1.0 (1 rating)
The Shadow
Before Alex Cross, before Michael Bennett, before Jack Reacher, there was The Shadow! The world's bestselling author, James Patterson, reimagines one of America's iconic thriller heroes.
Only two people know that 1930s society man Lamont Cranston has a secret identity as the Shadow, a crusader for justice. One is his greatest love, Margo Lane, and the other is fiercest enemy, Shiwan Khan. When Khan ambushes the couple, they must risk everything for the slimmest chance of survival . . . in the future.
A century and a half later, Lamont awakens in a world both unknown and disturbingly familiar. The first person he meets is Maddy Gomes, a teenager with her own mysterious secrets, including a knowledge of the legend of the Shadow.
Most disturbing, Khan's power continues to be felt over the city and its people. No one in this new world understands the dangers of stopping him better than Lamont Cranston. And only the Shadow knows that he's the one person who might succeed before more innocent lives are lost.
Only two people know that 1930s society man Lamont Cranston has a secret identity as the Shadow, a crusader for justice. One is his greatest love, Margo Lane, and the other is fiercest enemy, Shiwan Khan. When Khan ambushes the couple, they must risk everything for the slimmest chance of survival . . . in the future.
A century and a half later, Lamont awakens in a world both unknown and disturbingly familiar. The first person he meets is Maddy Gomes, a teenager with her own mysterious secrets, including a knowledge of the legend of the Shadow.
Most disturbing, Khan's power continues to be felt over the city and its people. No one in this new world understands the dangers of stopping him better than Lamont Cranston. And only the Shadow knows that he's the one person who might succeed before more innocent lives are lost.
Pages: 400
ISBN: 9781538703939
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See all editions (46)Reader Reviews
1.0
1 rating
Charlene M.
Apr 18, 2026
My dad taught me, a while ago, that there's one thing which super hero (movies in this case, but let's take it to books) should never be: boring.
And thrillers should never be predictable from page 1.
Sadly, The Shadow was both boring and very predictable. Extremely generic. And the character of The Shadow was completely, utterly, *completely* wrong.
Phew. Needless to say, I didn't like it. Fortunately, it was such an easy read with such huge margins that 384 pages wasn't long to read so I didn't waste too much of my life finishing it.
*Spoilers sort of ahead. But again, uh, predictable*
..................
.............
.....
..
So, the book bounces between two characters: Apparently The Shadow (Cranston) and Maddy. Cranston has been put into a cryogenic sleep (sort of) after being poisoned in the 1930s, along with his lady love. They wake up 150 years later in a dystopian New York (because of course), found by Maddy, who is an 18 year old misfit who literally inherited him. (uhmm....)
So you can pretty well see where this goes. The Shadow has to free New York from the clutches of his archenemy Shiwan Khan who is so one dimensional that he makes *paper* look 4D. (We never do find out why Khan wanted to do what he was doing other than because he is Eeeeviiillll! *insert maniacal laughter*) Oh and because peasants stormed his home and killed his mom after she put him to sleep with a potion. Apparently this was supposed to be ten thousand years ago, but she was wearing a bright dress.
But it gets worse. (Worse than a ten thousand year old villain who acts like a bad guy from a 1950s cartoon? Afraid so)
If you know anything about The Shadow, you know that he's the precursor to Batman. He's a detective who is sneaky, wields guns, and later has the power to kinda hypnotize people into thinking he's not actually there (sort of invisibility, sort of not). Margo - his lady - has telepathy, so it doesn't work on her. But that is *it*. Most of his 'powers' are those of deduction. Like Batman.
But in this retelling, he somehow or other wakes up with the ability to also:
-Shapeshift into a cat (cause... sure?)
-Throw fireballs
-throw lightning bolts.
Oh yeah, did I mention that Maddy, the 18 year old who is basically a Mary Sue, can go invisible too and throw lightning? And learns it in about three days? And can see him even when he goes invisible? And also has telepathy? Ugh.
So, we have deadly boring villain who is so cliche he makes freaking Edward Cullen look complex, a Mary Sue character, the wrong Shadow and Margo who, despite being Cranston's partner in fighting crime for years, isn't all that useful and mostly complains about the food, the lodgings, and the clothing.
Internal illogic abounds. Characters are boring. Villain was stupid. Arg.
.........
.....
...
.
Ok, you can look now, if you were dying to read this book.
I don't know if this was because maybe Brian Sitts doesn't know how to write or James Patterson has given up, but the whole book was really generic. Parts of it were written ok, I guess, but enough of it was downright cringey. I only finished it because it was such an easy read that I felt silly giving up two thirds of the way when I had less than hour of reading time left. And I had vague hopes it would pick up.
It did not by the way. It just stayed cringey.
Sighs loudly.
So why not 0 stars or 1 star? I dunno. Parts were ok, I guess. Some of the parts with The Shadow as the main narrator were ok. I kinda liked Jessica (Maddy's gramma) and her dog. Uhm.... Yeah, maybe 1 star.
To wrap up:
Thrillers should not be predictable. Super hero books should not be boring.
And I'm hating that Patterson wrote this and will probably make tens of thousands of dollars off it.
Not. Worth. The. Time. Especially if you like the actual character The Shadow because Patterson and Sitts got him completely wrong, other than the name.
Reading CJ Cherryh next (The Goblin Mirror). The Shadow is likely going to a little free library. I feel kinda bad inflicting it on someone else though...
And thrillers should never be predictable from page 1.
Sadly, The Shadow was both boring and very predictable. Extremely generic. And the character of The Shadow was completely, utterly, *completely* wrong.
Phew. Needless to say, I didn't like it. Fortunately, it was such an easy read with such huge margins that 384 pages wasn't long to read so I didn't waste too much of my life finishing it.
*Spoilers sort of ahead. But again, uh, predictable*
..................
.............
.....
..
So, the book bounces between two characters: Apparently The Shadow (Cranston) and Maddy. Cranston has been put into a cryogenic sleep (sort of) after being poisoned in the 1930s, along with his lady love. They wake up 150 years later in a dystopian New York (because of course), found by Maddy, who is an 18 year old misfit who literally inherited him. (uhmm....)
So you can pretty well see where this goes. The Shadow has to free New York from the clutches of his archenemy Shiwan Khan who is so one dimensional that he makes *paper* look 4D. (We never do find out why Khan wanted to do what he was doing other than because he is Eeeeviiillll! *insert maniacal laughter*) Oh and because peasants stormed his home and killed his mom after she put him to sleep with a potion. Apparently this was supposed to be ten thousand years ago, but she was wearing a bright dress.
But it gets worse. (Worse than a ten thousand year old villain who acts like a bad guy from a 1950s cartoon? Afraid so)
If you know anything about The Shadow, you know that he's the precursor to Batman. He's a detective who is sneaky, wields guns, and later has the power to kinda hypnotize people into thinking he's not actually there (sort of invisibility, sort of not). Margo - his lady - has telepathy, so it doesn't work on her. But that is *it*. Most of his 'powers' are those of deduction. Like Batman.
But in this retelling, he somehow or other wakes up with the ability to also:
-Shapeshift into a cat (cause... sure?)
-Throw fireballs
-throw lightning bolts.
Oh yeah, did I mention that Maddy, the 18 year old who is basically a Mary Sue, can go invisible too and throw lightning? And learns it in about three days? And can see him even when he goes invisible? And also has telepathy? Ugh.
So, we have deadly boring villain who is so cliche he makes freaking Edward Cullen look complex, a Mary Sue character, the wrong Shadow and Margo who, despite being Cranston's partner in fighting crime for years, isn't all that useful and mostly complains about the food, the lodgings, and the clothing.
Internal illogic abounds. Characters are boring. Villain was stupid. Arg.
.........
.....
...
.
Ok, you can look now, if you were dying to read this book.
I don't know if this was because maybe Brian Sitts doesn't know how to write or James Patterson has given up, but the whole book was really generic. Parts of it were written ok, I guess, but enough of it was downright cringey. I only finished it because it was such an easy read that I felt silly giving up two thirds of the way when I had less than hour of reading time left. And I had vague hopes it would pick up.
It did not by the way. It just stayed cringey.
Sighs loudly.
So why not 0 stars or 1 star? I dunno. Parts were ok, I guess. Some of the parts with The Shadow as the main narrator were ok. I kinda liked Jessica (Maddy's gramma) and her dog. Uhm.... Yeah, maybe 1 star.
To wrap up:
Thrillers should not be predictable. Super hero books should not be boring.
And I'm hating that Patterson wrote this and will probably make tens of thousands of dollars off it.
Not. Worth. The. Time. Especially if you like the actual character The Shadow because Patterson and Sitts got him completely wrong, other than the name.
Reading CJ Cherryh next (The Goblin Mirror). The Shadow is likely going to a little free library. I feel kinda bad inflicting it on someone else though...