Shadows Still Remain

Peter De Jonge who has co-authored three books with James Patterson accomplishes something Patterson has not been able to do in a couple of years... and that is... write a compelling... interesting crime mystery... from start to finish. The author provides a fast-paced mystery that utilizes "Joseph Wambaugh-like"... lightly humorous... but accurate... character descriptions... of both good guys and bad. He also steers clear of the "Patterson-like" *SCHOOL-GIRL-GUSH" romantic interludes that make an adult reader feel like they have picked up a prepubescent girl's young romance novel. The story takes place in the NYPD's Seventh Precinct... in and around the NYU campus. The protagonist is Detective Darlene (Dar) O'Hara a hard-drinking single mother... a self-described "BROOKLYN-IRISH"... with an eighteen-year-old son named Axl Rose O'Hara who is a freshman at the University of Washington. After introducing Dar and her trusty partner Serge Krekorian... the author displays a little humor describing some run of the mill... paltry crimes... and a cast of derelict local criminals... to get the readers familiar with both the personality of Dar and Serge... along with the integrated teamwork they display on a daily basis. Then on Thanksgiving, nineteen-year-old Francesca Pena... a Puerto Rican NYU sophomore on a track scholarship goes missing... thus creating a non-stop bevy of activity in and around the Seventh Precinct. Dar and Serge get the case... *BUT*... "if Pena's disappearance is upgraded to a homicide, she and Krekorian will only get to work it for seventy-two-hours. Then it will be turned over to Homicide South, and for O'Hara and Krekorian, it's back to burglaries and domestic disputes"... such as a local purse thief Astrid and her stroller and fake kids... and Dolores in her bathrobe. The reader is given a literary tour of the underbelly of New York. From the projects... to cheap bars... to cheaper strip joints... to illegal escort services... to tattoo parlors... and then Pena's body is found nude... wrapped in a shower curtain in a disgusting bathroom in East River Park... and according to the ME... "THERE IS EXTENSIVE EVIDENCE OF TORTURE... THE VICTIM HAS BEEN REPEATEDLY AND SYSTEMATICALLY GOUGED, CUT AND BURNED, FRONT AND BACK, FROM ANKLES TO SHOULDERS... BLUNT TRAUMA"... MULTIPLE RAPES... "THE BODY IS COVERED FRONT AND BACK WITH APPROXIMATELY SIXTY GOUGES MADE WITH A CRUDE SERRATED BLADE... GOUGES RANGE WIDELY IN SIZE, SHAPE AND DEPTH... BODY HAS ALSO BEEN REPEATEDLY BURNED WITH A CIGARETTE LIGHTER AND SLICED WITH A SECOND KNIFE, ALTHOUGH THE NUMBER OF SLICING CUTS AND BURNS IS SIGNIFICANTLY SMALLER THAN THE GOUGES... THE GOUGING ALONE WOULD HAVE TAKEN SEVERAL HOURS AND CAUSED CONSIDERABLE LOSS OF BLOOD, BUT NOT NECESSARILY A FATAL ONE, AND ALTHOUGH THE VICTIM HAS BEEN SUBJECTED TO OVERWHELMING HOMICIDAL VIOLENCE, THERE IS NO CLEAR SINGLE CAUSE OF DEATH... THE LIVIDITY, OR BRUISING, SUGGESTS THE VICTIM DID NOT BLEED TO DEATH... I THINK

Fiction is the purest form of storytelling. Peter De Jonge has used his writing skills to transform the reader. Though death is never pleasant, the reader is pleasantly surprised with whom the "bad guy" turns out to be. I felt as if it was I walking down the lonely streets of the lower east side, I tasted every drink that the heroine "Detective Darlene O'Hara" put to her lips and I'm thirsty for more. Bravo Peter!

If the name Peter de Jonge sounds familiar to a reader, it's because it has appeared next to the mega best-selling author James Patterson's name, and credited as co-author of several best-sellers such as "Miracle on the 17th Green," and "The Beach House". "Shadows Still Remain" is his first novel written without collaboration with Mr. James Patterson. It is an impressive debut. After a night of heavy drinking, when Francesca Pena, a beautiful teenaged NYU student disappears, the case is assigned to Detective Darlene O'Hara. However, when Francesca's battered body is found in East River Park, the missing person case is suddenly transformed into a case of homicide, and the case is taken off Detective O'Hara's hands. Unwilling to let go of the case, O'Hara, a single mother and tenacious, continues her investigation privately and uncovers a hidden facet of Francesca's dark, secret life at an escort service and a strip club too. The setting of the novel - the Lower East Side of New York, with is narrow, shadowy streets, tiny bars, tattoo parlors, boutiques, and small parks, create a bewitching and interesting back ground. The story is fast paced. And full of unexpected twists and turns, the plot becomes more complex. With the second book featuring Detective O'Hara now in progress, Peter de Jonge has created a bright new crime fiction series. I found the book well-plotted, well-written, fast-paced, gripping and highly readable.

I'm not a big crime novel reader, so I can't compare the book so definitively with other recent examples of the genre, but I thought this was just a great novel period. I knew of Peter De Jonge's writing not from his work with Patterson, but from his smart, very funny, extremely well written profiles in the New York Times magazine. Shadows Still Remain has the same terrific character development, economy, surprising detail and evocative observation that De Jonge brought to those magazine pieces. And it is a great, fast paced story. I am already excited to see what he writes next. I've heard that there will be some sort of sequel to Shadows and I can't blame his publisher since the main character, Detective O'Hara, is terrific. But I am actually looking forward to seeing him write something that isn't bound by genre. In the meantime, though, I recommend this book as highly as possible.

I disappeared briefly from society when I picked this book up. Once I started, I could not put it down, and I didn't want it to end. An amazing read. The wordsmithing is brilliant and the story so cleverly evolves. The descriptions of the gritty, seamy side of New York City and characters who frequently find themselves there are vivid and engaging. Being familiar with the city, I found it to be a somewhat surreal experience to read it as I felt completely swept up in the sights and dives of the Lower East Side. I hope I get to read more of de Jonge's heroine detective in the future.