Official Review: The Shadow Man by J Reyes

GKCfan · Post by **GKCfan** » 13 Aug 2015, 17:31

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Shadow Man" by J Reyes.]

3 out of 4 stars

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Official Review: The Shadow Man, by J. C. Reyes.

The Shadow Man is a suspenseful thriller, as a paroled criminal adjusts to life on the outside. Unfortunately, Alex Redman’s hopes for a better life are turned upside-down when he gets caught up in the mayhem of a serial killer’s reign of terror, and he is reunited with a former flame working for the FBI who becomes his best chance of escaping a false accusation of murder.

The heart of The Shadow Man comes from the inner turmoil of the central figure. Alex is a very flawed man but a compelling character, and it’s Alex that elevates the book from a standard serial killer slasher to a psychological drama. Alex has a lot of anger, disappointment, and self-recrimination. Reyes has crafted a compelling portrait of a man who has spent so long off the straight and narrow that he doubts that he can ever go back, yet who has still retained enough decency and a moral compass to respond with righteous anger when he realizes that he’s being wronged. Alex is dealing with the fallout from time in prison, his failed marriage, and estrangement from the daughter he barely knows. I was always interested by Alex’s character, though I never really wanted him as a friend, which is a measure of how much I enjoy a fictional person.

This is a densely written book, which is both tribute to Reyes’s prose skills and a respectful criticism. Unlike many thrillers, which are shoddily written at a low reading level so that people can have no trouble at all following the plot, Reyes crafts plotlines that require constant attention. Some of the conversations can be hard to follow due to an paucity of names applied to the characters, and the shifts from the real world to the mental lives of certain individuals require careful scrutiny on the part of the reader.

Towards the end of the book, Alex notes that physical injuries heal far faster than psychological ones, which possibly never lead to a full recovery. That theme seems to be at the heart of the novel. There is no thoroughly happy ending, no clean sense that everything that follows will be sunshine and peachy keenness thenceforth. And yet, the ending theme is not of nihilism and bleakness, but rather an affirmation that one has to keep doing the right thing no matter what, because the alternative is just too horrible to bear. This is what I really found compelling about the book– that Alex is a man treading water because he can’t bear the prospect of drowning.

I give this book three out of four stars.

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The Shadow Man
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