Allreaders.com
Author Judie Aitken booklist (click here)

Book Review By Harriet Klausner
Secret Shadows by Judie Aitken



Berkley, Dec 2004, 6.50, 336 pp.
ISBN: 042519941X

Dane White Eagle works undercover for the FBI at the Cold Creek Lakota Reservation in South Dakota trying to find the lab where the Big Elk gang makes dangerous Ecstasy to sell to tribe members. Dane takes his dying thirteen year old sister Kylee to a party in Rapid City, but stops at his home. When he returns he finds Kylee shot with his revolver in her good hand. He quickly takes her to the nearby Pennington General ER where Dr. Claire Colby pronounces Kylee dead.

Dane's FBI partners arrange for him to be convicted of his sister's murder. In prison he befriends Big Elk before being released on a technicality. Big Elk's brother Leland adds Dane to the team at the same time Claire joins the Red Star Clinic on the Cold creek reservation. As she and Dane meet outside a medical facility, they fall in love, which places her in danger from the Big Elk gang even as Dane nears achieving his personal objective of finding his sister's killer.

Harriet Klausner


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain? - Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
Time/era of story:
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70%
Special suspect? - investigator him/herself
Misc. Murder Plotlets - Proving innocence of very obvious suspect
Kind of investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes
Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story? Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status:
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - West

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
Back To Main Menu