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The Shimmer
‘Carsten Stroud is a world-class storyteller… He effortlessly combines hard-nosed cops, mafia dons, and supernatural events with convincing ease. The prose is music. He had me reading late into the night.’ STEPHEN KINGHow do you hunt a killer who can go back in time and make sure you’re never born?
Sergeant Jack Redding is hot on the trail of a time travelling serial killer who rides The Shimmer across the decades. The stakes turn brutal when the chance to alter past events offers Jack a terrible choice.
Taking us from modern-day Jacksonville, to 1950s Mafia-ruled St. Augustine, and on to the French Quarter of New Orleans in 1914, The Shimmer is a unique, time-shifting thriller that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.
Readers love Carsten “Great pacing, intriguing plot twists, evocative prose.”
“page-turner with a satisfying and ingenious plot”
“a very clever time travel mystery that is fast-paced and engaging”
“Exciting, suspenseful, violent at a couple of points, frightening and heartwarming”
“a magnificent literary gift”
Sergeant Jack Redding is hot on the trail of a time travelling serial killer who rides The Shimmer across the decades. The stakes turn brutal when the chance to alter past events offers Jack a terrible choice.
Taking us from modern-day Jacksonville, to 1950s Mafia-ruled St. Augustine, and on to the French Quarter of New Orleans in 1914, The Shimmer is a unique, time-shifting thriller that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.
Readers love Carsten “Great pacing, intriguing plot twists, evocative prose.”
“page-turner with a satisfying and ingenious plot”
“a very clever time travel mystery that is fast-paced and engaging”
“Exciting, suspenseful, violent at a couple of points, frightening and heartwarming”
“a magnificent literary gift”
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2018
58 people are currently reading
1465 people want to read
About the author
Carsten Stroud
39 books173 followersCarsten Stroud is the author of the New York Times bestseller Close Pursuit, and the award-winning Sniper's Moon, both set in the New York City Police Department. He lives and writes in Thunder Beach, Ontario, Canada.
Awards:
* Arthur Ellis Award Best First Novel (1991): Sniper's Moon
* Arthur Ellis Award Best Novel (1993): Lizardskin
Awards:
* Arthur Ellis Award Best First Novel (1991): Sniper's Moon
* Arthur Ellis Award Best Novel (1993): Lizardskin
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
May 25, 2018
The Shimmer by Carsten Stroud is a science fiction thriller that takes place across decades in the hunt for a killer. This one was action packed from the beginning keeping up a fairly fast pace all throughout.
As officers corner a SUV in Florida Sergeant Jack Redding and his trainee Julie Karras find themselves at the scene. What appears to be two teen girls taken hostage and the driver running when cornered gets a bit out of control when one of the teens ends up dead at the hand of the law.
Redding thinks he recognizes the escaped suspect although he can’t put his fingers on from where but he becomes determined to stop her no matter the cost. As the body count rises Redding finds that his grandfather had been chasing the same suspect in 1957 and before he knows it he’s finding out the secret of time travel.
As I mentioned this one was a really fast paced starting with the confrontation at the SUV in the beginning of the story and following it across decades. Normally I’m all for a fast pace but with this one I think the author sacrificed a bit of depth to the characters and world keeping up the action as it did get a little confusing to grasp in places. The idea behind the story though was great, had me thinking a bit of a take on the Butterfly Effect, so in the end I did enjoy the story.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via Edelweiss.
For more review please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/
As officers corner a SUV in Florida Sergeant Jack Redding and his trainee Julie Karras find themselves at the scene. What appears to be two teen girls taken hostage and the driver running when cornered gets a bit out of control when one of the teens ends up dead at the hand of the law.
Redding thinks he recognizes the escaped suspect although he can’t put his fingers on from where but he becomes determined to stop her no matter the cost. As the body count rises Redding finds that his grandfather had been chasing the same suspect in 1957 and before he knows it he’s finding out the secret of time travel.
As I mentioned this one was a really fast paced starting with the confrontation at the SUV in the beginning of the story and following it across decades. Normally I’m all for a fast pace but with this one I think the author sacrificed a bit of depth to the characters and world keeping up the action as it did get a little confusing to grasp in places. The idea behind the story though was great, had me thinking a bit of a take on the Butterfly Effect, so in the end I did enjoy the story.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via Edelweiss.
For more review please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/
July 22, 2018
You know what I like? Books about time travel. So, when I read the description of this book about a serial killer that can move through time, I knew I had to read it.
THE SHIMMER starts off strong with Sergeant Jack Redding of the Florida Highway Patrol and his trainee, Julie Karras, chasing a car that belongs to a family who has gone missing. When the woman driving the car takes off running from the car after it stopped, Jack is hot in pursuit. However, she manages to get away and Jack is left with a feeling that he has seen the woman before... but where? What he doesn't know then is that his grandfather hunted the same woman in 1957, but how can the same woman still be alive and look the same as she did back then? And, what happened to the family that owned the car?
READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!
THE SHIMMER starts off strong with Sergeant Jack Redding of the Florida Highway Patrol and his trainee, Julie Karras, chasing a car that belongs to a family who has gone missing. When the woman driving the car takes off running from the car after it stopped, Jack is hot in pursuit. However, she manages to get away and Jack is left with a feeling that he has seen the woman before... but where? What he doesn't know then is that his grandfather hunted the same woman in 1957, but how can the same woman still be alive and look the same as she did back then? And, what happened to the family that owned the car?
READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!
January 8, 2019
I adore this novel! I thought it was superbly done, and enjoyed every second of the audiobook. I am also going to purchase this novel (since this was a library loan), so I can reread it in the future. SO good...! I just wish there was more.... or a sequel coming....or something!
Joe Hempel is the narrator, and he was very good also.
5 stars, and recommended to everyone.
Joe Hempel is the narrator, and he was very good also.
5 stars, and recommended to everyone.
April 20, 2018
Review: THE SHIMMER by Carsten Stroud
To date, I have never met a Carsten Stroud novel I haven't adored. Each one steals my breath and provides the most important criterion in reading: total engrossing absorption. In THE SHIMMER, he takes on time travel, metaphysics, serial killing, and body thievery, and renders it all completely believable.
An extraordinary Florida Highway Patrol sergeant tracks a suspicious SUV, opening a case that will literally result in life and death and time travel. You won't know what's next, but you won't be able to stop. Prepare for a couple of sleepless nights!
To date, I have never met a Carsten Stroud novel I haven't adored. Each one steals my breath and provides the most important criterion in reading: total engrossing absorption. In THE SHIMMER, he takes on time travel, metaphysics, serial killing, and body thievery, and renders it all completely believable.
An extraordinary Florida Highway Patrol sergeant tracks a suspicious SUV, opening a case that will literally result in life and death and time travel. You won't know what's next, but you won't be able to stop. Prepare for a couple of sleepless nights!
May 22, 2018
I received a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
I really wanted to enjoy this. The concept reminded me a bit of Stephen King's 11/22/63, which is one of my all-time favorite books. Unfortunately, this one falls really short. It's disjointed, jumps around so much it's nearly impossible to follow at times, and just overall not very likable. This is the first of Carsten Stroud's books I've read, and I can honestly say I won't be in a rush to pick up another one.
I really wanted to enjoy this. The concept reminded me a bit of Stephen King's 11/22/63, which is one of my all-time favorite books. Unfortunately, this one falls really short. It's disjointed, jumps around so much it's nearly impossible to follow at times, and just overall not very likable. This is the first of Carsten Stroud's books I've read, and I can honestly say I won't be in a rush to pick up another one.
June 18, 2018
Nobody writes everyday cops as well as Carsten Stroud. Nobody. And that includes Wambaugh. Whether he's dabbling in the supernatural or sticking to the real world, Stroud never fails to deliver on a great narrative.
August 12, 2021
Writing a time-travel story ain't an easy exercise ; the author himself says it in the afterword. For having done it myself too, I can only confirm it. The greatest difficulty is to keep things coherent, through rules or tricks. If Carsten Stroud stayed elusive, sometimes contradictory on the rules (the hero refuses to talk about the future to someone, only to spill it all juste a while later and more than once, as if he didn't cared about the rules anymore), he didn't lacked of ideas to manage things. The consistency is overall here, despite some details remaining blurry even after the book closed, but that's no big deal.
More annoying is time-travel only appearing late in the story ; « The Shimmer » being closer to murder-mystery, with a real investigation which becomes a chase, than a thriller ; after the fast-paced, breathtaking introduction, there's neither suspense or danger anymore. Not a problem in itself, if we didn't had to deal with long theological chit-chat before coming to the point, and still, there are long and tedious explanations when « The Shimmer is an energy burst appearing when someone dies and allows to time-travel » was enough to do the job. Even in the middle of it, those who know repeat, again and again, everything to the others, who don't believe them, before changing their mind. If you like action-packed stories full of plot-twists, that's definitely not a book for you. On the contrary, if you prefer those who take their time to slowly detail how their universe work, you won't consider this as a flaw.
However, the characters truly are under-developed, each of them only having a single personality trait. Jack and Selena do have the chance to possess a past influencing all their actions, unlike the others who are just there and... we don't know anything about them or so. The light romance subplot doesn't seems believable thanks to how quick it goes and doesn't brings anything to the story. Sames goes for the sicilian mafia, with a very anecdotic role. And we don't see anything of the Florida or 50s' Louisiana ; though we're not here to do sightseeing, it only makes the novel not immersive at all. Finally, there are a lot of redundancies in the text, sometimes only a few pages apart.
And yet, despite all those flaws, « The Shimmer », despite not hooking us nor being an addictive read, still offers a good time thanks to its original ideas and the will to see if, where and how Selena will get caught. Because a good book is before anything else one we desire to see the end and it's indeed the case here. Don't hesitate to go checking other reviews before passing on this one (or falling for it), the opinions being particularly varied for this book.
More annoying is time-travel only appearing late in the story ; « The Shimmer » being closer to murder-mystery, with a real investigation which becomes a chase, than a thriller ; after the fast-paced, breathtaking introduction, there's neither suspense or danger anymore. Not a problem in itself, if we didn't had to deal with long theological chit-chat before coming to the point, and still, there are long and tedious explanations when « The Shimmer is an energy burst appearing when someone dies and allows to time-travel » was enough to do the job. Even in the middle of it, those who know repeat, again and again, everything to the others, who don't believe them, before changing their mind. If you like action-packed stories full of plot-twists, that's definitely not a book for you. On the contrary, if you prefer those who take their time to slowly detail how their universe work, you won't consider this as a flaw.
