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Shadow Chase
JAVA 1945: A teenage girl cries in the night, agonizing over how a young British soldier has changed her life forever. Can she trust him now?
JAVA 2014: Ryan, adult son of the soldier, arrives in Indonesia to unravel his late father's secrets. Why would his dad never talk to his family about his time in what was then called the Dutch East Indies? Who was the Asian girl in the photo he kept hidden till the day he died? Why did he make payments to an account in Java for five decades? And who was Tiger Harry, mentioned so often in his diaries?
Answers are hard to find and, along the way, Ryan must also confront his own cultural divides, tricky relationships, the murky local underworld and more. The finally-revealed truth about his father is surprising and unpredictable.
JAVA 2014: Ryan, adult son of the soldier, arrives in Indonesia to unravel his late father's secrets. Why would his dad never talk to his family about his time in what was then called the Dutch East Indies? Who was the Asian girl in the photo he kept hidden till the day he died? Why did he make payments to an account in Java for five decades? And who was Tiger Harry, mentioned so often in his diaries?
Answers are hard to find and, along the way, Ryan must also confront his own cultural divides, tricky relationships, the murky local underworld and more. The finally-revealed truth about his father is surprising and unpredictable.
327 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
388 people want to read
About the author
Mike Coppin
2 books23 followersAfter a previous life as a welfare worker, life became more fun when I went to live in Java, Indonesia, for five years. My day job was teaching English but my real delight was getting to know the locals and the tropical countryside. It was all so exotic and different from what I'd been accustomed to (I'm from Australia), that I felt compelled to make it the setting for a novel.
After exciting times, including being caught up in violent riots that unseated a semi-dictator, I returned to my home town and knuckled down to writing Shadow Chase. I hope you'll enjoy it like other readers have.
After exciting times, including being caught up in violent riots that unseated a semi-dictator, I returned to my home town and knuckled down to writing Shadow Chase. I hope you'll enjoy it like other readers have.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 14, 2016
“Shadow Chase” is the story of Ryan Garland who visits Indonesia in search of answers to questions left behind by his father, Lancer, who was stationed in Indonesia during World War II, and who maintained a mysterious link to the country, long after he left. Through Ryan’s eyes, we explore and start to understand an area of the world as mysterious as it is hidden and as difficult to fathom as it’s language. And as Ryan unravels the mysteries left by his father, we are also exposed to events that happened 60 years ago, events that should maybe remain hidden…
But don’t think that “Shadow Chase” is a simple bullets-and-bashing Wilbur Smith novel – Coppin weaves a compelling mystery into his story, which itself does not follow a predictable path.
I cannot help but compare Mike Coppin to Bryce Courtenay; sure, “Shadow Chase” shares a broad relationship to some of the settings in Courtenay’s later books, but it is the epic scope, love for his characters and impeccable research that prompt the comparison; the comparison which is cemented by Coppin’s thundering good story-telling, a skill which is gradually being lost in favour of contemporary “literature”.
But don’t think that “Shadow Chase” is a simple bullets-and-bashing Wilbur Smith novel – Coppin weaves a compelling mystery into his story, which itself does not follow a predictable path.
I cannot help but compare Mike Coppin to Bryce Courtenay; sure, “Shadow Chase” shares a broad relationship to some of the settings in Courtenay’s later books, but it is the epic scope, love for his characters and impeccable research that prompt the comparison; the comparison which is cemented by Coppin’s thundering good story-telling, a skill which is gradually being lost in favour of contemporary “literature”.
April 27, 2016
Mike Coppin, a friendly Australian, lived in Java for five years and did a lot of research before writing this wonderful piece of fiction and his first novel. Since I started reading Shadow Chase we have been in contact with each other. Right away, I realized that Mike's choice of font size was really too small for me to read comfortably, perhaps a 10 font. When I questioned him, he agreed and said his next book's font, a sequel I hope, would be larger. However, I did not let the font size deter me from reading Shadow Chase from beginning to end. And I know I made the right choice otherwise I would not have been able to join Ryan Garland as he tries to find out what really happened to his Dad during WW 2 and shortly thereafter.
Mike is a very good writer and he knows how to tease the reader just enough to make him or her want to turn to the next page regardless of font size. I am certain you'd enjoy reading Shadow Chase, I know I did. Even though Mike has written a piece of fiction based on some historical facts, this book also presents some very deep philosophical thoughts about time and space. We seldom take the time to think about how one small thing we do might affect one person or a larger group very deeply. In Shadow Chase, Mike Coppin clearly demonstrates how this could and does happen. Mike weaves the past and the present together as we see how a small thing that happened in the past can be misunderstood to severely affect events and people in the present.
Shadow Chase is also a very emotional read as the reader lives through the strife and hardships that people dealt with in East Java during WW 2 and just afterward. It's tough to imagine what it must have been like to live among so many different groups of people (the Islanders, the Dutch, the British, the Indians, the Muslims, the Westerners, the Japanese), each group with their own agendas, while people were dying every day or being displaced. Mike paints that picture vividly. I bet you can tell I really enjoyed reading Mike Coppin's Shadow Chase. I know you will too. Mike, keep writing.
Mike is a very good writer and he knows how to tease the reader just enough to make him or her want to turn to the next page regardless of font size. I am certain you'd enjoy reading Shadow Chase, I know I did. Even though Mike has written a piece of fiction based on some historical facts, this book also presents some very deep philosophical thoughts about time and space. We seldom take the time to think about how one small thing we do might affect one person or a larger group very deeply. In Shadow Chase, Mike Coppin clearly demonstrates how this could and does happen. Mike weaves the past and the present together as we see how a small thing that happened in the past can be misunderstood to severely affect events and people in the present.
Shadow Chase is also a very emotional read as the reader lives through the strife and hardships that people dealt with in East Java during WW 2 and just afterward. It's tough to imagine what it must have been like to live among so many different groups of people (the Islanders, the Dutch, the British, the Indians, the Muslims, the Westerners, the Japanese), each group with their own agendas, while people were dying every day or being displaced. Mike paints that picture vividly. I bet you can tell I really enjoyed reading Mike Coppin's Shadow Chase. I know you will too. Mike, keep writing.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews