Shadow people









By: Joyce McDonald


Set in Thorn Hill Road somewhere in the desolate mountains of northwestern New Jersey, Shadow People is about 4 teenage kids needing each others trust and their friendship to keep secrets about their hiding spot and their crimes. Gabriel, Lydia, Hollis and Alec have a secret hiding spot near their homes; they meet each other at their hiding spot and start doing crimes downtown under order of Hollis a little computer nerd and Alec who likes to be the boss and tends to threatens others. For example: “Gabriel and Lydia were here only because Alec hadn't told old lady Hennessey about them trespassing”. However the teenagers do the crimes to get revenge for their troubles and to get attention to the world as Hollis puts. Gabriel, Lydia and Alec are 17 years old, and Hollis is only 15. All but Hollis are a senior in their local high school. Alec who loves to be the boss knows all the tricks to the crimes.


Author Joyce McDonald writes Shadow People based around trust and friendship. The teens must trust each other to do their parts in their crimes and to trust each other to keep their hiding spot a secret. Joyce McDonald helped the reader know when things happen by dating the chapter titles to help the reader know when it happened and in what order it happened. She did a good job combining each characters thoughts together. You get all the characters thoughts about what is happening.


Shadow People's theme is like the book The Outsiders. Where they both talk about trust and friendship, however they are different, Shadow People is less violent and there is no racist gangs. The author, Joyce McDonald, keeps the reader interested by not only giving 1 characters point of view, but 5! The author switches around through the characters giving their thoughts. She keeps the rotation around them in order so it doesn't confuse the reader. Shadow People holds some adventure action that keeps you entangled in the book that keeps you reading. This book is for teenage boys who like adventure and some action.

RATING: * * *