Goodreads: Shadow Man

Author: Margaret Kirk

Published: 2nd November 2017 (Orion)

Source: Netgalley

Rating: 3/5 (Liked it)

Official Summary: “Two brutal killings rock Iverness, and bring ex-Met Detective Inspector Lukas Mahler the biggest challenge of his career…

The body of the queen of daytime TV, Morven Murray is discovered by her sister, Anna, on the morning of her wedding day. But does Anna know more about the murder than she’s letting on?

Police informant Kevin Ramsay’s murder looks like a gangland-style execution. But what could he have stumbled into that was dangerous enough to get him violently killed?

Mahler has only a couple weeks to solve both cases while dealing with his mother’s fragile mental health. But caught in a deadly game of cat and house, is ex-Met DI Lukas Mahler hunting one killer, or two?” – Goodreads

(Disclaimer: I received a copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my review in anyway.)

Review: I liked it, was a good story. 49% was when I figured out who the killer was. I like how the author tried to lead you one way. But come on? Any good crime reader knows the most likely suspect, is just a trap. That being said I had some issues with the story.

Too many names. I had difficulty keeping track of who was who. Two different murder cases adds a lot to the plate. This is most likely just an issue for me alone. The formatting seemed off; big spaces all over the place. Dialogue mixed in with the story and not kept on separate lines. Hopefully this was just an issue with the reviewer’s copies. Or I just got extremely unlucky with my copy.

Why does it say in the blurb she was killed on the morning of her wedding day? 189 of 3919 – ‘The wedding’s only two days away..’ Its the next day she is killed. 200 – ‘near legendary ability to avoid hard work Donna looks…’ (missing a .) 1063 – Burnt out van (it was a 4×4.) 1470 – ‘ Yes, I was in (‘ placed wrong). 1936 – impaitentlooking (needs a space) (Sorry I go anal with mistakes.)

That’s a lot of errors for a Netgalley book no? Specially when your asking for people to review the book.

The characters were all real people, they weren’t one layered or unrealistic. With having a cop based book, you have to get gritty and into the meat of things. It what adds layers to the story. Plus makes you relate to them, and want them to find the killers. All in all, it was a good solid story. It all made sense, nothing was over the top or glorified.

Would I recommend it? Yes.