Shadow Of the Gypsy by Shelly Frome- Review

Teddyrose@1

2 years ago

Shadow Of the Gypsy by Shelly Frome

Publisher: Boutique of Quality Books (May 3, 2022)
Category: Amateur Sleuths, Crime Thriller, Love Story
Tour dates: June 9-July 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1952782572
Available in Print and ebook, 330 pages

Description Shadow Of the Gypsy by Shelly Frome

A nemesis out of the past suddenly returns, forcing Josh Bartlett to come to terms with his true identity.

Josh Bartlett had figured all the angles, changed his name, holed up as a small-town features writer in the seclusion of the Blue Ridge. Only a few weeks more and he’d begin anew, return to the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut and Molly (if she’d have him) and, at long last, live a normal life. After all, it was a matter of record that Zharko had been deported well over a year ago.

The shadowy form Josh had glimpsed yesterday at the lake was only that—a hazy shadow under the eaves of the activities building. It stood to reason his old nemesis was still ensconced overseas in Bucharest or thereabouts well out of the way. And no matter where he was, he wouldn’t travel thousands of miles to track Josh down. Surely that couldn’t be, not now, not after all this.

Review Shadow Of the Gypsy by Shelly Frome

Guest Review by Mark

A young man in hiding finds out that you can’t always escape your past in this tense and implosive thriller from author Shelly Frome.

Since he was a boy, Josh Bartlett has lived with a secret. It was this secret that made him leave his home in Connecticut and move all the way to the mountains of North Carolina, to work as a reporter. Now, however, that secret is in jeopardy, Josh will have to fight with everything that he has to keep the life that he has created.

When he was a child, Josh witnessed something that he wasn’t supposed to see. The act was at the hands of a man named Zharko, a criminal who has been looking for Josh ever since. And now Zharko has finally gotten his wish, he finds Josh in North Carolina and threatens him into committing a crime of his own.

Much of the tension in this novel derives from the interactions between Josh and Zharko and their ambiguous past dealings. At the beginning of the novel, we are told that Josh witnessed Zharko committing a murder, but no other specifics about the killing.

Reading along as the full knowledge of what happened all those years earlier slowly unfolded left me in awe of the writing. Shelly Frome’s talent for slowly revealing the answer to a mystery is unmatched, and his ability to keep the reader mesmerized is second to none.

After I finished this book, I looked back and realized that I had no inkling of how everything was going to turn out at the start of reading and I was so pleased to have been taken on such a mind-bending journey. ‘Shadow of the Gypsy,’ is worth reading in so many ways, but most of all for the mystery which is definitely going to be unlike anything you’ve ever read before!

About Shelly Frome

Award winning author, Shelly Frome is a member of Mystery Writers of America, a professor of dramatic arts emeritus at the University of Connecticut, a former professional actor, a writer of crime novels, cozy mystery novels, and books on theater and film. He is also a features writer for Gannett Media’s Black Mountain News. His fiction includes Sun Dance for Andy Horn, Lilac Moon, Twilight of the Drifter, Tinseltown Riff, Murder Run, Moon Games and The Secluded Village Murders.

Among his works of non-fiction are The Actors Studio and texts on the art and craft of screenwriting and writing for the stage. Miranda and the D-Day Caper was his last foray into the world of crime and the amateur sleuth, until now. He lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

Website: http://www.shellyfrome.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shellyfrome
Twitter: https://twitter.com/shellyFrome