However, the characters truly are under-developed, each of them only having a single personality trait. Jack and Selena do have the chance to possess a past influencing all their actions, unlike the others who are just there and... we don't know anything about them or so. The light romance subplot doesn't seems believable thanks to how quick it goes and doesn't brings anything to the story. Sames goes for the sicilian mafia, with a very anecdotic role. And we don't see anything of the Florida or 50s' Louisiana ; though we're not here to do sightseeing, it only makes the novel not immersive at all. Finally, there are a lot of redundancies in the text, sometimes only a few pages apart.
And yet, despite all those flaws, « The Shimmer », despite not hooking us nor being an addictive read, still offers a good time thanks to its original ideas and the will to see if, where and how Selena will get caught. Because a good book is before anything else one we desire to see the end and it's indeed the case here. Don't hesitate to go checking other reviews before passing on this one (or falling for it), the opinions being particularly varied for this book.
August 2, 2018
This book checked a lot of boxes for me: humid Florida (where I find myself living now), hard-boiled crime fiction and time travel. Also, I've really enjoyed Carsten Stroud's earlier work. But after a great beginning, things kind of unravel by the third act. I'm not sure "The Shimmer" fully coheres as either a crime-fiction yarn or a time-travel adventure.
Still, it's not a boring book. As in most time-travel tales, you want to know how this author will resolve all the paradoxes that come with the territory. Unfortunately, Mr. Stroud's solution isn't particularly original, and the exact nature of the titular effect doesn't seem that well thought out. I'll just call it a pretty good beach read.
Still, it's not a boring book. As in most time-travel tales, you want to know how this author will resolve all the paradoxes that come with the territory. Unfortunately, Mr. Stroud's solution isn't particularly original, and the exact nature of the titular effect doesn't seem that well thought out. I'll just call it a pretty good beach read.
September 6, 2018
An all action suspense thriller with the added bonus of time travel - there can't be many of those around. There's an episode of the cartoon series "Futurama" in which Fry & the rest go back in time to the 1950's where Fry meets his grandfather and accidentally leaves him in the middle of a nuclear test site before having sex with his grandma - and I was somehow reminded of this as I sped through the pages of this book. (Joke!)
The first half really flies by, with kidnappings, shootouts and several nasty murders, the sort of stuff that author Carsten Stroud handles with ease, but after that the action slows down as we get into the time travel bit and that's where I started to lose the plot. The "hero" even manages to have sex and fall in love with a woman in the 1950's just a few hours after he's travelled back in time! All in all, it's an enjoyable piece of hokum, but nowhere near as good as Stroud's "Niceville" trilogy.
The first half really flies by, with kidnappings, shootouts and several nasty murders, the sort of stuff that author Carsten Stroud handles with ease, but after that the action slows down as we get into the time travel bit and that's where I started to lose the plot. The "hero" even manages to have sex and fall in love with a woman in the 1950's just a few hours after he's travelled back in time! All in all, it's an enjoyable piece of hokum, but nowhere near as good as Stroud's "Niceville" trilogy.
September 21, 2020
I went into this one with low expectations.. everybody was saying this is no niceville.. but I loved so much the writing style of the author, and also the blurb, that I bought it all the same. And I'm glad I did, because after a disconcerting beginning (police following a car in the highway..a lot of police-talking it was hard to follow..) it became so good I listened to it in a few days even if I was reading other things at the same time.
Ok, it's no niceville. And also it isn't comparable to my favourite time travel book (22/11/'63 by Stephen King), but it's really nice and entertaining. The time travel factor was a bit confusing at times but it was ok, and also the explanation by the author after the epilogue made it clear what he had intended. So I would still recommend it to lovers of a good action and time-travel book. The ending also was kind of predictable, but with a lovely twist I wasn't expecting so that's a plus. It left me satisfied. I'll be waiting for the next one of Stroud's books.
Ok, it's no niceville. And also it isn't comparable to my favourite time travel book (22/11/'63 by Stephen King), but it's really nice and entertaining. The time travel factor was a bit confusing at times but it was ok, and also the explanation by the author after the epilogue made it clear what he had intended. So I would still recommend it to lovers of a good action and time-travel book. The ending also was kind of predictable, but with a lovely twist I wasn't expecting so that's a plus. It left me satisfied. I'll be waiting for the next one of Stroud's books.
January 18, 2021
I couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed the writing and the characters. I was a little surprised at the ending and how quickly it wrapped up and some twists but overall, I really enjoyed it.
March 2, 2020
This is a time traveling whirlwind with a lot happening. I mostly liked it but it is written from a very male perspective and is also quite brutal in places. Not quite what I thought it would be but it was compelling and kept me reading.
June 25, 2018
I devoured Carsten Stroud's Niceville triology so I was super stoked to see this new work. It did not disappoint!
