The Shadow Box by Luanne Rice ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

"I told myself I was not the 'abused woman type' - as if there were such a thing.  I was strong, could take care of myself, and I could handle anyone's pain and carry it for them.  But abuse, though it can seem to happen all at once, is cumulative."  ( p 55)

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

February 2021; Thomas & Mercer; 978-1542025188
audio, ebook, print (368 pages); psychological thriller

Amazon Charts bestselling author Luanne Rice delivers a haunting thriller about how far one wife is willing to go to expose the truth—and the lengths someone will go to stop her.

Claire is an artist who creates shadow boxes out of found items -- mostly from the beach.  When she doesn't show up for her art exhibit, her husband Griffin goes to their house to look for her - what he finds is blood all over the garage but Claire is nowhere to be found.  The police suspect that she had been murdered and her body disposed of but in reality, Claire managed to get herself into the woods to hide from her husband.  The reason she was hiding from her husband, a lawyer running for governor, is the main question in the novel.  When a boat explodes killing a friend of Claire's and the two children on the boat disappear, thought to be drowned, the police begin to wonder if there is a connection between the two events.  As the police work on the two cases, Claire must decide how she's going to stop her husband and his corrupt friends and end his candidacy for governor.  Her life is already in danger and she has to decide whether to protect herself and stay hidden or come out of hiding and make sure the world knows about Griffin's past.

I enjoyed my first book by Luanne Rice. It started off strong and made you keep turning pages until you find out who is responsible for wanting to kill Claire. The story is told in a series of flashbacks mingled in with the present-day story. There are a lot of characters and I had to make a chart to remember who everyone was but once I got to know them better, it was no problem. There were some surprises at the end that I didn't see coming but looking back, the clues were there and I missed them.  Overall, The Shadow Box was a roller coaster ride of a book that will keep you enthralled until the end.

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Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina with her husband of over 50 years.  She grew up in Michigan but now calls North Carolina home. Since her travel plans had to be canceled for this year, she is starting to make plans for travel in 2021. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and historical fiction. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter. 

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