I like David Hewson’s writing. His prose is clear and straightforward yet descriptive and evocative. Some years ago I picked up THE LIZARD’S BITE, the fourth in Hewson’s Italian set series about Detective Nick Costa, and I have enjoyed periodic visits to catch up with Costa and to share the author’s love of Italy. SHOOTER IN THE SHADOWS, set on a small island in the Venetian lagoon, coincidentally the location for that earlier novel, is a stand-alone but no less exciting and gripping than the series.
SHOOTER IN THE SHADOWS is a thriller about an American journalist turned true-crime author, Tom Honeyman who, having had a huge success with his first book, about a grisly murder in upstate New York, has struggled to follow it up. Every year Honeyman comes to Maledetto, the small Venetian island which his success allowed him to buy, to start a new book in the hope of returning to the bestseller lists. But that initial success has proved a millstone, Honeyman’s life a mess, his wife having committed suicide, his daughter estranged and Maledetto a drain on his dwindling finances. When Laura, his daughter makes contact and him on the island, things appear to be improving, but soon both find themselves held prisoner by someone who believes that Honeyman got it wrong in his book and wants him to right a sequel to correct that error, to reveal the truth about who really burned two people to death, or die themselves. Honeyman has 4 days...
David Hewson’s characters are really well-formed. As the novel alternates Honeyman’s predicament with chapters of the new book, we find that he is not really a very nice guy, a talented writer but a poor reporter who substitutes vivid imagination for facts when necessary. But it is not only Honeyman who comes alive - the small town American cop; the wild, bohemian, sexually free teacher who died in the fire with her student lover; Honeyman’s wife, who gave up her own journalistic career to bring up their daughter - despite being drawn in relatively few scenes, jump off the page fully-formed. The joy of SHOOTER IN THE SHADOWS is the inherent unreliability of the narrator as we only have Honeyman’s version of what he think happened. And, even when I guessed the true events about three quarters in, seeing the truth play out was really satisfying. Except, I only thought I had solved it. There are events that even Honeyman doesn’t know, leading to a great twist.
Hewson captures the essence of the lagoon, the sounds, the smells. The setting is excellent, Maledetto simultaneously within sight of Venice’s main islands yet as remote from civilisation as it is possible to be in the lagoon.
SHOOTER IN THE SHADOWS is highly recommended.

An action packed mystery based around an unseen 'baddie' taking revenge on a reporter who might not have been altogether truthful in his reporting of a crime that took place in the past and catapulted him to fame.

Set on a dilapidated island in Venice, and based on a fire and the mysterious deaths of individuals from a town in the US, this novel is dark and violent and has lots of twists and turns to keep you reading till the reveal of exactly what happened all those years ago.

Very enjoyable!

<i>Shooter in the Shadows</i> is one of those excellent murder mysteries that sneaks up on you. You think you know what is happening but then you don’t. The protagonist, Tom Honeyman, is a brilliant writer but not a great reporter because if he doesn’t know all the details, he just writes a good story. <i>Shooter in the Shadows</i> is the latest of several mystery novels written by David Hewson.

Tom Honeyman writes a bestseller by cracking a gruesome murder case in his home town and then writing about it. Unfortunately, it seems to be his only success since several books later he is going broke. He decides to revisit the same theme and see if he can get some of the old spark back. Tom takes his notes to his retreat house in Venice where he is interrupted by a killer who believes Tom is not telling the truth in his first novel and he wants to make sure Tom gets it right this time. The killer gives Tom his first chapter to get him started along with a short deadline to get the rest written. Can he do it and stay alive?

The characters are compelling. Flashing back to the time of the murder Tom’s family is struggling. His wife drinks too much apparently because she gave up her career as a reporter to have a child. Their daughter is just an angry teenager. Tom believes he can make things better by just writing that bestseller and the murder is his big opportunity. The bestseller happens but the characters don’t necessarily react as expected.

The plot is intricate and compelling because it unfolds throughout the entire book. With every piece of information, we learn more about what happens to get to where we are today. Also, with each piece of information comes a twist to keep the reader engaged.

Some may feel a bit distracted by the abundance of activity and plot lines in the book, but in my opinion that confusion just requires patience and, in the end, it adds to the appeal of the book.

I highly recommend this book to people who like a multifaceted murder mystery. I give it a 5 on 5. I want to thank Net Galley and BooksGoSocial for providing me with a digital copy of the novel in exchange for a fair review

I've read most of David Hewson's work and this was by far one of the most well laid plots by far. It's story line goes between Venice Italy and the U.S. to show how far someone will go to make a life for themself. Although our main character Tom Honeyman, seems to come out of his book with eveyone telling him that it was all lies and he goes to his place in Venice to write another re-story to tell the truth. But unknown to Tom..... You'll have to read the story to find out what happens. You'll be glad you did.

This is a complex, enthralling, intricate, riveting and completely unpredictable plot with well defined, dimensional characters. You won’t soon get this story out of your mind. It is also very well written with smooth flowing prose and story line, even though there is significant back and forth in chronology. My only problem is that I hate going through an entire novel looking for a hero, and I hope this isn’t a spoiler of sorts, getting to the end not having been able to find one. For this am taking away one star.

I enjoyed this book, and felt that it was cleverly done in certain ways, however, it was muddles in others. Tom Honeyman is the main character, and he's a one hit wonder author who wrote about a true crime that occurred in his hometown. Two individuals are murdered in a horrific fire and he is a small town newspaper reporter who ends up writing a blockbuster book with assistance from information and photographs provided to him buy an unnamed source.

It's a very good story but the way that it was handled made it difficult to follow along. It seemed as if the character was ignorant of knowledge that at the end we find out he's possessed all along. There were some twists and turns that I felt we're good, and I at first felt I suspected who I thought was the murderer only to find out I was half-right. I felt the ending went on a little more than it should have. But I do feel that it was a good book, and with a little cleaning up and some editing it would be a fantastic book. All in all good read.

I would like to thank David Hewson, BooksGoSocial and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for fair and honest review.