Shadow Dancers [Hardcover]

Herbert H. Lieberman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1989

A suspense novel concerning Lieutenant Frank Mooney's quest to find the killer who has robbed, raped and murdered several New York women. The killer, and his female accomplice, realize someone is copying them and track down a second murderer. Written by the author of "City of the Dead".

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this tricky, bloody chiller, New York City police lieutenant Frank Mooney, irascible and near retirement, tackles what appears to be a case of copycat killing. It seems that Ferris Koops, a brain-damaged drifter, is imitating the sexual-assault-and-murder crimes of Warren Mars, who leaves phallic crayon doodles and strange numbers next to his mutilated victims. But there's a catch, and to reveal it would give away the surprise ending and its psychological underpinnings. Suffice to say that while the plot is not uncommon for TV crime movies, Lieberman ( City of the Dead ) leads us on an adventure through the seamy, pathetic world of the urban dispossessed. Warren Mars, whose childhood home was the tunnels beneath Grand Central Station, shares a sick mutual dependency with Suki Klink, an old crone who grows hallucinogenic plants in her crumbling house on Manhattan's southernmost tip. Mooney has 90 days to crack the case, otherwise his snarling boss will reassign it to get the "media swine" and police commissioner off his back. Even alert readers will likely be left dangling till the end, as Mooney is.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T); 1st edition (May 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316524174
• ISBN-13: 978-0316524179
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,550,268 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book by a Great Author!, May 4, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Shadow Dancers (Paperback)

Herbert Lieberman was one of the first writers that I read back in the early 70's, I read a book called "Crawlspace" and I still remember it today, very scary and suspensful. This book "Shadow Dancers" was every bit as good as anything Thomas Harris or James Patterson has written. Personally I like his writing style better, the characters are fully fleshed out and interesting, and the suspense is excrutiating. Mr. Lieberman can literally make you lose all sense of time.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Liked it so much I hunted it down years later, July 30, 2002

By 

Rhiannon Bishop (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Shadow Dancers (Paperback)

...This is a harrowing, sit on the edge of your seat, suspense novel written by one of the best, Herbert Lieberman.

The characters come alive, they jump right off the page. Not a book that you can put down. I read it through the very first time. Then read it again!

I'm thrilled that I have found this book again, it's worth hunting down. Just don't loan it out to anyone!

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Read "Mind Hunter" by John Douglas instead, June 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Shadow Dancers (Paperback)

Investigation techniques described in this story are way behind what was available when this book was written i.e. in the late 1980s in the US. There is no mention in the novel of psychological profiling, a technique which really gloomed in the early 1970s under the leadership of the FBI and was widely used with success by the late 1980s.

In fact, it is difficult to imagine that an investigation of a series of over 10 savage murders (18 by the end of the book) would not have involved the FBI in any way or form, not even for technical advice.

The basic intrigue about two murderers, one copying the other, is not realistic. It is known in the police world that details of a murder scene are not revealed to media to prevent copycat. There are other inconsistencies in the story. Anyone who has read "Mind Hunter" by John Douglas and remembers some of it knows too much about police work to enjoy reading "Shadow Dancers".

Overall a very average read.