Behind the Shadows

by Susan C. Finelli

Born into squalor, Raymond Nasco’s quest for wealth and power shrouds two generations with deceit, murder, rape and illicit love. Setting his sights above and beyond the family’s two-room apartment in a New York City lower eastside tenement, Raymond befriends Guy Straga, the son of a wealthy business tycoon, and they develop a lifelong friendship and bond. Caught in Raymond’s powerful grip, his wife, Adele, commits the ultimate sin; and his son, Spencer, betrays himself and the woman he loves and finally becomes his father’s son. Years later Kay Straga stumbles upon the secret that has been lurking in the shadows of the Straga and Nasco families for two generations, a secret that tempts her with forbidden love, a secret that once uncovered will keep her in its clutches from which there is no escape.

292 pages, Paperback

First published August 20, 2007

Reviews

[Amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Behind the Shadows lurks a dark family secret that began years before Kay Straga has the misfortune of stumbling upon it. Susan C. Finelli's sweeping family drama keeps to mind William Faulkner's declaration that "The past is never dead. It's not even past." None of the family over the generations, from their immigration from Italy to New York City in the present time, can escape what was done. Finelli is an adept author at pacing her cross-generational saga. Sometimes authors will falter in blending the proper amount of detail from the past generations and leave little left over for the proper telling of the modern tale. The author ensures readers that they have the details from the past that lead to the family secret that could undo the current generation, yet still manages to firmly root the action with the modern characters who will suffer consequences of their ancestor's transgressions. Character truly becomes a driving force in the book. Readers clearly come to know who the villains and heroes of the tale are and develop a deep and lasting connection with those heroes.

Place runs through Finelli's work as a constant thread. Finelli clearly knows and understands the geography of New York City, but more importantly understands the soul of the city. I cannot imagine this novel being successfully set in any other city in this country or in the world. So adept at handling the scenes of the city and how they play out, the author paints clear and vivid portraits in the reader's mind that it will come to feel more like a movie than a book. In fact, Behind the Shadows is just such a novel that would adapt beautifully to the big screen. The greatest compliment an author can hear about their novel is that it is a real page-turner. When given that compliment, the author knows that she has engaged the reader who now is invested in the lives of the characters in the book. Susan C. Finelli's Behind the Shadows is indeed an absolute page-turner that will leave readers demanding more.