Land of Shadows: Characterisation goodness!!

What is this about?

The murder of a 17-year-old girl draws Lou Norton into an investigation that she thinks will link to her sister’s death thirty years ago.

What else is this about?

A superb introduction to a complex  character and the experience of an African American girl growing up in LA, and becoming a cop.

Blurb

Along the ever-changing border of gentrifying Los Angeles, a seventeen-year-old girl is found dead at a construction site, hanging in the closet of an unfinished condominium.

Homicide detective Elouise “Lou” Norton’s new partner Colin Taggert, fresh from the Colorado Springs police department, assumes it’s a teenage suicide. Lou isn’t buying the easy explanation. For one thing, the condo site is owned by Napoleon Crase, a self-made millionaire… and the man who may have murdered Lou’s missing sister thirty years ago.

As Lou investigates the death of Monique Darson, she uncovers undeniable links between the two cases. She is convinced that when she solves Monique’s case she will finally bring her lost sister home. But as she gets closer to the truth, she also gets closer to a violent killer. After all this time, can he be brought to justice… before Lou becomes his next victim?

The Land of Shadows is utterly utterly compelling and unputdownable.

I know, I’m not given to hyperbole (HA) but seriously, Lou is one of the most relatable and complex female characters I’ve read in a long time. She is a cop, one of the best if not the best in the homicide department. She may be one of the boys, but no-one will forget she’s a woman either.

When the book opens, she and her new white partner with the funny ears, Colin, are assigned to investigate the murder of a 17-year-old girl found in a condo site with links to Napolean Crase, a millionaire and the man, Lou is convinced, murdered her sister all those years before.

Her investigation takes her back to her neighbourhood, forcing her to remember her life there and splitting the book into two timelines: the present and the past, the day her sister disappeared.

Hands down the best thing about this book is Lou: she is a multi-faceted character. An accomplished homicide detective, and badass like you would expect. But she has been scarred by her sister’s disappearance, to the point that her lying cheating husband is happy to use that as an excuse as to why he had an affair. Thing is when it comes to Tori, Lou is vulnerable, her sister is her chink in her armor, and she is guilty of everything he says – but not that issues like that give her husband a reason to step out on her.

Her vulnerability and steel beneath that is a contrast to the homicide detective persona, but the author strikes this balance between the two that come together to create Lou – and make her all the compelling. This is a woman who wants her marriage to work, but she’s also got to face that it isn’t going to.

The investigation takes Lou back to her neighbourhood, visiting Monique’s family, and her sister, as well as friends from thirty years ago who don’t remember her, but remember what happened to Tori – they just don’t see Tori’s little sister before them. There’s an experience of growing up black in America that comes through in these scenes, though I am so ill-equipped to articulate it completely. There women who have children and grandchildren that are way too young, and older than their age. There are men who adore their partners and others who don’t think very much of them.

And into all this comes a killer.

The investigation is as fascinating as Lou, and the killer entirely unexpected as she uncovers more about her past and Tori’s past.

I won’t say too much more, because spoilers and I would be inclined to spill everything just so you understand how such brilliant characterisation drives this investigation and delivers an unexpected ending – to Lou and readers, right down to the very last page.