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Bishop Files #3

Final Shadows

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A desperate underground war with the survival of millions at stake looms in the electrifying conclusion of the New York Times bestselling Bishop Files Trilogy.

Tasha Solomon's world turned upside-down when the psychic abilities she had tried so hard to live with in secret suddenly made her a target stalked by unseen enemies.

John Brodie is by nature, by training, and by instinct a Guardian. He is a member of an intricate and secretive network of individuals who have devoted their lives to the deadly struggle of saving psychics in danger of being taken or being killed. It is a war very few other people even know exists, and yet its tentacles stretch deeply and dangerously into every aspect of society.

Tasha has abilities not even she is aware of, abilities that the other side would give virtually all they possess to destroy. And if being hunted like an animal were not bad enough she has to learn how to become a warrior in a battle she did not choose, to save people she does not know, and possibly even the very world around her.

If John Brodie can keep her alive long enough.

324 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2018

893 people are currently reading
1006 people want to read

About the author

Kay Hooper

97 books2,448 followers
Kay Hooper (aka Kay Robbins) was born in California, in an air force base hospital since her father was stationed there at the time. The family moved back to North Carolina shortly afterward, so she was raised and went to school there.

The oldest of three children, Kay has a brother two years younger and a sister seven years younger. Her father and brother are builders who own a highly respected construction company, and her mother worked for many years in personnel management before becoming Kay's personal assistant, a position she held until her untimely death in March 2002. Kay's sister Linda works as her Business Manager, Events Coordinator, and is playing a major role in the creation and operation of The Kay Hooper Foundation.

Kay graduated from East Rutherford High School and attended Isothermal Community College — where she quickly discovered that business classes did not in any way enthrall her. Switching to more involving courses such as history and literature, she also began to concentrate on writing, which had been a longtime interest. Very quickly hooked, she asked for a Christmas typewriter and began seriously working on her first novel. That book, a Regency romance titled Lady Thief, sold to Dell Publishing in 1980. She has since published more than 60 novels and four novellas.

Kay is single and lives in a very small town in North Carolina, not far from her father and siblings. Deigning to live with her are a flock of cats — Bonnie, Ginger, Oscar, Tuffy, Felix, Renny, and Isabel — of various personalities who all like sleeping on manuscripts and whatever research happens to be spread across Kay's desk. And living amongst the many felines are two cheerfully tolerant dogs, a shelter rescue, Bandit, who looks rather like a small sheepdog, and a Sheltie named Lizzie.

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600 (37%)
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468 (29%)
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349 (21%)
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133 (8%)
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56 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 173 reviews
Profile Image for Bea .
2,037 reviews135 followers
Read
December 27, 2018
Not a good stand alone and a strong departure from the Bishop FBI books. The story was weird, slow, and, since I missed the first 2 books in the trilogy, very confusing for the first 40% or so. It was okay but lacked action, character development, and a believable plot. I dis, eventually, give a damn but it took a long time for me to buy in.
Profile Image for Holly (Gladriel Fae) .
88 reviews
January 8, 2019
I love the Bishop Files/SCU series, but I did not love this book. I read the previous in the series when it first came out, and the wait between the two books was quite a while, so apparently I forgot a lot. Perhaps if I had re-read the previous book before reading this, I might have been able to follow and understand this book better. Having said that, I found this book to be disjointed, far too many characters and different scenarios going on at once to follow, the story itself was not explained well and quite far fetched, even for a series that is known for "otherworldly experiences". I was disappointed in this, to say the least. I hope the next is better.
Profile Image for Sarah.
969 reviews8 followers
October 25, 2018
Thank you First to Read for the ARC of Final Shadows by Kay Hooper that I read and reviewed.
I really don't know how I felt about this book. I really felt lost while I was reading it. I had the feeling I was in the middle of a movie and somehow I managed to wander into the middle of a movie I really wanted to see but I somehow missed the beginning and I was never able to catch up. This book had all my beloved characters from the Bishop books but I was lost. It was almost like I was suppose to remember the earlier Bishop File books maybe but when you read hundreds of books between them that is not going to happen. Maybe a little backstory would have helped. I don't know. This book was just okay for me.
I am giving Final Shadows three out of five stars.
Profile Image for maria helena.
720 reviews109 followers
March 9, 2019
Paranormal mysteries are a bit outside my usual comfort zone, but I have read all the books in the Bishop universe and enjoyed most of them. I've liked the wide range in cases, settings, and characters. The paranormal abilities of the characters have felt reasonable and believable, and have been something that added to the story but wasn't distracting.

