Being reunited with characters I love is always a pleasure. I’m not often a fan of series because I need resolution and leaving things in the air isn’t something I usually enjoy. Nevertheless, some series work for me and the Shadow series is one of them. I have to admit however that I struggled a bit with this instalment. It felt longer than the previous books and a lot of events were packed in that I’m not sure were necessary. Some seemed to happen only to be forgotten immediately and maybe they’ll make sense later in the series but right now, they’re mostly disconcerting. Which is probably how the characters feel as well at this point, because the title may be about truth but there are a whole lot of lies going around. Who can you trust when everyone around you is bound by secrets? When you, yourself, are sworn to secrecy?

The word that kept coming back to me is messy. It certainly fits the situations the author put her characters in, the events and the consequences of the war on the lives of all involved. The whole espionage plot and the twists it requires kept me intrigued even when the ups and downs of the MCs’ relationship made me want to shake them out of their wallowing and chest-beating.

My favourite thing about this series is the mood, the atmosphere. I grew up watching black and white movies with my father and Leak sends me right back to masterpieces like The Big Sleep or Gilda. Dark and smokey yet glamorous and sprinkled with surprising touches of vulnerability and tenderness. Bewitching, heady, dangerous. All adjectives that could be used for the femmes fatales who populate them. J.E. Leak recreates all this around characters whom I can’t help rooting for even when they infuriate me. On to book four, In the Shadow of Victory, which I hope will be released later this year. And if it’s not, I hope we get this one in audio. I can’t wait to hear Abby Craden’s interpretation of this part of the story. 3.5⭐️

In the Shadow of Truth @ amazon

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