Shadows of the Past
A Novel
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4.6 • 187 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Psychology professor and criminal profiler Taylor Martin prides herself on being able to solve any crime, except the one she wants most desperately to solve--the disappearance of her father twenty years ago. When she finally has a lead on his whereabouts, Taylor returns home to Logan Point, Mississippi, to investigate. But as she is stalking the truth about the past, someone is stalking her.
Nick Sinclair pens mystery novels for a living, but the biggest mystery to him is how he can ever get over the death of his wife--a tragedy he believes he could have prevented. With his estranged brother the only family he has left, Nick sets out to find him. But when he crosses paths with Taylor, all he seems to find is trouble.
Join the chase as this determined duo search the murky shadows of the past for the keys to unlocking the present and moving into a future filled with new hope and love. Readers will be swept into the sultry South in this debut novel from a promising and already award-winning writer.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Heavy on action, Bradley's debut inspirational novel rushes to fit in everything from violent chase scenes to renewal of faith. Dr. Taylor Martin, a beautiful, bercompetent criminal profiler, wonders why God doesn't answer her prayers for help finding her father, who has been missing for 20 years. An answer appears, perhaps, in the form of crime novelist Nick Sinclair, whose addict brother Scott seems to be stalking Taylor. Family financial issues call Taylor home from Washington state to Logan Point, Miss., where, suspiciously, Scott turns up. Nick follows him there, determined to prove that Scott is not the criminal Taylor suspects him to be. This is a page-turner in every chapter, new hints of foul play arise suggesting that Scott, Taylor's missing father, and the current family crisis are all dangerously interrelated. Family and friends help untangle the riddles, culminating in a climax readers won't want to miss. It will be gratifying to watch Bradley's characters evolve in future installments of this new Logan Point series.
Customer Reviews
Shadows of The Past
What talent this writer has. There is no end to describing how she just could tell a story and get the reader to feel all the scenes her heroine and hero would get themselves mixed up in and with all the excitement we still have a touch family life . Thank you for writing a beautiful and exciting story.
Starts off well
This book was enjoyable, but not stellar. It was more action than romance, which was a great relief in a genre that tends toward the objectification of men. (Yes, that’s a real thing.) Overall, the characters and plot were set up well and developed reasonably at first. However, there is some room for improvement. I have never published fiction, but I hope the following comments are helpful.
The male protagonist was more than a bit of a wimp. He is introduced as a tragic character, but never seems to move beyond that. Additionally, he isn’t very bright and withholds information in order to manipulate the investigation.
One of the antagonists also needed his man-card revoked. He started out strong, but faded dramatically in both importance and basic machismo when the author prematurely switched from hinting who the villain was to plainly revealing him. By the end of the story I actually didn’t care about what happened to him, either good or bad.
The story had a couple of good plot-twists, but the loss of subtlety toward the end, some over-dependence on dialogue to describe necessary physical descriptions (like finding a criminal’s laptop without actually looking for it), some rather flat character development, a general lack of manliness among the men in the story, and a few underdeveloped transitions made finishing it more of an obligation than something I was looking forward to. Overall, it seems like the book starts off with potential for more than it achieves. Was someone trying to beat a deadline?
So, despite some intriguing foreshadowing regarding the other books in the series, the combination of lack-luster performance in the last 1/4 of this book and reports of some serious narcissism in book 2 lead me to question whether I’ll bother. Still, I appreciated the toned-down sensuality and the potential for lots (perhaps too many?) of future stories from this little Southern town. So, I might skip Book 2 and try one of the others if I find myself with some time.
Fantastic Read!
This book captivated my attention from the start! I will definitely keep my eye out for more from this author! I loved the suspense and twists the story kept making! And you can't help but fall in love with and root for the characters in it! Thank you for sharing your God given talent of writing with the world!