I’m a fan of cop-dramas, thrillers and suspense-action stories. They get my blood pumping and my mind racing to solve the puzzle. When I’m in the middle of reading a good thriller, I start to think that I could do whatever the hero is doing. In a pinch, I’d be quick on my feet; I’d be able to talk down the bad guy or outwit him. Well, that’s what I’d like to think and books like A Play of Shadows by Geoff Geauterre feed that illusion.

Professor Ralph Tomthwaite, who considers himself average in every way, is pushed to do extraordinary things when his neighbor is mysteriously murdered and the whole affair is quickly covered up. Other characters in the book also turn into everyday heroes…so long as your everyday includes butlers and big bank accounts. A Play of Shadows has money and power in spades.

It also has characters in spades. So many characters, in fact, that I often lost count of who was who. Once Ralph realizes that an international crime syndicate killed his friend, he decides to kick them out of his home state of Connecticut. Now, I realize that crime syndicates have lots of players, but I don’t need to know all their names and backgrounds to appreciate when they’re taken down.

There were so many twists and turns in this book that I had trouble keeping up. The book opens with characters that we don’t see again until halfway through the book. And by the end, I still don’t understand those original characters’ motivation. The book also seems to be two in one. We have two heroes; one who fills the first half of the book and another whose escapades fill the second. While their stories are lightly interwoven, the book could have focused on one without detriment to the story. I enjoyed each character’s exploits individually, but the transition between them was awkward and I had trouble figuring out why we were transitioning at all.

The pace of A Play of Shadows is erratic. Generally, it goes at a fast clip. The chapters are set up almost as if the book were a movie, cutting between the good guys and the bad guys. This structure keeps the action going and builds suspense. However, in the middle of the suspense, Mr. Geauterre kills it with explanations—whether of Ralph’s philosophy lectures or details about what characters are doing in banks. Rather than giving me better insight, these explanations acted only as diversions and dampened my interest.

If you like books about men in cushy jobs finding their inner Rambo and you don’t mind keeping a running character list in your head, you’ll enjoy A Play of Shadows.

Reviewed by Cam Robbins
© April 2008