Customer Reviews

Shadow Man

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Smoky Barret was one of the best serial killer hunters the FBI had, until the day an unspeakable act of violence brought her world crashing down...

With her husband and daughter dead by the hands of a killer that she hunted, Smoky believes she has nothing to live for. Relieved of her duties with the FBI, Smoky is on the verge of suicide, until another act of violence pulls her back into the FBI.

Smoky receives a phone call that one of her best friends has been murdered and the killer has left a message specifically for her. The last thing Smoky needs is to be back in the business that took away everything she loved, but when she hears that her friends daughter, who also happens to be her god-daughter, is in a catatonic state as a result of the horrific ordeal she knows she needs to stop this killer.

As time starts running out and the killer's sick game becomes more brutal, Smoky races to stop a madman before she loses her mind.

'Shadow Man' is the most gruesome, twisted, and scary thriller to come out in a long time. As fast-paced as a book can be, it echoes 'Silence of the Lambs' with a razor-sharp plot, and a killer as ruthless, and terrifying as any in a novel in recent years.

Cody McFadyen has crafted a masterpiece that will rocket up the best-seller lists and establish him as a major new author.

Be warned...this thriller might not be for everyone due to it's sick and graphic killings, but those brave enough to dive in will be rewarded with an amazing, and un-put-downable read.

Do NOT miss this excellent book.

Nick Gonnella

Meet FBI Special Agent Smoky Barrett. She's 4'10" tall, with dark hair to her waist, and half her face is crosshatched with severely disfiguring scars. Six months ago, a serial killer Smoky was hunting broke into her home, killed her husband and daughter, and raped and tortured her for hours before she was finally able to kill him. Smoky's scars from the trauma are emotional even more than they are physical, so for the last six months she's been on leave, seeing a therapist, trying to decide if she'd rather return to the FBI or put her gun in her mouth.

The decision is made for her when Smoky gets a phone call from one of her coworkers, informing Smoky that her best friend, Annie, has been savagely raped and murdered. And it gets worse: Instead of killing Smoky's goddaughter, Bonnie, the killer tied the girl to her mother's corpse, face to face--and she's still there three days later when the police arrive at the scene, in a near catatonic state. To top it all off, the killer leaves a message at the scene, addressed specifically to Special Agent Smoky Barrett. Only a day ago Smoky was dreaming of suicide; now, she's been thrust back into two roles--mother and FBI agent--and she's not sure she's ready for either one.

But this killer doesn't care about Smoky's emotional state. It doesn't take long for her to realize that she's dealing with a serial killer who's brilliant, twisted, ruthless, charismatic, and beastly all at once, one who somehow knows more about her than she knows about herself, who knows all the secrets she--and the members of her team--have kept hidden for years. He calls himself "Jack Jr." because he believes he's a descendant of Jack the Ripper, and the knowledge that he's being hunted excites him to new levels of violence. To catch him, to survive him, Smoky will have to come face to face with her past--whether she's ready to or not.

If you think the police procedural thriller genre is getting tired, SHADOW MAN--the debut novel by Californian Cody McFadyen--will quickly change your mind. This novel singlehandedly rejuvenates the genre with a compelling cast of characters and an unflinching, riveting plot. It's relentless and suspenseful, an intense look into the mind of a serial killer and the people hunting him.

And it's the people hunting him who are the heart of McFadyen's debut. Smoky is an incredible creation, a haunted and complicated heroine, above and beyond the standard-issue characters usually found in this genre. I'm always a little bit apprehensive when I begin a novel written by a man with a woman as the main character, but McFadyen's portrayal of Smoky and her emotional turmoil is spot-on. He's deftly mastered the ability to write from the perspective of a woman, and he does so with grace and stirring attention to detail. I hope McFadyen revisits Smoky's world in his next novel; she'd be a perfect series heroine (she reminds me of Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brennan in some ways, though maybe she's a bit more tortured than Dr. Brennan).

And while Smoky's supporting team of agents may at first glance seem stereotypical--the computer geek, the unfeeling human robot, the hulking black man with a heart of gold, the untouchable beauty with a sad secret--they are equally well-fleshed-out. The dialogue is spot-on, and the characters interact in compelling and realistic ways.