This book was a big disappointment. The plot was all over the place, I couldn't connect to any of the characters, and the ending--and conclusion to the series--was unreasonable and unbelievable.
Profile Image for abdulia ortiz-perez.
634 reviews39 followers
April 4, 2019
I received this ARC book from the author for honest review.


What a great thrill and suspense it was to read. What a great psychological thrill! This novel had everything in it. The thrill, the suspense, the psychological, romance and the twist is crazy. This novel will keep you thinking and guessing. When you think you right, well let me just say that you might be wrong. This had me all over the place. My heart beating so fast! I couldn't believe what I was reading. If had me in shock. Every page, every chapter was a page turner. I couldn't believe my eyes what I was reading. I highly recommend everybody get this book and read it. It will surprise you in every way.


The storyline was very good!
The theme and setting was well put together. The characters was well put together in the story.
This story will have in a rollercoaster with all the spooky and secrets. Was so well put in the story.
Everything all in one book.
It was just perfect!
I highly recommend everybody get this and read it.
What a great read! This had me hooked from the beginning. What a Rollercoaster! The sitting, theme, and the Characters had me pulled so in. Everything was well put together and it was just perfect. This novel would have you guess and thinking all the way to the end. What a great thrill and suspense. I love a great suspense that would have me think and guessing. This novel did just that to me. To the point that am wrong. When the ending comes am on shock. I wouldn't of never believe or guess. Like OMG!
Highly recommend everybody get this book and read it. Its so good!
Can't wait for her next book.
#finalshadows
Profile Image for Susan.
2,037 reviews61 followers
May 20, 2019
Disappointing conclusion to the Bishop Files, invoking way too far-fetched (even for Kay Hooper) plot lines that are almost all revealed in lengthy, stilted dialogue. I've been reading this series for at least 12 years, and I am wondering if it's time to just let it go, as the awesome action and battles between good and evil seem to have become phoned in and diluted "things will happen the way they happen" conversations with a few murders thrown in, which, frankly, aren't nearly as fun to read. This book jumped all over the place, from politics to eugenics to cats to aliens to boring business and tech speak. Kind of a disjointed mess and I can't beleive it's ending was so anticlimactic. 1.5 stars, rounded up only out of hope that whatever is next will be better, or maybe that this series is simply over.
Profile Image for Danielle  Gypsy Soul.
3,171 reviews80 followers
March 8, 2019
First of all this is NOT a stand a lone book. If you haven't read the first two books you'll be completely lost. In fact, I suggest you at least skim through them since it's been such a long time since they were published. With that said I really enjoyed this book and although it went places I did not expect I liked that. It's very different from the SCU books and other than the fact that both Bishop and Miranda play a significant role in this book it has very little to do with the SCU. I liked the characters from this trilogy and the story was interesting and very different. It's a bit slow in parts but there is a lot happening. I would really like to see Duran get his own book as I found his character absolutely fascinating.
187 reviews2 followers
March 7, 2019
Unfortunately Kay Hooper jumped the shark
In this one. I have loved the SCU books and thought the Haven books were fairly good but these Bishop Files books were odd to begin with and in this last one?
SPOILER: Aliens? Really? And a talking cat for frosting. Starting a search for a new book series now.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Melenia.
2,731 reviews6 followers
June 22, 2019
A difficult book to review. I both enjoyed it and did not enjoy it. I agree with most of the other reviewers this kinda came out of left field and is definitely not a stand alone in ANY sense of the word. But something kept me reading and I finished it fairly quickly so idk. I love all of the books in the Bishop series... But this one was not on the same wavelength.
Profile Image for Maura.
3,883 reviews113 followers
September 29, 2019
This wraps up the series where our characters thus far, Murphy, Sarah, Tucker, Tasha, Brodie (and now the Bishops) take on the dastardly organization that has been kidnapping and killing psychics for decades, all under the radar. I'd expected this to be more of Tasha and Brodie, since they didn't quite finish their story together in the last book, but this one finishes them up in the first 100 pages and then moves on to bigger and better things - with an entirely ensemble cast.

I struggled with this one quite a bit, since it starts out with hints of this "other side" actually being an alien race that settled here hundreds of years ago and have been trying to create the perfect blend of alien and psychic ever since. So right away I felt this jumped the shark. I'm was all good with the psychic stuff, but this brought in a whole new element of paranormal that did not feel like it meshed well with all I've known about the Bishop series. It's scientifically acceptable, but it felt like it went too far out there way too suddenly and without any preparation for it at all. It took this series to the X-files, which I could have done without.