Stroud manages to weave great story telling with a perfectly paced read. His gritty criminals, grittier cops, and twists of the supernatural result in me staying up WAY past my bed time to just read "one more chapter," until I find myself at the end of the book.
Backdrop: An elusive criminal on the run after an epic crime spree on the beaches of Florida/New Orleans becomes even more slippery when she shifts through time to escape the cops. The story opens with a tragic kidnapping and murder. From there, snappy dialogue and "flashbacks" keep this novel moving at a fast pace. Throw in some nostalgic scenes from New Orleans of the Old South, some old school mobsters, and you have a fun read. The ending felt a little rushed, but I suppose that is par for the course with the whole time travel business. ;)
Stroud manages to weave great story telling with a perfectly paced read. His gritty criminals, grittier cops, and twists of the supernatural result in me staying up WAY past my bed time to just read "one more chapter," until I find myself at the end of the book.
Backdrop: An elusive criminal on the run after an epic crime spree on the beaches of Florida/New Orleans becomes even more slippery when she shifts through time to escape the cops. The story opens with a tragic kidnapping and murder. From there, snappy dialogue and "flashbacks" keep this novel moving at a fast pace. Throw in some nostalgic scenes from New Orleans of the Old South, some old school mobsters, and you have a fun read. The ending felt a little rushed, but I suppose that is par for the course with the whole time travel business. ;)
August 26, 2018
It was intriguing and unique and I was enjoying the story and the way the author took it but it seemed rushed and sloppily thrown together at the end.
January 19, 2019
Abandoned at 50%. It just wasn't holding my attention.
Read
July 10, 2018Stephen King on Twitter :
"THE SHIMMER is one terrific read."
Stephen King's blurb :
"Carsten Stroud is a world-class storyteller… He effortlessly combines hard-nosed cops, mafia dons, and supernatural events with convincing ease. The prose is music. He had me reading late into the night.”"
"THE SHIMMER is one terrific read."
Stephen King's blurb :
"Carsten Stroud is a world-class storyteller… He effortlessly combines hard-nosed cops, mafia dons, and supernatural events with convincing ease. The prose is music. He had me reading late into the night.”"
April 16, 2018
An interesting twist on time travel; death opening a pathway through time. Throw in a crime/murder angle and this was a fun read. Who is this woman (that goes by several names) that Redding is tracking? What has she done and exactly how dangerous is she? What starts as a crime novel evolves into sci-fi with the revelation of this woman appearing in fifty year-old photos - looking totally unchanged by time. The chase that started by crossing state lines now sends us through time. How can someone like her be stopped? The ending of this story is fast-paced and can lose the reader if you don't hold on. Stay with it, it's worth the final page.
July 3, 2021
If this is your first introduction to Stroud's work, don't let it put you off. Head over to his Niceville trilogy and settle in for a much better take on the supernatural meets the everyday world. The plot and characters that are rendered far more deeply than what's on offer here. Which is a real shame because Stroud has his hands on a really great idea in The Shimmer, not to mention a set of characters that start off very compelling and with whom you connect right away.
His conception of the "shimmer" is intriguing, and had so much potential to take the story in some fascinating directions, as did .
But as soon as that side of the story gets going Stroud inexplicably seems to put on the brakes. He resorts to a lot of info-dumping dialogue to explain what's going on, but even with that he somehow doesn't manage to make you feel like he's really put a lot of thought into it. It's like he starts skimming stones over the surface of what is a deep, dark lake, but all he focuses on are those quick bits when the stone is hitting the water.
You don't get much below the surface of the shimmer other than I'm still not entirely sure what was going on with . And the ease with which Jack accepts the shimmer and his presence in the past with his grandfather was mildly annoying. Like, it's okay to freak out, even a little bit because of course you would. Come on.
As another reviewer noted, this story doesn't quite make it as either a crime thriller or supernatural mystery, which is frustrating because I know Stroud is more than capable of it.
His conception of the "shimmer" is intriguing, and had so much potential to take the story in some fascinating directions, as did .
But as soon as that side of the story gets going Stroud inexplicably seems to put on the brakes. He resorts to a lot of info-dumping dialogue to explain what's going on, but even with that he somehow doesn't manage to make you feel like he's really put a lot of thought into it. It's like he starts skimming stones over the surface of what is a deep, dark lake, but all he focuses on are those quick bits when the stone is hitting the water.
You don't get much below the surface of the shimmer other than I'm still not entirely sure what was going on with . And the ease with which Jack accepts the shimmer and his presence in the past with his grandfather was mildly annoying. Like, it's okay to freak out, even a little bit because of course you would. Come on.
As another reviewer noted, this story doesn't quite make it as either a crime thriller or supernatural mystery, which is frustrating because I know Stroud is more than capable of it.
May 9, 2018
Stroud comes up with a shiny (not shining ) murder detective story tipped with some supernatural time travel. Let's pretend for a moment time travel can exist. Let's also pretend that the fuel for said time travel is the dying breathe of a human and their soul or other flashing out of their body in a blinding wormhole kinda thing. Let's also pretend that the person that comes up with a way to hike aboard is a black widow spider woman from the beginning of the previous century. After reeking some general awful, she runs into Detective Redding who remembers her from he doesn't know where. After they decide they don't like each other loose ends get tied awkwardly together and Redding ends up in the past Back to the Future style to help his grandpa stop the crazy person. Add some Mafia guys and a little romance and there you have a perfect script for a Black Mirror episode. I would have liked to see a little more attendance to the character development and description but that's just me. The inner workings of the serial killer brain, especially a chaotic time travelling one leave some questions.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 4, 2018
Stroud seems a bit obsessed with the word "valkyrie." It got old. Story was just way too far fetched to enjoy.
