Shadows of Death

By David Sundstrand

Book Overview

Seth Parker is considered a terrorist by the FBI and is credited with many unusual deaths in Southern California. A man who cut the beaks off of pelicans is found dead and lipless. Another man who ran a dog fighting ring is found torn apart by his own dogs. Two boys who posted a YouTube video of themselves blowing up cats are missing, and no one expects to find them in one piece. When Parker kills two poachers in the Mojave Desert for shooting burros, he falls into Frank Flynn's orbit. The problem is that Flynn sympathizes with Parker more than he should. Because of this connection and his intimate knowledge of the desert, Flynn seems able to anticipate Parker's next moves, though he is always one step behind. With the opening of Sand Canyon, Flynn finds himself in the awkward position of having to protect an exclusive hunting resort. He'll have to come to terms with this duty, if he's to stay alive. David Sundstrand's second novel gives more incredible descriptions of the desert and a riveting story.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250005426
• ISBN13: 9781250005427
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

guns in the Mohave

I'm awed by Sunstrand's plotting skills. What kind of a devious mind comes up with all those intersecting webs and keeps all the balls in the air until the last resolution? Impressive! The Mohave desert settings are wonderful as are the characters. All the gun biz sounded authoritative and I realize that it matters, though it passed over my head, but the ramifications of shooting were fascinating, the shooting of defenseless animals, the shooting of defenseless people, the game shooting preserve (ugh - what an awful travesty of just about everything), the military shooting. the shooting in self defense... I'd not put all that together until now, but it really is a book about shooting. Well done.

great thriller

In the Mojave Desert, Bureau of Land Management Agent Frank Flynn investigates the murder of two poachers; near their corpses are dead wild burros that give the crime scene the appearance of someone who assassinated the two men for murdering the wild animals. Frank believes a radical animal rights group MDG led by Seth Parker killed the victims to end their shooting the burros as sport. Whereas he understands the extreme of the Parker crowd, FBI Agents Ellis and Novak assume Frank is an idiotic bureaucrat as they believe those opposed to hunting for sport are anti-American "animal rights terrorists." Flynn thinks the opening of an affluent hunting club with imported prey will prove a fetching challenge to Parker. Although he emphasizes with the radical's goal, he abhors the means. Each takes steps closer to a final conflict as Parker, dying from an illness, plans to change the exotic hunting target to "The Most Dangerous Game"; collateral damage is acceptable. With homage to the great Richard Connell short story, readers are hooked from the first carcass to the last in one of the most exciting thrillers of the winter. The story line is action-packed and never slows down. Parker and Flynn come across as genuine individuals making the anticipated High Noon that much better; while the FBI agents are a bit stereotyped. With a strong sense of place and purpose, SHADOWS IN DEATH is a great thriller that will send newcomers seeking Flynn's previous BLM tale (see SHADOW OF THE RAVEN). Harriet Klausner