What do you think?
Rate this book
Shadow Chasers
British Customs officer, Rob Sullivan, is on secondment to Brussels where a tiny unit from the EU's member states is supposed to tackle all excise duty crime in Europe. Much of his work is either boring or frustrating, but now all his leads seem to result in his witnesses meeting with "accidents".
448 pages, Paperback
First published July 12, 2001
1 person is currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Paul Adam
270 books35 followersLibrarian's Note: There is more than one author with this name on Goodreads database.
- Paul Adam is an English writer of novels for both adults and younger readers. He studied law at Nottingham University, then began a career in journalism, working both in England, in his childhood town of Sheffield, and Rome. Since then he has written 11 critically acclaimed thrillers for adults and the Max Cassidy series of thrillers for younger readers about a teenage escapologist, the first of which, Escape from Shadow Island, won the Salford Children's Book Award. His books have sold widely around the world and have been translated into several foreign languages. He has also written film and television scripts. Adam lived in Nottingham for many years but now lives in Sheffield with his wife and two children.
- Paul Adam is an English writer of novels for both adults and younger readers. He studied law at Nottingham University, then began a career in journalism, working both in England, in his childhood town of Sheffield, and Rome. Since then he has written 11 critically acclaimed thrillers for adults and the Max Cassidy series of thrillers for younger readers about a teenage escapologist, the first of which, Escape from Shadow Island, won the Salford Children's Book Award. His books have sold widely around the world and have been translated into several foreign languages. He has also written film and television scripts. Adam lived in Nottingham for many years but now lives in Sheffield with his wife and two children.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 22, 2022
I am a big fan of Paul Adam. He is (a bit like Robert Harris) an author of infinite variety. As I also aim to tread new ground with every book I write, I respect this and enjoy the frisson of wondering where we’re off to now, with each of his fresh writing endeavours. He has written thrillers set around antique violins, the Dalai Lama, WWII in Italy, and the Vatican to give just a few examples. Presumably his mind says 'what if?', there is research, a plot develops and the outcome is a book in which the pages simply turn themselves.
I see Adam is now with Endeavour Publishing. This may, indeed, be his own imprint. He is ridiculously under-regarded and absurdly hard to find on Amazon (harder, even, than I am myself). His online information is skimpy. A man, then, who we can judge only on his output. There are 13 books now (plus three in the Max Cassidy series for younger readers). Not one dud among ‘em (Robert Harris cannot claim that).
But to current cases: Shadow Chasers feels very up to date, considering it is 22 years old. It concerns smuggling in the EU. The complexities of this reminded me strongly of our current concerns with what customs duties may or may not be payable on goods going in and out of Northern Ireland in various directions, now that the UK is no longer in the EU. I feel I have a significantly better grip on that issue having read this book. It is by far the most interesting explication of it that I have come across, and I thank Adam for that, along with the other pleasures of the novel.
Adam’s thesis is that criminals will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying duty on cigarettes, or to make extra virgin olive oil go further by adulterating it with cheaper hazelnut oil. The great behemoth that is the EU knows smuggling is rife – a multi-million Euro industry – and has a tiny team of investigators poring over ships’ logs and cargo manifests trying to follow the smugglers’ tracks so as to predict where they may catch them red-handed. Oooh, you may say, this all sounds a bit sedentary, a bit forensic accounting-y. But I found the paper chase thrilling. After the paper chase come the actual chases, with guns and speeding cars and everything. But that isn’t the USP of Shadow Chasers: an insider’s look at how the EU polices its ginormous smuggling problem is.
The stakes are high, so organised crime is heavily involved: some real mafia families, mainly out of Naples and Russia, are name-checked, some fictional ones are created; some British wheelers and dealers are at the heart of the matter; and I will tell you now the Ukrainians do not come out of this well (perhaps that is where the book has aged a bit). Many of those who should be helping detect and stop the smuggling are complicit. And the criminals are constantly looking to trap the honest but unwary operative. People are afraid to speak out. People die. But the investigators are clever.
