Death’s Crooked Shadow

The Prologue to “Death’s Crooked Shadow” takes place fifteen years prior to the start of the first chapter.  In this glimpse into the past, the following scene plays out:

“The man’s car was parked in the alley behind the alderman’s house, in the shadows, away from the yellow glow of the sodium streetlight.  By the time he had lugged the suitcase up the basement stairs, wheeled it across the tidy patch of lawn and past the garage to the alley gate, he had sweat through his shirt and summer suit.  He hefted the case into the Buick’s trunk and quickly shut the lid before the inside light gave him away.  He guessed the case weighed over fifty pounds, maybe ten of it audio- and videotapes, the rest being cash.” (p. ix)

After these shady events take place, the reader is transported to July in Chicago fifteen years later and we meet real estate developer Doug Sutherland.  In the opening pages, Sutherland’s foreman discovers human remains in a building that they are restoring. This discovery will change the course of Sutherland’s life.

I enjoyed the plot of McIntosh’s second novel.  The writing moved along at a fast pace and the story was full of intriguing characters.  The author writes in such a manner that I could vividly picture in my mind the events that were taking place.  He has just the right balance of descriptive passages.  If you enjoy action-packed thrillers then I recommend giving Gordon N. McIntosh’s book “Death’s Crooked Shadow” a try.


Death’s Crooked Shadow
Gordon N. McIntosh
iUniverse (2011)
ISBN 9781462048519
Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (1/12)