The Shadow Year

This awesome book won the 2009 World Fantasy Award as well as the 2008 Shirley Jackson Award. Like some of the WFA that I've read recently, it's a novel with a little fantasy element to it, but just a little. It's mostly a fabulously written story about a boy and his family in the early sixties living in a Long Island town with turmoil within and without the family unit. There's mental illness and terrible crimes in this sleepy town. The main character and his brother and sister feel it is up to them to solve the mystery. Like the blurb on the back cover, the book is reminiscent of Stephen King's "The Body" (aka by the film's title "Stand by Me"). It is an excellent psychological drama that grabbed me in the morning and didn't let go until I finished it late that night.

Come visit my blog for the full review...