Not My Shadow
by Elaine Levine
My review:
I don’t even know where to begin about this book. “Not My Shadow” is a captivating combination of mystery, suspense, and romance by Elaine Levine. I started this book intending to read a couple of chapters, work on something else, and then go back to it. Well, that didn’t happen. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down!
I need to be very careful in discussing this book because I do not want to give any spoilers. Nash is a career Navy SEAL with almost 20 years given to his country. His close friend is wounded while they are serving together. Although his injuries were survivable, he dies. Things don’t make sense to Nash and when he starts digging into the circumstances, he gets warned to stop. When he ignores the warning, he loses everything – including his career. He receives a surprising communication from a mysterious woman offering him a lead in his quest to find out what happened to his friend. In return he must agree to investigate a cold case that has disturbing similarities to the death of his friend.
Annie has survived so much, but at this point she’s holding on by a thread. Evil men keep following her and she knows they mean her harm. She’s desperate to reclaim her life, and she may lose her life in the process. Her determination to figure out the mysteries that haunt her compel her to travel back to a little town that terrified her. In that creepy town “full of secrets and vendettas and destruction”, Annie and Nash meet. He sees her as a “creature of light”, and in considering them both, assesses them as being “the profane and the profound.” Despite his perception of her being far superior to himself, they have tremendous chemistry between them.
This book starts off intense and keeps building, beautifully balancing all the different elements. It’s a story that could legitimately be described as haunting. There are great secondary characters, both the good ones and the despicable ones. The twists and turns are frequently dramatic. (Be aware that this story includes a polygamist cult, child kidnapping, and organ harvesting). The ending was wonderful, and richly deserved by the characters and the reader. This is the first book I have read by this author, but it certainly won’t be the last!