Although I know this is going to sound strange, this novel was actually a joy to read (despite the brutality of McFadyen's descriptions of the crime scenes--they definitely aren't for the faint of heart). SHADOW MAN is a literary novel as well as a suspenseful one, with sharp, seasoned prose that makes McFadyen seem like someone who's been writing books for years. His first novel definitely doesn't read like most debuts; it's much, much better. In fact, this is one of those books I wish I could thank the author for writing, just because I enjoyed its amazing characters, precise prose, and meticulously orchestrated suspense so much.

In the crime fiction genre, SHADOW MAN is just as good as it gets. It's going to be a joy to watch McFadyen (and his characters) develop as his career continues. SHADOW MAN is sure to be a bestseller this summer, and it definitely gets my highest recommendation!

I wish I could tell you more about Cody Mcfadyen. He is married, has a family, lives in California, and is involved in some capacity with a software company. That is about all I know, besides the fact that his first novel is the wildest night ride I have been on for quite a while.

SHADOW MAN is soul-numbing, a stiff-legged march through a five-mile-long frozen food locker with bouncing betties intermittently placed beneath the ice. It has a convincing, badly damaged heroine named Smoky Barrett and a brilliant serial murderer who calls himself "Jack Jr." after Jack The Ripper. Jack Jr. knows everything about Barrett. He is intimately familiar with the incident that caused Barrett, an FBI Special Agent, to take a leave of absence, that left Barrett physically and emotionally scarred and her husband and daughter dead. And he's privy to more details than even Barrett is.

Jack Jr. commits an unspeakable act to get her out of the house and back on the job, and then proceeds to go after her FBI team members in the same manner. Everyone on Barrett's team is very highly motivated to catch this guy, but they can't. He might just be too smart. At first blush, the team members are stereotypical: a nerdy brainiac with an anti-social personality, a gentle black giant with a heart of gold and a terrifying façade, and a gorgeous redhead who is almost, but not quite, Barrett's equal on the team. Forget about the first blush, however, and wait for the second.

Remember those bouncing betties I mentioned earlier? Those are the revelations about Barrett, et al. that will jump off the page and explode in your face. Whether Barrett and company catch Jack Jr. almost takes a back seat to the next hidden truth, past and present, about each team member whom Jack Jr. reveals in dribs and drabs. By the time you finish reading this book you'll be running on adrenalin you never knew you had.

If you're sick of books about serial killers, SHADOW MAN is the cure. Mcfadyen's writing and characterization run long, deep and true. And, by the way, he is beyond scary. Not to be missed.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Agent Smoky Barrett is on the FBI's serial murder and child abduction team. Smoky has seen much of the darkest side of human behaviour but this does not inure her to the personal impact when her husband and daughter were slaughtered in front of her. Smoky is still recovering from her own injuries, and trying to come to terms with a life without those she loves but could not protect when her best friend is brutally murdered. While still making decisions about her own future, Smoky is drawn into solving a case which has become deeply personal.

This novel is generally taut and tight and is at times quite terrifying. Exploring the darker recesses of the human mind, entering a space where most of us hope never to venture. The themes being explored are not new and there will be nothing particularly unique about the plot to those who read a lot of this type of fiction. Serial killers, with ever increasing amounts of graphic violence bleeding through the pages, have become standard fare on the bookshelves. However, I found myself drawn into this story and while elements irritated, the novel was a great way to escape for a couple of hours. And escapism, for me, is what fiction is about.

If you enjoy this particular genre then this book will either appeal or irritate. If you are interested in forensic attention to procedural detail, then this book may not appeal. If you are interested in the motivations and feelings of those caught in such a maelstrom then you may find this a satisfying read. You decide.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Cody McFadyen wrote a great "thriller" in Shadow Man. His character descriptions are vivid, his plot quite believable, albeit a bit gruesome, and the pace quick - but certainly not Patterson-esque. It seems that within this type of book, the authors must choose between picking a rediculous ending or a more predictable one. This first time novelist went with the latter but created some terrrific moments of raw human emotion and edge-of-your- beach chair pages with fabulous pace. Hardly an "important read" but certainly a fun one.

