Book review of The Girl in the Shadows by Katherine Debona

The Girl in the Shadows by Katherine Debona

My review today is for the debut novel by Katherine Debona, The Girl in the Shadows.

Set in Paris, this book follows three troubled lives as they try to find answers to questions.

Alice, alone in the world now her Father has died, arrives in Paris in an attempt to find answers about her Mother. Although Alice was always led to believe she had died when she was a baby, something she finds in her Father’s possessions makes her hope she may still be alive and living in Paris. Her investigations get off to a slow start, but through her love of photography she makes a friend who makes Paris more fun, interesting and less lonely. Bit by bit details of her Mother begin to appear, but finding all the answers doesn’t seem to be as easy as she hoped; in fact her dream of a happy family reunion just seems to get further out of reach.

Veronique, a private investigator accepts the job of looking for the runaway daughter of a wealthy Parisian, despite feeling something is not quite right about the information provided by the family. The more she uncovers, the more questions arise to be solved and the further away the daughter seems to become. Meanwhile this case seems to throw her into the path of her ex-lover, which which forces her to ask herself questions about her future; questions she finds hard to answer without delving too far into her own troubled past, something she has always tried her best to forget.

Mathilde is the most mysterious and probably the most troubled of the three; always slightly removed from the main action and managing to stay one step ahead of those who are looking for her. I could feel a real sadness coming from Mathilde and needed to find out exactly what had made her run.

This book has a good mix of strong characters; some are likeable, some are not. The Paris described feels real; from the cafés, to the seedy nightlife and the air of celebration for Bastille Day. With a good pace, lots of twists, plenty of action and some great detective work it became impossible to stray too far from; even when I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it and wondering just how the mysteries would be brought to a close and who, if anyone, would get their happy ending.

I’ll certainly be looking out for more from Katherine and if you like strong detective mysteries, or just books set in Paris, I’m sure you will enjoy this one.

The Girl in the Shadows is published by HQ Digital and is available in ebook format. A link to Amazon can be found below.