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Critical praise for THE SHADOW CATCHERS "Lakeman...knows how to ratchet up the suspense and keep it on a steady upward spiral in this well-plotted debut. The Shadow Catchers is pitch perfect noir, filled with dark corners, even in the sunlight. Lakeman knows how to apply touches of the western novel -- Michael is the epitome of the high plains drifter -- horror and the hard-boiled mystery in this rousing debut. The author also captures the ennui and insulated nature of a small town....The Shadow Catchers is one of the best debuts of 2006." – Oline Cogdill, Florida Sun-Sentinel (read complete review) "A surprisingly intelligent and gripping yarn based on what is a classic set-up:
a stranger comes to town, only to find himself mixed up in trouble...The
Shadow Catchers deals with children in peril, a subject with which
not every reader will feel comfortable. Thomas Lakeman traverses this
difficult terrain with skill and an eye for describing the subtleties
of long-term abuse. There is no sense of exploitation, because the author
presents a balanced picture of the grim events that Rafe Archer and the
rest of the folks in fictional Dyer County are so eager to conceal....This
is an impressive debut novel from a writer with a great deal to add to
the crime-fiction canon." "Lakeman relates
his nightmare with skill, confidence and a sharp eye for detail -- he
believes in his dark tale enough to make us buy it, too … Lakeman
has set out in his first novel to present a vision of Hell, of pure evil,
and to a considerable degree he has succeeded. State-of-the-art violence
may not be your idea of fun, but if it is, The Shadow Catchers is an engrossing
read." "When
a debut novel like The Shadow Catchers comes on like gangbusters
and stays that way through 100 pages, then 200 pages, it's like watching
a rookie pitcher on the way to a no-hitter...an auspicious debut." "Fair warning
- this skillfully written debut novel ends up in 'grisly child sex killer'
territory. It's a genre I generally avoid, but Thomas Lakeman had me
hooked to the end, where the plot twisted like an Olympic diver. An
FBI agent, on leave after his mishandling of a case where a child died,
finds himself caught up in an eerily similar case in a hostile Western
town." "[Lakeman's]
debut with The Shadow Catchers offers the hope that he may have what it
takes to become more than the author of a good book, which this certainly
is, but an author who will get better and better as his own story unfolds." "With seemingly
little effort, Lakeman provides a twisting and riveting plot, engaging
characters, and just the right amount of emotional drama to evoke plenty
of empathy from the reader. By making this not just another simple
shoot-'em up thriller, but instead one of a flawed hero seeking redemption,
he provides that extra something that makes this book more than worth
your time. Definitely recommended, we hope to see more of
Special Agent Mike Yeager from this gifted author in the future." "First-time
novelist Lakeman captures Nevada's desert environment and the small-town
attitudes of longtime residents who think that they know their neighbors." "Lakeman
delivers a winning protagonist, good pacing and natural
dialogue." "Burned-out
FBI agent Mike Yeager runs into small-town trouble in this extraordinary debut...a complex novel with a wealth of interesting characters." "A grim, proficient first novel." "This
guy can write, taking the reader in unexpected directions and
turning a seemingly ordinary tale of serial murder amidst idyllic settings
into a grander one of corrosive family secrets with the power to shock." "Lakeman
has an outstanding voice, great dialogue, and a terrific
character in Mike Yeager. I thought it was truly a virtuoso
performance." "The writing
is so damned good...Lakeman is a definite find."
Full Text of Boston Globe Review Ghouls, gore, and
a killer hangover The storytelling gets
off to a masterful start as we meet Philadelphia-based FBI profiler Mike
Yeager at a diner "three hours out of Vegas and six miles from nowhere."
Lakeman's description of the waitress shows off his eye for the telling
detail: "late thirties, sexy in a last-call-at-the-roadhouse way, with
a C-section scar smiling over her jeans." Before the end of
the first chapter Yeager has rescued an 8-year-old from a drunken former
Marine, Dale Dupree. He's also made himself persona non grata with the
local police, who impound his car and throw him in a "courtyard rattrap"
motel where his room smells "like cattle drainage." That night Yeager
gets a call from a contrite and now sober Dupree. "If I have to go away,
will you come look after my Cassie?" he begs. The phone disconnects.
When Dupree is found brutally murdered and his daughter Cassie disappears,
Yeager feels bound to honor the promise he never actually made. Yeager soon learns
that children have been disappearing for quite some time and an evil menace
hovers over this town, with its dried-up lake and sheriff who operates
outside the law. A little boy calls this elusive villain "the shadow
catcher," a creature who "takes the bad parts from inside you. All
the bad parts nobody wants," and turns them into something that "comes
and -- eats you up." Scary, even to a grown -up. Ultimately the novel
falters. Too many grisly murders, too many suspects, too many plot kinks
and switcheroos. Instead of "Aha!" at the end, it's "Huh?" Still, 7 1/2 innings of great writing makes for an auspicious debut. Full Text of Anniston Star review Mobile native pens addictive novel Mobile native Thomas Lakeman's first novel begins quietly in a booth at the Silver Star Café in the small Nevada town of San Cristobal, and it ends quietly on a park bench in front of the only hospital in San Cristobal. In between those peaceful moments is one of the most intense, fast-moving reads to be found this year. And there are more than enough hints that “The Shadow Catchers” is the beginning of a new series. Take warning: Allow enough time to finish the book once it's begun, for everything else will take a backseat. It is that addictive. Mike Yeager has come to Nevada to photograph its mountains, especially Sangre de los Niños (Blood of the Children). Mike is a Special Agent for the FBI, and his last case — a horrific child kidnapping — still haunts him. Mike is valuable to the FBI; he “looks at pictures” to see what they can tell him. Only just now he is planning to take his own pictures on vacation and on suspension while the bureau decides what his future will be. For that case had gone hideously wrong, and Mike could be responsible. He certainly isn't able to forgive himself for what happened. In fact, that's what's on his mind when he breaks up what he thinks is another kidnapping at the Silver Star the Halloween afternoon he stops to eat. Yet Dale Dupree, the apparent kidnapper, isn't what he seems. He is, in fact, the victim Mike hears murdered during a phone call that very night. And Dale is only the most recent victim. The young son of Ada Rosario, one of the town's deputies, was murdered a couple of weeks before Dale. And now Dale's young daughter Cassandra is missing. So Ada's boss enlists Mike's help. Not that Mike needs a lot of convincing. As Sheriff Rafe Archer tells him early on: “Men like you don't have jobs. What they have is crusades.” And that is, indeed, what Mike's new investigation becomes. And that new crusade unearths some formidable characters in Dyer County. Sheriff Archer is the self-appointed moral compass of the town. Archer's twin daughters are polar opposites. One is working as a prostitute in one of Nevada's legal brothels and was married to Dale Dupree. The other is married to Gavin McIntosh, the local minister. The Archer twins, along with Dale and his childhood friend Pete Frizelle, are part of something that happened at Cathedral Lake Camp a quarter of a century ago. Sheriff Archer, pediatrician Siegfried Lund, and undertaker Davis Freebairn know what happened. But even they cannot halt the murders that are currently playing out with the same brutality discovered at Cathedral Lake Camp years ago, a brutality now being orchestrated by someone at the heart of the investigation, someone who is the legacy of a secret buried 25 years ago. How Lakeman intertwines Mike's past with San Cristobal's is the major achievement of this first novel, that and dialogue that is as sharp as the novel's primary murder weapon. But even more, “The Shadow Catchers” is from a new writer who, let us hope, is planning to bring Mike Yeager South for his next case. Steven Whitton is a professor of English at Jacksonville State University.
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