Shadow Man

About Shadow Man

What Dennis Lehane does for Boston, Alan Drew does for Southern California in this novel of psychological suspense about an idyllic community rocked by a serial killer—and a dark secret.

Detective Ben Wade has returned to his hometown of Rancho Santa Elena in search of a quieter life and to try to save his marriage. Suddenly the community, with its peaceful streets and excellent public schools, finds itself at the mercy of a serial killer who slips through windows and screen doors at night, shattering illusions of safety. As Ben and forensic specialist Natasha Betencourt struggle to stay one step ahead of the killer—and deal with painful episodes in the past—Ben’s own world is rocked again by violence. He must decide how far he is willing to go, and Natasha how much she is willing to risk, to protect their friendship and themselves to rescue the town from a psychotic murderer and a long-buried secret.
      
With fine, eerie, chilling prose, acclaimed author Alan Drew weaves richly imagined characters into the first of several thrilling novels of suspense featuring the California world of Ben Wade and Natasha Betencourt. Shadow Man reveals the treacherous underbelly of suburban life, as a man, a woman, a family, and a community are confronted with the heart of human darkness.

Advance praise for Shadow Man

“Recommend this one to fans of Michael Connelly, Tana French, and Dennis Lehane. . . . The Steinbeck-like passages about the vanishing cowboy landscape contribute to the novel’s power.”—Booklist (starred review)

“Wonderfully imagined and wonderfully written, Shadow Man is everything a great thriller should be. . . . A home run.”—Lee Child, author of Night School
 
“Shadow Man revises the old detective story and turns it in several fascinating directions. Alan Drew writes with precision, subtlety, and a streak of suspense that does not often color the literary novel.”—Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin
 
“Shadow Man is smart, chilling, and impossible to put down.”—William Landay, author of Defending Jacob

“Always thrilling and often terrifying, Shadow Man is a descendant of Chandler’s The Big Sleep. Underlying the grisly dangers of Drew’s novel is the forceful honesty of all good California noir.”—Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Gold Fame Citrus

“Shadow Man has everything I like in a novel: grit, heart, and nail-biting suspense. It’s the sort of magically absorbing novel that keeps you turning the pages and checking the locks on the door.”—Lauren Grodstein, author of Our Short History

“In Alan Drew’s electric new novel, Southern California in the 1980s is so palpable it is almost a character of its own. An enrapturing read from its start to its unpredictable, enthralling finish.”—Daniel Torday, author of The Last Flight of Poxl West