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Book of Shadows
Homicide detective Adam Garrett is already a rising star in the Boston police department when he and his cynical partner, Carl Landauer, catch a horrifying case that could make their careers: the ritualistic murder of a wealthy college girl that appears to have Satanic elements.Â
The partners make a quick arrest when all evidence points to another student, a troubled musician in a Goth band who was either dating or stalking the murdered girl. But Garrett’s case is turned upside down when beautiful, mysterious Tanith Cabarrus, a practicing witch from nearby Salem, walks into the homicide bureau and insists that the real perpetrator is still at large. Tanith claims to have had psychic visions that the killer has ritually sacrificed other teenagers in his attempts to summon a powerful, ancient demon. Â
All Garrett's beliefs about the nature of reality will be tested as he is forced to team up with a woman he is fiercely attracted to but cannot trust, in a race to uncover a psychotic killer before he strikes again.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
628 people are currently reading
2066 people want to read
About the author
Alexandra Sokoloff
37 books988 followersI'm the Thriller Award-winning and Bram Stoker and Anthony Award-nominated author of the bestselling and very feminist HUNTRESS MOON thrillers: Huntress Moon, Blood Moon, Cold Moon. Bitter Moon, Hunger Moon, Shadow Moon and the supernatural thrillers The Harrowing, The Price, Book of Shadows, The Unseen, The Space Between. The New York Times Book Review has called me "a daughter of Mary Shelley" and my novels "some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre."
I'm a California native and a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, where I majored in theater and minored in everything that Berkeley has a reputation for. After college I moved to Los Angeles, where I made an interesting living doing novel adaptations and selling original thriller scripts to various Hollywood studios.
Now I (mostly!) live in Scotland with my Scottish crime-writing husband, Craig Robertson. We've just written a new mystery/thriller series together — and we're still married and haven't killed each other! LOST HIGHWAY will be out in 2026.
My HUNTRESS MOON series follows a haunted FBI agent on the hunt for a female serial killer, which means I can smash hated genre cliches and kill a lot of men who need to be killed.
In my paranormal and supernatural thrillers, I like to cross the possibility of the supernatural with very real life explanations for any strangeness going on, and base the action squarely in fact. THE UNSEEN is based on real paranormal research conducted at the Duke University parapsychology lab, and BOOK OF SHADOWS teams a Boston homicide detective and a practicing Salem witch in a race to solve what may be a Satanic killing. THE SPACE BETWEEN is an edgy supernatural YA about a troubled high school girl who is having dreams of a terrible massacre at her school, and becomes convinced that she can prevent the shooting if she can unravel the dream.
My non-fiction workbooks SCREENWRITING TRICKS FOR AUTHORS and WRITING LOVE, based on my internationally acclaimed workshops and blog, have helped writers of all levels all over the world finish their books and find agents and book deals. https://alexandrasokoloff.substack.com/
When I'm not writing I travel and I dance: jazz, ballet, salsa, Lindy, swing - I do it all, every chance I get.
Join the mailing list (and receive a FREE short story from the SHATTERING GLASS anthology!):
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Connect with me:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexandra.so...
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Substack: https://alexandrasokoloff.substack.com -
Read more about the books! http://alexandrasokoloff.com
I'm a California native and a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, where I majored in theater and minored in everything that Berkeley has a reputation for. After college I moved to Los Angeles, where I made an interesting living doing novel adaptations and selling original thriller scripts to various Hollywood studios.
Now I (mostly!) live in Scotland with my Scottish crime-writing husband, Craig Robertson. We've just written a new mystery/thriller series together — and we're still married and haven't killed each other! LOST HIGHWAY will be out in 2026.
My HUNTRESS MOON series follows a haunted FBI agent on the hunt for a female serial killer, which means I can smash hated genre cliches and kill a lot of men who need to be killed.
In my paranormal and supernatural thrillers, I like to cross the possibility of the supernatural with very real life explanations for any strangeness going on, and base the action squarely in fact. THE UNSEEN is based on real paranormal research conducted at the Duke University parapsychology lab, and BOOK OF SHADOWS teams a Boston homicide detective and a practicing Salem witch in a race to solve what may be a Satanic killing. THE SPACE BETWEEN is an edgy supernatural YA about a troubled high school girl who is having dreams of a terrible massacre at her school, and becomes convinced that she can prevent the shooting if she can unravel the dream.
My non-fiction workbooks SCREENWRITING TRICKS FOR AUTHORS and WRITING LOVE, based on my internationally acclaimed workshops and blog, have helped writers of all levels all over the world finish their books and find agents and book deals. https://alexandrasokoloff.substack.com/
When I'm not writing I travel and I dance: jazz, ballet, salsa, Lindy, swing - I do it all, every chance I get.
Join the mailing list (and receive a FREE short story from the SHATTERING GLASS anthology!):
https://authoralexandrasokoloff.subst... -
Connect with me:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexandra.so...
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexandraso...
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/alexsokoloff...
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@alexandrasok...
Substack: https://alexandrasokoloff.substack.com -
Read more about the books! http://alexandrasokoloff.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews
November 19, 2016
After reading the first 3 books in Alexandra Sokoloff's The Huntress/FBI Thriller Series, which I really enjoyed, I was so looking forward to this one....but what a disappointment it turned out to be.
The Book of Shadows is I guess a mystery/paranormal/fantasy/murder story which just by the way started off okay.............but it soon lost its momentum for me.
I almost gave up halfway...but I hate giving up on books...so I persevered ....but hey....what a struggle it was to reach THE END....