November 12, 2018
I have just read Carsten Stroud’s latest novel, and I think it will be my favorite book of 2018. Sure, the year isn’t even half over, so it is way too early to be paring down the list, but I feel confident in my assertion.
THE SHIMMER is a hybrid of time travel, police procedure, romance and sacrifice. It is exciting, suspenseful, violent at a couple of points, frightening and heartwarming. As a rule, I don’t like time travel stories, but Stroud plays fair with the concept. His two-page Author’s Note, “The Rules of Engagement with Time,” is perhaps the best advisory treatise I have ever encountered with respect to how to write such books --- and he follows his own rules with outstanding results.
The novel features a troubled but very competent law enforcement officer named Jack Redding, a sergeant with the Florida Highway Patrol. Redding, while still dealing with a horrific personal tragedy, becomes involved in a police pursuit that ends in a fatal shootout. The driver of the car escapes, seemingly into thin air. Redding can’t help but feel that he knows the woman, however vaguely. The problem is that he can’t because she is apparently the same individual who his grandfather, a Jacksonville police officer, pursued in 1957. Yet, somehow, she in the here and now of 2018.
What Redding comes to learn is that the woman is a notorious serial killer who has left victims across time and distance by using something called The Shimmer to travel back across the decades. Redding, in the process of almost apprehending her, manages to catch The Shimmer and ride back to 1957, at which point he encounters his own grandfather, who is a few days away from experiencing a life-changing event of his own. The pair travel from Florida to New Orleans in pursuit of the enigmatic woman, who is the key to the tragedies that will affect both men.
Redding has the opportunity to perhaps change what is about to occur, but with the possibility that doing so will come at a terrible cost. He ultimately makes a decision, the results of which are both bittersweet and satisfying for him. The ending will stay with you long after you have finished the story, which in itself is unforgettable.
Stroud is amazing. He has written several novels, most of which have gotten past me. I plan on rectifying that oversight this summer. It develops, though, that for years I have been one of his biggest fans and advocates. Did I travel The Shimmer? No. I learned that Stroud had written a series of espionage thrillers under the pseudonym “David Stone.” Those four books were published close to a decade ago and featured a CIA operative named Micah Dalton. They remain among my favorites of the spy genre. Stone abruptly disappeared, and Dalton with him, but I can still recall passages from each volume.
While I was entranced by Stroud’s latest novel on its own merits, discovering what had happened to one of my favorite authors as a result was a lagniappe of the highest order. THE SHIMMER, however, is a magnificent literary gift all by itself.
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
THE SHIMMER is a hybrid of time travel, police procedure, romance and sacrifice. It is exciting, suspenseful, violent at a couple of points, frightening and heartwarming. As a rule, I don’t like time travel stories, but Stroud plays fair with the concept. His two-page Author’s Note, “The Rules of Engagement with Time,” is perhaps the best advisory treatise I have ever encountered with respect to how to write such books --- and he follows his own rules with outstanding results.
The novel features a troubled but very competent law enforcement officer named Jack Redding, a sergeant with the Florida Highway Patrol. Redding, while still dealing with a horrific personal tragedy, becomes involved in a police pursuit that ends in a fatal shootout. The driver of the car escapes, seemingly into thin air. Redding can’t help but feel that he knows the woman, however vaguely. The problem is that he can’t because she is apparently the same individual who his grandfather, a Jacksonville police officer, pursued in 1957. Yet, somehow, she in the here and now of 2018.
What Redding comes to learn is that the woman is a notorious serial killer who has left victims across time and distance by using something called The Shimmer to travel back across the decades. Redding, in the process of almost apprehending her, manages to catch The Shimmer and ride back to 1957, at which point he encounters his own grandfather, who is a few days away from experiencing a life-changing event of his own. The pair travel from Florida to New Orleans in pursuit of the enigmatic woman, who is the key to the tragedies that will affect both men.
Redding has the opportunity to perhaps change what is about to occur, but with the possibility that doing so will come at a terrible cost. He ultimately makes a decision, the results of which are both bittersweet and satisfying for him. The ending will stay with you long after you have finished the story, which in itself is unforgettable.
Stroud is amazing. He has written several novels, most of which have gotten past me. I plan on rectifying that oversight this summer. It develops, though, that for years I have been one of his biggest fans and advocates. Did I travel The Shimmer? No. I learned that Stroud had written a series of espionage thrillers under the pseudonym “David Stone.” Those four books were published close to a decade ago and featured a CIA operative named Micah Dalton. They remain among my favorites of the spy genre. Stone abruptly disappeared, and Dalton with him, but I can still recall passages from each volume.
While I was entranced by Stroud’s latest novel on its own merits, discovering what had happened to one of my favorite authors as a result was a lagniappe of the highest order. THE SHIMMER, however, is a magnificent literary gift all by itself.
