The Shadow Writer
by Eliza Maxwell
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (May 1, 2019)
Every writer has a story. Some are deadlier than others.
Aspiring author Graye Templeton will do anything to escape the horrific childhood crime that haunts her. After a life lived in shadows, she’s accepted a new job as protégé to Laura West, influential book blogger and wife of an acclaimed novelist. Laura’s connections could make Graye’s publishing dreams a reality. But there’s more to Laura than meets the eye.
Behind the veneer of a charmed life, Laura’s marriage is collapsing. Her once-lauded husband is descending into alcoholism and ruin and bringing Laura nearer to the edge.
As the two women form a bond that seems meant to be, long-buried secrets claw their way into the present, and the line between friendship and obsession begins to blur, forcing each to decide where her loyalties lie. Running from the past is a dangerous game, and the loser could end up dead.
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes
She signs the visitor's log, and the receptionist passes her a neon-green sticker to affix to her shirt. Proof that Graye isn’t some rogue criminal, there to ravish old ladies and steal pieces from the jigsaw puzzles.
She stares at him for a beat, struggling to remind herself of the man she knows he can be—when he isn’t being this one. It’s getting more difficult every day to bring that man to mind.
Whom you choose to be married to is your business, Laura. I decided a long time ago that love must be an evolutionary adaptation… It’s nature’s way of allowing even mediocre men to find a mate… Oh, child. How naive you are… If procreation were reserved only for extraordinary men, the species would have died a slow, sputtering death centuries ago.
A bad marriage is a forge. Once you’re in it, your only choice is to push forward and find your way out of the flames, scars and all, hopefully stronger for it… The alternative is to sit there and be burned to nothing.
She knows dwelling on could-have-been and should-have-been doesn’t change what is, but some days that’s a hard lesson to remember.
My Review:
This was a twisty, maddeningly paced, brilliantly plotted, and ingeniously written tale with a cast of intriguing and largely aberrant characters. While it was soon evident that one of the main characters was mentally disturbed as she noted concern with “losing track of what’s real and what isn’t;” I just hadn’t realized the extent or how far back the decimation went. Ms. Maxwell’s evocative writing was uniquely compelling, devastating, diabolical, and dauntingly engrossing. I was taut with tension and transfixed to my Kindle while nearly insane with impatience and driven to know every deeply buried secret past and present. I am on the hook and her devoted fangirl for life. I covet her advanced level of word sorcery and am greedily plotting to read her every word.
About The Author
Eliza Maxwell is the author of The Widow’s Watcher, The Unremembered Girl, The Grave Tender, and The Kinfolk. She writes fiction from her home in Texas, which she shares with her ever-patient husband, two impatient kids, a ridiculous English setter, and a bird named Sarah. An artist and writer, a dedicated introvert, and a British-cop-drama addict, she enjoys nothing more than sitting on the front porch with a good cup of coffee.
Eliza Maxwell is the author of The Widow’s Watcher, The Unremembered Girl, The Grave Tender, and The Kinfolk. She writes fiction from her home in Texas, which she shares with her ever-patient husband, two impatient kids, a ridiculous English setter, and a bird named Sarah. An artist and writer, a dedicated introvert, and a British-cop-drama addict, she enjoys nothing more than sitting on the front porch with a good cup of coffee.
Connect with Eliza
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