The characters were so flat...and the whole witch angle....Aleister Crowley, Goths, blah blah blah......... boring boring boring!!!!
So not for me!!!
The Book of Shadows is I guess a mystery/paranormal/fantasy/murder story which just by the way started off okay.............but it soon lost its momentum for me.
I almost gave up halfway...but I hate giving up on books...so I persevered ....but hey....what a struggle it was to reach THE END....
The characters were so flat...and the whole witch angle....Aleister Crowley, Goths, blah blah blah......... boring boring boring!!!!
So not for me!!!
Read
August 31, 2010Detective Adam Garret is on the fast track in the Boston police department when a terrible murder shocks the city. Garret leads the investigation, hoping to use it as a springboard to a promotion, as well as being driven to catch a predator stalking the streets. After solid police work leads to an arrest, Garret just has to take care of the paperwork. But when Tanith Cabarrus, a self-proclaimed witch, walks into the station proclaiming that the wrong man has been arrested, and that there are more bodies out there, with more on the way, Garret's world is turned upside down, and his Catholic upbringing runs straight into a supernatural world that he never imagined.
If Book of Shadows doesn't make Alexandra Sokoloff a household name, something is very wrong. It is one of the most compelling stories I have read in quite some time. I spent far too many nights staying up much too late, wanting to know where the story would take me next. Adam Garret is a wonderful leading man who dominates the book. He is a down-to-earth detective with high ambitions, as well as a lapsed Irish Catholic who begins to question what he knows of the world when the supernatural encroaches on his investigation. Garret's partner, Carl Landauer, breaks the mold of the stereotypical overweight, chain-smoking detective. He has his partner’s back, even when he disagrees with what Garret is doing. Throw in an overbearing, ultra-religious boss, and a social climbing D.A. girlfriend, and Sokoloff has a great cast on the 'official" side of the story.
When Tanith Cabarrus is introduced, Sokoloff takes us from a well-written mystery novel into a slightly off- kilter supernatural thriller. Or does she? Sokoloff uses many tactics to make us question whether the "magic" we see is truly magic or just sleight of hand, hypnotism, and drugs. Tanith's natural spiritualism is a nice counterpoint to Garret's "real" world. Is Tanith really a witch, or is she a charlatan? Does she truly want to help, or is she insinuating herself into the investigation for her own underhanded reasons? Sokoloff keeps us guessing until the end.
Sokoloff beautifully depicts Massachusetts’ autumn, as Halloween approaches. The descriptive passages flow smoothly, never slowing down the action. The language is poetic without being flowery, and I could almost hear the crackling leaves and smell the scents on the breeze. The action scenes are fraught with tension. I found myself holding the book tightly, flipping the pages faster and faster. Compelling barely describes the pace. Anyone looking for a good mystery, a good scare, great characters...look no further. The highest recommendation for libraries and, well, everyone.
Contains: Strong language, violence, some gore, and sexual situations.
Review by Erik Smith
If Book of Shadows doesn't make Alexandra Sokoloff a household name, something is very wrong. It is one of the most compelling stories I have read in quite some time. I spent far too many nights staying up much too late, wanting to know where the story would take me next. Adam Garret is a wonderful leading man who dominates the book. He is a down-to-earth detective with high ambitions, as well as a lapsed Irish Catholic who begins to question what he knows of the world when the supernatural encroaches on his investigation. Garret's partner, Carl Landauer, breaks the mold of the stereotypical overweight, chain-smoking detective. He has his partner’s back, even when he disagrees with what Garret is doing. Throw in an overbearing, ultra-religious boss, and a social climbing D.A. girlfriend, and Sokoloff has a great cast on the 'official" side of the story.
When Tanith Cabarrus is introduced, Sokoloff takes us from a well-written mystery novel into a slightly off- kilter supernatural thriller. Or does she? Sokoloff uses many tactics to make us question whether the "magic" we see is truly magic or just sleight of hand, hypnotism, and drugs. Tanith's natural spiritualism is a nice counterpoint to Garret's "real" world. Is Tanith really a witch, or is she a charlatan? Does she truly want to help, or is she insinuating herself into the investigation for her own underhanded reasons? Sokoloff keeps us guessing until the end.
Sokoloff beautifully depicts Massachusetts’ autumn, as Halloween approaches. The descriptive passages flow smoothly, never slowing down the action. The language is poetic without being flowery, and I could almost hear the crackling leaves and smell the scents on the breeze. The action scenes are fraught with tension. I found myself holding the book tightly, flipping the pages faster and faster. Compelling barely describes the pace. Anyone looking for a good mystery, a good scare, great characters...look no further. The highest recommendation for libraries and, well, everyone.
Contains: Strong language, violence, some gore, and sexual situations.
Review by Erik Smith
August 12, 2010
Murder/ copy story with a witchy twist. Pretty good writing and a strong start precede a descent into lame.
December 4, 2014
This is one of those books that started out good, or at least perfectly fine to keep me entertained during my breaks at work. Unfortunately, it quickly disintegrated to a cross between CSI and Charmed.
The writing was about as good as the plot in a porno movie. Without the porn. All the women who had interaction with the main character, Garrett, were lusty and willing, and Garrett seemed to be sporting a hard-on every time he talked to a woman. Of course, there were no plain women in this book. They were all extraordinarily gorgeous. Need I go on?
