What do you think?
Rate this book
Mike Yeager #1
The Shadow Catchers
FBI Special Agent Mike Yeager is in trouble. His most recent child-kidnapping case ended tragically, and the FBI has suspended him. Worse, Mike can't seem to forgive himself. He's run away from Philadelphia to the mountains of Nevada in an attempt to forget. In the small town of San Cristobal, Mike hopes to start over--until he learns about one local child who was recently killed and another who has just gone missing.
Gun-shy after his last case, Mike doesn't want to get involved. But now that he's drawing the suspicion of local law enforcement, he has no choice but to get involved, if only to prove he's not the killer. Then he realizes he's in the perfect position to solve the case, a success that would redeem him in the eyes of the FBI, and save at least one more child…before time runs out.
Gun-shy after his last case, Mike doesn't want to get involved. But now that he's drawing the suspicion of local law enforcement, he has no choice but to get involved, if only to prove he's not the killer. Then he realizes he's in the perfect position to solve the case, a success that would redeem him in the eyes of the FBI, and save at least one more child…before time runs out.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
Thomas Lakeman
4 books8 followersIt took me four years to research, write, and revise my first novel, The Shadow Catchers, and it would be another two years before the book was published by St. Martin's Press. The dream of being a writer has been with me for a considerably longer time.
By the time I was five years old, I'd mapped out exactly what I was going to do with my life: I would be (in no particular order) a Superhero, an Astronaut, and a Mad Scientist. Two years later, I'd added Actor and Cartoonist to the list. By the end of the fifth grade, I'd finally decided that I could accomplish all of these by telling stories for a living. The darker, the better.
I'm not exactly sure when my fascination with the shadow side began. Probably with that collection of Batman comics. When I was eight years old, I read George Orwell's Animal Farm, thinking it was a happy kiddie story like Charlotte's Web. To this day, whenever I see one of those movies about talking pigs who save the farm, I remember Napoleon the hog sending Boxer the horse to the butcher's in exchange for a barrel of whiskey. And I go make myself a nice ham sandwich with pork rinds.
I was born in Mobile, Alabama, on March 10, 1964, the youngest of six children. My parents made sure we all got an education. After high school I attended the University of the South, a liberal arts school owned by the Episcopal Church. Popularly known as Sewanee, the college allowed me to pursue all my interests, as well as helping to develop new ones. After earning my B.A. I studied Theatre in Great Britain and Ireland on a Thomas J. Watson fellowship, then received my M.F.A. in Playwriting from Carnegie-Mellon University.
My first real job was in the marketing department at Universal Pictures, where I got to do just about everything, from publicity to speechwriting and creative design. In 1994 I helped start Digital Planet, one of the first Internet design firms to specialize in entertainment marketing. My business partner and I had already created the first interactive movie press kit (for Sneakers) and were soon designing sites and DVDS for all the major studios, as well as corporate clients like Intel and the United States Postal Service. We also produced the Internet's first fully animated series, Madeleine's Mind. In 1998, Digital Planet was acquired by a corporate parent. I stayed on for two years as L.A. creative director, then took a brief stint at another company, DNA Studio. I left the business not long after the dotcom bust of 2000. I'm very happy I had my California adventure...and I'm not sorry it ended. I knew I had to move on if I was going to make my fiction career happen.
After four challenging and invigorating years teaching Literature and Creative Writing at the University of South Alabama, I decided to devote myself to writing full-time. Currently I'm living on the Alabama Gulf Coast, working on my fourth novel while preparing for the March 2009 publication of Broken Wing. My latest adventure has returned me to my early love of the theatre: next year I am honored to serve as the Tennessee Williams playwright-in-residence at my alma mater, Sewanee.
By the time I was five years old, I'd mapped out exactly what I was going to do with my life: I would be (in no particular order) a Superhero, an Astronaut, and a Mad Scientist. Two years later, I'd added Actor and Cartoonist to the list. By the end of the fifth grade, I'd finally decided that I could accomplish all of these by telling stories for a living. The darker, the better.
