Review by S P -- Shadow Game by A.M. Adair

[S P]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Shadow Game" by A.M. Adair.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Shadow Game is a fast-paced spy novel from the real-life Navy Intelligence Officer, A.M. Adair. It follows Elle Anderson, an undercover CIA officer with the deadly skills necessary to fulfil some of the Agency’s most brutal missions. With two computer geniuses and an old friend as her team, Elle sets out to take down a massive international terrorist organisation, starting with a list of people that she intends to kill. Despite clashing with the patriarchal attitudes of her military colleagues, Elle’s experience, focus and fatal precision should ensure her success – but when the mission becomes more dangerous than she expected, she finds herself fighting for her life.

Adair’s debut novel is an interesting take on the spy genre and comes saturated with obvious personal experience from the author herself. The narrative is tense and electric from the first page and takes very little time to get going, with a rapidly-progressing, action-filled plot. The fast pace of the novel meant that I was never bored while reading it, and the book covers a lot of ground in a relatively small number of pages. I particularly enjoyed the action scenes, which were the most engaging aspect of the novel; for example, Elle’s first expedition to the terrorists’ compound was my favourite chapter of the book, thanks to the detailed descriptions of Elle’s activities, which made for a highly captivating read. I also found it striking that the terrorist organisation featured in the novel is a real-life organisation, rather than fictional. For me, this brought the events of the book closer to reality. In fact, throughout the novel, Adair’s wealth of real-life experience added a level of accuracy to the plot. For example, explanations of the hawala banking system used by terrorist organisations contributed to the novel’s authenticity and helped to create an immersive reading experience.

However, I felt that Shadow Game was lacking in many areas. The main problem was how hasty the narrative could be at some points, rushing clumsily through the filler plot between action scenes and allowing no time for character development. While Elle’s moonlighting as a government assassin is written with good detail and description, the accompanying scenes at the Ops Centre are perfunctory at best. This contributed to my second qualm; for the first novel in a series, I felt that there was so little character depth and development that I came away from the book with no understanding of who the story was about or who the main players were. Even at the beginning of the novel there was no effort to introduce the protagonist; basic details like physical descriptions or background information were left out. To give a specific example, at no point in the novel are we told what Elle’s hair colour is – details like this would have been useful to aid the reader’s imagination.

I also felt that the interpersonal dynamics described in the novel were incredibly artificial and unrealistic. Although there is some effort to create a romantic subplot between the protagonist and a peripheral character, the author spends very little time developing their relationship and instead forces a connection with little explanation to accompany it. Additionally, Elle seems to have wonderfully close relationships with all her team members, but these relationships are never given any basis or justification. Furthermore, the written dialogue between characters is quite unnatural, which takes away from the overarching story and the relationships described.

Despite its shortcomings, Shadow Game was well edited and a compelling read. However, I am choosing to rate this book 2 out of 4 stars, due to the lack of in-depth characterisation and plot development at times.

Adult readers who enjoy high-octane spy novels will like Shadow Game. I would recommend it to anyone who appreciates a strong female protagonist and a dynamic storyline. However I would discourage readers who are more sensitive to graphic violence and sexual content from reading this novel, since both appear in noticeable quantities throughout the book.

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Shadow Game
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[markodim721]

It is a real pity that the characters are not better developed, because that is often the flywheel of the whole plot and the main quality of every book.

[S P]

It is a real pity that the characters are not better developed, because that is often the flywheel of the whole plot and the main quality of every book.

Yes, it was hard to get into the book for sure! I love to really empathise with characters as well, so it was a disappointing aspect of this novel.

[DANAWEB]

I love spy novels and this book fit the bill. Just want to try this. Thank you for the detailed review!

[taejin jin]

Spy novels are such an interesting genre. I jumped at the opportunity to read this and your review was so cool. I'll adding this to my list, right now!