| Publisher | Head of Zeus |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 10 November 2022 |
| ISBN-10 | 1803283947 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1803283944 |
| Format | paperback |
| Pages | 368 |
| Price | £ 7.99 |
Shadows Reel
by
Joe Pickett and his wife Marybeth become involved in a bid to recover some Nazi memorabilia, and falconer Nate Romanowski takes a trip to recover stolen raptors.
Review
This latest in the Joe Pickett series sees Joe called out by a rancher who suspects illegal hunting on his land, only to find a human victim. Joe’s wife Marybeth, the local librarian, is surprised to receive a donation of a photo album featuring prominent Nazis. Shortly afterwards, a neighbour is assaulted under peculiar circumstances.
It is Marybeth who puts the incidents together and comes to the conclusion that someone’s desire to recover the album is putting their family at risk. With the local sheriff being a bit slow, the family organise their own plans to lay a trap for the men thought to be behind it all.
The Picketts, including all three daughters, are somewhat unusually all gathered together for Thanksgiving. They also have guests: Nate Romanowski’s wife Liv and his daughter Kestrel. Nate is out of town on the trail of Axel Soledad, who assaulted his wife and stole the birds that are the foundation of Nate’s business.
Besides the business of thieving valuable trained falcons, Axel is also active in generating civil unrest for the sole purpose of facilitating his own nefarious activities. Using the dark web, he coordinates riots, and fuels the flame by organising caches of weapons to be used against the police.
This outing for Joe and friends contains less of the wildlife experience of the Wyoming wide-open country typical of the series, and more of challenges of an urban and more cosmopolitan flavour. The Nazi photo album story begins with a bit of mild looting by US soldiers in WWII, and ends with contemporary Hungarian politics, a context far wider than that in which Joe Pickett normally works.
Similarly with Nate’s adventure. Axel, the man he is chasing, is actively supporting agitators under the broad umbrella of the Black Lives Matter movement, and antifa. The latter is said to be a surprisingly small group of ‘trust-fund militants’, all with the newest iPhone, who assert an anarchist agenda: abolition of the police, of capitalism, and government. None of this makes much sense, but no doubt a few people determined to make trouble can create widespread mayhem.
Actually, both Joe and Nate seem to be becoming rather more a part of the forces of law and order than the rebels they seemed not so long ago. Nate has calmed down since he acquired a family, and Joe looks like he might come into a fortune. These friends of the wild are taking on a new look and some will regret that.
It is Marybeth who puts the incidents together and comes to the conclusion that someone’s desire to recover the album is putting their family at risk. With the local sheriff being a bit slow, the family organise their own plans to lay a trap for the men thought to be behind it all.
The Picketts, including all three daughters, are somewhat unusually all gathered together for Thanksgiving. They also have guests: Nate Romanowski’s wife Liv and his daughter Kestrel. Nate is out of town on the trail of Axel Soledad, who assaulted his wife and stole the birds that are the foundation of Nate’s business.
Besides the business of thieving valuable trained falcons, Axel is also active in generating civil unrest for the sole purpose of facilitating his own nefarious activities. Using the dark web, he coordinates riots, and fuels the flame by organising caches of weapons to be used against the police.
This outing for Joe and friends contains less of the wildlife experience of the Wyoming wide-open country typical of the series, and more of challenges of an urban and more cosmopolitan flavour. The Nazi photo album story begins with a bit of mild looting by US soldiers in WWII, and ends with contemporary Hungarian politics, a context far wider than that in which Joe Pickett normally works.
Similarly with Nate’s adventure. Axel, the man he is chasing, is actively supporting agitators under the broad umbrella of the Black Lives Matter movement, and antifa. The latter is said to be a surprisingly small group of ‘trust-fund militants’, all with the newest iPhone, who assert an anarchist agenda: abolition of the police, of capitalism, and government. None of this makes much sense, but no doubt a few people determined to make trouble can create widespread mayhem.
Actually, both Joe and Nate seem to be becoming rather more a part of the forces of law and order than the rebels they seemed not so long ago. Nate has calmed down since he acquired a family, and Joe looks like he might come into a fortune. These friends of the wild are taking on a new look and some will regret that.
Reviewed 25 March 2024 by Chris Roberts
