Shadows Will Fall

by Rose Doyle

On her early morning walk, Frances Shaw comes upon the naked body of a young woman carefully laid out in the doorway of the hospital morgue in Dun Laoghaire. Frances recognises the corpse but does not know - yet - of the parallel one committed forty years ago in New York another in Dun Laoghaire, fifty years ago.


Both victims were also young women. Both were drowned, stripped naked and left in the doorway of morgues.


As she gradually gathers more information, Frances cannot accept the police theory of copy-cat murders, and embarks on her own investigation. But in doing so, she risks revealing long-buried secrets in her own life.

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Rose Doyle is a writer and journalist. Her novels include Fate and Tomorrow (set in the Congo in 1902) and Shadows Will Fall , both international bestsellers. Trade Names, the book of her long-running series in The Irish Times, was published by New Island in 2004. In 2005 she contributed to New Island's successful Open Door series with The Story of Joe Brown. Heroes of Jadotville: The Soldiers' Story was published in September 2006. Comdt Patrick Quinlan, who led the Irish UN troops at Jadotville, was her uncle.

http://www.newisland.ie

Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I re-read this, having bought it two years ago, but when I looked at it I could not remember what it was about (I do read books fast, hungry for the story.) However, the sense of it was very strong and it was a real pleasure to re-read and realise how much had stayed within me and been re-called without remembering their origin - the character of Thaddeus, the sex in New York and the whole mood of it.
I read the edition published under the Irish Women Writers banner and although I might not rush to read earlier historical novels I would highly recommend her for the quality of her writing.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

This was a random grab from my bookshelf when I needed another book quickly, on my way out the door. It looks like an old library book and I can't remember if I got it at a library sale, or if someone gave it to me to use in a book swap.

It was entertaining for my longer weekend commutes to work, but not terribly thrilling. I found the murderer simple to work out as there simply weren't that many suspects who could have done it. The writing style was also oddly old fashioned. So much so that I started at the mention of 9/11 when Fran was in NY, as it felt like the book was set in the late 80s or early 90s. And that's not just down to the first two murders being in the 50s and 60s.

The other thing that was strange about this book is that Fran's whole decision making process is never really explained. Like why she feels so compelled to do everything that she does. We're just expected to go along with it and that felt cheap. The author could have done more to convince the reader that this was all something someone like Fran would have reasonably done, as it definitely didn't feel like it.

So, regardless of how or why I got my hands on this book, it will end up in a book swap. Maybe someone else will like it better than I did.