Shadows of the Dead

If you haven't discovered Spencer Kope and his Special Tracking Unit series, you are missing out. I was lucky enough to receive a ebook ARC from Netgalley for the purpose of this review.

There are a lot of really good thriller writers out there. Greg Hurwitz, Nick Petrie, Ben Coes and now it's time to add Kope to the list.
His thrillers are unique. His hero's aren't larger than life, they can't go toe to toe with Dewey, or Reacher or Peter Ash, but they don't need to. Kope's protagonist, Magnus "Steps" Craig, a professional tracker for the FBI has a secret. He can see everyone's shine. Every person leaves a residue, when he walks, or touches something. All of these shines have a different and distinct color, and just like DNA no two are the same. His ability to see shine is from his childhood where he got lost in the woods and actually died from hypothermia. After being brought back to life, he could see the shine.
Quite handy for a tracker of killers. The only people "in the know" are his partner Jimmy and the FBI Director.
In Shadows of the Dead, women are being abducted and "fixed" because they are broken. This fixing comes in the form of casts made of their faces and then those casts being placed in mannequins and posed in lifelike situations. Then, the women are killed.
In the course of their investigation, they come to find out that an individual known as the Onion King, is responsible.
The story moves along, with great forensics, the dark web and characters you cheer for as they hunt for the killer. One extra benefit of shine is that Steps can tell if a person is still alive by the look of the shine. Which becomes increasingly important as another women is abducted and they must find her before her fate matches all the others.
If you haven't discovered this author, Pick up book 1, Collecting the Dead and enjoy. Kope has the professional background as a criminal analyst to give a believability to his work which can sometimes be lacking in other writers.

When I first started to read this book I was thinking I would only give it 4 stars. As I got farther into it I realized that was not to be the case.

Magnus Craig has a unique skill. He is able to discern what he terms "shine" from the victims and perpetrators at a crime scene. Everyone has a distinct aura and he has the amazing ability to use his gift for good by becoming an exceptional tracker.

This case presents a very sadistic killer who is as smart as he is evil. The FBI Special Tracking Team has it's work cut out for it when they begin their search for him. A young woman's life hangs in the balance. Will they get there in time?

Did I mention the ending???? Talk about edge of your seat!

I loved this book! I read it in a day and from the very first page, it had me hooked. I could not put it down! The story is engrossing and the characters are wonderful. The way the author tells the story is a little like Robert Crais and his Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels. “Steps” is funny and smart and with the “Shine” he is an unforgettable character. Every time I put this book down, I could not wait to pick it up again.. it is full of mystery, intrigue and humor. I absolutely can not wait to read every thing this author has done. With this one book, he has become a favorite author of mine. Spencer Kope is an author who will have you staying up all night in order to finish the book.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this arc.

I very much enjoyed the previous two books of this series and read this one in a single sitting. Magnus (Steps) Craig does not seem to be typical FBI material, but he has the ability to see "shine" when he's not wearing his special prismatic glasses. "Shine" is like a person's aura that is shed like dead skin cells wherever the person has been, and it's as unique as the person's DNA. Aha, it's a no-brainer that he's part of the FBI's Special Tracking Unit..

The story took off like a car race...…. and stayed like that most of the way through out. It slowed just a little for detailed forensic explanations and dark web workings. Travel time between various crime scenes was spent in contemplative musings and discussions with his partner. Their basic decency and humanity really shined there.

The bad guys were really bad and the good guys were great. All felt real and fully developed.

384 pages

5 stars

Wow! How did I miss this author?

A high speed car chase. A crash. An unconscious woman in the trunk. A chase through the woods. The suspect is caught.

Magnus “Steps” Craig and his partner James “Jimmy” Donovan are on the case and the arrest. They form two members of the three person Special Tracking Unit of the FBI. The third person is Diane. She is an IT Specialist. Steps has a special ability that greatly aids him in tracking people. Only Jimmy knows about it.