I'm not exactly sure when my fascination with the shadow side began. Probably with that collection of Batman comics. When I was eight years old, I read George Orwell's Animal Farm, thinking it was a happy kiddie story like Charlotte's Web. To this day, whenever I see one of those movies about talking pigs who save the farm, I remember Napoleon the hog sending Boxer the horse to the butcher's in exchange for a barrel of whiskey. And I go make myself a nice ham sandwich with pork rinds.
I was born in Mobile, Alabama, on March 10, 1964, the youngest of six children. My parents made sure we all got an education. After high school I attended the University of the South, a liberal arts school owned by the Episcopal Church. Popularly known as Sewanee, the college allowed me to pursue all my interests, as well as helping to develop new ones. After earning my B.A. I studied Theatre in Great Britain and Ireland on a Thomas J. Watson fellowship, then received my M.F.A. in Playwriting from Carnegie-Mellon University.
My first real job was in the marketing department at Universal Pictures, where I got to do just about everything, from publicity to speechwriting and creative design. In 1994 I helped start Digital Planet, one of the first Internet design firms to specialize in entertainment marketing. My business partner and I had already created the first interactive movie press kit (for Sneakers) and were soon designing sites and DVDS for all the major studios, as well as corporate clients like Intel and the United States Postal Service. We also produced the Internet's first fully animated series, Madeleine's Mind. In 1998, Digital Planet was acquired by a corporate parent. I stayed on for two years as L.A. creative director, then took a brief stint at another company, DNA Studio. I left the business not long after the dotcom bust of 2000. I'm very happy I had my California adventure...and I'm not sorry it ended. I knew I had to move on if I was going to make my fiction career happen.
After four challenging and invigorating years teaching Literature and Creative Writing at the University of South Alabama, I decided to devote myself to writing full-time. Currently I'm living on the Alabama Gulf Coast, working on my fourth novel while preparing for the March 2009 publication of Broken Wing. My latest adventure has returned me to my early love of the theatre: next year I am honored to serve as the Tennessee Williams playwright-in-residence at my alma mater, Sewanee.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
Read
February 5, 2009If his debut novel is representative of books to come, Thomas Lakeman, a professor at the University of South Alabama, shows great promise as a new voice in crime fiction. While The Shadow Catchers offers no earth-shattering story line, critics agree that Lakeman brings intelligence, wit, suspense, and excellent detail, dialogue, and characterization to his story. Even though it's about justice and redemption, The Shadow Catchers may trouble some readers with its extreme darkness and violence. Other readers, like Hallie Ephron, found the novel confusing, if well written. But consensus has it: Lakeman is a writer to watch.
This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.
March 16, 2022
I mean it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The book deserves a 3.5. I was gonna give it a 4 but they tried really really hard with that weird relationship between the fbi dude and the teacher.
But besides my annoyance with relationships, it was a decent book. the storyline is very very interesting and takes a different look at a murder mystery story. The incorporation of different people being the suspect really left you thinking of like who dunnit. like every mystery tho you can figure it out at some point.
BUT…. i must say it was one of the better mysteries i’ve read and i’m picky when it comes to mysteries and who killed who. My only pick with this is the 43 year old with the 25 year old and that creepy weird really try hard relationship but I could complain all day about those…..
But besides my annoyance with relationships, it was a decent book. the storyline is very very interesting and takes a different look at a murder mystery story. The incorporation of different people being the suspect really left you thinking of like who dunnit. like every mystery tho you can figure it out at some point.
BUT…. i must say it was one of the better mysteries i’ve read and i’m picky when it comes to mysteries and who killed who. My only pick with this is the 43 year old with the 25 year old and that creepy weird really try hard relationship but I could complain all day about those…..
