Shadows Within

by Ashley Dawson

Shadows Within is a gritty, character-driven crime thriller in which loyalty is a mask and every truth has a price. It is a high-stakes tale of two men on opposite sides of the law whose worlds collide with deadly consequences and a slow romance.

Cole Kane, a street-smart hustler raised by crime lord Vincent Rossi, is handpicked to infiltrate the police force. On the other side, David Smith, a young cop driven by his father's murder, goes undercover for Internal Affairs within Rossi's criminal empire. Neither knows the other exists, yet both live in constant fear of exposure as paranoia tightens.

Then fate throws them both a curveball. For Cole, Sophia Hayes keeps him grounded, while for David, Lauren Vega is his voice of reason.

Their missions unravel into Cole's loyalty to his "father figure" clashes with his growing conscience, while David's belief in justice is shaken by the humanity he encounters among criminals. When the truth finally surfaces, Cole and David must decide whether to protect each other or go down with the lies they've built.

Shadows Within explores the blurred lines between right and wrong, the emotional cost of deception, and the brutal choices people make to survive. With cinematic action, morally complex characters, and a hauntingly ambiguous ending, it's a story about what we're willing to become in the name of loyalty.

276 pages, Hardcover

Published September 26, 2026

About the author

Ashley Dawson is a professor of English at CUNY, New York City. He is the author of Extinction, Mongrel Nation and The Routledge Concise History of Twentieth-Century British Literature, as well as a short story in the anthology Staten Island Noir.