Shadow by Lucy Christopher and Anastasia Suvorova (Lantana Publishing)

Beware the Shadow Man, my dear, when the moon is fat!

Oh yes, we do love a dark tale and in "Shadow" by Lucy Christopher and Anastasia Surorova, you get exactly that - as a little girl steps over the threshold of her new house.

It soon becomes apparent that someone else is living there - a shadowy little boy who claims the house is his.

Despite the girl's attempts to introduce her Ma to the mysterious creature, Ma just can't see him.

But then Ma has a lot of other things on her mind. In fact if you read between the lines of this fascinating picture book there's a heck of a sub-plot involving Ma that many parents might recognise, empathise with and understand.

But soon the little girl's new playmate begins to ramp up the risk taking in their playtimes together - and the little girl soon finds herself running away from home, into the deep dark woods where other shadows live - and before long they all merge into one huge dark place.

Will the little girl be lost forever? Or will someone, anyone rescue her before it's too late?

Utterly stunning stuff, as we've come to expect from Lantana.

Sum this book up in a sentence: This is a truly fantastic and deliciously dark little tale that trips between describing the girl's friend as imaginary, or allegorising that perhaps the Shadow is more a reflection of her darker side.

"Shadow" by Lucy Christopher and Anastasia Suvorova is out now, published by Lantana (kindly supplied for review).