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)

A lot of build up to a meh ending.

A lot of build up to a meh ending. Lots of details on certain things (like literally ever single thing in a search warrant), no explanation on others (I was left with a lot of "...ok, but why"s at the end). Also, the narration is absolutely terrible (syrupy for the woman and monotone for the man) and makes it difficult to get through. I've never had this issue with any other book I've listened to. Also, I'm not quite sure why there needed to be two narrators as both the man and the woman both read first person for several of the same characters, both male and female.

Really poor performance!

I think the story might have been OK, but the reading team’s performance was not up to Audible standards!

Reading style is breathy and robotic

The story was intriguing and that's why I kept listening. The narration was terriible. The female reader was breathy and whiney, not portraying the powerful female lead at all. The male reader was robotic reading the book like a manual.

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.

Could have been great in half the time.

This book has a good plot, well developed characters and suspense. It could have been a great book if it was shorter. There are some really unnecessary additions like a long piece where the main character is reading a social media post.
My preference is fast moving suspense not a book that labors on and on.

just okay...

I really wanted to like it. I made myself stick with it. the narrators were somewhat offputting to me; the female voice was so whiny and desperate and it made me cringe several times throughout the story. Maybe I just couldn't connect to the character or to the situation? I just felt there would have been more contrasting emotions than just desperation.

The story seemed too tidy? I feel like there were all these descriptions included that actually retracted from the plot or were like "squirrel" moments that took the attention away from what could have been more emotion provoking situations.

It feels like this story tries so hard but is so forced together. There was a great opportunity to make this a really good story but it falls very short.

Disappointing is how I would describe all three categories above. I wish I would have skipped this one.

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.

Luanne never disappoints

Great characters/exciting plot. Hard to put down and sad to see it end. Loved Maggie!

Well written and performed.

Interesting story with well developed characters and plot. Will keep you turning the pages as quick as possible. Looking forward to reading other books by Ms. Rice.

decent plot

liked the book. the story came together well and at a good pace with a slight twist.

A good story - if a little drawn out

This is well worth listening to although I did find that I wanted the end to come a little sooner.

Great Story & Great Narration

Loved this story and the two narrators just made it even better. Well worth a listen.