On top of that, this story didn't really follow a suspense plot, much like the one before it. It was 85% exposition. We get 10% to wrap up Tasha and Brodie's story and then the whole ensemble gets together at Tucker's maximum security building. Our cast of characters spend the next 150-200 pages talking about all their intel, plans and secrets. This conversation is interspersed with Murphy and Duran having conversations, kidnapped psychics being taken or conversing with each other and Pendragon the cat dropping little foreshadowing bombs. But let me be clear - they talk for the entire book. At about the 85% mark, the characters finally leave their conversation and begin their battle against the aliens by infiltrating their labs, reclaiming their psychics and rewiring the brains of the leaders. This is definitely more exciting than what came before, but it still felt somewhat anti-climactic...like there just wasn't enough action or something. I did like Brodie's discovery of his new ability though. Then the story quite suddenly ends and the epilogue starts. There's no mention of how things really turned out for all those "stepford" moms, or the several hundred psychic babies that suddenly went up for adoption or how the presence of aliens in their lives affected any of the psychic ensemble cast.

I know this author is capable of writing gripping, page-turning suspense with truly intriguing characters. This just wasn't it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Emiliano      .
152 reviews3 followers
May 8, 2021
As a big fan of the paranormal and sci-fi genres, I honestly don't think I can rate this rationally. This was a hot rolled mix of suspense, mystery and fantastic characters.
I'd really love to know how everything eventually played out though... What happens after?!
Murphy, Sarah and Tasha are just simply cool. And telekinesis for Brodie? Somehow very suiting.

So basically, a group of ancient aliens that look like us, came to earth (definitely due to the theory of parallel evolution, kinda like the physical similarities between some marsupials in Australia, and other mammals elsewhere in the world. Totally genetically different, yet evolved to be physically similar due to conditions being alike. Well that's one for the science enthusiasts to check out.) And this aliens hid in the shadows (haha, literally and figuratively) and operated for so many years!
Well, who doesn't like a good global conspiracy? I sure do!

Good one for sci-fi lovers and paranormal enthusiasts; though I'm pretty sure an average disinterested reader may very well not find it so interesting, or logical.
Profile Image for Jade Simcox.
835 reviews72 followers
December 30, 2018
I haven’t read any of this authors previous books before so i didn’t know what to expect when starting this story.
This is the 3rd book in the series and is meant to be read as a stand-alone but it doesn’t read as a stand-alone at all. I felt like I had started reading a book from the middle not from the start.
There was a lot of characters to deal with, and by the end of the book I couldn’t remember anything about any of them.
Having so many characters made it difficult to get into the story. This would of been ok if you had read the previous books in the series.
I felt there was no character development at all. With any series there’s always a catch up, a brief description of the goings on in previous books but there was nothing in this book.
Maybe I would of enjoyed this book if I had read the others.
Profile Image for Teresa Parrish.
35 reviews1 follower
March 4, 2019
An alien race? Geez lou-eeze!! If there was any hint of this in the previous two books it must have went right over my head as I didn't see this coming. This was so disappointing. So much chatter and little action, until the last several pages to the ending. I gave up on Bishop/SCU after reading 'Hold Back the Dark' and now the Bishop files. I started reading the books in the related Bishop series' because of the fascinating paranormal elements and those who possessed them. Such wonderful characters wasted in such a lackluster story as 'Final Shadows'. Up until very recently they have been in much better stories. This one threw me for a loop. By the time I realized the otherworldliness of this story I was a good ways in and so chose to see it though, however, I am so done with any branch of the Bishop series.
372 reviews5 followers
October 28, 2019
This book was so disappointing. Only the last 60 pages had any action, and it wasn't very compelling or exciting. The rest of it was just talking between the characters to get you caught up to where you needed to be for one bit of action. I am also extremely disappointed that aliens came into the mix. I have read and enjoyed ALL of the Bishop books and there has never been mention of aliens before. And the cat seemed out of place too. I sincerely hope this is the end of the Bishop Files shoot off series. I won't be reading anymore.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
5 reviews
January 8, 2019
I’ve read all the Bishop/SCU books and I was still lost in the beginning. Too little background is given and characters are barely developed. The story also deviates greatly from previous books. Had this been my first read on the Bishop files it would have been my last, which is unfortunate because I love these books.
858 reviews6 followers
March 7, 2019
Absolutely ridiculous story line - aliens kidnapping and breeding psychics - married to talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, and more talk. You'd think psychics and telepaths could figure things out with less chatting.