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
July 7, 2018
Are you looking for a summery beach read? Something for when the days are hot, and smoothies are the non-alcoholic drink of choice? Something that puts the pedal flat to the metal and doesn’t let go with its unrelenting group? Book lover, meet Carsten Stroud’s The Shimmer. Billed by the publisher as Heat meets The Sixth Sense, though that description doesn’t really do the book any justice, The Shimmer is actually one-part police procedural meets one-part supernatural tale. And, oh, by the way, time travel is involved. The more I think of it, the more this book is kinda like Heat meets Back to the Future by way of a Stephen King novel. (It should be duly noted that King provides the front cover blurb for this book.)
So what’s The Shimmer about? It hinges on the story of Sgt. Jack Redding of the Florida Highway Patrol, who is out working the streets one day with a rookie partner, who stumbles on an out of control SUV that turns out to have a female serial killer behind the wheel (there’s a novel twist) with two teenaged kidnap victims inside. When the kidnap victims turn on the rookie cop for no good reason, and the serial killer eludes capture, it’s up to Redding to piece together the puzzle of what has gone on and get that killer behind bars. Eventually, about halfway through the book, Redding is sucked into the past literally — the year 1957 to be precise — about a week before his grandfather loses his wife in a car accident that he thinks was planned by the local mafia, which leads to a one-man war against the don that ends in a bloodbath. Can Jack prevent these horrible events? Or is he even supposed to?
Read the rest of the review at: https://medium.com/@zachary_houle/a-r...
So what’s The Shimmer about? It hinges on the story of Sgt. Jack Redding of the Florida Highway Patrol, who is out working the streets one day with a rookie partner, who stumbles on an out of control SUV that turns out to have a female serial killer behind the wheel (there’s a novel twist) with two teenaged kidnap victims inside. When the kidnap victims turn on the rookie cop for no good reason, and the serial killer eludes capture, it’s up to Redding to piece together the puzzle of what has gone on and get that killer behind bars. Eventually, about halfway through the book, Redding is sucked into the past literally — the year 1957 to be precise — about a week before his grandfather loses his wife in a car accident that he thinks was planned by the local mafia, which leads to a one-man war against the don that ends in a bloodbath. Can Jack prevent these horrible events? Or is he even supposed to?
Read the rest of the review at: https://medium.com/@zachary_houle/a-r...
May 14, 2018
Thank you Net Gallery and Harlequin-Romance for this fantastic book. I knew when I read the description of The Shimmer I wanted to read it. Specially when it mentioned Jacksonville and St. Augustine. It was nice to go back and remember part of my old town.
Sergeant Jack Redding is a Jacksonville cop just like his grandfather was. This book goes back in forth between Jacksonville and New Orleans in the 50's as Jack is chasing a serial killer through a portal. He is also trying to stop the murder of his wife and child due to an intentional auto accident. With Jack's partner Julie, chase a truck in the beginning of book that leads to a chain of events. Jack ends up being sucked into a portal. The end was a little confusing at first of who was in car and in the road, it just kept going back n forth. That throws you off a little at first. The end is very good. This is a page turner and probably will have you up all night. I highly recommend. Should be a bestseller.
This is my first book by Carsten Stroud. I look forward to reading more.
Thank you Mr. Stroud.
My review will now be on Goodreads, Net Gallery, and then on Amazon when published on June 5, 2018.
Cherie'
Sergeant Jack Redding is a Jacksonville cop just like his grandfather was. This book goes back in forth between Jacksonville and New Orleans in the 50's as Jack is chasing a serial killer through a portal. He is also trying to stop the murder of his wife and child due to an intentional auto accident. With Jack's partner Julie, chase a truck in the beginning of book that leads to a chain of events. Jack ends up being sucked into a portal. The end was a little confusing at first of who was in car and in the road, it just kept going back n forth. That throws you off a little at first. The end is very good. This is a page turner and probably will have you up all night. I highly recommend. Should be a bestseller.
This is my first book by Carsten Stroud. I look forward to reading more.
Thank you Mr. Stroud.
My review will now be on Goodreads, Net Gallery, and then on Amazon when published on June 5, 2018.
Cherie'
July 29, 2019
A fun summer read combining time travel and murder. Set in Florida today and New Orleans in 1957, Carsten Stroud’s The Shimmer is a fast-paced story of a female serial killer who has discovered a way to travel through time to evade pursuit and find new victims. In pursuit is Jack Redding, a tough cop who joins forces in the past with his own grandfather, who was also trying to catch the elusive killer. Both men are suffering from grief at the loss of their wives in car accidents that are oddly similar, and the reader wonders if events can be altered by making different choices.
There are some readers who don’t like their genres mixed, but I’m not one of them. I thought this novel was imaginative and unique. There’s even a scene which reminded me of a story in The Decameron of a woman who is punished in the afterlife by being relentlessly pursued and killed in an unending cycle by a suitor she rejected in life. (Boccaccio was also fond of shifting genres.)
Stroud does a good job of bringing both steamy Florida and New Orleans to life. His characters are vivid and interesting, and he knows how to keep the reader turning the pages.
