Review: great, believable characters
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 7, 2012
Allen Caraway's "Drowning in Shadow" was quite good.  I think the characters were realistic, the dialogue tight, and the pacing even.  The plot did require you to accept some pretty amazing coincidences, but then, many stories are based on just the right person being at just the right place at just the right time.Sam Munro is a car magazine writer based in London.  He's flown out to Montana to do a story, but encounters supernatural occurrences that throw him for a loop.  Little does he know that he's in the hometown of his high school sweetheart, Jane Liberton.  He also doesn't know that she's been missing for years and presumed murdered.  When he finally accepts that these supernatural happenings are Jane's spirit asking for help, he begins searching for the truth of what happened to her with the help of several locals.  Along the way, he begins falling for a local waitress named Ashley.While I don't typically read "ghost stories," I was pretty moved by the strange things that happened to Sam.  Ironically, once they happen, the occurrences pretty much stopped.  So the switch from a ghost story to a whodunit without supernatural elements was a bit surprising.One thing that pleased me was the fact that Sam didn't go from an average magazine writer to super sleuth detective in the blink of an eye.  So often writers create supposedly average characters who get themselves involved in a strange situation only to become adept at escaping hitmen or assassins, digging out the truth from deep, dark crevices, etc.  So good on Caraway for writing a very average, believable character!Full disclosure:  After reading some of my other reviews at Amazon, Caraway asked me to read and review "Drowning in Shadow."  I do not know Allen.