The Shadowman by Helen Fields #TheShadowMan @AvonBooksUK

Posted on February 2, 2021 by J-LBRBSBLOGS

Helen Fields is back with a heart-pounding new book, her first stand-alone novel!

Book blurb

You didn’t see him …

but he’s there…

He collects his victims. But he doesn’t keep them safe.

Elspeth, Meggy and Xavier are locked in a flat. They don’t know where they are, and they don’t know why they’re there. They only know that the shadow man has taken them, and he won’t let them go.

Desperate to escape, the three of them must find a way out of their living hell, even if it means uncovering a very dark truth.

Because the shadow man isn’t a nightmare. He’s all too real.

And he’s watching.

My thoughts

After a somewhat creepy introduction we begin the book with an equally creepy introduction to Fergus Ariss who is watching Angela – inside her own house!

What a beginning!

Enter Dr Connie Woolwine a psychological profiler over from the USA. She is in Edinburgh to assist with a kidnapping case.

What an introduction!

Police Scotland have brought in D I Brodie Baarda from the Metropolitan Police, a specialist in kidnapping cases, to investigate.

What a match!

The case is that of a woman, Elspeth, married with young children who seems to have just disappeared. She appears to be a perfect wife and mother. Is there more to Elspeth than meets the eye?

At first it seems like a straightforward kidnap for money but are the blackmailers the kidnappers? Then a murder case takes Police Scotland away from the kidnapping.

As Woolwine and Brodie’s investigation continues there are more kidnappings. Are they linked? They have such different victims, it’s so very unusual for that to happen.

Meggy is just a child. She’s not too happy, not keen on her stepmother so she stays as late as possible at school, goes to the local park to read, goes to her room. She has no presence on social media, she doesn’t even have a phone. She is bright and courageous. Why has she been taken? Such a brazen kidnapping in broad daylight.

We learn some of Woolwine and Brodie’s backstories as we follow them trying to make sense of what is happening.

Xavier is a young man who loves his basketball team it’s as he is leaving a session that he is taken. Why Xavier? There is violence in this kidnapping, murder!

Woolwine and Brodie separate to check out different things but this leads to danger and self sacrifice. Will it also lead to more death?

In a rather dark twist things are resolved – have Woolwine and Brodie worked out what happened? What happens to Elspeth, Meggy and Xavier?

Helen Fields writes a wonderfully creepy, scary story with great characters. It’s dark, well written and the ending will take your breath away!

With the wonderful characters of D I Brodie Baarda and, for me, especially Dr Connie Woolwine I would love to read more stories with them in so the disappointment of this book is that it’s a stand-alone!

Previously read: Perfect Remains | Perfect Kill

Thanks

Many thanks to Ellie Pilcher for the invite to read The Shadow Man and to Avon Books for the eBook via NetGalley.

Book Launch!

On Wednesday 3rd February at 8pm, join Helen Fields online via Zoom for the book launch of The Shadow Man.

Including appearances from special guests, including Robin Laing – the audiobook narrator of the DI Luc Callanach series and The Shadow Man.

Register to attend for FREE now. See you then!

Register now

Information

Published: Avon Books U.K. (Harper Collins) (4th February 2021) | ISBN: 9780008379308

Buy: Your local bookshop | AmazonSmileUK | Hive

Author: Helen Fields’ first love was drama and music. From a very young age she spent all her free time acting and singing until law captured her attention as a career path. She studied law at the University of East Anglia, then went on to the Inns of Court School of Law in London.

After completing her pupillage, she joined chambers in Middle Temple where she practised criminal and family law for thirteen years. Undertaking cases that ranged from Children Act proceedings and domestic violence injunctions, to large scale drug importation and murder, Helen spent years working with the police, CPS, Social Services, expert witnesses and in Courts Martials.

After her second child was born, Helen left the Bar. Together with her husband David, she went on to run Wailing Banshee Ltd, a film production company, acting as script writer and producer.

Helen self-published two fantasy books as a way of testing herself and her writing abilities. She enjoyed the creative process so much that she began writing in a much more disciplined way, and decided to move into the traditional publishing arena through an agent.

Beyond writing, she has a passion for theatre and cinema, often boring friends and family with lengthy reviews and critiques. Edinburgh and San Francisco are her two favourite cities, and she travels whenever she can. Taking her cue from her children, she has recently taken up karate and indoor sky diving. Helen and her husband now live in Hampshire with their three children and two dogs.

Helen Fields on Twitter | Website |

Books

Degrees of Guilt, her first psychological thriller in the name HS Chandler

The Shadow Man sees a new protagonist, Dr Connie Woolwine, who is an American psychological profiler, arrive in Edinburgh. She’s been called in to team up with D.I. Brodie Baarda, a kidnapping specialist from London, following the disappearance of a young mother with a wealthy father-in-law. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. More kidnappings follow, brazen and relentless. The Shadow Man watches, waits and takes who he wants when he wants. And the truth behind his crimes is more terrifying than Connie Woolwine has ever encountered before.

The Shadow Man is out in paperback, ebook and audiobook on 4 February 2021 and I just can’t wait for you to meet the new team. Preorders are open online, and don’t forget your independent book stores too.
https://www.helenfields.com/books