The Shadow Man (G K Hall Large Print Book Series) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

John Katzenbach (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1995 | Series: G K Hall Large Print Book Series

When it comes to intricate, fast-paced excitement and edge-of-your-seat suspense, John Katzenbach is a master of the game. Now Katzenbach has created another shocking page-turner, and a villain as monstrous as evil itself: The Shadow Man.

Berlin, 1943. Few saw his face; none knew his name. In whispered circles he was known only as Der Schattenmann, a merciless "catcher" for the Nazis. He was there in the darkness when they came for you, and he would be there, smiling, when the trains took you away in the morning gloom to Auschwitz....

Miami Beach, present day. Retired homicide detective Simon Winter is living out his golden years in dejected solitude. But his life takes an urgent turn when his neighbor, Sophie Millstein, appears at his door trembling in fear. She has seen a ghost...a demon from her past, Der Schattenmann. But he isn't just a nightmare--he's real--and his icy stare cuts through her like a razor. The next morning, Sophie is found strangled, her eyes locked open in terror.

The police think it's just another homicide. But Winter knows the horrifying truth: an elusive, anonymous killer is stalking Holocaust survivors in Miami, silently creeping through the hot city. Now, after years of retirement, Winter once again hits the streets. And together with Walter Robinson, a committed black detective, and Espy Martinez, a sharp, driven Latino prosecutor, he will match wits with a sadistically smooth expert on death who lives for the thrill of the hunt, tortures for the rush of power, and murders to keep himself, and his history, hidden forever....

Riveting in its suspense, chilling in its evocation of the evil of times past, unforgettable in its characters and settings, The Shadow Man will hold you enthralled from first sentence to last.

AN ALTERNATE SELECTION OF THE BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Simon Winter was once one of the best cops on the Miami homicide beat, but now he's just another retired guy with no relatives. He sticks his trusty gun in his mouth--and just as he's about to squeeze the trigger, his neighbor Sophie Millstein pounds on his door.

Sophie, a Holocaust survivor, says she's just caught sight of Der Schattenmann (the Shadow Man), who hunted down the Jews of Berlin. He was a "catcher," a Jewish man who worked for the Gestapo. Once you glimpsed the Shadow Man, nobody ever saw you again. But Sophie just saw him, she's sure of it, right here in Miami!

Simon doubts it, but when Sophie is murdered, he doesn't believe that Leroy "Hightops" Jefferson, the crack addict seen sprinting out of her apartment with her jewelry, did the deed. Why was Sophie's cat strangled? And when another Holocaust survivor dies, why does his suicide note omit one letter of his wife's name? Did he write it at gunpoint? Simon and young sleuths Walter Robinson and Espy Martinez hunt the Shadow Man, and even Leroy winds up showing a streak of heroism.

Besides a clever premise, Katzenbach--a Miami Herald veteran--packs a lot of vivid local color into his Edgar-nominated mystery about a town where drug killings are so common the cops call them "felony littering." But the characters are simplistic and the narrative pace sluggish by comparison with Katzenbach's World War II POW murder mystery, Hart's War. --Tim Appelo --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Katzenbach (Just Cause) has some good Holocaust and WWII vignettes and pretty good cop-talk here, but the book is burdened by flat characterization, a slow pace, an odd, unsatisfying ending and a serious need for editing. Retired Miami PD detective Simon Winter is about to kill himself (for no visibly compelling reason) when his fearful neighbor, Mrs. Millstein, a Holocaust survivor, asks him for protection. She has just recognized the Shadow Man (Der Schattenmann), who'd turned her family in to the Nazis in Berlin 50 years earlier. The man was one of "the catchers," Jews who betrayed other Jews to save their own skins. Simon calms her with a promise to help her in the morning. That night, she's murdered in an apparent burglary, and a young black man is seen fleeing the crime scene. The young Miami Beach detective working the case nabs the suspect, who says an old white man is the real killer. Meanwhile, another Holocaust survivor apparently commits suicide, and yet another disappears. Simon and the younger cop finally team up to find the Shadow Man-a hunt that seems to take forever as the plot is bogged down by drawn-out padding and red herrings. There's silly blather (suspects are "the culmination of a set of facts, or a series of observations"), inept goofiness ("When one cracks the lid on Pandora's box, many questions slide out") and just plain sloppiness. Worse, despite Katzenbach's interesting premise, we never get to care about these two-dimensional people. 75,000 first printing; major ad/promo; BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 644 pages
• Publisher: G K Hall & Co (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0783813570
• ISBN-13: 978-0783813578
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,863,356 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, May 16, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shadow Man (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the first book I have read by Katzenbach and I was very impressed. His characters literally jumped off the page and their voices were distinct. This is the first book I have ever read that made me want to turn back to page one and read it all over again as soon I was finished with it. I can't wait to read more of his work.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE SHADOW KNOWS, November 21, 2002

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shadow Man (Mass Market Paperback)

This complex thriller offers one of the most heavily fleshed out characterizations in recent years; that may be the book's biggest drawback, however. The interesting premise of a Nazi "catcher" still on the prowl is fascinating, but at the same time, Katzenbach makes us plod through a lot of superfluous narrative, that overstates many of the characters' inner thoughts and slows the pace down a little too much.
Overall, though, characters like Simon Winter; Walter Robinson, and Espy Martinez, are glowing in their richness and intricacies. Even Leroy "F" Jackson, an ignoble druggie, turns makes an astounding turnaround in dealing with the horrifying murderer.
There are some riveting scenes, as well; early in the book, there's a scene where Sophie gets ready for bed, and it is laid out so slowly that it creates a tremendous aura of suspense, as you know the old lady is going to bite the bullet. Unfortunately, other lengthy scenes, don't quite have this edge.
The ending is quite well done, and it has one of those "ah no" endings.
All in all, despite is plodding pace, it's a very well written story.
RECOMMENDED.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Horrors From the Past, July 23, 2002

By 

Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shadow Man (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book of suspense and drama based on an interesting premise. For some, the war never ends and the hatred never diminishes. The joy of the hunt and the thrill of the kill must continue forever. Such is the mindset of the man known as The Shadow Man. For the elderly Jewish survivors who now live in Florida, their worst fears are realised as the horrors of their past come back to haunt them and, even worse, to kill them.

The Shadow Man was one of the people in Nazi Germany who was known as a catcher. A Jew who worked with the Gestapo identifying and flushing out Jewish citizens before sending them to the concentration camps. Seeing him and being seen by him was thought to be synonymous to death. Of all the catchers in Berlin, The Shadow Man was the most feared and most hated.

When one of the Miami Beach residents swears she has spotted The Shadow Man right there in the neighbourhood, the news is treated with some scepticism. But when the number of suspicious deaths begins to grow, the unthinkable possibility becomes more and more likely. The Miami police are up against a man who has had over 50 years experience. Okay, he may be a senior citizen now, but he's still very good at what he does and is just as determined as ever.

There are some remarkable characterisations in this story making it more than just a run of the mill suspense drama. From the suicidal ex-cop, Simon Winter, to prosecutor / avenger Espy Martinez and junkie Leroy Jefferson. All make vital contributions and at times provide some telling insights into what may motivate different people to act.

This is a fast paced thriller with a slightly skewed spin that manages to capture the attention from the opening page.