September 8, 2009
I used to read a lot of mysteries but after awhile they all started to sound the same to me. Still, every now and then I'll pick one up and give it a shot, usually on the basis of the synopsis on the back, or sometimes even just the title. In this case, it was both. Granted, THE SHADOW CATCHERS (LOVE the title!) does have a lot in common with some I've read (like early Kellerman) but Mr. Lakeman has such a good sense of humor and a way with words (unlike early Kellerman). (Fav line: "I looked her over. Late thirties, sexy in a last-call-at-the-roadhouse way...") I was also impressed with Mr. Lakeman's perceptive view of the psychology of children...the way he described their thoughts and actions rang very true to me. It is obvious that he is extremely intelligent and has a profound empathy for his characters. This is also true of the main character, FBI Agent Mike Yeager. Lakeman has created a flawed, somewhat cynical man, but at heart a very good man...one you can't help but like. (I actually even had the thought that if Holden Caulfield had grown up, pulled himself together and became an FBI agent, he would be a lot like Mike Yeager.) The subject matter is somewhat disturbing (child abuse) and it has a fair share of gore, but what mystery worth it's salt doesn't? THE SHADOW CATCHERS is the first book in a series and I'm definitely going to read the rest. I've been reading for a long time and I know there is a learning curve...most authors usually get better over time. If that's true then I have many years of enjoyment to look forward to with Thomas Lakeman.
June 30, 2013
This novel unfolds like a particularly complicated episode of Criminal Minds.
Or maybe an especially macabre episode of Scooby-Doo.
In this case, our meddling youngster is FBI agent Mike Yeager, who stumbles into a small town mystery. People are dying, kids are disappearing, everyone has a secret, the local sheriff seems oddly hesitant about the investigation, and of course the problem can be traced back to an incident thirty years ago, because small-town problems can ALWAYS be traced back to an incident in the past.
The book has a pretty crisp first act, with the sufficiently troubled Yeager getting quickly and deeply involved in the investigation. This is followed by a completely muddled and unnecessarily complicated second act, in which Yeager is told 700 times "You ain't from around here, are you? You should leave this alone, you don't understand our small-town problems," and in which we meet 400 characters who are all troubled and might be the bad guys and are hard to tell apart. Then comes a third act that valiantly tries to reel it all back in as the mayhem spreads and the violence becomes more extreme, and then Yeager .
The prose is clean and readable. Yeager is compelling enough as a main character. In the end, this is a solid, middle-of-the-road profiler procedural, pleasurable enough to read but not all that memorable.
Or maybe an especially macabre episode of Scooby-Doo.
In this case, our meddling youngster is FBI agent Mike Yeager, who stumbles into a small town mystery. People are dying, kids are disappearing, everyone has a secret, the local sheriff seems oddly hesitant about the investigation, and of course the problem can be traced back to an incident thirty years ago, because small-town problems can ALWAYS be traced back to an incident in the past.
The book has a pretty crisp first act, with the sufficiently troubled Yeager getting quickly and deeply involved in the investigation. This is followed by a completely muddled and unnecessarily complicated second act, in which Yeager is told 700 times "You ain't from around here, are you? You should leave this alone, you don't understand our small-town problems," and in which we meet 400 characters who are all troubled and might be the bad guys and are hard to tell apart. Then comes a third act that valiantly tries to reel it all back in as the mayhem spreads and the violence becomes more extreme, and then Yeager .
The prose is clean and readable. Yeager is compelling enough as a main character. In the end, this is a solid, middle-of-the-road profiler procedural, pleasurable enough to read but not all that memorable.
January 22, 2014
THE SHADOW CATCHERS - FALL FROM GRACE SERIES
FBI Special Agent Mike Yeager is in trouble. His most recent child-kidnapping case ended tragically, and the FBI has suspended him. Worse, Mike can't seem to forgive himself. He's run away from Philadelphia to the mountains of Nevada in an attempt to forget. In the small town of San Cristobal, Mike hopes to start over--until he learns about one local child who was recently killed and another who has just gone missing.
Gun-shy after his last case, Mike doesn't want to get involved. But now that he's drawing the suspicion of local law enforcement, he has no choice but to get involved, if only to prove he's not the killer. Then he realizes he's in the perfect position to solve the case, a success that would redeem him in the eyes of the FBI, and save at least one more child…before time runs out
FBI Special Agent Mike Yeager is in trouble. His most recent child-kidnapping case ended tragically, and the FBI has suspended him. Worse, Mike can't seem to forgive himself. He's run away from Philadelphia to the mountains of Nevada in an attempt to forget. In the small town of San Cristobal, Mike hopes to start over--until he learns about one local child who was recently killed and another who has just gone missing.