Parts of it were just downright silly. An experienced detective, while meeting a woman who states she is a witch, challenges her to cast a spell on him. She cuts her finger and asks him to suck the dripping blood off. And he does it. Really? I don't care how beautiful, how sexy a woman is, to do something like this would be ridiculously out of character. Of all people, cops and nurses are very aware of the risks of blood borne disease. Oh-- and all this took place in the station with all of his coworkers looking on! Whatever. In another part, a girlfriend (who knows this detective sleeps with his gun at his bedside)lets herself into his apartment and is walking around in the kitchen in the dark. When she ends up with him pointing his gun at her, she is amused. And the witch. Don't get me started on that. I'll just say she could do almost anything. Her powers would make any stage magician jealous.
I may have missed the point. Maybe this was meant to be a fantasy when I expected a crime mystery with paranormal elements. Oh well.
The writing was about as good as the plot in a porno movie. Without the porn. All the women who had interaction with the main character, Garrett, were lusty and willing, and Garrett seemed to be sporting a hard-on every time he talked to a woman. Of course, there were no plain women in this book. They were all extraordinarily gorgeous. Need I go on?
Parts of it were just downright silly. An experienced detective, while meeting a woman who states she is a witch, challenges her to cast a spell on him. She cuts her finger and asks him to suck the dripping blood off. And he does it. Really? I don't care how beautiful, how sexy a woman is, to do something like this would be ridiculously out of character. Of all people, cops and nurses are very aware of the risks of blood borne disease. Oh-- and all this took place in the station with all of his coworkers looking on! Whatever. In another part, a girlfriend (who knows this detective sleeps with his gun at his bedside)lets herself into his apartment and is walking around in the kitchen in the dark. When she ends up with him pointing his gun at her, she is amused. And the witch. Don't get me started on that. I'll just say she could do almost anything. Her powers would make any stage magician jealous.
I may have missed the point. Maybe this was meant to be a fantasy when I expected a crime mystery with paranormal elements. Oh well.
June 9, 2013
Alex Sokoloff blew me away with her first novel "The Harrowing", and she's just gotten better and better with every book. She writes what I like to call "whatdunnits": mysteries and thrillers with a supernatural overtone in which the main characters (and the reader) are trying to figure out if their enemy is a particularly evil human or...something else, something Other. This is a brilliant example of that style, with some added eroticism to spice things up. Sokoloff is an deft, assured writer with a real gift for putting your head right into the scene using all the senses. She can really bring the shivers, both the sexy and the scary kind. Highly recommended.
August 14, 2020
2 stars. It was OK.
What I liked: The occult elements. Always love witches and demons! I also liked the noir tone, mixed with the supernatural.
What I disliked: Everyone was a walking trope. Female characters were described based on how attractive they are. The writing was fine but nothing special. No surprises in the plot.
Not terrible, but I'll doubt it'll stick with me.
What I liked: The occult elements. Always love witches and demons! I also liked the noir tone, mixed with the supernatural.
What I disliked: Everyone was a walking trope. Female characters were described based on how attractive they are. The writing was fine but nothing special. No surprises in the plot.
Not terrible, but I'll doubt it'll stick with me.
March 18, 2017
Could have used more character development. At times interesting with good writing. Plot too predictable for me.
February 7, 2019
Excellent, complex, quite different book, sort of a mash-up of a mystery or crime story and the supernatural or horror tale. Loved it.
Boston PD Detectives Garrett and Landauer are investigating a murder: a dead girl found in a landfill minus her head and arm. I suppose readers of horror might pin on this right away: it's got witches in it! I didn't. I like horror, but haven't read a good amount in years and so it flew right past me. But yeah, it's got witches...
And solid detective work with solid forensic science, but then we also have witches and demons and rituals and another murders and creepy things a'happening. (Lots of the happenings happen in Salem, MA, of course.) The mix might seem a bit unrealistic as Adam Garrett struggles to keep it firmly within the realm of all that's possible. It's hard for him to step out of 'what he knows,' but when he does...
Highly entertaining. Creepy at its best. I read some chapters late at night in a dark dark house while all around me the family slept and the wind - good God! It wouldn't stop! Plus we had that nasty polar vortex settling down over us and the new furnace was making a whole lot of new noises...
Atmospheric, clue-ridden (most of which I missed!) and two women characters who kept me guessing...
Four stars!
I'm gonna read more by Ms. Sokoloff!
Boston PD Detectives Garrett and Landauer are investigating a murder: a dead girl found in a landfill minus her head and arm. I suppose readers of horror might pin on this right away: it's got witches in it! I didn't. I like horror, but haven't read a good amount in years and so it flew right past me. But yeah, it's got witches...
And solid detective work with solid forensic science, but then we also have witches and demons and rituals and another murders and creepy things a'happening. (Lots of the happenings happen in Salem, MA, of course.) The mix might seem a bit unrealistic as Adam Garrett struggles to keep it firmly within the realm of all that's possible. It's hard for him to step out of 'what he knows,' but when he does...
Highly entertaining. Creepy at its best. I read some chapters late at night in a dark dark house while all around me the family slept and the wind - good God! It wouldn't stop! Plus we had that nasty polar vortex settling down over us and the new furnace was making a whole lot of new noises...
Atmospheric, clue-ridden (most of which I missed!) and two women characters who kept me guessing...
Four stars!
I'm gonna read more by Ms. Sokoloff!
January 12, 2011
I totally should have loved this book. I mean, it's a mystery and I love mysteries. In fact, there's only one thing I love more than I love mysteries and that's everything and anything to do with witches. I'm serious. This all started with my anything but brief obsession with Charmed when I was 11 years old (and Charmed was in its first season). Ever since then I have been drawn to books about witches (whether it be fiction or non-fiction) and books about the occult. I just think that it's a fascinating subject. Book of Shadows was a mystery with a paranormal aspect to it. Lots of magic, lots of witches, and lots of suspense. Plus, I've read three of Alexandra Sokoloff's books; two I really loved and one that I thought was just okay. So, this book had "ME!" written all over it. Yet, I didn't really love it like I expected to.