When the suspect Murphy Cotton keeps calling the woman in the trunk “number eight,” the agents get a bad feeling. After interviewing him, they know that he is not working alone. There is a shadowy figure who calls himself the “Onion King” pulling his strings.

They are saddened to learn that there are indeed eight women.

Steps, Jimmy and Diane are able to pick up some valuable clues from not only their research, but that of neighboring – and very helpful – police forces. They are as anxious as the FBI to capture this serial killer.

This is a fast-paced thriller. It is also a detailed and highly interesting police procedural. It shows all the disappointments and triumphs of an investigation. I like the way that Mr. Kope interjects occasional humor to break the awful tension the agents and police officers must be feeling. As Steps tells the story, the reader is right there. I was riding in the car with them, witnessing the awful results of the murders, and eavesdropping in on various conversations. I usually don't enjoy stories told in the first person, but Mr. Kope made Steps so very real, and so human. I really liked him and Jimmy. I liked their interactions and ability to work well with one another. They communicated on a level that didn't need words. This is my first Spencer Kope novel, but it certainly won't be my last. I loved the book!

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for forwarding to me a copy of this remarkable book for me to read, enjoy and review.

This is the first book by this author I've read, or even heard of, but if his other books are like this I am definitely going to be finding his other works to read!

Magnus Craig also known as Steps, is part of the elite 3 man Special Tracking Unit of the FBI. Known for his ability to find and follow trails over any surface, Steps is called in on cases that require his unparalleled skills. But there’s a secret to his talent. Steps has a kind of synesthesia where he can see the ‘essence’ of a person, what he calls "shine", on everything they’ve touched. Every person's "shine" is unique. His ability came from a childhood trauma of being lost in the woods and died from hypothermia, when he was brought back he could see the "shine."

A woman is abducted and found in the trunk of a car after a high-speed chase, she regains consciousness in the ICU to reveal two crucial pieces of information: the man who kidnapped her is not the same as the man who left her in the woods, and she's not the first victim, she is number 8! All 8 of the women had casts made of their faces and then those were placed in mannequins to be posed in situations that were very lifelike before being killed.

Brought in to track the driver through a dense forest after the blood hounds have lost his trail, Steps and his partner, Jimmy, find the driver laughing maniacally, babbling about souls, and hiding a pristinely maintained box of eight posed rats. Now the Special Tracking Unit must chase two villains, through not just the real world, but the dark web as well, tracking an enemy they can't see, as time runs out for the unknown victims.

Spencer Kope has drawn me in with the synopsis of this unique thriller. The author was very detailed about the forensics and dark web aspects of this book. And the characters were very in depth.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is the third Special Tracking Unit book, although the author provides enough background in this book that you do not have to read the first two, though I would recommend them because they are very good. Magnus “Steps” Craig is part of an elite unit that track, usually, serial killers. Steps is known for his ability to see the ‘shine’ of a person, a trail of colours over most any surface, that are unique to a person. This allows him to follow the trail where otherwise law enforcement might not have investigated. As is the case in this story, after a car chase and crash, a woman is found in the trunk of the car. The driver has taken off into the woods. Steps is able to follow his trail to a remote cabin where the suspect is eventually arrested. The story moves along at a quick pace, events happen, are investigated which leads to the next clue. I would highly recommend this book, it is very good. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I have loved Steps and Jimmy in the first two books of this series, and they are even better in this book. This case started out a lot different than the cases in the previous books. Just the fact that there was a survivor and they found her in the trunk of her kidnapper’s car made this story start off very different. The story was made even trickier because the dark web was involved along with tracking in the real world. I am excited to read the next book in this series.

It was a crazy novel that reminds me of criminal minds.i would like to think netgalley for letting me review this book.

#shadow of the dead. I absolutely loved this book it is the third in the trilogy. It has such a interesting take on his special skills and it wasn’t far fetched. This was a absolutely amazing book!! Please read

It is a bit hard to review this book without giving away parts that would be better left for the reader to discover.
It is a bit Si-Fi, a bit macabre with a lot mystery. I really enjoyed the author's sly, dry, and witty humor dispersed throughout. I would read another book by this author for sure!

