For starters, I love the cover. The colors, the mood... they are so good! The story is really well put together as well. I like that the author spends time creating the setting for us.

When Shadows Burn is not your traditional horror story. It’s something else entirely. Tim Michaels is a true crime podcaster who comes back to his hometown, Raven’s Cross, in the hopes of doing an episode on the town’s mysterious Martian Home, a place where Tim had an uncomfortable encounter years ago. The Martian Home was owned by Mr. Scott, who lived there with his wife. Sadly, Mr. Scott came to an untimely end in the 1940s, and his wife disappeared, never to be seen again. When Tim arrives in town around the same time as a mystery couple moves in to the Martian Home, things start to get real weird. Tim and a bunch of Raven’s Cross inhabitants try to investigate a mystery that gets stranger and stranger as the days progress until the find out the truth about Raven’s Cross and its inhabitants.

The bad: There are way, way too many characters introduced in this book. It’s difficult to keep track of who is who, why they are relevant, who they are spending time with, what their deal is, etc. In addition, I did not like how the tone and dialogue in the book shift constantly, between serious/scary and funny. These shifts end up really stilted at times and take you right out of the story. Pick a tone and stick with it! Finally, I feel like a good 50 pages or so could be cut out of here. I felt like there was a bit of filler that needs to be trimmed.

The good: Todd Brown does a great job describing the town and its inhabitants, as well as the new owners of Martian Home and what they may or may not be up to. Brown also does well at building up the suspense regarding what exactly is going on in this town. When he does find his sweet spot, like with the James Pritchard character as well as the Murray Boz character, it’s entertaining to read. In addition, the twist in this book is one almost impossible to suspect, and that’s very satisfying.

The plot drags at times and there are far too many instances of someone in town just completely not understanding words (an example would be the word “bibliophile” being mistaken for both “bibliographer” and “pedophile”) and making sweeping generalizations (no one in town knows what words mean but they are all certain that podcasts are “over,” for example). However, the backstory of who eventually comes to own the Martian House is a positive, albeit surprising one, and very engaging to read. I feel like your enjoyment of the story might be based on personal opinions, without getting into spoiler territory. I do recommend reading the afterword to gain some insight into why the author decided to take a sharp right turn halfway through the book. It’s very sweet and insightful. Some people will truly hate this book. Others will love it. Still others might have no problem accepting the storyline, but still be underwhelmed. I’m unfortunately one of them. When Shadows Burn is an interesting read, but lacking in many ways.

I rather enjoyed this book. The house on the hill offered an ever-present mystery. There is a nice band of characters. some vampires, and some surprises at the end. The plot line was solid. We learned something about the major characters. This was a nice read, especially if you like things that walk at night.

It was a good read with a harsh ending, but it was real. I really liked the first half with the tension getting higher and higher and I really didn’t expect the ending.

The premise and idea for this novel made me intrigued on how this story would go.

While parts were good, others felt very heavy handed and rushed.

I really wanted to like this book, the premise and promotion was intriguing and the early stages of the book set up some threads that I was keen to follow. The book frequently opens up discussions around relevant current issues that desperately need more exposure and at times it felt like it could lean into the realm of Twin Peaks too. I have to say the climactic reveal was genuinely surprising and in parts quite touching, even if it doesn’t sit very neatly in the novel around it. The ending was deeply uncomfortable but necessarily so. It’s clear there’s a lot of heart and passion in the story being told. However I struggled to make it to the end. The writing weaves wildly from dense description to threadbare exchanges and the dialogue is easily the weakest element. There’s an almost overwhelming amount of repeated pop culture references that feel starkly out of place in the setting and the tone was inconsistent enough that I still can’t tell if this was meant to be serious or satire. It feels like the book grew from the ending and lacks the nuance required to build properly to it. Overall it feels like this book has an identity crisis, introducing a plethora of characters and threads early on that it can never hope to satisfy properly in its modest page count. I can’t help but feel this is either an underdeveloped book that should have been twice the size or a novella that got carried away, which is a real shame as there are promising foundations here that don’t get to shine. Ironically there’s a poignant and eloquently written Afterword that I wish reflected the quality of the book itself more.

Thank you for the e-arc in exchange for review.

To start the author while new has potential and I’m definitely curious to see what else he writes in the future. Now onto the book. When Shadows Burn for the most part was a fairly enjoyable novel was also a bit disappointing in the end.

The author does make it clear at the end of the book it was his intention for the book to seem there were paranormal events at play when really it was just people trying to escape the shackles of life in a close minded small town. The execution of which just didn’t work for me and led to disappointment. At times event within the novel felt way to heavy handed to push the reader into specific assumptions. Character dialogue for the most part felt very unnatural and at some points was distracting still thought I found the characters themselves very enjoyable.

Ultimately I would recommend that people give this book a chance on the caveat that they know the book isn’t going to end where they expect.

The author certainly has a knack for painting a picture. The descriptions of the town and the infamous "Martian house" were incredibly evocative, dripping with atmosphere. I could practically feel the weight of the dreary surroundings. However, it felt…redundant. We get it, the town is depressing, the house is spooky. While the initial impact was effective, drawing me into that melancholic mood, the constant reiteration became a bit much.

Also the sheer amount of context dumped on the reader was a bit overwhelming. The dialogue felt like it was ripped straight out of a suburban parent handbook. Lastly, the sheer number of characters was also a problem. They seemed to pop up out of nowhere, and it was difficult to keep track of who was who and their relevance to the main plot.

Ultimately, I had to put this one down. The "Martian house" was built up as this central, mysterious location. But in the end, it felt more like a backdrop, a landmark that everyone simply passed by. Despite the characters' supposed obsession with the incident that occurred there decades ago, the house itself didn't actively contribute to the suspense or drive the plot forward in a meaningful way. If the story's pacing hadn’t felt so sluggish, with minimal emphasis on fleshing out the town and its inhabitants, which was an anticlimactic experience btw, I probably would’ve committed to finishing this.

Unfortunately, I did not really enjoy this one. The writing style didn't capture me, and I didn't feel a real connection to any of the characters or their relationships. The story has good bones, but I think it needed another pass or two with a good editor to help iron out a bit of the kinks with the writing style and the multiple POV's

(giving it a star rating because it is required, take it with a grain of salt) Unfortunately DNF'd this book at nearly 30%.

I will say that I found the premise really interesting as well as the set up in chapter 1 and 2. I liked the way the Martian House and the history behind it was described as well as the atmosphere that it had. I also liked the main character who we were following and his return to the town and to the setting of the house.
But my biggest gripe with this book was the writing style, especially leading into chapter 3. It felt like adult themes written in a YA mystery style and was a bit disorienting to move between all the different characters in one chapter. It was difficult to remember all the names and I found myself waiting to get back to the POV of the main character, Tim.

Perhaps this writing style was just not for me, I hope this book finds it's avid readers!