Book of Shadows reminded me a bit of The Unseen in that it started a bit slow. It took about an hour to get through the first twenty pages because I kept falling asleep (although that could've been because I was just really, really, tired). It got better after that and I was intrigued 200 pages and then the book started dragging a bit again. It was just a bit repetitive, especially that whole thing with Garrett and Tanith. Garrett is stumped by something. He goes to Tanith for help. She explains the situation to him. He's skeptical and doesn't believe. He concludes that she's crazy. Now this is all fine and dandy...the first time. But then Garrett keeps going to Tanith for help and then keeps concluding she's crazy when she explains the unexplainable to him. This happened like three or four times. And that led me to conclude that Garrett...yeah he's a bit of an idiot...and annoying.
Besides the slogging and the idiocy of the main character, I did like Book of Shadows overall. It's pretty obvious that Sokoloff was meticulous in her research of the occult. Again that's a subject that has always fascinated me so my favorite parts were when Tanith (who oddly enough reminded me of Paige from Charmed with the whole dark hair, dark eyes, but pale as hell complexion thing that was described of Tanith) was describing the whole thing with the demon and what the triangle meant. I love crap like that.
So overall I think that Book of Shadows was an okay read. It wasn't my favorite book from this author (The Price was), but it wasn't my least favorite either. I think that the subject was great, but the execution was a bit less than stellar.
P.S. Kick-ass cover!
November 5, 2015
Look, if you are a woman, and your main character is a man, you've set up a challenge for yourself. I am sometimes astounded by the success of these authors. This author's solution was no solution; the character development in all her characters was very flat... two dimensional. The only character I was truly drawn to was the fetch, that was interesting.
The men were near idiots with very little capacity to control their primal nature. I'm not saying that they were written as pigs, though a little porcine bled through. Women had trouble controlling their emotions and enjoyed the power their gender allowed over these helpless men. See where I'm going here?
It might have been better if it were explained that intuition is simply a clarity of logic, but that would be too intelligent. None of the characters, with the possible exception of the Crone, was terribly intelligent. I say "possibly" because she really served an ancillary role.
I'm not a person to poo-poo formula books. Formula books can be very rewarding. the reason they are popular is that the Formula works. For a book to work, there has to be something in the formula that makes a book like this stand out and shine. Most successful formula books have outstanding character creation; we like or we hate these creations. They draw us in until we are immersed in the story. The best part of this read was the technical accuracy of how the Craft works, but again, the "why" was never explained.
Here we are digging up Crowley again and even he was two-dimensional. (Aleister Crowley, like Timothy Leary, is dead)
The men were near idiots with very little capacity to control their primal nature. I'm not saying that they were written as pigs, though a little porcine bled through. Women had trouble controlling their emotions and enjoyed the power their gender allowed over these helpless men. See where I'm going here?
It might have been better if it were explained that intuition is simply a clarity of logic, but that would be too intelligent. None of the characters, with the possible exception of the Crone, was terribly intelligent. I say "possibly" because she really served an ancillary role.
I'm not a person to poo-poo formula books. Formula books can be very rewarding. the reason they are popular is that the Formula works. For a book to work, there has to be something in the formula that makes a book like this stand out and shine. Most successful formula books have outstanding character creation; we like or we hate these creations. They draw us in until we are immersed in the story. The best part of this read was the technical accuracy of how the Craft works, but again, the "why" was never explained.
Here we are digging up Crowley again and even he was two-dimensional. (Aleister Crowley, like Timothy Leary, is dead)
June 14, 2010
I picked this up at the library because it is set in the Boston area and read it in two days. It's good, although I'm not all that into the occult/horror angle. The detectives were well-drawn and the premise was interesting. There were a couple of local howlers: McLean Hospital is and always has been a private, not a state hospital and no-one from this area would say "Highway 2", it's Route 2 (pronounced like "root"). Picky, picky but these things jumped out at me. Also the sex scenes read like something from a smutty romance novel - "throbbing shafts" etc. All in all I enjoyed it for the most part while I was reading it but it is not the kind of book I usually read so I probably won't look for any more. But if you like occult/romance/horror/mystery, go for it!
November 21, 2012
Strictly speaking this isn't mere horror as it's more paranormal. And who better do take on this mantle but Ms Sokoloff!
Her writing is always atmospheric and empathic and creates a wonderfully filmic narrative throughout her books and The Book of Shadows is a great example.
I have mentioned before that I was reading this on my kobo therefore not a format I prefer but I carried this with me in my bag for those occasions when I have a spare 15 mins to read, having finished my other reads I'd got to a stage in Book of Shadows that I've spent my morning in excited anticipation as to what was going to happen. I really love Alexandra's books and this is another 5 star title now on my virtual bookshelf.
Her writing is always atmospheric and empathic and creates a wonderfully filmic narrative throughout her books and The Book of Shadows is a great example.
I have mentioned before that I was reading this on my kobo therefore not a format I prefer but I carried this with me in my bag for those occasions when I have a spare 15 mins to read, having finished my other reads I'd got to a stage in Book of Shadows that I've spent my morning in excited anticipation as to what was going to happen. I really love Alexandra's books and this is another 5 star title now on my virtual bookshelf.
June 28, 2012
Police find a girl murdered with ritualistic carvings and a missing head and hand. They ar edrawn into a strange world with Satanic/Demonic threads. grant asks for help from a local Wiccan who he is not sure he can trust.
