Cody McFadyen Shadow Man

Shadow Man

Cody McFadyen

Bantam, June 2006, $24.00, 360 pp.

ISBN: 0553804652

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