I read a lot of thrillers, and this is one of the best-written debuts I've read in recent memory. If Cody McFadyen writes this well now, I can't wait to see what he comes up with in later installments.

The only other debut this year that comes close to being as well written as this one is John Hart's "King of Lies."

The only downside of this book is the plot, which is standard serial killer fare (the self-proclaimed son of "Jack the Ripper" is killing new victims and taunting the FBI agent in charge of capturing him). There is some graphic violence, which will probably turn off some people. There is also a love scene late in the book that I felt was ill-advised (I can't say more without giving away the plot).

But overall, I really enjoyed this book. This debut has been heavily hyped, and Mcfadyen has lived up to it. Highly recommended.

This book is so over the top in terms of the violence that it can be hard to read. And it is not just ultra-violent-- the color saturation is turned up on pretty much every level. A character isn't just beautiful, she's ultra-beautiful. The main character is a prodigy with a gun, not just skilled. The criminals are not just shadowed-- they are steeped in darkness.

Normally, this would really irritate me, but Shadow Man is so consistently too much that it very nearly works. It gets something very right about the emotional palette of personal loss, and the dark and violent tones of the book work very well with that theme. As a result, I was willing to forgive the flaws, and found that I enjoyed the book much more than I expected.

Shadow Man is a *very* violent book. The violence also includes strong sexual elements. It is not a book for younger readers. I have a feeling that a second book by the same author may annoy me, but found Shadow Man oddly satisfying.

This book was very good for a first novel, but I really do hope the FBI does their homework a little better than these people. All through the book, I kept wondering when they were going to start asking how the killer knew so many details about each one of them. That would have been a good place to start the investigation, but would have shortened the book.

To give Cody Mcfadyn credit though, I didn't even think about who the killer was until the end. The book was that engrossing.

I finished it in one day, and really hated to put it down.

In the past Special Agent Smoky Barrett had hunted serial killers for the FBI. She'd been good at her job, one of the best the Bureau had. That is until some low life got to her through her family, killing her husband and daughter and left her with a scarred face and her soul in little pieces. Smoky had got her revenge, finding the killer and snuffing him out like a candle, but the damage had been done and her life had been shattered forever.

Now Smoky dreams of picking up her weapon one last time, but the target would not be another maniac, it would be herself. Oh how she longs to free herself from the pain and torment she has been feeling since the death of her family. After all what is there left for her now?

She is about to find out. The Bureau are on the track of another killer, a genius with a twisted mind and he has issued Smoky with a direct challenge. The killer videotaped his latest crime. A despicable act that left a child without a mother, then sent a message addressed to Agent Smoky Barrett. This is one challenge Smoky Barrett is more than willing to accept.

She was the head of the child abduction and serial murder rescue center in Los Angeles (CASMIRC) but for the last six months she has been on leave since serial killer Joseph Sands destroyed her family and raped and tortured her. She killed him but both physical and emotional scars while grieving her loss leaves Smoky Barrett at the point where she'll either return to the FBI or eat her gun.

That choice is made for her when learns that her best friend Annie Barnes was tortured, raped and killed and her daughter Bonnie was tied to her dead body for three days before the killer notified the police. He also leaves a note for Smokey daring her to catch him . Annie gave Smokey guardianship of her daughter, making her an instant mom who needs to hunt down her best friend's killer. He is the evilest murderer she ever hunted, a brilliant beast who calls himself Jack Jr. because he believes he was descended from Jack the Ripper.

The antagonist in SHADOW MAN is as evil and fascinating as Hannibal Letcher is. The plot is as exciting as THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and the prose is precise and literary. There is a lot of action but the focus is on Smoky as the affects the investigation has on her are deep because the killer uses loved ones, including Anne's daughter, as potential hostages. Cody McFadyen has taken the serial killer sub-genre to new and exciting heights.

Harriet Klausner