Last updated on October 11th, 2025 at 05:54 pm
Shades of Night by Floy Owens is a serial killer thriller which features Violet, a young independent women and Erik, his captor, whose motive remains shady as his character.
“Violet Cartwright, a wealthy and well-known bookstore owner, wakes inside a spotless cage built for suffering. Her captor thinks that he has chosen the right victim, a woman with hidden scars will be easy to break.
He is wrong.
Each act of pain and torture not only strengthens Violet’s resolve but also she out wits him. To survive, she have to wait for her moment, and turn his own thing against him..”
Book Review: Shades of Night by Floy Owens
Floy Owens’ Shades of Night is not just a thriller—it’s an intense story of survival, manipulation, and psychological thrill. From the first page onwards, you know you’re not in for an easy ride. The novel balances elegance with brutality, its prose sharp enough to wound and lyrical enough to mesmerize.
“There’s no such thing as the worst thing that can happen. There’s just what happens next.”
Owens writes with a cinematic intensity. The setting is Gothic, almost claustrophobic—the Cage, the opulent hotel, Erik’s childhood home—each space feels alive with menace.
Scenes wherever captivity is presented, an unknown sort of tension automatically surrounds you, while sudden bursts of violence keep the reader’s heart beat high. The storytelling is actually rich, layered with sensory detail: dust, blood, water, electricity, fire—all grounding the horror in the everyday.
Also Read: Best Paula Hawkins Books Ranked
The pacing is deliberate: slow-burn dread in the opening, taut psychological exchanges in the middle, and a crescendo of reversals and shifting power dynamics by the end. Owens wants the readers to sit in discomfort, which makes the ends of each chapter more effective.
| Genre | Psychological Thriller |
| Number of Pages | 207 pages |
| My Rating | 4.5⭐⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Release Date | August 24, 2025 |
Quotes:
“Cursing is a sign of intelligence. And I am far fucking smarter than you.”
“Survival isn’t a triumph, Violet. Surviving is what rats do in walls.”
Also Read: All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Spoilers:-
We follow Violet Cartwright, a woman whose mask of wealth and composure hides scars much deeper than her peers suspect. In her life enters a person with name Erik, a sadistic yet conflicted captor carrying the legacy of generational violence & also—the infamous “Killbook” passed down like a horror.
The story then passes its focus between Violet’s mental toughness which will outwit captivity or Erik’s unusual psyche, where sort of carry the scents of his grandfather’s choices.
The novel never runs with comfort; instead, it asks—who really have the power in a room built for breaking people?
In the end, Violet doesn’t shatter the way Erik expects—she weaponizes her defiance. Every taunt, every refusal to beg chips away at his control until the so-called predator unravels. The Kill book, meant to just present his legacy, in turn tends to become the tool of his collapse.
Violet just know the timing and the opening, turning his own thing against him. Erik’s grip slips—literally and figuratively—and Violet walks out of the Cage not as a victim, but as something far more dangerous: a survivor who has rewritten the story. The question that lingers? Did Violet truly escape Erik… or simply inherit his darkness?
Also Read: Scenes from a Song by Susan Sloate
Final Verdict?
Overall, a very good thriller sort of read…
Who should read it:
- If you like intense psychological thrillers
- Readers who enjoyed Misery by Stephen King or The Collector by John Fowles, confinement sort of.
- Lovers of strong, resilient heroines – Violet isn’t a damsel, but she is intelligent.
- Anyone who likes to read survival stories not escape tale.
Books like Shades of Night:
- Misery by Stephen King
- The Collector by John Fowles
