It has been almost a decade since GARDENS OF WATER, Alan Drew’s debut novel, was published. That critically worthy work, set in what was then the here and now of Turkey, was a quietly passionate character study dealing with cultural conflicts. His newly published SHADOW MAN is quite different from his first effort, given that it falls generally into the psychological thriller/police procedural categories. Drew’s cinematic descriptive powers, which he displayed so well in his debut, are on full and wonderful display here, helping to make it an absolute must-read this summer.

SHADOW MAN technically qualifies as a historical novel, given that it is set in 1986 in southern California, a handful of miles north of Los Angeles in Rancho Santa Elena (not to be confused with the suburb of Tijuana). Detective Ben Wade had returned to his hometown with his wife and daughter in 1982, hoping that the familiar environs and quieter surroundings --- compared to L.A. --- might aid in the healing of his floundering marriage. When we first meet Wade, four years later, the couple has divorced and are in the stutter-stop dance of feeling their way through a shared parenting decree. Wade is a complicated character, coming to grips with a divorce he did not want and damaged in ways that the reader learns of gradually and piecemeal as the thread of the book’s plot is followed.

"This is a remarkable work that you will want to read in one sitting, simply because its author sinks the hook so deeply from its first paragraph that it is impossible to put down until completed."

The primary story is simple enough. A serial killer is operating in the usually quiet town to which Wade has returned, and it takes the police force as well as the public at large a bit of time to discover that there is a monster in their midst. The reader is given enough information to piece together what is going on before Wade does. However, there is an outlier death that occurs during the investigation. A 17-year-old illegal immigrant who attended the local high school is found dead near the migrant camp where he lived with his family. The circumstances of the young man’s death, though violent, point to suicide. A bit of evidence that Wade discovers --- and initially keeps to himself --- leads him to entertain the possibility that the death was not self-inflicted after all, and may have a not insignificant tie to his own very troubled past, a past that affects him to the book’s present day.

As Wade struggles with the demons of his past, the killer continues to strike, seemingly at will and without apparent care. Even when the police learn who he is and how he came to be, it does them little good, given his uncanny ability to vanish until he strikes. Wade has the potential keys to unlock both cases, but he may not get the chance to resolve either. It’s an issue that resonates and haunts throughout the book to its conclusion.

Drew’s prose will remind readers by turns of Dennis Lehane and T. Jefferson Parker. This is a remarkable work that you will want to read in one sitting, simply because its author sinks the hook so deeply from its first paragraph that it is impossible to put down until completed. I would anticipate that you will see SHADOW MAN shortlisted for several annual awards, as well as given a place on many “Best of” lists of 2017. Hopefully, we will not have to wait several years for Drew’s next book.