Shadow Woman: A Novel

By Linda Howard

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From Linda Howard comes a thrilling and sensual new novel of romance, suspense, intrigue . . . and memories that can kill.
 
Lizette Henry wakes up one morning and makes a terrifying discovery: She doesn’t recognize the face she sees in the mirror. She remembers what she looks like, but her reflection is someone else’s. To add to the shock, two years seem to have disappeared from her life. Someone has gone to great and inexplicable lengths to keep those missing years hidden forever. But the past always finds a way to return.
 
Strange memories soon begin to surface and, along with them, some unusual skills and talents that Lizette hasn’t a clue about acquiring. Sensing that she’s being monitored, Lizette suddenly knows how to search for bugs in her house and tracking devices in her car. What’s more, she can elude surveillance—like a trained agent.
 
Enter a mysterious and seductive stranger named Xavier, who claims he wants to help—but who triggers disturbing images of an unspeakable crime of which Lizette may or may not be the perpetrator. With memories returning, she suddenly becomes a target of anonymous assassins. On the run with nowhere to hide, Lizette has no choice but to rely on Xavier, a strong and magnetic man she doesn’t trust, with a powerful attraction she cannot resist. As murky waters become clear, Lizette confronts a conspiracy that is treacherous and far-reaching and a truth that, once revealed, may silence her and Xavier once and for all.

BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Linda Howard's Running Wild.

Praise for Shadow Woman
 
“Dazzling . . . From the opening line, [Shadow Woman] will grab readers and take them on an exhilarating and terrifying adventure!”—RT Book Reviews
 
“Fast-paced, intricately detailed romantic suspense . . . Readers won’t want to put it down until the extraordinary conclusion. . . . Highly recommended.”—Fresh Fiction
 
“An intriguing plot and captivating characters [with] lots of drama, tension, intrigue and suspense.”—The Star-Ledger

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9780345535924

Linda Howard

Linda Howard is the award-winning author of many New York Times bestsellers, including Up Close and Dangerous, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Cover of Night, Killing Time, To Die For, Kiss Me While I Sleep, Cry No More, and Dying to Please. She lives in Alabama with her husband and two golden retrievers.

Reviews for Shadow Woman

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When her latest client, a Las Vegas gaming executive who has lost the trust of his criminally-connected bosses, asks for help, Jane Whitefield gets him out of town with a spectacular display of casino magic. Then she keeps her promise, gives up her dangerous trade, marries her loyal doctor, and settles down to live peacefully in upstate New York. As if. Fifty pages into Thomas Perry's third book about Whitefield--who uses a mixture of her Seneca ancestors' wisdom and a lot of modern muscle and computer smarts to make people in danger disappear--her client screws up. Jane's highly developed code of honour makes her leave her bridal bed to rescue him from an eerily psychotic Los Angeles couple who use everything from sex games to attack dogs to track him down.Jane marries Carey McKinnon and moves to his house.[Jane Whitefield helps people to disappear. Her client this time is a Las Vegas casino executive who knows too much for the big boys at Pleasure, Inc, who have hired two assassins to take him out. Now the contract killers, Earl and Linda, are on the trail of the shadow woman, not just her client. ]

[sberson_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of the best of the series!

[polywogg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

BOTTOM-LINE:A potentially excellent book brought down to highly enjoyable.PLOT OR PREMISE:Pete Hatcher works in a Las Vegas casino as a low-level executive. When the big bosses decide maybe he knows something that would interest the Feds, Jane has to help him escape to a new life. But the major complication for Jane is that they hire a couple of pros to find Hatcher..WHAT I LIKED:The book covers a lot of ground, with lots of running around the country, and even up into Glacier National Park. It's a bit different than the urban settings of the rest of it, and you get to see lots of new issues for Jane to adapt to while teaching the people how to live a hidden life. The pros that are chasing her are really good, and it adds lots of tension..WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:I liked reading the story, and still the premise of what Jane does, but this one had some challenges for me. First, Pete has no idea what's going on because he doesn't know why they suddenly decided he knows too much or what's going on. But he hasn't done anything wrong, and unlike a lot of other people trying to disappear, he could simply go to the authorities and say "Help!". There's no good explanation why he doesn't. Secondly, the two pros that are chasing them are kind of nuts, but in very cliché ways. There's no depth to the characters so there's no menace just pretty superficial. Finally, one of the big tension scenes is more resolved by coincidence than the actions of the people, which was unsatisfying. .DISCLOSURE:I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow him on social media.