I did enjoy the story a lot, though I sometiems felt I was getting diverted by the occult themes from the actual mystery. The information on Choronzon was fascinating and the question of what was real or not due to the influence of drugs left lingering questions for the main character - I liked that.
I did enjoy the story a lot, though I sometiems felt I was getting diverted by the occult themes from the actual mystery. The information on Choronzon was fascinating and the question of what was real or not due to the influence of drugs left lingering questions for the main character - I liked that.
January 2, 2015
OK police thriller about a maverick Boston cop investigating a murder with links to witchcraft. I got it free on Amazon without knowing much about it - I have a bunch of books on my kindle for when I'm travelling or can't sleep, so picked this somewhat at random. I'm not really into books about the occult and wasn't sure whether this was going to turn out to have supernatural elements or be a basic serial killer plot line; it wasn't bad, but the hero is an idiot, led by his penis for most of it, and the ending rather weak.
July 29, 2014
Loved this book. My third from this author.
July 11, 2021
I was curious to read this–or something like it, really–after finishing my master’s dissertation on British fin de siècle occultism. It’s a wonderful subject, a churning chaos of epistemological positions, knowledge production, burgeoning modernity, entzauberung, and the vicious currents of scientific positivism breaking against the epochal spiritual understanding of man’s place in the universe.
Alexandra Sokoloff appears to have read the wikipedia article on Aleister Crowley and decided that ceremonial magic is best represented through weird Harry Potter-like nonsense and some rhymes.. The book is of course profoundly stupid, the way only modern cop-propaganda can be, but at least it’s readable and horny, which if nothing else puts it ahead of our current American cinema, which is stupid and neutered. Shrug.
Alexandra Sokoloff appears to have read the wikipedia article on Aleister Crowley and decided that ceremonial magic is best represented through weird Harry Potter-like nonsense and some rhymes.. The book is of course profoundly stupid, the way only modern cop-propaganda can be, but at least it’s readable and horny, which if nothing else puts it ahead of our current American cinema, which is stupid and neutered. Shrug.
March 19, 2022
When I want a good suspense/thriller/mystery... Alexandra Sokoloff has quickly become my go-to author. Really solid story. Great storytelling.
Question, how come demons always speak in Latin?
Question, how come demons always speak in Latin?
August 17, 2010
Book of Shadows by Alexandra Sokoloff
Suspense/Mystery- June 8th, 2010
5 stars
Book of Shadows by Alexandra Sokoloff is a mystery with paranormal, suspense and thriller elements. It is well written in a style that is educated, understandable, and creepily believable.
Homicide Detective Adam Garrett of the Boston Police Department is assigned to investigate the murdered remains of a young woman. She was found grievously dumped at the city landfill. The post-mortem mutilations have the markings of an occult ritual. She is later identified as a socialite Erin Carmody, a sophomore at Amherst University .
The profile provided by Dr. Frazer is a match to the disturbed satanic follower, Jason Moncrief. He is another student from Amherst and was in a relationship with the murdered co-ed. The testimony of their friends, evidence collected from the scene and his vehicle, and even his actions point at him being guilty. Garrett could claim finding and arresting their suspect so quickly was due to his good investigation skills, but the ease to find him is nagging. Who will follow-up on his suspicions when his girlfriend, Carolyn Davenport, assistant DA for Suffolk County , and his boss, Lt. Malloy are riding the forth-coming conviction into stardom?
Tanith Cabarrus arrives at the station. Is she right? Is Moncrief innocent? Does he dare believe her? Demons, possessions, witches? Garrett’s attraction to her might be part of a con, but what if the perk believes in all this supernatural stuff? Does Garrett believe? No, but he has enough doubts to continue searching. Alone, he follows the clues, because doing nothing, the alternative is impossible. If Tanith is right, there is a killer hiding, waiting to strike again on Samhain or Halloween when the veil between life and death is thin.
Book of Shadows is a well written, detail orientated mystery novel. I expected to be bored, but instead was quickly caught by her story line. Yes, she does take liberties (like I really don’t think an officer can take evidence into an uncontrolled environment), but I accepted the stretch as necessary for the novel. It is better than any CSI show because she tells the investigation in real time. It is not your one-hour television show.
I liked the characters. They were well developed and motivated. I’ve read other law enforcement/forensic novels, and put the books down because the jargon and vocabulary was over my reading comprehension because the author’s big words had left me floundering. However, in Ms. Sokoloff’s novel she blends their vocabulary into language, setting the scene so I could understand.
Near the end of this book, I checked her list of published novels. I’ve missed one and wanted to read it. After this one novel, I realized there is one book of hers that I have not read. I’ve got to get it!
Reviewed by Jackie from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club
Suspense/Mystery- June 8th, 2010
5 stars
Book of Shadows by Alexandra Sokoloff is a mystery with paranormal, suspense and thriller elements. It is well written in a style that is educated, understandable, and creepily believable.
Homicide Detective Adam Garrett of the Boston Police Department is assigned to investigate the murdered remains of a young woman. She was found grievously dumped at the city landfill. The post-mortem mutilations have the markings of an occult ritual. She is later identified as a socialite Erin Carmody, a sophomore at Amherst University .
The profile provided by Dr. Frazer is a match to the disturbed satanic follower, Jason Moncrief. He is another student from Amherst and was in a relationship with the murdered co-ed. The testimony of their friends, evidence collected from the scene and his vehicle, and even his actions point at him being guilty. Garrett could claim finding and arresting their suspect so quickly was due to his good investigation skills, but the ease to find him is nagging. Who will follow-up on his suspicions when his girlfriend, Carolyn Davenport, assistant DA for Suffolk County , and his boss, Lt. Malloy are riding the forth-coming conviction into stardom?