Please let the "final" of the title be a psychic clue about the fate of this series.
Profile Image for Mary.
162 reviews1 follower
April 16, 2019
I’m a Kay Hopper fan. I just had to say that. This book wasn’t up to her normal standards. I found myself dazed and confused through about the first 40% of the book. Finally got the general idea of what was going on, but just wasn’t a good story. Sorry Ms. Hooper.
30 reviews
April 20, 2019
The absolute

Worst novel i,'be read in forever. Are you absolutely sure Kay Hopper even wrote this? I have enjoyed everything she's written before. I kept reading thinking surely something would turn into a decent mystery. How wrong I was.
Profile Image for T.
982 reviews
July 29, 2019
I rarely give up on books, but I just couldn't get into this one and am shelving it.

Flipping perspectives between characters, too much insinuatations left me unable to bond with the characters and story line.
Profile Image for Jenny.
2,333 reviews73 followers
April 12, 2020
Final Shadows is book three in the Bishop Files. Tasha Solomon had psychic abilities that other people wanted to destroy. John Brodie was Guardian who protects the psychic from people who tries to kill them. Bishop assigned John Brodie after gaining a stalker. The readers of Final Shadows will continue to follow John and Tasha to find out what happens.

Final Shadows is another exciting book by Kay Hooper. I do enjoy reading Kay Hooper's books the way she portrays her characters with psychic abilities and the way they interact with each other throughout this book. Kay Kooper never fails to engage me with her characters and the plot of her books Final Shadows is well written and researched by Kay Hooper. I like the way Kay Hooper describes the setting of this book and the way it complements the plot of Final Shadows.

I recommend this book.









I recommend this book.
Profile Image for Colleen.
119 reviews5 followers
March 20, 2019
2.5 ... just to revisit the characters and see Murphy in action.
The plot was pretty outrageous - even for a paranormal!
Profile Image for Phaedra.
699 reviews
abandoned
September 28, 2018
I was interested in having an opportunity to pick up a Kay Hooper book even though it was part of an ongoing series. Hooper has high ratings across several of the series and the copy looked intriguing..
psychics & secrets?

However, I found that Final Shadows doesn't work well as a standalone book. Lots of characters and vague references to past events, but yet? Slightly repetitive in ways that weren't helpful.

I've put the book aside and perhaps when I have time in my reading life will pick up the series from the start

*thank you to Penguin Random House First To Read program for an opportunity to read an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review*
Profile Image for Rosemarie Hamilton.
70 reviews11 followers
January 8, 2019
Well, my mind is blown on this final chapter of the Bishop Files trilogy. I've read the other two books in this trilogy and this wasn't quite what I was expecting. Bishop has sworn to protect a network of people with psychic abilities and to do this he has been working with other groups, sworn to protect all psychics.

I love Murphy and was thrilled to finally learn even more about her. More of Duran's background was revealed in this chapter and it's gooood! Who would have thought..

It was amazing seeing the bonded pairs come together and work to protect those psychics vulnerable to being taken by the ruthless factions lead by Duran, and especially Astrid and Sebring.

The ending of this book was unexpected and amazing. I truly hope some of the many questions raised in this book will be answered in a next chapter of the Bishop Files, please don't let this be the last.
94 reviews2 followers
March 1, 2019
I was SO disappointed in this book! I LOVE Kay Hooper, and have read many, if not all, of the SCU books. I was so confused for the first half of the book it took me twice as long to read it than it normally does. I did read the first two books in this series, but I must have missed something because this one was out there. First, the book description on the back is not what the book was about, there were too many story lines going on for my taste, while Tasha and Brodie are a part of the book, they are not the main focus, which is what the back of the book leads you to believe. The end of the book answered no questions, like who is this mysterious "boss"? Because I do not see the Bishop and Miranda I know blindly following orders from some mystery person.

Having read many of the SCU series one expects certain things. An alien race has inhabited the earth and is trying to breed with pschics, and has been here hundreds of years? Where the heck did that come from?! This Murphy who has fingers in all the pies but no one knows everything (all "need to know"), the "boss", etc.? The aliens ability to impregnate women and then they forget completely that they were pregnant and had a baby? What happens to the babies and "Stepford moms"? The house fire at the beginning had the potential to be an imperative part of the story, then that was wrapped up neatly and forgotten.

