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The Shadow Catchers

by Thomas Lakeman

The Shadow Catchers Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

FBI Special Agent Mike Yeager is in trouble. His most recent case---a child kidnapping, his usual---ended tragically, and the FBI has suspended him. Worse, Mike can’t seem to forgive himself. He’s run away from everything he knows in Philadelphia to the mountains of Nevada in an attempt to forget.

Now in Nevada, he’s stumbled into the world of a killer: in the small town of San Cristobal, one child was killed accidentally---or so it seems---a few weeks before Mike’s arrival. The day after he shows up, an adult is murdered, and soon another child disappears. Mike doesn’t want to get involved, but he can’t help himself, first because as a stranger in town he’s got to prove to the local law enforcement that he’s not the killer, and second, because he’s in the perfect place to solve the case and redeem himself in the eye of the FBI. Not to mention that at least one more child’s life is at stake.

Thomas Lakeman is one of those rare talents who has composed a first novel that doesn’t read like a debut at all, but instead is written with the precision and tightly drawn suspense of one of the genre’s masters.

Review:

"Lakeman's enjoyable but flawed debut introduces FBI Special Agent Michael Yeager, who hits the road to escape his conscience after a child kidnapping case he was working on in Philadelphia goes horribly wrong. He winds up in Dyer County, Nev., where he brawls with a man apparently snatching a handicapped boy while ranting about his missing daughter. When the man turns up dead and disfigured, Yeager is the first suspect, but local sheriff Rafe Archer clears Yeager and recruits his unofficial help investigating the murder and the missing girl, crimes that clearly point to a skilled serial killer. Lakeman delivers a winning protagonist, good pacing and natural dialogue. The plot, however, becomes ever more contrived as it develops, twisting into unlikely and gory shapes that also require psychologically unlikely contortions of the characters. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"If you read many thrillers, you'll soon realize that Thomas Lakeman's first novel, 'The Shadow Catchers,' brings together various plot elements that you know from other thrillers. The hero ventures innocently into a small town only to be caught up in a whirlwind of crime. The complex plot involves a serial killer, child abuse, horrific violence and a lust for revenge with roots deep in the past. As... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review)

Synopsis:

For fans of John Sandford and Michael Connelly comes a gripping debut about an FBI agent on the run from his own mistakes and straight into the path of a killer.

Synopsis:

After a child kidnapping case ends tragically and leads to his suspension, FBI Special Agent Mike Yeager runs away from everything he knows in Philadelphia to the mountains of Nevada, where he stumbles into the world of a killer. Martins Press.

Synopsis:

“I haven’t seen much in the way of justice in Dyer County.”

 
He didn’t blink once in half a minute.

 
“You’re the man from the Justice Department,” he said finally. “My job is keepin’ the peace. When someone like you shows up, I know there’s gonna be trouble. In my long experience, y’see, only two kinds of strangers come to Dyer County---the ones who think they’re gonna find the lost Dutchman’s gold mine . . .  and the ones lookin’ for the only thing this desert has in abundance.”

 
I shrugged. “Empty beer cans?”

 
“Death,” said the sheriff. “You don’t look like you expect to find a gold mine.”

 

--from The Shadow Catchers

Synopsis:

“I haven’t seen much in the way of justice in Dyer County.”

 He didn’t blink once in half a minute.

 “You’re the man from the Justice Department,” he said finally. “My job is keepin’ the peace. When someone like you shows up, I know there’s gonna be trouble. In my long experience, y’see, only two kinds of strangers come to Dyer County---the ones who think they’re gonna find the lost Dutchman’s gold mine . . .  and the ones lookin’ for the only thing this desert has in abundance.”

 I shrugged. “Empty beer cans?”

 “Death,” said the sheriff. “You don’t look like you expect to find a gold mine.”

 

--from The Shadow Catchers

Product Details

ISBN:
9780312347994
Publisher:
St. Martin's Minotaur
Subject:
United states
Author:
Lakeman, Thomas
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - General
Subject:
Suspense
Subject:
Kidnapping
Publication Date:
20060905
Binding:
HC
Language:
English
Pages:
336
Dimensions:
9.30x6.50x1.11 in. 1.33 lbs.
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