Tanith Cabarrus arrives at the station. Is she right? Is Moncrief innocent? Does he dare believe her? Demons, possessions, witches? Garrett’s attraction to her might be part of a con, but what if the perk believes in all this supernatural stuff? Does Garrett believe? No, but he has enough doubts to continue searching. Alone, he follows the clues, because doing nothing, the alternative is impossible. If Tanith is right, there is a killer hiding, waiting to strike again on Samhain or Halloween when the veil between life and death is thin.
Book of Shadows is a well written, detail orientated mystery novel. I expected to be bored, but instead was quickly caught by her story line. Yes, she does take liberties (like I really don’t think an officer can take evidence into an uncontrolled environment), but I accepted the stretch as necessary for the novel. It is better than any CSI show because she tells the investigation in real time. It is not your one-hour television show.
I liked the characters. They were well developed and motivated. I’ve read other law enforcement/forensic novels, and put the books down because the jargon and vocabulary was over my reading comprehension because the author’s big words had left me floundering. However, in Ms. Sokoloff’s novel she blends their vocabulary into language, setting the scene so I could understand.
Near the end of this book, I checked her list of published novels. I’ve missed one and wanted to read it. After this one novel, I realized there is one book of hers that I have not read. I’ve got to get it!
Reviewed by Jackie from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club
August 5, 2013
Alexandra Sokoloff has a way with words. Her novel The Book Of Shadows opens with “It was a vision of hell.” Rather than the cliché literal mouth of hell, we have a bleak rendering of a city dump, complete with dead body. You can almost taste the stench in the back of your mouth and the opening paragraphs demand you read on.
And read on you must. The Book Of Shadows is a story of murder, witchcraft, and terror. A body turns up in the city dump with hints of ritual murder. The evidence is fairly straightforward and a troubled student is arrested. The narrative has indirect parallels to the West Memphis Three case in its use of Goth stereotypes and assumptions of guilt. But Sokoloff takes us one step further when Tanith Cabarrus, a practicing witch, insists the real killer is still on the loose. Can two rational, logical detectives put aside their doubts, fears, and suspicions and entertain the possibility of the supernatural in order to catch a killer?
Sokoloff is a master at drawing the razor-thin between belief and disbelief. I believe in magic, witchcraft, and the supernatural so I immediately fell in line with Cabarrus and her story. But just when I was thoroughly convinced, Sokoloff skillfully turned the narrative toward disbelief. The tension mounted throughout the story, pulling the reader back and forth with every page. Like our detectives, we don’t want to believe, but then again can we ignore the dark shadows creeping around the corner? Can we face the truth, but then again, exactly what is the truth?
The Book of Shadows is part crime thriller, part paranormal exploration, part horror, and all brilliant. Well-paced, intriguing, and compelling, Sokoloff is a rare gem in the world of dark fiction.
Originally published at Horror Novel Reviews
And read on you must. The Book Of Shadows is a story of murder, witchcraft, and terror. A body turns up in the city dump with hints of ritual murder. The evidence is fairly straightforward and a troubled student is arrested. The narrative has indirect parallels to the West Memphis Three case in its use of Goth stereotypes and assumptions of guilt. But Sokoloff takes us one step further when Tanith Cabarrus, a practicing witch, insists the real killer is still on the loose. Can two rational, logical detectives put aside their doubts, fears, and suspicions and entertain the possibility of the supernatural in order to catch a killer?
Sokoloff is a master at drawing the razor-thin between belief and disbelief. I believe in magic, witchcraft, and the supernatural so I immediately fell in line with Cabarrus and her story. But just when I was thoroughly convinced, Sokoloff skillfully turned the narrative toward disbelief. The tension mounted throughout the story, pulling the reader back and forth with every page. Like our detectives, we don’t want to believe, but then again can we ignore the dark shadows creeping around the corner? Can we face the truth, but then again, exactly what is the truth?
The Book of Shadows is part crime thriller, part paranormal exploration, part horror, and all brilliant. Well-paced, intriguing, and compelling, Sokoloff is a rare gem in the world of dark fiction.
Originally published at Horror Novel Reviews
August 9, 2016
Ugh. I'm finally through this one. I got more than halfway, and then I realized that I was wasting my time, but I don't abandon books. I gave this plenty of chances, but it failed all the same.. This was such a disappointment compared to Sokoloff's The Harrowing. At a certain point the overly abundant sexual references and references to hideous crimes became tiresome, not to mention offensive. I despised Garrett and his partner (the partner especially); they seemed to display a contempt for nearly all social groups other than their own. They display racist and sexist qualities throughout, and viewed the violence of those around them with a severe and deeply unsettling detachment that no well-meaning law enforcement officer should have. I could barely stand to finish it. I give this book two stars instead of one only because I really enjoyed Sokoloff's debut, and I hope she can regain the respect I'd built in her after reading The Harrowing. Book of Shadows did nothing for me; I didn't understand it, it was pointlessly lewd, it was nonsensically brutal, it was an incredible letdown. If The Unseen is as much of a disappointment as BoS turned out to be, it's safe to say that I'll be staying away from Sokoloff for quite a long time.
July 13, 2012
Bit of a slog to get through.
This is not my usual genre, but it started out pretty well and interested me enough to keep reading. Other than the reciting of the spells, the writing is decent. The spells, though, geez, they sounded like stuff a third-grade girl would make up. If these are "authentic" spells spouted by "real" witches, no wonder few people take them seriously.
