Customer Reviews

Night Shadows

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Ron Ely did well with Jake Sands. He is a throw-off of John D's Travis McGee. A well written, fast paced book, that will not disappoint a veteran reader of mystery/suspense books. Hope you turn out another Jake Sands book soon, Ron.

First, a preamble to this review. I admit to being a BIG fan of Ron Ely as a media person. Over the years, he developed a convincing ability to portray robust, healthy and handsome heroism, along with good nature and a gentle and good-humored demeanor around a strong core. A great role model. So I'm surprised I never got round to reading this 17-year-old book till now! As I rather expected, Ely has turned out to be a clearly intelligent author (and I'll bet he's also since learned a great deal from his three children, who have enjoyed much better education than he did). So I'm curious about what his attitudes and creative writing might be now -- especially after years of possibly heated grilling and even family debates regarding dense and narrow right-wing politics that show up so 'liberally' in NIGHT SHADOWS.

This first novel eloquently paints atmospheres and descriptions of locales and people, together with revealing Jake Sands' intimate and sensitive thoughts and feelings along the way. It's a very psychological and also evocative piece, often gritty and sometimes grisly; but the calibre of language is also extraordinarily elegant and refreshing in this age of often literary crudeness. In that way, it's like Raymond Chandler, and with very satisfying first-person narrative and inner disclosure.

There's a plethora of characters and situations that can be mind-boggling to follow and adequately assimilate; but Earl Derr Biggers did that too, with his Charlie Chan novels, although much more skillfully than Ely's first try.

A particularly curious thing about this story is that the arch villain -- and even some minor ones -- are terribly obvious, long before disclosure, and that the author may even want it that way without coming right out and exposing early on. In the traditions of Agatha Christie and Mickey Spillane, it is portrayal of character that unlocks mystery, and this book does so in spades and is not so mysterious about who the bad folks are. Now, that said, the novel is amazingly complex and convoluted on HOW the plot unfolds and who is connected with whom.

I also enjoyed how Ely accurately portrays the Central California places and coast that I know well, and the portrayals are very picturesque and colorful. He reveals a great deal about himself and his attitudes, too. For example: injuries he himself suffered during his acting career, his physical fitness regimens, his love and fixation for coffee, his favorite music, how he's swayed by looks, and even depression and drinking bout experience. In this way, I think Ely is a very candid and self-confessing author about who he is, and I find him likeable in openly sharing good and not so good aspects of himself. I would also hope he has intellectually developed since this early book, but there's regrettably nothing recent from him. I wonder if he'd like to try science fiction?

So is this book worth reading? I'd say sure, for all the fine descriptions and revelations, if not necessarily for plot.