Marcus "Steps" Craig is part of the FBI's elite tracking unit. And he's got a special skill that only his partner Jimmy knows about: he sees "shine," the individual aurae people leave behind. This helps him both track the movement of suspects and follow the path of the dead to their resting places.

He and Jimmy are called out to help track down a suspect in the Pacific Northwest who kidnapped a young woman. But finding their suspect is just the start. It turns out he's been killing women that another man, the self-titled Onion King, has left for him.

Shadows of the Dead follows the story of Steps, Jimmy, their colleague and local law enforcement as they track down the Onion King before he kidnaps any more women. Can they catch him in time?

Shadows of the Dead has great central characters and a fast-paced story. I highly recommend reading it.

Shadows of the Dead is my first book from Spencer Kope! When I finished this book, i started looking for other books from Kope and came to know that Shadows of the Dead belongs to a series.. wow.. but this book can definitely pass for a standalone. The thing is you cannot stop with this one! Reading through the story reminded me of all the mystery/thriller FBI series I have watched.. ( like Criminal Minds)! Try this one you definitely won’t be disappointed.. its hard to review without giving out the interesting parts. And believe me there are a lot of interesting, page turning, mysteries!
Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for ARC. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way!

I really liked this book. The characters were very well developed and the plot & storyline were great. It was very suspenseful and hard to tell exactly what was going to happen at the end. I really liked that the plot wasn't dependant on the previous books. The author made sure to cover any important info and gave more than enough background to fill in any gaps. I've already ordered the first book in the series to get caught up.

This is the third book in the Special Unit Tracking series by Spencer Kope. While I did not read the first two books in this series, it was easy to catch up and understand what was happening in the book.

Magnus "Steps" Craig, has an ability, which he calls the Shine. It allows him to see where people have walked previously, every person has a shine. Steps uses this ability to help catch killers.

When Steps gets a call that a woman was abducted and found in a trunk and she claims that the person who was driving the car was not the one who abducted her, he knows that he has to step in this case. The driver of the car is babbling about "fixing" the Women and something about The Onion King. Steps and his partner Jimmy try to solve the case and catch the killer before The Onion King abducts and kills another woman.

I think the Kope did a great job explaining Steps ability and he really allows you to understand and see what Steps sees while using his ability.

This book is a little hard to review without giving away what happens in the story and any of the "good" parts that you just don't want spoiled when reading a book.

I think that the characters are well developed and are easy to relate to and it almost seems like real life. The characters interact as if they were real. The conversations are not forced and are like normal people having conversations.

My favourite character besides steps would have to be their "secretary" I won't say why, but you'll understand why when you read the book.

The book is well written and securely fits into the thriller/mystery genre and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys mysteries and thrillers.

Great book, I didn’t like the dubbed killers name.... it was hard for me to take it seriously. Otherwise it was a great book.

Not at all what was expected! This is the third book of the Special Tracking series and can be read as a stand alone. Spencer Kope offers a fantastic police procedural/crime thriller balanced with a subtle hint of sci-fi. The fact that Kope plays up the enigma for what it is and allows the characters a natural response does well to balance the story line. The crime/police procedural is absolutely evocative and enthralling. An excellent read and a great introduction to the next book! Loved it.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC of #ShadowsoftheDead, which was read and reviewed voluntarily by @wayward_readers

What can I say? I loved this book! I can’t wait to get my hands on more by this author. The story drew me in from the start with action around every corner, some freaky and weird, and some evil and gruesome. The characters were so well developed with every super ability counterbalanced by human flaws and anxieties. And as the plot unfolded the climax was not squeezed into a final page or chapter, rather it kept the reader in suspense with heart racing and fear in the eyes for page upon page, chapter after chapter, high octane right to the end. Thank you to netgalley for an advance copy of this hugely entertaining read.

Thank you Netgalley for an eARC of this in exchange for an honest review.
This was the first book in the series I read, so I was a little confused, but no fault to the book. I really enjoy detective reads and this one was a hit for me.