The partnership between Garrett and Landauer seemed true. The procedural stuff seemed ok -- there were no overnight DNA results for example.
The sex scenes, well, easy to skim through. The one sex bit that really bothered me was what I would call a rape -- when Tanith drugged Garrett and they got it on. Don't know what the point of that was or why it isn't called out for what it is.
But, ultimately, it took longer and longer to get through. It could've been trimmed considerably and it would have made a more powerful book. Or maybe I was just getting less and less patient with all the occult BS. I was glad to see it finally end.
This is not my usual genre, but it started out pretty well and interested me enough to keep reading. Other than the reciting of the spells, the writing is decent. The spells, though, geez, they sounded like stuff a third-grade girl would make up. If these are "authentic" spells spouted by "real" witches, no wonder few people take them seriously.
The partnership between Garrett and Landauer seemed true. The procedural stuff seemed ok -- there were no overnight DNA results for example.
The sex scenes, well, easy to skim through. The one sex bit that really bothered me was what I would call a rape -- when Tanith drugged Garrett and they got it on. Don't know what the point of that was or why it isn't called out for what it is.
But, ultimately, it took longer and longer to get through. It could've been trimmed considerably and it would have made a more powerful book. Or maybe I was just getting less and less patient with all the occult BS. I was glad to see it finally end.
November 10, 2011
I try and not try to do reviews when I don't finish a book. Obviously however I feel as though I want to say a bit about this one. I enjoyed the other books by Sokoloff but they all hold a few problems for me. The Harrowing's characters were generic horror movie characters but the story was entertaining and I liked that. The Price I thought was excellent. Although there were parts I felt would have been better if more attention was given to the relationship between the family members in the book. The Unseen was very good but disappointing in the ended. But this one I couldn't finish. It was boring, the characters generic, and I just really loathed the main characters. I will most likely give her another chance but this was just bad writing all around.
August 19, 2010
My local Barnes and Noble store sucked me into this one - author is coming to town for a workshop on plot development - and I'm a little sad that they did. Took about 40 pages for the plot to draw me in and then it got bogged down in all this supernatural/witch type stuff which made no sense. And then the ending was just plain weird. Disappointing overall.
February 11, 2011
I really needed an exciting one day read. This was it!! Oooh, scary...I just loved it, but I could not read it at night. Now I admit, I am a wimp about horror books, but it was scary to me! Not great literature, but a really great escape. Some gore, bad language, etc...nothing worse than in an average horror story and not as bad as Stephen King, whom I hate.
January 17, 2013
I am not a fan of paranormal and/or witchcraft novels. That said, I must admit that this was suspenseful, well written and held your interest. The author obviously knows her genre and was also able to bring up the procedural anti-hero police work with alacrity.
December 25, 2013
watch Angel or Supernatural, instead.
April 10, 2015
Really 3.5 stars. I did enjoy it a lot and wish 4 stars could be my response but like other reviews I read I felt there would have hoped for a clearer more connected ending.
April 21, 2023
The daughter of scientists, Alexandra Sokoloff is the winner of a Thriller Award. She has been nominated for the Bram Stoker and Anthony Award. The author of eleven crime, supernatural and paranormal thrillers, her Huntress/FBI series is an Amazon bestseller.
Besides writing novels and short fiction, she is the author of books relating to the craft of Screenwriting. In this capacity she has sold horror and thriller scripts as well as adaptations for Hollywood studios.
Book of Shadows: (A Thriller) deals with the murder of a high profile, prominent family’s daughter. Found in a trash dump missing her head and one of her hands it quickly becomes obvious to the two Boston homicide detectives, Adam Garrett and Carl Landauer, that the disturbing case was about to cause a media sensation. A drop of black beeswax left on the body presents a subtle clue.
As the crime scene investigators clear debris from around the corpse, they notice that someone had carved the numbers 333 into her chest and the shape of three triangles their points touching each other. The symbols for radiation.
Weirder yet wildflowers, a short distance from the corpse, were singed as if by fire. This was accompanied by a strong smell of sulfur. Belladonna, black beeswax candles, a dagger, and a sword lead the detectives to Salem, MA.
Misdirection and more cadavers fuel the plot. All the dead are missing the same body parts. The serial killer taunts the police by giving them the date of his next murders. The day posts an immediacy that makes for a great page turner. It is also in keeping with the time of year – Halloween, or in the jargon of the Wiccan – Samhain, that time of year that the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest.
The perp was either someone who dabbled in the dark side or someone who hoped the police would consider the crime one perpetuated by someone who followed the black arts.
The men quickly become embroiled in a religion and lifestyle that they had no knowledge of and did not necessarily believe in or understand.
What I loved about this book was the extensive knowledge that this author has regarding the Wiccan religion. The way she perverts the wisdom to fit into the murderer’s psyche is well done.
The title for this work takes its name from a book, a type of diary, kept by Wiccans. It is one’s personal record of spells, and one’s personal instructions for one’s magical rituals.
The cover design was appealing. This, and the title, were what prompted me to read this book to begin with. It did not disappoint.
From the first page we are introduced to the expressive imagery and language of the author. Her visuals are so detailed that one cannot help but see the visions she puts on paper. “Caterpillar trucks and front loaders with metal jaws gaping, like gigantic prehistoric insects on the mountains of trash, an appalling chaos of rotting vegetables, discarded …”
Her character development shares her dramatic wording “… whisky-drinking donut-eating Landauer, a living, breathing amalgam of every cop cliché known to man: middle-aged spread, broad sweating face, and bawdy, cynical humor, a lifer who used the caricature as a disguise.”