This was such a disjointed and confusing book, I am so disappointed! While this won't discourage me from reading future Kay Hooper books it will cause me to look closely at them prior to buying!
Profile Image for Hc.
2,361 reviews35 followers
January 25, 2019
1/18/19 > Yeah so I've started this and I'm lost... Looking at the previous book review I am basically telling myself that if the wait is too long I'm not gonna remember the backstory... eh yeah.. I don't remember. So to continue or to pause and reread previous???

1/22/19 > Took a few days to reread another book.. NOT the previous in this series.. I should though.. but I'm going to slog through and hope it all comes together in a glorious way..

1/24/19 > So...I'm seriously disappointed in this addition. Sure there was some mystery and intrigue like stuff .. but what makes this series was in EXTREME LACKING..There was the just bare (like vague) physic stuff involved. Plus... .. As mentioned I really don't remember much of the first two in this mini trilogy. I liked/really enjoyed them but the details didn't stick so much. But this doesn't do the build up justice at all.

I really hope we can get back to physic battle evil cop vs criminal. The preview of the next book looks promising in going back to the 'norm'... and I REALLY wish we could see Isabel and Rafe further along in their bonding/relationship -- > Sense of Evil (Bishop/Special Crimes Unit #6; Evil #3) by Kay Hooper
Profile Image for Paraphrodite.
2,670 reviews51 followers
March 9, 2019
3 stars (and I'm being generous)

So, finally we see the resolution of this big conspiracy first glimpsed in The First Prophet. With the first two books published so long ago, I'd forgotten most of the characters and the plot. And this is definitely not a standalone book! I'd suggest re-reading the first 2 before jumping into this one.

Having said that, this book was still really hard to review! Pretty much all actions occurred off-stage and we are told of what happened or what will happen in some really long discussions between Murphy with both sides of the "war". And that's about it! A couple of the villains were dispatched so quickly that if you blink, you'd have missed it.

Bishop and Miranda do get involved in the final "rescues". But those couple of sequences were so tame and have none of that horror/thriller feel that I've come to expect from the Bishop SCU books.

Overall, I found it a weird book to rate and I wonder if it's a deliberate disassociation to turn this series away from Bishop's SCU and more to the sci-fi sub-genre?
Profile Image for Darcy.
14.4k reviews543 followers
January 2, 2019
The beginning of this one was deeply disturbing. I hated how babies were killed, hated how because they were physic they knew they were being killed, but somehow knowing that they all were still in utero, all at different stages of pregnancy made it all the worse. Then from there we had all the physics in the book talking about how they could hear the babies calling out for help and in pain, not so much in words, but with feelings and different emotions. They all kept talking about this for the first half of the book.

This horrible, despicable action seemed to spur on the rest of the group to action. Finally secrets were shared, which were a bit stunning and felt like tall tales. You kind of had to just go with things. From there a good plan was made with an insider of the others, one who wanted just as much to see things changed.

I liked how this one ended, liked how Murphy shared a bit of herself with an unusual person. I also have hope that things will be different for all of them going forward.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Shana.
17 reviews
March 19, 2019
I've been a fan of the detailed and authentic universe Kay Hooper created so many years ago where psychics exists and battles are fought on a mental and physical level between good and evil. The characters have always been so well developed and it's been a thrilling and emotional journey with nearly every one of them. Sadly, I can't say the same about this one. What's worse is who the antagonist(s) turn out to be. As a sci-fi & fantasy fan, I welcome the theme of aliens and other worlds but it makes no sense to introduce that element now. The Bishop/SCU/Haven universe was not built on the idea of aliens existing or having any part in previous storylines. All I can hope for is that it isn't carried into future novels and that this concludes the side stories. Overall, they've never been as strong or compelling as the original series trilogies.
Profile Image for Doris.
2,044 reviews
December 14, 2022
This book set in the FBI-Physic world of Bishop and his crew is a sort of final tale in the long-running series on disappearing physics. It brings in many people from all over who are part of Bishop's crew, and ropes in others who have been introduced along the way. That was the main reason I didn't give this a 5-star rating: there were too many characters whose allegiance was murky, whose background was unexplained, and who had abilities that were unknown. It was still an excellent book. Those who have read all the books probably know all the details I gripe about, but I have missed a few readings, so the missing pieces frustrated me.
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