Noir

A Crimson Shadow Novel

By: Nathan Squiers

Narrated by: Skyler Morgan

Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

A new life begins....

As his 18th birthday approaches, the only thing that Xander Stryker wishes for - is death.

Yet, he wakes up each morning, forced to go on living and remembering the image of his stepfather murdering his mother. Instead of dying, he is thrown into a supernatural world and offered a choice: Continue his sorry life or start anew.

For Xander, the choice is obvious. In the new world, life is just as unforgiving. Horrors from his past lurk from the shadows. His self-destructive urges creep back. Old rage. New bloodlust. As they fuel a fresh legacy, Xander has to stand tall and show old monsters a stronger, better version of himself.

If you like grit, horror, and compelling character chemistry, take a bite out of the dark supernatural series by Nathan Squiers.

©2019 Nathan Squiers (P)2020 Nathan Squiers

I now have an aversion to Kyles

I struggled a little with the storyline in the beginning and didn't know if I was going to continue. I'm really glad I kept going.
All of a sudden you get sucked into this twisted quest of revenge and misfortune. The cadence is great and the narrator keeps you excited for what's to come.
I kind of feel sorry for guys named Kyle... cuz that name will be a trigger word after listening to this book. lol

Excellent narration!

I generally have a hard time listening to audiobooks, i get distracted without the book in front of me. But the story line was excellent and the narrator kept my attention the whole time!

I. love. it!!!

This was darker than I expected but I found myself absolutely hooked. I can't wait for the next book in the series! The storyline was great and the narrator was fantastic.

Very dark

I still don’t have a single clue what the first chapter or whatever had to do with any other part of this book. It was like a short story in its own but never made sense to me as to why it was part of this story. I honestly never cared much for Xander. Even knowing his past.
There are quite a few other very interesting characters who I’d love to know more about. I feel & hope that Xander will eventually come in to his own and become a more likable character. I do have the other books in this series but think I’ll have to get back to them in the near future. Overall the story is a fast paced and makes for a good read.
Skyler Morgan is one of my favorite narrators
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

I Wasn’t Prepared for This

I didn’t realize this book was part horror novel even though it said so right there in the description, so I was definitely not prepared for all the gross death scenes. And there was a LOT of death in this book. I’m still not quite sure what I think of the book. Part of me hated it. I hate that this kid was so determined to be all angst and drama. He had no respect for any adults and did nothing to honor the way his mother tried to raise him to be even if she did die when he was really young. However, he did have a really rough life so I guess he had a reason to be mad if he wanted to be. He hated everyone. He smoked like a chimney, he stole liquor from his grandmother’s liquor cabinet. He played Russian Roulette every single night. But then asks someone if he thinks his father would be proud of him. Really?! Then, his newfound “family” is murdered and he shows no signs of grief. Ever. It was weird. His new friends/mentors he finds after that teach him a little bit and then just take off. If I’m not mistaken, this kid is still high school age! What the heck?! Why would everyone just tell this kid he’s doing great after the life he’s had and all the death he’s witnessed, and just take off and leave him all alone?! And the prologue still doesn’t make any sense to me. I cannot figure out what it has to do with anything in the rest of the book except that the obviously insane girl says “I hear you, Xander.”It was all just weird and mind boggling. But, that being said, when the book ended, I kind of wanted to listen to the next book. Call me strange, but the book ended in a way that made me want to learn more. The ending reminded me oddly of a Stephen King novel and that has my interest piqued. I definitely want to find out where this odd storyline is going and I want to find out if Estella can help heal Xander’s heart. I’m a sucker for those kinds of stories. I received this book for free from Audiobook Boom in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Good Story

The story seems to have a slow start and in places you get a bit more unnecessary details that doesn't matter to the story plot in places. Still I enjoyed the story and the narrator did a great job

I could've skipped it...

I feel like I would've enjoyed this way more when I was like 15 or something, but as a 32 year old man, I couldn't look past all the angsty unprovoked anger bursts and lost interest like a hundred times but powered through it. I didn't like the protagonist at all and I think that ruined the book for me. What his stepfather did was revealed about 7 hours in and after that I felt that I understood the protagonist and his anger issues a bit better, but I had already been checked out after the first hour, so it was too little too late.

If the first 7 hours was compressed into 1 hour or 2 hours max and/or if the protagonist's motivation and source of anger was revealed at the beginning, I probably would've loved the it...

That said I am somewhat curious if the second book will be better, now that character building is pretty much done. It really felt a lot like the prequel book that is released after a series gets popular. For the first book in the series it seemed a bit too jumbled and boring.