It was a pleasure to read the string of words that make up such a tapestry of color and coordination.
I found this book entertaining, enlightening, and disturbing. It is a good read that I would definitely recommend.
In addition to this narrative the author gives us a glimpse into a few of her other works at the back of the book: “Huntress Moon: Book 1 of the Thriller Award-Nominated Huntress/FBI Series” and a preview of “The Harrowing,” and “The Price.”
Susan Piazza is an author, columnist, and blogger.
Besides writing novels and short fiction, she is the author of books relating to the craft of Screenwriting. In this capacity she has sold horror and thriller scripts as well as adaptations for Hollywood studios.
Book of Shadows: (A Thriller) deals with the murder of a high profile, prominent family’s daughter. Found in a trash dump missing her head and one of her hands it quickly becomes obvious to the two Boston homicide detectives, Adam Garrett and Carl Landauer, that the disturbing case was about to cause a media sensation. A drop of black beeswax left on the body presents a subtle clue.
As the crime scene investigators clear debris from around the corpse, they notice that someone had carved the numbers 333 into her chest and the shape of three triangles their points touching each other. The symbols for radiation.
Weirder yet wildflowers, a short distance from the corpse, were singed as if by fire. This was accompanied by a strong smell of sulfur. Belladonna, black beeswax candles, a dagger, and a sword lead the detectives to Salem, MA.
Misdirection and more cadavers fuel the plot. All the dead are missing the same body parts. The serial killer taunts the police by giving them the date of his next murders. The day posts an immediacy that makes for a great page turner. It is also in keeping with the time of year – Halloween, or in the jargon of the Wiccan – Samhain, that time of year that the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest.
The perp was either someone who dabbled in the dark side or someone who hoped the police would consider the crime one perpetuated by someone who followed the black arts.
The men quickly become embroiled in a religion and lifestyle that they had no knowledge of and did not necessarily believe in or understand.
What I loved about this book was the extensive knowledge that this author has regarding the Wiccan religion. The way she perverts the wisdom to fit into the murderer’s psyche is well done.
The title for this work takes its name from a book, a type of diary, kept by Wiccans. It is one’s personal record of spells, and one’s personal instructions for one’s magical rituals.
The cover design was appealing. This, and the title, were what prompted me to read this book to begin with. It did not disappoint.
From the first page we are introduced to the expressive imagery and language of the author. Her visuals are so detailed that one cannot help but see the visions she puts on paper. “Caterpillar trucks and front loaders with metal jaws gaping, like gigantic prehistoric insects on the mountains of trash, an appalling chaos of rotting vegetables, discarded …”
Her character development shares her dramatic wording “… whisky-drinking donut-eating Landauer, a living, breathing amalgam of every cop cliché known to man: middle-aged spread, broad sweating face, and bawdy, cynical humor, a lifer who used the caricature as a disguise.”
It was a pleasure to read the string of words that make up such a tapestry of color and coordination.
I found this book entertaining, enlightening, and disturbing. It is a good read that I would definitely recommend.
In addition to this narrative the author gives us a glimpse into a few of her other works at the back of the book: “Huntress Moon: Book 1 of the Thriller Award-Nominated Huntress/FBI Series” and a preview of “The Harrowing,” and “The Price.”
Susan Piazza is an author, columnist, and blogger.
February 20, 2019
Hmmm… Not sure I liked this or not. It was a good mystery, but the killer never said a single word in English and the few words he did say were in a language that was summoning a demon. You never find out why he did what he did or what he was thinking or what he was going to do next. It was as if we just had a make-believe serial killer.
And Garrett was totally ridiculous sometimes. This was a paranormal story and Tanith was a powerful witch and no matter what she showed Garrett he just had an excuse not to believe, even when he saw the demon about to come through the mirror, he blamed it on being drug-induced. To the very end of the book he refused to believe.
There was sex in this book: once with Carolyn, and while he did the deed with her he thought of Tanith and then had sex with Tanith herself.
The F-bomb was used 43 times.
I listened to Ms. Sokoloff's Huntress/FBI series and they were all much better than this was. I'm so glad book #6 will be out soon.
As to the narration: R.C. Bray did a great job on the voices and emotions.
February 16, 2024
Homicide detectives Garett and Landauer are in over their heads when they investigate the murder of a young woman with satanic ritualistic markings on her body. The more they learn, the stranger things become, and they certainly don’t welcome help from a witch who claims to have information about the case.
This riveting thriller explores the occult world from different perspectives. What I found most interesting was the way Detective Garrett goes from being a cynical non-believer to finding himself working with the witch, Tanith, to try and prevent three more murders from happening on Halloween. It’s a great portrayal of a character truly torn by what he believes and what his upbringing won’t let him accept, despite what he sees firsthand. Tanith is a particularly intriguing character.
While there aren’t a lot of suspects in this story, the focus is on why these murders are happening and how to stop the killer from unleashing something horrific. The ending is highly suspenseful and will have readers turning pages quickly.
This riveting thriller explores the occult world from different perspectives. What I found most interesting was the way Detective Garrett goes from being a cynical non-believer to finding himself working with the witch, Tanith, to try and prevent three more murders from happening on Halloween. It’s a great portrayal of a character truly torn by what he believes and what his upbringing won’t let him accept, despite what he sees firsthand. Tanith is a particularly intriguing character.
While there aren’t a lot of suspects in this story, the focus is on why these murders are happening and how to stop the killer from unleashing something horrific. The ending is highly suspenseful and will have readers turning pages quickly.
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