Popular Reviews of Strange Trails

Great story, good acting all around with good pace and suspense. Highly recommednded.

Nice voices and acting!Main characters could be a bit less controversial to my liking. Loved it when it was a mystery and investigation, but then everyone around are gay or very bad cops, and only two protagonists can save the day. I barely remember the deal with the main mystery of the series (it was so out there!) l just understood that main character is too white for others’ liking and yeah cops are so so corrupt. The rituals and the demons and moon eclipse get lost and become ridiculously unbelievable in this real life turmoil.

Strange Trails is an atmospheric story about a pair of investigative reporters - Finn and Omari - travelling to a community haunted by a serial killer known only as Shadow Man. The deeper into the rural town the delve, the more complex characters and deep-rooted paranoia they come across. The tale is told in a style akin to a true crime podcast, which is presented as the selling point of Strange Trails but is instead the biggest drawback. There is simply no need for the switching between recorded, on-the-scene audio and reflective narration - audio drama creators really need to get away from the trope of using recordings to explain our access to events. It also makes moments inconsequential to the investigation, such as personal relationships, feel shoehorned in. Finn tries to excuse to the audience these clips being included but it really wouldn't make any sense to a real audience of a real documentary. We don't hear Phoebe Judge's arguments and romances in Serial episodes. This would have worked much better had we simply been following the events as they occurred. The plot is captivating and reaches a satisfying conclusion, and the writing is good enough to create constant dread and offers twists, turns and theories along the way. As such, Strange Trails deserves a listen and your enjoyment may be different depending on your tolerance of the structure I found to be awkward.

So far, enjoying this! An investigative mystery.

the main issue for me listening to this was the voice acting/dialogue writing. people simply don't talk like this. everyone sounds pretty much the same, with the same speech patterns and measured but extensive vocabulary. it takes away from the characterisation of small-town folks from west virginia. in one instance, it's perfectly justified - in the scene where keith the horrible cop gives his statement, it's clearly said he is reading what he previously wrote. but every other interview, every conversation? it sounds like people are reading from a script instead of freely, naturally talking.I also wish the characters were more defined. yes, it's hard to do in ten episodes, but other than the main duo all the side characters feel kind of the same; even ava doesn't have a distinct personality. it ties to what I've just said - in this medium the bulk of characterisation relies on the way a person talks and interacts with others.the culmination feels rushed. goes very fast from the revelation and research to the plan and solution, literally takes a couple of minutes in the finale. also, (SPOILERS) the discovery that the shadow man is not human is, in my opinion, very understated. everyone just accepts it like it's nothing and continues with their day like it didn't just completely change their understanding of the world.it's still a promising series, even with its issues. it scratches the "investigation of a mystery turns paranormal" itch. I think the premise is very cool and much could have been done with it, and still can be in the future. I am looking forward to season two (hopefully it will happen), because, contrary to what finn said in the last episode, I don't feel like all the questions were answered. I'm especially curious about the circumstances of his mother's death and his weird memory lapses revealed by omari. I think there is much room for improvement and season two has the potential to be a lot better than the first.