Chasing Shadows

Robert Bryndza has a way of making a book suspenseful even though readers know who most of the antagonists are from nearly the beginning of the book. Chasing Shadows, the ninth book in the series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Erica Foster, continues to be set mainly in London with a few trips to the Manchester area and to Wales.

This time a routine emergency call ends with a twist. A dead body is found in the apartment above a collapsed ceiling. With DNA evidence scrubbed away, it seems a dead end until drug residue is found on the ceiling. When the drug dogs lead her and the team to a parcel locker on the outside wall of the property, a Foster gets a big surprise. After finding the locker’s owner and her boyfriend, Foster finds herself staring at Jerome Goodman, the man who murdered her husband ten years ago.

The arrest doesn’t go as planned. His passport and lawyer say his name is Kieron Bagshaw. Foster is forced to take leave to deal with her post traumatic stress disorder, but she uses the time off to do some digging of her own, with some help from a few trusted colleagues and her partner, Igor.

Foster is principled and tends to go against authority if she feels they’re not doing what’s right. She has a direct manner, gets results, and is well respected by her team. However, because she occasionally bucks authority and ruffles feathers, her career feels stalled. She can be stubborn, feels her job is a calling, and doesn’t care what people think of her which makes her more challenging for the brass to control. The other characters are well defined as well, with a set of repeat characters from previous books along with new ones related to the cases in this story line. It was good to see Detective Inspectors Moss and Peterson get high visibility in this novel with some great character growth and depth. While most of the story is from Foster’s point of view, there are occasionally chapters from the point of view of the antagonists.

The prologue is chilling and the first chapter gets readers engaged in the emergency call mentioned above. The plot is twisty, deeply involved, and intense at times. It quickly builds momentum as the plot twists and turns and higher-ups try to contain the investigation. There are unpredictable moments in the story that are unsettling. It allows readers to gain insight into the thoughts, behaviors, and actions towards others of both Foster and the antagonists. There is a surprise near the end that completely caught me off guard and makes me wonder what is in store for Foster in the next book. My biggest quibble is that the storyline goes back and forth in time frequently and this disrupted the flow and pacing for me.

Overall, this gripping, emotional, and complex police procedural has well-developed and compelling characters, contains plenty of action, and has a plot that keeps readers turning the pages to see what will happen next. If you are expecting a solid series that will have mysteries, suspense, crime, and action, then this is a series that I recommend.

Raven Street Publishing and Robert Bryndza provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for June 05, 2025.