only one scene pulling me out of my immersion because it got too sloppy to be believed. It won't be a spoiler to say that this scene involved the heroine walking away from a viscous attack in someone's home and going promptly to bed, without the police getting called, as though she had a bad day at the office rather than escaping a brutal murder attempt.
But overall, "Shadow Dance" proved to be worth the read, even if it did nothing particularly groundbreaking to make it unforgettable. But if you read this book, you will likely be reminded of it from time to time, when the lights are out, and you lay wondering and hoping that it's just your dog making that clacking in the darkness.
April 2, 2017
A mostly good novel from Douglas Borton. The concept is fantastic, it cuts right to the core of what scares us as human beings, to the very base human fear of the dark. The plot rips and roars and reads like it would have made a perfect late 80s, early 90s horror movie. The conclusion is good, but the conversations between the villain and its victims got a little tiresome. I don't want to give anything away, but its some pretty not great dialog. There is also a fairly ridiculous section where a character goes into a therapist's office and tells his entire backstory in a very unrealistic, literate voice. That said, it is a good read and recommended to horror fans.
November 5, 2012
3.5 stars:
This was my second book by Douglas Borton, after Kane. This was very different, but I really liked it. Kind of a slow beginning, but the idea's pretty cool. There's this demonic-type creature that steals your shadow, killing you in the process. So it's kind of got a Darkness Falls feel to it, but much better. It's a short book, so it's unfortunate that it takes nearly 100 pgs to get really good, but once it does this book's great. There's a portion that takes place in the Amazon rainforest, and that's got a great, creepy, almost dreamy quality to it. Part of the problem with the beginning is that one of the main characters is a kid (this is a big part of why the beginning's slow for me) -- I almost always find kids in stories/movies/TV to be annoying. In real life they're wonderful, but the way adults write the parts for children usually leaves me irritated. My only other complaint is that I think he overused something a bit (but it wasn't too bad). But I'm not gonna point it out - if you read the story, it'll be worse if I draw your attention to it. Overall, very enjoyable.
Mr. Borton only wrote about 6 horror novels. Since around '95 he's been writing mystery/thrillers under a pseudonym. I've only found his books online, but they're dirt cheap.
This was my second book by Douglas Borton, after Kane. This was very different, but I really liked it. Kind of a slow beginning, but the idea's pretty cool. There's this demonic-type creature that steals your shadow, killing you in the process. So it's kind of got a Darkness Falls feel to it, but much better. It's a short book, so it's unfortunate that it takes nearly 100 pgs to get really good, but once it does this book's great. There's a portion that takes place in the Amazon rainforest, and that's got a great, creepy, almost dreamy quality to it. Part of the problem with the beginning is that one of the main characters is a kid (this is a big part of why the beginning's slow for me) -- I almost always find kids in stories/movies/TV to be annoying. In real life they're wonderful, but the way adults write the parts for children usually leaves me irritated. My only other complaint is that I think he overused something a bit (but it wasn't too bad). But I'm not gonna point it out - if you read the story, it'll be worse if I draw your attention to it. Overall, very enjoyable.
Mr. Borton only wrote about 6 horror novels. Since around '95 he's been writing mystery/thrillers under a pseudonym. I've only found his books online, but they're dirt cheap.
November 29, 2014
Looking for an adventurous, thrill ride by a great author? Do choose Shadow Dance by Michael Prescott (writing as Douglas Borton). Very difficult to put down. The characters are believable, which is very important to me. Highly recommend this book and all of Michael Prescott's books.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews