Customer Reviews

Shadows in the Darkness

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Another reviewer wonders why there aren't more reviews for this book and hopes more readers will find it. I can state the problem exactly: Tor is marketing it all wrong. First, the book is marked Fiction, not Fantasy. It's therefore not going to be found by the people who will be interested in a book with a heroine who's much like Anita Blake (as it states on the cover) or Vicky Nelson. If I hadn't found my copy in the sci fi section, I'd never have found it at all. Second, the cover is all wrong. The main character is supposed to look young, but they've managed to make her look like a runaway teenager. Not in any way in the spirit of the book. I hope people find the book, too, but it probably won't happen unless Tor reissues it.

Okay, enough complaining. This was a good book. A very good book. The heroine was tough, smart, independent, sexy and sexually adventurous. What more can you ask? Good mystery, too. Several mysteries, in fact, some of which weren't solved - yet. A definite fantasy element, one that includes the need to unravel secrets about the heroine's own past. Interesting characters - some who live, some who die - that we'll no doubt learn more about in upcoming books. I do hope more people find this book. They'll enjoy it.

I almost passed this book by because the cover wasn't eye catching nor did it indicate anything about the book's content. But luckily I read a review of it on a friends blog that interested me enough to seek it out again and read through the paper back which is now out.

The main character, GiGi, short for Gwen Gellman, is an ex-cop forced out of the police department when she's blamed for a bust turned bloodbath. She was on a deep cover assignment, but her corrupt boss fixes things so it looks like she was working her own rogue operation. GiGi toughs it out though and goes independent for real, as a PI specializing in missing persons and runaways.

There are a number of different cases running through the story. Old cases of kidnapping and murder, new cases of missing girls and forced prostitution, and somehow all the cases are dove tailing together to make a dark puzzle picture, where GiGi herself is one of the integral pieces. Because GiGi, who looks like jailbait and has a special talent for psychic phenomena, is discovering an underworld where not all the players are human... and neither is she.

It's modern day Elves done Mafia style, and GiGi is finding out she's a member of the Family.

A good, tense read full of suspense with a solid, kick ass heroine.

This book was first published in Oct 2004 and the second in the series was just released in hardcover Jan 2006. That is a long time to wait for a sequel although not as long for those of us who are waiting for Melanie Rawn to finish the Exiles Trilogy ( 8 years and counting).

Gigi, an undercover officer, is mostly kicked off the police after a case goes bad (and magically strange) and some fellow officers are killed. Since these strange things keep happening, Gigi takes her strange talents, past in the foster care system, and desire to help others and starts an investigation serve that specializes in young runaways and missing children. While searching for missing daughter of a prominent lawyer, she is hired to find another lost child that disappeared under the Changeling Moon years before. This newest case is inexplicably linked to her own childhood. This book is recommended for those who like Laurel K Hamilton's Anita Blake series (pre Obsidian Butterfly), Moon Called by Patricia Briggs, Kelly Armstrong's Women of the Underworld series, and Kim Harrison's books (Dead Witch Walking, etc).

I'm a little surprised that there are not more reviews of this book (#3) and hope others find it soon. Don't be put off just because Ms Elaine writes for Forgotten Realms as well. She is a very good writer, and does justice this story.

Well, I seem to have reviewed these in the wrong order. At any rate, I liked the first one (this one) more than the second, though both were quite good. Cunningham has an interesting twist on the whole changeling/elf thing that has seriously dark undertones (things elves meets the sopranos) and takes the reader on a hair-raising adventure right along with Gwen. In Shadows in the Darkness, we start out with a bust gone bad and Gwen ousted from the police force almost immediately...what's an out of work changeling (who doesn't know she is one) to do? Become a P.I. of course.

Gwen's character is established as quirky, tough as nails, provocative and without fear. She's determined to do the right thing even when it puts here in danger. As the story continues we are introduced to a series of additional quirky but endearing characters...including Gwen's land-lady who has a special past, her mentor and first partner (forced to retire because of his drinking), the spitfire nun with quite the mouth on her, and the list goes on...characters who are long time friends and brand new ones are introduced in rapid fire succession as the stories continues to build and build. We see Gwen through the death of two of her colleagues, the kidnapping of a child, the death of her partner and more. It's interesting to watch Gwen develop as the story goes on; she's one of the more entertaining characters I've read in a long time!

We're never really given all the keys to the kingdom (as far as solving the case and tying up loose ends) and neither is Gwen. Shadows in the Darkness ends in a somewhat predictable manner...but it's the building up of the story for what is to come that keeps that from dragging this book down to an annoying level. All I can say is, the third one better not take two years to be published!

Hmm...I wrote a review for this and it disappeared...

Gwen - GiGi is her vice cop alter identity - doesn't know that she's a Changeling she's always just looked really young - teenaged to her real age in the early 30s. What she does know is that sometimes she can 'see' things touched by others or pick up things being in their personal space.

Gwen has been forced off of the police force because her boss conveniently lost paperwork that proved she was undercover - when two of her co-workers were killed in the line of duty. Now she's a private investigator in search of a missing teenager.

We find out how that case turns out to be linked to her own previously unknown identity as a member of the Elder Race and one that has an ability that is pretty special.

There's sex, but not graphic like the current Anita Blake. Gwen has some of the same kick ass characteristics that we fell in love with in Anita without all the hang-ups or ardeur.

This should be a fun series! I'll have to check out others from this author.

I picked this up on a whim- and what a great surprise it was! Gwen Gellman is a private investigator who specializes in locating runaways. Little does she know that she's also not human! Gwen was formerly a vice cop until a bust ended up with two dead cops and her captain swore she wasn't undercover but had been on vacation. Gwen is hired by Denise Cody to locate her 14 year old daughter, Meredith. However, Meredith's father, Ryan, has some shady associations, including ties to a "gentleman's club" that caters to those interested in teenagers. Gwen looks like she is only 15 or 16 years old as Elders don't age as humans do, and so she goes undercover at the club where she meets Ian Forest, another Elder. Ian hires Gwen to locate yet another missing person. Because she is spending so much time on Meredith's case, Gwen asks her former partner, Frank Cross, to assist with locating the second missing person. I won't spoil the details of this very complex story but will say that Elaine Cunningham does an excellent job of weaving together a myriad of tiny threads to create a fabulous story. Many details are revealed about Gwen's past, including ones even she wasn't aware of. In addition, there are several subplots interwoven throughout the book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it will not be the last I read by her!

Shadows in the Darkness delivers a rapid, "Killing Time" [Caleb Carr] - like pace, full of dark humor and evil people you love to hate. Cunningham's knack for detail really shines in her narrative ability to describe a personality in titillating visual detail.

I bought this book because it looked interesting, but more, because it was Cunningham. I think her past works are all stellar. It seems like this one is more of a 'fun project', one the author uses to play with some dirty, powerful and extremely vulgar ideas she probably wouldn't be able to squeeze into one of her other pieces. It's a book you want to read just because of that; you know she's having fun, and if you can put your mind's criticism's aside, you will too. If you like her work and/or this genre, buy the book, both to read it and out of respect...not to mention there's two more coming, hopefully improved beyond the first.

As for the criticisms, they are minor if you don't dwell on them [I read this in three days, and didn't have time to]. The whole thing feels like it's on a constant caffeine-high, not changing pace or tempo for a little contrast. There are actually a few moments of slight relaxation, and I think these would have definitely done a much better job of balancing out the book
if they weren't written as concisely as the more buzzy stuff.

Also, many characters seem one-dimensional until later on in the book. The dialogues are always fast-paced, and it felt like even while someone was being rounded out, it didn't feel like that...in other words, much of the rounding out occurred in the narration rather than the dialogue. However, in the last 20% of the book when you can DEFINITELY tell everything's speeding up for an intense climax, Cunningham's artistry shines at its prime; the whole story becomes crazy and a little more believable, and many surprises don't seem as implausible.

In a nutshell, this book is fun, probably much more so if you're not so analytical! You'd re-read it for the fun, not for figuring out the depth.

Enjoy!

After a decade on the Providence police force thirty-four years old Gwen "GiGi" Gelman works undercover for the vice squad when a bust turns ugly. Several people die and someone must take the fall. Classic example of sh*t going downhill occurs; GiGi is fired.

Needing to eat, GiGi opens up a private investigative firm that seems to be doing well especially when she deftly handles a molester giving up his day job as a Catholic school teacher. Her current case is to find a missing teen. As the inquiries spin between abduction and runaway, GiGi begins to find she stunningly has psychic powers and starts to ascertain that she is not quite human. As she learns more about her elfish genetic makeup, her investigation propels her to apply her vice squad experience as an undercover operator looking into the Underhill gentlemen only club where children perform erotic dances. The inquiries begin to spin into something greater than a missing teen as a conspiracy involving her family ties surface with the club's owner Ian Forest assisting GiGi, who cannot understand why he would aid the apparent enemy.

SHADOWS IN THE DARKNESS is an excellent private investigative tale starring a delightful unique protagonist, an elf. The story line makes believers out of readers that Elaine Cunningham's realm exists as the author cleverly introduces her heroine via the mystery. GiGi is a terrific champion struggling with her case and her new knowledge about her heritage that is dangerous to her elfish health. Private investigative fantasy fans will appreciate this fabulous opening novel that will remind readers of Jim Butcher's Dresden files.

Harriet Klausner

After ten years working Vice on the Providence, RI Police Department, Gwen "GiGi" Gellman retires to become a PI specializing in family cases--particularly runaways and kidnaps--kids who get buried in the system.

Frankly, Gwen is good at these cases. She, too, has been lost in the system. She also has a special knack for finding people from clues on the scene. Is she a psychic or something else? The only thing Gwen knows is that her powers are getting stronger.

Her current case is locating Meredith Cody, teenaged daughter of Ryan Cody--a prominent Providence criminal attorney. While trying to find the girl, Gwen discovers her own past. Gwen Gellman isn't exactly human....

Good edgy novel that's a serious page turner. The big problem I see is this book is obviously serialized fiction. While Cunningham did wrap up enough of the main thread to please me, I'm not delighted I have to wait another year to get the answer to some other questions.

This new series (well not really new) by Elaine Cunnighman is a fresh new start. It is really intriguing because we have this P.I. as the main character who is on case that stretches out to reveal her past. Gwen, doesn't know much at all about her parents because they died when she was a baby, but there is more to their deaths than what she is led to believe. But as she starts to uncover her past and the secrets that ulitmately lead her to solving her case, lives become at stake. Including the life of someone close to Gwen. Overall it is not that bad of a novel, there is just a lot character confusion because there are so many. Although it is not too hard to follow.