The Shadow Box

By: Luanne Rice

Narrated by: Nicol Zanzarella, Jim Frangione

Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

An Amazon Charts best seller.

The Amazon Charts best-selling author of Last Day 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.

After artist Claire Beaudry Chase is attacked and left for dead in her home on the Connecticut coast, she doesn’t know who she can trust. But her well-connected husband, Griffin—who is running for governor—is her prime suspect.

Just before the attack, Claire was preparing for an exhibit of her shadow boxes, one of which clearly accuses Griffin of a violent crime committed 25 years ago. If the public were to find out who her husband is, his political career would be over. Claire’s certain her husband and his powerful supporters would kill her to stop the truth from getting out.

When one of Claire’s acquaintances is murdered, the authorities suspect the homicide is linked to the attack on Claire. As the dual investigations unfold, Claire must decide how much she’s willing to lose to take down her husband and the corrupt group of elites who will do anything to protect Griffin’s interests and their own.

©2021 Luanne Rice (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“The Shadow Box is Luanne Rice at her dazzling best. Filled with dark family secrets and wells of deep emotion, this novel will stick with you long after you’ve finished reading.” (Harlen Coben, number one New York Times best-selling author of Run Away)

“As always, Luanne Rice gives us characters so real they feel like family and families so flawed they give us chills. Shocking, compassionate, and told with the unerring eye of a true and gifted observer, The Shadow Box will keep you turning the pages long past your bedtime.” (Tami Hoag, number one New York Times best-selling author of The Boy)

“A clever protagonist in extreme danger pitted against a cruel and powerful circle made the stakes in The Shadow Box so high I could barely stop reading for a drink of water. Luanne Rice creates a thrillingly compelling tale of common cruelty, high ambition, and the courage it takes to oppose them. Well done!” (Barbara O’Neal, Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author of When We Believed in Mermaids)

Ignore the negative reviews, the book is good.

I'm glad I didn't listen to the reviews and just read the book for myself. It was actually pretty good. The author really knows how to paint the picture in your mind of what's going on with her in-depth descriptions. The storyline does bounce back and forth from past and present but as long as you pay attention, keeping up shouldn't be a problem. I admittedly had to re-read/re-listen to some parts a couple times to make sure I was still following what was happening. However, that was more on me and not the book. If you're thinking about reading this book, take the reviews with a grain of salt and enjoy.

Slightly Anti-Climatic Ending, but Excellent Story

Although I do have several of Luanne Rice's books on my TBR, The Shadow Box was the first book that I've read by her due to the title being selected by my book club. I must say that I was not disappointed and I will certainly give her other books a try!

I felt like the description was captivating, and gave us more information than what you're normally used to, but I appreciated being able to read to get the whole story of what may or may not be going on! However, the ending had this huge build up just to be let down, it felt like! That's what kept me from giving it 5 stars! I wish there would have been a little more of a climatic ending!

There were lots of interesting characters...some you loved and some you hated which made for an interesting cast and kept you entertained. I appreciated that the story went back and forth between past and present, telling the story from several different perspectives!

Nicol Zanzarella and Jim Frangione were the Narrators for this story and I felt like they were a perfect fit! Nicol is one of my favorite narrators so I tend to lean towards books she narrates so this book fit in perfectly with that!

Overall, excellent read, with a slightly disappointing ending, but exciting story, nonetheless! I definitely think it'll be worth giving her other books a try and honestly, I can't wait!

Suspenseful and Entertaining

Relationships, relationships are the keys to this story. Not particularly well written IMO because at times it was difficult to follow. It seems that Rice wasn’t sure on which themes she wanted so she cleverly linked them together to create a rambling plot. The introduction of new characters, beit in person or by name, along the way was irritating. Once Rice found her rhythm between the present and flashbacks, the story started to get better. The narrators did okay with the number of characters. Sometimes the male voices were difficult to distinguish from one another. Somehow the mixture of nature, Indian folklore, the mystic, politics, romance, physical abuse, murder, hiking, sailing, and being wealthy and well connected made this story very interesting. 🤔. It was a bit longer than necessary, but all in all entertaining fiction.

Suspense deluxe!

Loved it! the story kept you in intrigue as the writer wove the characters together.

Super good book !!!

Absolutely loved this book. A definite read Story is just awesome. I'd recommend this to anyone

Awful sound editing

Meh. Predictable but ok time filler. It was free kindle and small fee for audible. Narrators were fine however the editing was almost a deal breaker

Good storyline

I bought this book on the recommendation from a good friend who grew up on Fishers Island and it was fun to read all the references the the island, and all of the coastal charm of CT. The plot was a bit far fetched and twisted way more than it needed, but overall a solid thriller.

Outstanding Story!

Superbly written story, masterfully crafted. The story moved at a fast pace throughout and was riviting. I highly recommend this book. Narrator also did an outstanding job.

A who done it.

A bit slow, but characters are well developed well. Female centered, political, wealthy families gone haywire after a very bad experience in Mexico initially.

Just okay

The storyline was good but too drawn out. I found it easy to put the book down but not boring.