From the Shadows by GR Halliday

It's my stop on the blog tour for From the Shadows by GR Halliday, the first in the DI Monica Kennedy series. A screen adaptation, The Dark, began on ITV (in the UK) on Sunday night. Big thanks to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me. I read from my own bought copy. 

The Blurb

Seven days. Four deaths. One chance to catch a killer.

Sixteen-year-old Robert arrives home late. Without a word to his dad, he goes up to his bedroom. Robert is never seen alive again.

The discovery of a body on the coast of the Scottish Highlands, plunges Detective Inspector Monica Kennedy into a murder investigation, that won’t begin and end with
one death. As paranoia rises and secrets are forced into the light, the local community becomes aware that there is a serial killer in their midst.

Meanwhile, seventeen-year-old Nichol Morgan has been missing for days, sending a last, enigmatic text message to his social worker Michael Bach, who can’t quite shake the suspicion that something is terribly wrong.

Soon DI Monica Kennedy finds herself entangled with a cunning killer, who has been meticulously watching and waiting. But as her history catches up with her, she begins
to lose trust in her judgement. Can she find the killer before he claims another victim?

From the Shadows has been reissued this year by Point Blank. It was originally published in 2020.

The Dark, based on From the Shadows, adapted by Matt Hartley, directed by Polly Hill and produced by Poison Pen Studios, part of ITV Studios, is currently being shown on ITV and ITVX in the UK. 

My Review

The action in From the Shadows covers large areas of the Scottish Highlands but the police investigation is centred in Inverness. I'm writing this review looking out over the sea in Nairn, just a few miles up the road from Inverness, where I'm currently on holiday. The sun is shining, the sea looks gorgeous (will be going for a dip later) and it's a million miles away from the darkness in this book. 

The opening chapter really grabs you - it's pretty gripping, with a rising feeling of doom. And that feeling never really goes away as the investigation falters and the team fear there will be more victims. 

The main character, DI Monica Kennedy, is interesting. I didn't find her particularly likeable, but she doesn't go out of her way to make herself likeable. She has always felt like an outsider, doesn't seem to warm to others easily, and struggles to accept help, unless it's on her terms. But she is determined to do the right thing by the victims, determined to solve the crime, even to the detriment of her relationship with her young daughter. Her perseverance was admirable, if sometimes foolhardy. 

I think my favourite character was Michael Bach, a social worker who is worried about a missing client, a young man whom he let down. Another person whose determination to do the right thing shines through. 

I liked the short snapshots we got from the killer's point of view. I'm always interested in where writers get their ideas from for the crimes they present, particularly the more original ones, but reading Gareth's bio gave me a clue here! It's such an unusual idea, presented well. 

And sitting in this beautiful part of the world, I must mention how much the Scottish countryside plays a part in in this book - it is a character in its own right. But it tends to be much darker, bleaker, wilder than what I can see through the window just now - still beautiful, though. 

The plot is dark, but well handled and the denouement is gripping and explosive. From the Shadows is a beautifully written book populated by interesting characters, full plenty of tension and dread. I am looking forward to watching the TV adaptation - it started on Sunday but I'm going to catch up when we get home - but I'm more excited to read the other books in this series. 

The Author

GR Halliday was born in Edinburgh and grew up near Stirling in Scotland. He spent his childhood obsessing over the unexplained mysteries his father wrote about as a paranormal investigator, which have been a major inspiration for his writing. Gareth studied Ancient History at Edinburgh University and is a co-founder of the Caledonian Crime Collective. In 2024, he qualified from the University of the Highlands and Islands as a counsellor and psychotherapist. He works as a volunteer for an addiction charity and has his own private counselling practice. Gareth lives with his partner in the rural Highlands outside Inverness, where he pursues his favourite pastimes of mountain climbing and swimming in the sea, before returning home to his band of semi-feral cats.