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A review by dtaylorbooks
The Shadow Tracer by Meg Gardiner
4.0
How did we end up here?
The publicist from Dutton sent me over some information and asked me if I wanted to read it. After looking at the blurb it sounded like something I would enjoy so I accepted. It’s as simple as that.
Okay, book. You've got 50 pages. Go!
Within the first fifty pages Sarah’s on the run with Zoe and the poop has properly embedded itself in the rotating device. The first handful of pages actually open with a glimpse into Sarah’s job, which was interesting in and of itself: she’s a skip tracer, basically hunting down people who are trying to evade court (but not a bail bondsman, that’s a different game). She has to get a little sleazy in order to get her job done but she does it and that sleaze is a bit of a hook. In hindsight you don’t really see enough of Sarah’s job in order to relate it to her situation but it still acts as a good segue and her acting is indicative of what’s she’s been doing the last five years of her life.
What worked . . .
The action what non-stop and I really liked how as the plot unfolded the level of people with something invested in the outcome of this whole situation multiplied. At first you get this scope zooming in on just Sarah and Zoe but by the end of the book you might as well me looking through a bucket with the bottom missing. With the number of people convening on this thing it’s a miracle it stayed quiet for as long as it did.
I also really liked the screwed up element of the Worthe clan. I don’t know if this was part of a bigger story from a book past but it was the spine that kept the story together. I just wish there was more to it. I would have liked to have seen more of Beth and Nolan’s involvement beyond the mini-flashback scenes scattered throughout but they sufficed. It beefed the plot up and what was good about it was that each major player in the game got some point of view time so while you’d see the crazy in the Worthes from the outside, every once in a while you’d get to see it from the inside and get to see what’s really motivating these characters instead of getting guessing games from other points of view.
What didn't work . . .
Michael’s last name: Lawless. It’s just so . . . *eyeroll* Of all the last names for a US Marshal that doesn’t play by the rules to have.
Harkin, I felt, had the thinnest role in the whole story and I think his story would have played out just fine if that personal element wasn’t included, especially since it’s left hanging at the end.
While I liked all of the character angles, for the most part, by the end I felt the story was less about Sarah and more about everyone else. With the introduction of so many secondary characters and the need to give them their time in the spotlight to get their story told the focus got lost a little bit. I would have liked to have seen the story keep its focus more on Sarah since she was the driving force of it all.
And the final battle scene felt a little drawn out. By this time, because there had been so much action, so many near-misses, so many escapes I just wanted it to be over but it just kept going. It became a bit of an effort to keep my brain focused on the scene and I found myself skimming a little bit just to make it end a little faster.
And in the end . . .
I really liked THE SHADOW TRACER. It was a quick read without being insubstantial. The story was meaty, you got to know a lot of characters without knowing too much about them but enough so that they were more than one-dimensional on the page and you got to understand people’s motivations and that they weren’t always what they seemed. Sarah’s a relatable character that doesn’t make any massive departures from character in order to serve the plot and she seems to keep the situation grounded around Zoe. Her motivation is to protect Zoe. Period. And Zoe became more of a presence in the story after a while instead of someone that’s actually present which I actually liked. While the focus was on Zoe it was more on the idea of her rather than the child. It kept it from being a kid story and I think if it did go down that route I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much. Her roll was mostly passive and it allowed plot elements to come to pass that probably wouldn’t have if she were more active.
I’d like to take a look at more books by Gardiner. Her writing style is great and it hooks me in pretty quickly. If THE SHADOW TRACER is indicative of her other books I’d definitely give them a try.
The publicist from Dutton sent me over some information and asked me if I wanted to read it. After looking at the blurb it sounded like something I would enjoy so I accepted. It’s as simple as that.
Okay, book. You've got 50 pages. Go!
Within the first fifty pages Sarah’s on the run with Zoe and the poop has properly embedded itself in the rotating device. The first handful of pages actually open with a glimpse into Sarah’s job, which was interesting in and of itself: she’s a skip tracer, basically hunting down people who are trying to evade court (but not a bail bondsman, that’s a different game). She has to get a little sleazy in order to get her job done but she does it and that sleaze is a bit of a hook. In hindsight you don’t really see enough of Sarah’s job in order to relate it to her situation but it still acts as a good segue and her acting is indicative of what’s she’s been doing the last five years of her life.
What worked . . .
The action what non-stop and I really liked how as the plot unfolded the level of people with something invested in the outcome of this whole situation multiplied. At first you get this scope zooming in on just Sarah and Zoe but by the end of the book you might as well me looking through a bucket with the bottom missing. With the number of people convening on this thing it’s a miracle it stayed quiet for as long as it did.
I also really liked the screwed up element of the Worthe clan. I don’t know if this was part of a bigger story from a book past but it was the spine that kept the story together. I just wish there was more to it. I would have liked to have seen more of Beth and Nolan’s involvement beyond the mini-flashback scenes scattered throughout but they sufficed. It beefed the plot up and what was good about it was that each major player in the game got some point of view time so while you’d see the crazy in the Worthes from the outside, every once in a while you’d get to see it from the inside and get to see what’s really motivating these characters instead of getting guessing games from other points of view.
What didn't work . . .
Michael’s last name: Lawless. It’s just so . . . *eyeroll* Of all the last names for a US Marshal that doesn’t play by the rules to have.
Harkin, I felt, had the thinnest role in the whole story and I think his story would have played out just fine if that personal element wasn’t included, especially since it’s left hanging at the end.
While I liked all of the character angles, for the most part, by the end I felt the story was less about Sarah and more about everyone else. With the introduction of so many secondary characters and the need to give them their time in the spotlight to get their story told the focus got lost a little bit. I would have liked to have seen the story keep its focus more on Sarah since she was the driving force of it all.
And the final battle scene felt a little drawn out. By this time, because there had been so much action, so many near-misses, so many escapes I just wanted it to be over but it just kept going. It became a bit of an effort to keep my brain focused on the scene and I found myself skimming a little bit just to make it end a little faster.
And in the end . . .
I really liked THE SHADOW TRACER. It was a quick read without being insubstantial. The story was meaty, you got to know a lot of characters without knowing too much about them but enough so that they were more than one-dimensional on the page and you got to understand people’s motivations and that they weren’t always what they seemed. Sarah’s a relatable character that doesn’t make any massive departures from character in order to serve the plot and she seems to keep the situation grounded around Zoe. Her motivation is to protect Zoe. Period. And Zoe became more of a presence in the story after a while instead of someone that’s actually present which I actually liked. While the focus was on Zoe it was more on the idea of her rather than the child. It kept it from being a kid story and I think if it did go down that route I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much. Her roll was mostly passive and it allowed plot elements to come to pass that probably wouldn’t have if she were more active.
I’d like to take a look at more books by Gardiner. Her writing style is great and it hooks me in pretty quickly. If THE SHADOW TRACER is indicative of her other books I’d definitely give them a try.