Update and Book Review

A quick update: I've just received the copyedit for my December 2012 book, Bone River, so I'm out of commission for a few days, but in the meantime, here's a new review:

City of Shadows: A Novel of Suspense by Ariana Franklin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The story is set in Berlin between the World Wars, and it expertly conveys the claustrophobia, helplessness and fear of the depression in Germany at the time and how it led to Hitler's rise. The research here is outstanding, the mood and tone of menace is palpable. The plot revolves around Anna Anderson--a real life woman who claimed to be Anastasia, the daughter of the czar of Russian, who was supposedly murdered, along with her entire family during the Revolution. City of Shadows begins as a tale of fraud and then morphs into something quite different, a murder mystery with an unusual and compelling depth. Great characters who are completely flawed and sometimes not very likeable, but who you root for nonetheless. Ariana Franklin/Diane Norman was a great writer, and I've really enjoyed all her books, but this one may be my favorite.




View all my reviews