Thursday, August 10, 2017

Review ~ SHADOW GIRL by Gerry Schmitt

Shadow Girl (Afton Tangler Thriller, #2)
by: Gerry Schmitt
Series: Afton Tangler Thriller
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: August 1, 2017
Publisher: Berkley Books


The brutal murder of a business tycoon leaves Afton Tangler and the Twin Cities reeling, but that’s just the beginning of a gruesome crime spree...

Leland Odin made his fortune launching a home shopping network, but his millions can’t save his life. On the list for a transplant, the ailing businessman sees all hope lost when the helicopter carrying his donor heart is shot out of the sky.

Now with two pilots dead and dozens injured, Afton Tangler, family liaison officer for the Minneapolis Police Department, is drawn into the case. As she and her partner investigate family members and business associates, whoever wants Leland dead strikes again—and succeeds—in a brazen hospital room attack.

The supposedly squeaky clean millionaire has crossed the wrong person—and she’s not finished exacting her revenge. The case explodes into an international conspiracy of unbridled greed and violence. And as Afton gets closer to unearthing the mastermind behind it, she gets closer to becoming collateral damage..



Shadow Girl marks my first time reading a book by Gerry Schmitt.  Overall, it was a good book.  Shadow Girl could have been great but I felt as if it dragged along longer than necessary.  The problem may very well be that I have set a high bar because I read Crime/Suspense Novels every week.  That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy this one, I just wanted more action.  The characters were interesting and I did like the plot.  Shadow Girl is also the second book in the series so it’s possible that details in the first book may have made me like this one more.

This is the story of Minneapolis PD Family Liaison Officer Afton Tangler and her involvement in an investigation where a medical helicopter carrying the future heart of a rich shopping network executive named Leland Odin was apparently shot down.  The motive behind this incident is very difficult to figure out at first.  However, for the reader, it’s clear that it’s a simple case of revenge at it’s worst.  The person exacting that revenge is an older woman from Thailand who is a crime boss in her own right.  She doesn’t get her hands dirty but she does make sure that her orders are carried out to the letter.  The hired help that she uses are also just as interesting but not as refined as she is.  Needless to say, the criminals play a huge role in this circus.  When it’s all said and done, there are at least 5 people that are murdered and the police would be nowhere without Afton’s assistance.  Since she is not actually a trained police officer, I found it bizarre that she was always putting herself in danger.  She didn’t even have a gun which I could have overlooked if she was a ninja or something but that wasn’t the case at all.  She was a divorced mother of two little girls and a dog.  How she manages to stay alive throughout several run-ins with a heartless killer, I have no idea.

Overall, Shadow Girl was definitely enjoyable.  It had several high points and I would not be opposed to reading another book from this series.

**Received a copy of the book from the publisher and voluntarily reviewed.**

Rating: 3.5

Purchase Shadow Girl from:

The Afton Tangler Thriller Series:

Gerry Schmitt is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty-five mysteries, including the Afton Tangler Thrillers, as well as the Tea Shop, Scrapbooking, and the Cackleberry Club mysteries, written under the pen name Laura Childs. She is the former CEO of her own marketing firm, has won dozens of TV and radio awards, produced two reality TV shows, and invests in small businesses. She and her professor husband enjoy collecting art, traveling, and have two Shar-Peis.

Places to find Gerry Schmitt:

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