Book Review: ‘Walking Shadows’ Is The Next Exciting Decker/Lazarus Thriller

Author Faye Kellerman is back with her 25th novel featuring her characters of Detective Peter Decker and his wife Rina Lazarus. This time two murders look to be tied to a case from 20 years ago where two men have been in prison for those murders (they swear they didn’t do it). Now as they dig into the new cases it looks like those two might just be innocent.

The story is set in Greenbury, New York, where a man Brady is found dead beaten to death. At first it’s thought it might have to do with a string of mailboxes being knocked down by a group of young men. As Peter and his officers start to dig they find it is a lot more than that. Turns out Brady’s dad was one of the men in prison for the murders all those years ago. And he always seemed to have money. When another man Joseph Boch goes missing, there seems to be a connection. Both Joe and Brady worked together. And Joe’s invalid mother was found tied up and left for death.

This also involves working with the next town over of Hamilton since it was in their town where some of this happened. It makes for some sticky situations as to jurisdiction. And on top of that the Peter is stuck with the daughter of Chief Baccus in Hamilton to work with him. She has been a cop in Philly but just came back. Lenora Baccus is green and Peter is not sure if she is a spy and uses caution when using her.

The more he digs the more Peter finds that things 20 years ago are not right and wonders if Baccus was part of some shady deal. And when two men mysterious men are trailing and breaking into places it shines a light on who are these two? And it leads up to a shocking discovery and lives being at risk. Will Peter be able to safe everyone including himself?

My first time reading one of these novels and I really enjoyed it. The characters are fun and well written. I really liked the character with the nickname of Harvard (he’s going to law school). Just some fun comic relief. For fans of the series this is an enjoyable continuation. For new people like me it’s easy to jump in as it could be a stand alone story with enough back-story given so you know who is who.

You can pick up the book in stores on Tuesday, August 28 from William Morrow.