Book Review: A Shadow Away

The latest book I’ve read this summer is the first in a series, A Shadow Away by Joan K. Lacy is a book with a mix of adventure and mystery with a bit of supernatural elements. Private detective Alex Cort helps famed British archaeologist Andrew Seaton track down criminals who have stolen from him. In the investigation they uncover clues to find the lost city of El Dorado and must get there before the thieves to find a jewel-encrusted gold statue – a key to the lost city.

I enjoyed the historical and adventure parts of the book. The supernatural bits were a little out there and not very believable – well, as believable as supernatural things can be in books. Alex and Andrew have help from a mysterious woman, Angel, who they learn is not from this world – or the world as we know it. She teaches them to unlock the powers they have within to help them. The best I can describe it and the way Angel sort of explains it to the guys is that they have to imagine what they want to happen and really believe and then it will happen. That seemed kind of silly and kiddy-ish to me. For example, in Harry Potter, the wizards and witches need to know spells. In superhero stories the characters are born with specific abilities or through some kind of scientific experiment or accident they are given special powers. But we’re expected to believe in this story that Alex can transport himself to different cities or go invisible because he just “believes”? That seemed a little far fetched to me, but other than that I liked the adventure and exploration of history and cultures.

Moving on, when the trio were going through South America and navigating the jungles and the Amazon and talking about lost civilizations it reminded me of the movie The Lost City of Z which is based on the true story of Percy Fawcett. Then a few pages later they actually did mention him!

I know I critiqued the magic abilities of the characters that seemed over simplified, but there were aspects of this belief system that I did like and spoke to me. Since this year I’ve all been about the laws of attraction and good vibes bringing good things your way, I did have an appreciation for this idea of willing something in to existence. One line from the book stood out to me: