Review: The Beast in the Shadows by Douglas L. Hoover, performed by Ramón De Ocampo
From Stephen king’s IT to Dan Simmons’ Summer of Night, stories with teenagers fighting evil fascinate us and test our imagination. As adults, we got to enjoy such stories, but kids and teenagers need to grow up before they can experience those epic, but extremely dark adventures.
Enter, The Beast in the Shadows, a great audiobook about a group of 12-year-old misfit children who try to solve a series of paranormal mysteries in their school and its surroundings. The Beast in the Shadows is the second thrilling novel in a new extremely promising Saga Written by Douglas L. Hoover, featuring these unique characters introduced in The Dirt Bike Detective.
Late last year I listened to the first audiobook in the series, and to be honest with you, I enjoyed it a lot, so I was looking forward to seeing what these endearing teenagers were going to do next.
It was quite comforting to spend these five hours with Oliver, Chase, and their friends, Eduard, Gio, and last but not least with Jax, the girl of Oliver’s dreams. The author continues to evolve and expand the character arc for each of the above-mentioned school kids and this helps us to create a picture of what kind of adults they will be when they’ll grow up.
Since I listened to The Beast in the Shadows I am left, once again, caring a lot for these teenagers as the writing is vivid and the action moves swiftly.
Raven Ridge Academy, the school attended by our young heroes, is no safe place as old ghosts reappear, bullies harass the kids endlessly, and add to that the troubling fact that the teaching staff can’t be trusted, a simple investigation for a stolen pizza box can easily transform in the fight of their lives for these brave children. The story of The Beast in the Shadows is entertaining, these kids feel real and their adventures are filled with humor, wit, courage, friendship, and mystery.
It was a real pleasure to see accomplished Television, Film, Stage, and multiple award-winning Voice actor Ramón de Ocampo bringing for a second time to life these adventures, the kids, and the events of The Beast in the Shadows, with another pitch-perfect performance! Ramón is one of the best narrators in the Audiobooks Industry and manages with skill and passion to take an already excellent work of fiction to an entirely new level of immersion.
Mr. de Ocampo is an expert when it comes to assigning each of the characters a unique, easily distinguishable voice and that’s exactly what he does here. As such, the listener won’t have any difficulty in discerning who is speaking at a given time. The narration is excellent, fast, easy to follow, filled with laugh-out-loud moments, lively, and extremely entertaining.
If you are looking for an epic tale featuring a cast of unforgettable characters, then I highly recommend The Beast in the Shadows and the first audiobook of this saga, The Dirt Bike Detective! Although this is definitely another story targeting young adults, I’m sure that the entire family can enjoy it because good writing has no age restrictions!
I hope that Mr. Douglas L. Hoover will continue the series as I can’t wait to return to Raven Ridge Academy, Four more adventures.
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Victor Dima
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