Review: A Chilling Paranormal Thriller
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 19, 2014
Gosh, I feel like a traitor to the Matt Shaw fan club of which I've only been a member for a few days. (at the time of my posting there are 8/8 5 star ratings) In almost as many days, this is  my 4th Matt Shaw book.  The affinity began with his awesomely horrific book "ART."  I then read SEED, THE CABIN and now The Lost Son.  Out of the 4, I would have to say that this is my least favorite.  Now for the really hard part which is explaining Why.  I guess it's because for me the outcome of this novel was more predictable and I didn't like how I felt when I finished reading the story.  If I were to rate this novel on these two factors alone the book would earn a 3 star rating.  However, since one of the aforementioned reasons is clearly far too abstract and subjective, I am rating the book on it technical attributes and overall content which earns it a 4 star rating.With a few exceptions,(e.g. LOTR & A Song of Ice and Fire...)I find verbose authors, ad nauseam descriptions, and superfluous dialogue boring, as well as,irritating.  There's none of that here.  Here as in all of his books that I've read so far, Shaw's vivid, no punches pulled, concise, fluid writing style is ideal.  The tension and suspense begins almost immediately and continues throughout, the character development is spot on and the ending is likely to surprise many readers. Besides the paranormal the story contains some humor, a little romance, great sorrow, and heartbreak.  "The Lost Son" is a chilling paranormal Thriller with a moving commentary on loss and grief.