Review of Meg Gardiner’s The Shadow Tracer

 

 

 

I read The Shadow Tracer a few months ago and I’ve been meaning to write a review. I know it’s not Meg’s newest book, it came out in 2013. But a good book is a good book!

 

Here’s the Goodreads description:

 

Can a person ever really disappear for good by going off the grid? And what happens when vanishing is no longer an option?

Sarah Keller is a single mother to five-year-old Zoe, living quietly in Oklahoma. She’s also a skip tracer, an expert in tracking people who’ve gone on the lam to avoid arrest, prosecution, or debt—pinpointing their locations to bring them to justice.

When a school bus accident sends Zoe to the ER, their quiet life explodes. Zoe’s medical tests reveal what Sarah has been hiding: Zoe is not her daughter. Zoe’s biological mother—Sarah’s sister, Beth—was murdered shortly after the child’s birth. And Zoe’s father is missing and presumed dead.

With no way to prove her innocence, Sarah must abandon her carefully constructed life and go on the run. Chased by cops, federal agents, and the group responsible for Beth’s murder, Sarah embarks on a desperate journey. Can her knowledge as a skip tracer help her stay off the grid, remain one step ahead of her pursuers, and find a way to save her daughter? 

 

 

And let me add, the “group responsible for Beth’s murder” are some of the scariest people I’ve ever read about. The Fiery Branch of the New Covenant, is a cult that spreads across four states, led by Eldrick Worthe, who is a creepy and scary SOB. You know, kind of guy that gives white trash a bad rep. And although he’s in prison, he still rules the clan/cult very effectively. They are determined to get Zoe because they think she’ll be the one to herald the new era for the cult. This family is full of meth heads and terrorists that have no qualms with doing whatever they think is necessary to get Zoe. And the creepiest of the family were Fell and Reavy. *shudder*

Keller is a good and solid character. I learned some things about being invisible to “the system”. And I enjoyed her relationship to Zoe. Zoe is a little mature for her age, but it worked for me. I assumed that if her mom is a skip tracer and knows the constant danger they could be in, she’s going to teach a thing or two to her kid along the way.

Throw in an FBI agent looking for vengeance, a U.S. Marshall who helped Keller years ago, and a few other characters, and you have a great cast. I’ve seen some other reviews that say this isn’t her strongest book so that whet’s my appetite for more from Gardiner.

So what’s the verdict? It’s a wham-bam, edge of your seat thriller! This book had me rushing through the pages until the very end. It was going by so fast, I felt I could hardly catch my breath.

VP Chandler


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