They need to be, because there is real danger in the work they do. If they get too close to success they could end up at the bottom of the Bay of Biscay.
I found this to be a gripping thriller with an unusual McGuffin.
I see Adam is now with Endeavour Publishing. This may, indeed, be his own imprint. He is ridiculously under-regarded and absurdly hard to find on Amazon (harder, even, than I am myself). His online information is skimpy. A man, then, who we can judge only on his output. There are 13 books now (plus three in the Max Cassidy series for younger readers). Not one dud among ‘em (Robert Harris cannot claim that).
But to current cases: Shadow Chasers feels very up to date, considering it is 22 years old. It concerns smuggling in the EU. The complexities of this reminded me strongly of our current concerns with what customs duties may or may not be payable on goods going in and out of Northern Ireland in various directions, now that the UK is no longer in the EU. I feel I have a significantly better grip on that issue having read this book. It is by far the most interesting explication of it that I have come across, and I thank Adam for that, along with the other pleasures of the novel.
Adam’s thesis is that criminals will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying duty on cigarettes, or to make extra virgin olive oil go further by adulterating it with cheaper hazelnut oil. The great behemoth that is the EU knows smuggling is rife – a multi-million Euro industry – and has a tiny team of investigators poring over ships’ logs and cargo manifests trying to follow the smugglers’ tracks so as to predict where they may catch them red-handed. Oooh, you may say, this all sounds a bit sedentary, a bit forensic accounting-y. But I found the paper chase thrilling. After the paper chase come the actual chases, with guns and speeding cars and everything. But that isn’t the USP of Shadow Chasers: an insider’s look at how the EU polices its ginormous smuggling problem is.
The stakes are high, so organised crime is heavily involved: some real mafia families, mainly out of Naples and Russia, are name-checked, some fictional ones are created; some British wheelers and dealers are at the heart of the matter; and I will tell you now the Ukrainians do not come out of this well (perhaps that is where the book has aged a bit). Many of those who should be helping detect and stop the smuggling are complicit. And the criminals are constantly looking to trap the honest but unwary operative. People are afraid to speak out. People die. But the investigators are clever.
They need to be, because there is real danger in the work they do. If they get too close to success they could end up at the bottom of the Bay of Biscay.
I found this to be a gripping thriller with an unusual McGuffin.
November 16, 2025
2.5 stars
This has a great premise. Black-market smuggling across Europe, a complex web of villains, and dogged investigators trying to expose the crimes. It should have been sharp and tense. It was a mixed bag.
There are moments where the suspense really worked. But the uneven pace made some of this book feel flat or slow. Where it works the best is with the threats against the protagonist, but even that part of the story fizzled out into nothing. I found that strange. Those scenes were the most gripping part of the book. Why would you include that in the book and then just forget about it?
The affair subplot added basically nothing to the story and felt like it was included because someone thought the book needed romance. The villains also lack real bite, and that made the story feel a little too safe. This could have been so tense and thrilling, even if written as slow burn. You think of black market smuggling and the people involved, you don't think gentle and calm.
Structurally, the book is fine and the writing is good. But the characters operate so firmly within EU regulations that the story never becomes as intense or dangerous as I expected. The story is good, but it needed more teeth.
This has a great premise. Black-market smuggling across Europe, a complex web of villains, and dogged investigators trying to expose the crimes. It should have been sharp and tense. It was a mixed bag.
There are moments where the suspense really worked. But the uneven pace made some of this book feel flat or slow. Where it works the best is with the threats against the protagonist, but even that part of the story fizzled out into nothing. I found that strange. Those scenes were the most gripping part of the book. Why would you include that in the book and then just forget about it?
The affair subplot added basically nothing to the story and felt like it was included because someone thought the book needed romance. The villains also lack real bite, and that made the story feel a little too safe. This could have been so tense and thrilling, even if written as slow burn. You think of black market smuggling and the people involved, you don't think gentle and calm.
Structurally, the book is fine and the writing is good. But the characters operate so firmly within EU regulations that the story never becomes as intense or dangerous as I expected. The story is good, but it needed more teeth.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews