Author:Stefanie Pintoff
At the dawn of the twentieth century, a deranged killer is on the prowl.
New York, 1905.
After losing his fiancee in the General Slocum ferry disaster, Detective Simon Ziele transferred to a country town north of Manhattan in the hope of escaping his grief. But only months later he's faced with the shocking murder of a young girl - battered to death in her bedroom on a cold winter's afternoon.
And when Alistair Sinclair, one of Columbia University's most noted criminologists learns about the case, he realises it bears an uncanny resemblance to the deranged mutterings of one his research subjects. Ziele must work with Sinclair to determine whether his patient - with a terrifying history of violent behaviour and brutal fantasies - did indeed seek out this innocent young victim ... before the vicious murderer strikes again.
In the Shadow of Gotham tells the atmospheric and gripping tale of a haunted man who must search for a killer, while on the run from his own demons ...
Reads like an episode of Friends directed by Tarantino
—— Daily Telegraph[Leaves] readers gasping with fright and pleasure at Sakey's genius.
—— Chicago TribuneJames Fleming, nephew of Ian is a class act: a brilliant, pacy storyteller with a muscular prose style
—— Max Davidson , Mail on SundayExtraordinary use of plot and pace and language...this is a thriller, no bones about it. For anyone who feels that there aren't enough armoured trains in today's popular fiction, or enough murderous White Russians with God and destiny on their side - and I am one - this book is a must
—— Giles Whittell , The TimesDoig is the right kind of hero: virile, ruthless, adventurous
—— Independent'...bleak and gritty, but thoroughly believable'
—— Kirkus Review'A first-rate geopolitical yarn... Fesperman combines his strong eye for detail with bleak film-noir cynicism'
—— Entertainment Weekly'The violence level is high, and rendered so convincingly that at times I felt queasy. Fortunately for introspective readers, the violence is leavened by searing insights into human nature... I knew I could not sleep until finishing it'
—— The Baltimore Sun'...a convincing, accurate thriller...this book is worth reading if only for the passage where the hero, Skelly, glimpses Osama Bin Laden at a public hanging; the scene both convinces and frightens'
—— The EconomistPatterson boils a scene down to the single, telling detail, the element that defines a character or moves a plot along. It's what fires off the movie projector in the reader's mind.
—— MICHAEL CONNELLYPatterson knows where our deepest fears are buried... there's no stopping his imagination.
—— NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWPatterson is in a class by himself.
—— VANITY FAIR[Patterson's] books don't pussyfoot around when it comes to the villains. These are bad, bad people ... with a lot of intrigue in high places.
—— AL ROKER, The Today Show