There are some readers who don’t like their genres mixed, but I’m not one of them. I thought this novel was imaginative and unique. There’s even a scene which reminded me of a story in The Decameron of a woman who is punished in the afterlife by being relentlessly pursued and killed in an unending cycle by a suitor she rejected in life. (Boccaccio was also fond of shifting genres.)
Stroud does a good job of bringing both steamy Florida and New Orleans to life. His characters are vivid and interesting, and he knows how to keep the reader turning the pages.
November 12, 2022
Sergeant Jack Redding and his partner Pandora Jansson chase a serial killer across time riding The Shimmer. The chase begins when Redding and his trainee chase an SUV and the driver flees into the Intracoastal Waterway after a shoot-out. Redding is driven to hunt the fleeing woman…..and his grandfather a cop in 1957, was hunting her too. The pursuit bounces from present day Jacksonville to St. Augustine in 1957 controlled by the Mafia and finally to New Orleans in the French Quarter in 1914.
But Jack has a terrible choice to make….help his grandfather catch the killer…..or change history/time and save his wife and child from being killed on Christmas Eve the year before.
How do you hunt a killer who can go back in time and make sure you're never born?
This was a time travel book that I could actually follow! And it made sense to my non-scientific mind! Really interesting storyline that intertwined in different decades with great characters. The Shimmer is a very unique time-travel thriller with quite an unexpected and twisted ending.
Great book, I strongly recommend it!
But Jack has a terrible choice to make….help his grandfather catch the killer…..or change history/time and save his wife and child from being killed on Christmas Eve the year before.
How do you hunt a killer who can go back in time and make sure you're never born?
This was a time travel book that I could actually follow! And it made sense to my non-scientific mind! Really interesting storyline that intertwined in different decades with great characters. The Shimmer is a very unique time-travel thriller with quite an unexpected and twisted ending.
Great book, I strongly recommend it!
July 16, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this one - it combines two of my favorite plot ideas - a hunt for a serial killer and time travel. And while time travel books fascinate me, they’re also tricky. They can get really convoluted and confusing, and as Carsten Stroud points out in his notes at the end of The Shimmer, the author has to decide what his/her rules of time travel are, and then stick to them. At one point I thought he'd broken one of his rules, but sure enough when I went back and checked, he'd stuck with the rule he'd established. The time travel wasn’t difficult to keep track of, the characters were interesting, the descriptions of the Florida coast created an excellent sense of place and time. This type of book probably isn’t for those who need their books to be grounded in reality as we know it, but for me, it kept me interested and reading far into the night.
Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin/MIRA for providing a copy for an unbiased review.
Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin/MIRA for providing a copy for an unbiased review.
October 8, 2021
A police pursuit kicks Sergeant Jack Redding of the Florida Highway Patrol and his trainee, Julie Karras, into a shoot-out that ends with one girl dead and another in cuffs, and the driver of the SUV fleeing into the Intracoastal Waterway. Redding stays on the hunt, driven by the trace memory that he knows that running woman--and he does, because his grandfather, a cop in Jacksonville, was hunting the same woman in 1957.
Redding and his partner, Pandora Jansson, chase a seductive serial killer who can ride The Shimmer across decades. The pursuit cuts from modern-day Jacksonville to Mafia-ruled St. Augustine in 1957, then to the French Quarter of New Orleans in 1914. The stakes turn brutal when Jack, whose wife and child died in a crash the previous Christmas Eve, faces a terrible choice: help his grandfather catch the killer, or change time itself and try to save his wife and child.
Redding and his partner, Pandora Jansson, chase a seductive serial killer who can ride The Shimmer across decades. The pursuit cuts from modern-day Jacksonville to Mafia-ruled St. Augustine in 1957, then to the French Quarter of New Orleans in 1914. The stakes turn brutal when Jack, whose wife and child died in a crash the previous Christmas Eve, faces a terrible choice: help his grandfather catch the killer, or change time itself and try to save his wife and child.
May 31, 2018
The Shimmer by Carsten Stroud is a very clever time travel mystery that is fast-paced and engaging.
In the present, Florida Highway Patrol Sergeant Jack Redding and trainee Julia Karras are involved in a high speed chase of an SUV. After the vehicle pulls over, the driver runs off into the woods with the police hot on her heels. Inside the SUV, Jack and Julia find teenage sisters Rebecca and Karen Walker bound in the backseat. While Jack tries to locate the driver, Julia is tasked with setting the sisters free. When the situation quickly goes south, Julia is forced to protect herself from the girls and after Jack returns to assist her, the mystery woman in the woods vanishes. Later that same evening, Jack and fellow officer Pandora Jansson uncover a stunning link between the driver of the SUV and a case his grandfather, Clete Redding, worked on back in 1957. What, if any, connection could there possibly be between these two cases that take place decades apart?
Jack is unexpectedly presented with the opportunity to find out how the cases intersect when he travels back in time to 1957. He arrives at a pivotal moment in Clete's investigation into the mysterious woman he knows as Selena and her ties with the Vizzini crime family. Working together, Jack and Clete try to uncover the truth surrounding Selena and their investigation then takes them to New Orleans, where NOPD officer Annabelle Fontaine bears a stunning resemblance to someone from Jack's life in the present.
