By H.M. 2005 – See all my reviews 

This is a terrific novel, covering several different aspects, including Bigfoot, baseball, land development and a new species of snake. We meet Sam Ward, a middle school science teacher who might well be patterned after Powell himself, who has some unusual occurrences happen to him around his home, which has a fully functional baseball diamond on the property. We meet his family, including his son Jack, who is sort of an amateur herpetologist (one who studies snakes) who makes an interesting discovery at a place called Squaw Meadow, which is up for land development into a resort by Barton Foster III, a former neighbor of Sam and his family. In the meantime, Sam has a local Bigfoot researcher, Nick Rollo, come to help him out with the scientific method in his class. Baseball is one thing that brings Sam and Jack closer together as father and son, and they enjoy playing, even if their team does not always win. As the story progresses, it becomes clear just who the “shady neighbors” really are, and it’s not who one expects. This is a terrifically crafted story, and one worthy of a read whether on a warm Summer’s evening or in front of a roaring fire in Fall or Winter. 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

4.0 out of 5 stars Shady Neighbors, August 18, 2011

By Steve H. – See all my reviews 

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Thom Powell wrote a great novel involving bigfoot. I have already read his book, “The Locals,” and I can see information from this book and other people’s research used as background for this new novel. Even if a reader isn’t familiar with the bigfoot phenomena, they will know a lot by the time they finish reading “Shady Neighbors.” I thought it was well written and suspenseful. There were a few typos that the publisher should fix before any reprinting. I had to withhold one star from the rating because of the amount of bad language in the book, most of it in conversations between the characters. If this book is meant for children to read, I would encourage parental discretion for anyone younger than high school age. I think the story would still be just as interesting, and less offensive to some people, if the language were milder. Thom Powell has a lot of intelligence on this topic, but I hate to see him not being careful to use language suitable for all ages. Overall, I still recommend this book.

5.0 out of 5 stars shady neighbors, August 1, 2011

By John Bull – See all my reviews 

This book was awesome,sat down and read it cover to cover! Now I’m rereading it a little more slowly to catch any little nuance I might have missed. 

Excellent book,makes me wanna go to squaw meadow and poke around! I highly recommend this book,you’ll love it!