The Company of Shadows by Ruth Newman

July 2010, Simon and Schuster

384 pages, Paperback

Review copy

Thriller, mystery

Fear, chases, many surprises, occasional violence and swearing,  

Summary from Simon and Schuster

Flicking through her friends' holiday snaps, Kate Benson receives a sudden shock. For there in the background is her husband, Charlie. Dark hair, blue eyes, familiar smile: there's no mistaking him. But that's impossible. Because Charlie died exactly a year ago.

Determined to track down the man in the photograph, Kate follows the trail from Miami to Sicily, where her husband drowned in mysterious circumstances. But when she discovers serious discrepancies in the original investigation, Kate starts to question whether she ever really knew the man she loved so much.

Was Charlie murdered? Was their marriage as perfect as Kate remembers? Who are the people following her? Who can she trust? And is Kate herself to be trusted? Because there are secrets in her past too . . .

Nayuleska's Thoughts

As a lover of Twisted Wing, I had to read this book. It is a totally different voice to Twisted Wing, and a different subject matter. But Ruth Newman uses the same level of clues, mystery and plot twists. In fact, the layers of all the characters revealed throughout the story had a greater impact on me than the ending of Twisted Wing. 

I felt very sympathetic to Kate. I could feel her desperation, her need for closure about the sightings of her husband. Chasing the clues to the phantom image of him leads her to question everything in her life. Any other person would have given up with each obstacle that gets set in her path. Ruth refuses to be beaten by any problem, and keeps going, even when her life is put in danger. I thoroughly enjoyed the thriller aspect of this book, it met every box that I have when reading a thriller.

I was able to guess a little of the ending, but the revelations about Kate's past had me grinning at the book. It was just so unexpected. Everything that happened in the book suddenly made sense. If the revelation had been placed any earlier on in the story (which would have been cool), the reader would have changed their mind how they viewed Kate. I'm looking forward to re-reading it, to view Kate's search with new eyes. And to reading more by Ruth Newman. 

Final Conclusion: A book with plots that flash up so unexpectedly that by the time the next revelation comes, you are still thinking 'What?!!'

Be sure to read the previous book by Ruth Newman, Twisted Wing