The coincidences keep coming at Jack when his path crosses with yet another person who plays an instrumental role in his life in the future. Jack's knowledge about events from the past also torment him as he and grandfather attempt to find out the truth about Selena, whom Jack is certain is murdering her way through time. What will happen if Jack and Clete try to intervene with history? More importantly, what if Selena attempts to manipulate events to her advantage? Is it possible to change the past without affecting the future? And will Jack and Clete figure out who Selena is and what exactly she is attempting to locating as she travels through time?
The Shimmer is an innovative and riveting mystery that incorporates Florida's history with the Mafia into the storyline. The time travel element is quite fascinating and this aspect of the plot raises some very intriguing questions about the unintended consequences of altering events from the past. Carsten Stroud completely wraps up the story arc about why Selena is traveling through time and Jack exacts his revenge for her role in a tragic loss. The novel ends with a stunning plot twist that is completely unforeseen, somewhat ambiguous and a little frustrating. Fans of the genre(s) do not want to miss this enjoyable time travel mystery.
In the present, Florida Highway Patrol Sergeant Jack Redding and trainee Julia Karras are involved in a high speed chase of an SUV. After the vehicle pulls over, the driver runs off into the woods with the police hot on her heels. Inside the SUV, Jack and Julia find teenage sisters Rebecca and Karen Walker bound in the backseat. While Jack tries to locate the driver, Julia is tasked with setting the sisters free. When the situation quickly goes south, Julia is forced to protect herself from the girls and after Jack returns to assist her, the mystery woman in the woods vanishes. Later that same evening, Jack and fellow officer Pandora Jansson uncover a stunning link between the driver of the SUV and a case his grandfather, Clete Redding, worked on back in 1957. What, if any, connection could there possibly be between these two cases that take place decades apart?
Jack is unexpectedly presented with the opportunity to find out how the cases intersect when he travels back in time to 1957. He arrives at a pivotal moment in Clete's investigation into the mysterious woman he knows as Selena and her ties with the Vizzini crime family. Working together, Jack and Clete try to uncover the truth surrounding Selena and their investigation then takes them to New Orleans, where NOPD officer Annabelle Fontaine bears a stunning resemblance to someone from Jack's life in the present.
The coincidences keep coming at Jack when his path crosses with yet another person who plays an instrumental role in his life in the future. Jack's knowledge about events from the past also torment him as he and grandfather attempt to find out the truth about Selena, whom Jack is certain is murdering her way through time. What will happen if Jack and Clete try to intervene with history? More importantly, what if Selena attempts to manipulate events to her advantage? Is it possible to change the past without affecting the future? And will Jack and Clete figure out who Selena is and what exactly she is attempting to locating as she travels through time?
The Shimmer is an innovative and riveting mystery that incorporates Florida's history with the Mafia into the storyline. The time travel element is quite fascinating and this aspect of the plot raises some very intriguing questions about the unintended consequences of altering events from the past. Carsten Stroud completely wraps up the story arc about why Selena is traveling through time and Jack exacts his revenge for her role in a tragic loss. The novel ends with a stunning plot twist that is completely unforeseen, somewhat ambiguous and a little frustrating. Fans of the genre(s) do not want to miss this enjoyable time travel mystery.
September 10, 2018
This book starts off with a literal bang: a car crash in Florida. Inside the car are two teenage girls who claim they've been kidnapped by Diana Bowman, who literally ran from the scene. One of them dies at the scene.
Florida Highway Patrolman Jack Redding can't shake the idea that Diana's face is one he's seen before, and so he starts investigating to see whether she's committed other crimes.
It's more complicated than that, of course.
I was immediately reminded of Stephen King's tales as I read, even before I noticed that he provided a jacket blurb. There's a supernatural element to the book, even as it deals with police procedures, the mafia and yes, even quantum mechanics.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to fans of King's work.
Florida Highway Patrolman Jack Redding can't shake the idea that Diana's face is one he's seen before, and so he starts investigating to see whether she's committed other crimes.
It's more complicated than that, of course.
I was immediately reminded of Stephen King's tales as I read, even before I noticed that he provided a jacket blurb. There's a supernatural element to the book, even as it deals with police procedures, the mafia and yes, even quantum mechanics.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to fans of King's work.
December 12, 2019
As with his Niceville series, The Shimmer has the same writing quirks. The author tends to head-hop a lot, and has very long chapters. On the bright side, the story was interesting, the characters as well. The plot, time travel, while having been done countless times before, was still a fresh take that I had a fun time with.
One of my big pet peeves is head-hopping, and the author did that all over the place. While it didn’t so much jerk me out of the story, it was still annoying. As for the long chapters, I found myself stopping and losing my place and having to re-read sections to catch up. This was mildly annoying.
Otherwise, I had a pretty good time and enjoyed the story right up until the end. I was able to close the book with a smile on my face. Not bad at all.
One of my big pet peeves is head-hopping, and the author did that all over the place. While it didn’t so much jerk me out of the story, it was still annoying. As for the long chapters, I found myself stopping and losing my place and having to re-read sections to catch up. This was mildly annoying.
Otherwise, I had a pretty good time and enjoyed the story right up until the end. I was able to close the book with a smile on my face. Not bad at all.
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