Gun-shy after his last case, Mike doesn't want to get involved. But now that he's drawing the suspicion of local law enforcement, he has no choice but to get involved, if only to prove he's not the killer. Then he realizes he's in the perfect position to solve the case, a success that would redeem him in the eyes of the FBI, and save at least one more child…before time runs out
January 25, 2016
Although I liked the main character, the story starts out like so many other books. A tough lawman, on vacation from his regular job, gets in trouble in a small town and ends up in the middle of a series of murders that, of course, he gets involved in solving despite the fact that everyone in town wants him gone. with one exception, the sheriff, whose employees are heavily involved in the what's happening and have thwarted the investigation at every turn. FBI agent Mike Yeager is arrested, shot at, beaten, and asked to leave, while a cast of town characters, all of whom turn out to be either involved in the recent disappearances of children that actually go back more than twenty years or are covering them up. The mood of the book is dark and in places, reads more like horror than suspense.
January 10, 2012
First book by this author and it was an enjoyable read. The principle character, Mike Yeager, has a backstory that is slowly, and perhaps only partially revealed, in bits and pieces throughout the book. At the start Yeager is in a small Nevada town apparently running from something in his past as an FBI agent and happens upon a murder connected to an apparent child abduction. As the story unfolds through red herrings and misdirections you begin to learn about Yeager's past. Lakeman does a good job of developing the characters and in keeping the reader involved and guessing about the identity of the "Shadow Catcher". I would recommend this book and look forward to the next Mike Yeager outing.
March 18, 2013
Special Agent Mike Yeager is on a sort of self-imposed leave of absence from his career, in the wake of the investigation into a child abduction case that went badly wrong. Prompted by some internal compass to intervene on behalf of a boy he thinks is being abused, he finds himself caught up in another case with a missing child: one in which everyone seems to know more than they're telling, and which appears to be rooted in events going back more than 30 years.
I don't like the 20+ year trend of making serial killer-related "entertainment", and I dislike even more using child abuse to frame it. But I'm still going to recommend this one, nonetheless.
I don't like the 20+ year trend of making serial killer-related "entertainment", and I dislike even more using child abuse to frame it. But I'm still going to recommend this one, nonetheless.
January 19, 2008
Got this book as a gift from my husband for Christmas. Haven't read this author before, but really fell into this one and didn't want to put it down. Creepy topic - child abuse - but I had to keep reading. Mike Yeager, an FBI agent on administrative leave, ends up in a small Nevada town, trying to escape the incident that put him on leave. He gets embroiled in what appears to be simply a local murder but turns into something even more sinister. I like the protagonist a lot, and look forward to reading more from Lakeman.
April 27, 2012
Wow. For this being Lakeman's debut novel, it sure reads as if he were a seasoned writer!! An awesome and incredible read. You can get the gist of the story from the other reviewers here, but this one was a keeper. Just when I think I knew 'whodunit,' a twist came, and nope, that person wasn't the one. Then I'd think it's THIS person - nope...this book had me guessing and for about the last quarter of the book.
I've just finished his second book (Chillwater Cove, read before this one), and I'm hoping Lakeman brings back Mike Yeager and Peggy Weaver!!!!
I've just finished his second book (Chillwater Cove, read before this one), and I'm hoping Lakeman brings back Mike Yeager and Peggy Weaver!!!!
August 2, 2013
I enjoyed this book very much.. It was well paced and kept me wanting more which is always the key to a book. Would definitely recommend this book to others who likes suspense, and thrillers. Look forward to more of his work!
June 16, 2007
A good mystery with an interesting setting of the Nevada desert. The ending was kind of fantatical, which may be one reason I liked it.
January 9, 2008
Completely over the top writing style is offset with a pretty compleling page turned adventure book.
March 6, 2012
I enjoyed the book overall. It certainly did not read as the author's first, and was surprised to learn that in reading other reviews. I look forward to more from this author.
April 19, 2015
Am reading his second book
September 15, 2015
Suspenseful
I liked the plot but felt it had too many characters which was confusing at times. Enjoyed the twist and turns.
I liked the plot but felt it had too many characters which was confusing at times. Enjoyed the twist and turns.
Read
January 23, 2024Very enjoyable (besides the gore) read. Well done.
February 15, 2014
I liked the book I found in moms car
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews