‘The thrilling finale in the Anna Clarke series’
In The Shadows
[ About In The Shadows ]
Tom has found you! You need to run!
Kate Crowley has tried to put the past, and Cork city, behind her, but Tom Gallagher isn’t ready to absolve her of her sins. As she flees across Spain his henchmen are only steps behind her, his net ever-closing. But someone on the inside is willing to betray him, offering Kate a lifeline.
Everything Tom worked for is crumbling. His family is destroyed, his life falling apart. Ely Murray is back, claiming the city and Tom’s business as his own. A man can only be pushed so far …
Anna Clarke spends her days watching and waiting. Checking over her shoulder for Dean Harris, the rapist who has evaded the gardaí. Unable to sleep, waiting for news from the final search for her long-lost parents, she needs a distraction. Researching a cold case with her friend, an unsolved murder on the city streets, offers what she needs. But the past is a dangerous place to revisit …
Kate, Tom and Anna learn that no-one, and nothing, stays hidden forever.
[ My Review ]
In The Shadows by Amy Cronin published January 15th with Poolbeg Crimson. It is the final book in The Anna Clarke Trilogy which is described as ‘a riveting saga of pursuit, betrayal, and the inescapable past’. In The Shadows follows on from Blinding Lies (Book 1) and Twisted Truth (Book 2) which were both books that I highly enjoyed (you will find my reviews by clicking on the respective title).
In my review of Twisted Truth, I said that Amy Cronin was getting into her stride as a writer as this series progressed. With In The Shadows, I do believe she has truly come into her own as a writer of first-rate crime fiction. Set in Cork, Amy Cronin delves deep into the underbelly of gangland crime, right into the heart of the Gallagher family. Tom Gallagher is the boss, the head of the family, one that has always been synonymous with terror and violence. He, and his family, are up to their necks in criminal activity but, up until recently they were untouchable, outside the confines of the law. Members of the force of An Garda Síochána were frustrated, knowing perfectly well that Tom Gallagher’s gang were heavily involved in multiple cases but Tom Gallagher has had a Teflon coating all his life. He owns people in all the right places and he brings fear wherever he roams.
Tom Gallagher’s character (*see additional note below) is wonderfully developed throughout. He is now a tormented crime don whose world is crumbling around him. Like a wounded animal, he is in pain. Family is everything to Tom Gallagher and any foolish individual who crosses him pays a big price. But now his world is collapsing and he is beginning to lose control. Is this finally the end of the Gallagher empire?
Anna Clarke is a civil servant working in an administrative role within the gardaí. Anna has struggled to come to terms with her past for some time. As a teenager, her parents disappeared, without a trace, leaving herself, and her older brother Alex, to fend for themselves in their home near Kinsale, a beautiful coastal town about thirty minutes from the city centre. Over the course of the series, there are reveals about her parents that start to fill in the gaps but will Anna ever truly know what happened to them?
Anna has a very methodical mind and is strong-willed in her pursuit of justice and truth. After helping her friend, Kate Crowley, who found herself in a very challenging situation, Anna unwittingly found herself crossing paths with the Gallagher family, leading her down a very dangerous path. Meanwhile, Dean Harris, a convicted rapist, who Anna helped get locked up, is also out for revenge. Clearly Anna’s life is in danger from many sides.
Anna is encouraged to take leave from work, to step back a little and to recover from a recent traumatic event but Anna is not one to sit still. She needs distraction to keep her mind busy and her body alert. For her own safety she temporarily moves in with her old friend Vivian but maintains her strict daily regime of taekwondo training. Anna is strong, determined and single-minded when in search of the truth so when Vivian, who is a reporter, asks for her help, Anna jumps at the opportunity. Vivian is investigating a cold-case that shocked the city and country over thirty years ago and now, with her new role within a production company, Vivian wants to prove her investigative capabilities. Initially the thrill of the case is exciting as the two try to figure out what really happened in this brutal murder. But they soon discover that people are refusing to answer their questions and there is a much bigger, much more ominous tale to be told than was originally thought. Anna is always in the middle of trouble but she is a survivor and comes through like a cat with nine lives. But do these lives finally run out for her? Does she take one step too far toward danger?
Amy Cronin does a fantastic job, expertly tying up all the various strands that run through this thrilling series, leaving the reader stupefied and reeling. Wrapping up with more than one jaw-dropping reveal, In The Shadows is one seriously bumpy ride, riddled with explosive and shocking discoveries. If you love a riveting and complex tale, a story that will have you on the edge of your seat, then In The Shadows (& the previous two books in the series) is one I highly recommend. (Just an aside – it can be read alone as Amy Cronin provides a solid backstory bringing the reader right into the story whether just picking it up for the first time or returning after reading either of the previous books)
I would like to thank Poolbeg Books, and Amy Cronin, for providing me with a gifted copy in return for an honest review.
[ Bio ]
Amy Cronin lives by the sea with her husband and young children in Cork, Ireland. A former tutor at Munster Technological University, she worked in the Irish civil service for a number of years before pursuing her passion for writing crime fiction.
She has published two crime thrillers, Blinding Lies and Twisted Truth with Poolbeg Press.
In The Shadows is the final instalment in the ‘Anna Clarke’ trilogy
X ~ @AmyCroninAuthor
A short little extra story about Tom Gallagher
A huge coincidence happened last November when my daughter Emily (17) came home from school. Her art class had been asked to be involved with The Holly Bough (2023), which is an annual festive magazine published in Cork since 1897. They were each given a piece of writing that would be featuring in the Christmas 2023 edition and they were to create a piece of art to accompany it on the page.
The piece Emily was given was an extract from a book, In The Shadows by local Cork crime fiction author, Amy Cronin. Emily wasn’t aware that I knew Amy and had reviewed her books so I was absolutely thrilled. Here is the piece of art that Emily created – Meet Tom Gallagher 🙂
This sounds like a great trilogy. What a wonderful coincidence about your daughter’s artwork. Is she going to read them now?
Thanks Carla She hasn’t started into crime fiction yet so we’ll have to wait and see!