Overall, I think I appreciate this book. I did not entirely enjoy reading it - I noticed that for the first third (almost half!) of the book I was constantly getting distracted by stuff around me. The book just wasn't grabbing me.The majority of the book was set in Chicago, which made me a bit homesick, but I wished for a bit more descriptive prose. The geographical narrative felt like a checklist of street names and a combination of real and fictitious companies/clubs/offices. I never got the real sense of Chicago from the pages - and the author even lives there! The very ending of the book felt most unbelievable to me. Looking back on the structure of the very very very long lead-up and character introductions, it was easy to see how the writing had specifically dodged this last piece of information in order to reveal it as the final zinger. I found myself disappointed in these self-involved intelligent people who turned out to be, well, just self-involved.I just came off of reading In The Woods, by Tana French, so I guess you could imagine my dismay at reading another mystery/thriller where not much is actually happy or beautiful, and there's virtually no catharsis at the end. Stasis and sadness. I don't need a happy ending, but man. (view spoiler)[It was likely my personal bias that had something to do with finally falling into the book, when it got a bit cyber-punky with the Shadow World element. As someone who works on games, I thought the idea of the game was interesting enough but unexplored. At any rate, the action seemed to pick up a bit, and the characters were suddenly real to me. I learned more about their physical attributes, the way they moved, the way they spoke -- once they were in the virtual environment. Not sure it was deliberate, but it was a relief. Sally and Justin were driven and interesting inside Shadow World. Finally!A little more about the ending:Having Joan come across the final twist so easily, in a note taped to the top of a box? Ugggggh. How pat. How disappointing that Davis missed it, all these years. All these smart people that care so much, and are actually just spinning their wheels in deference to the weaving of the plot. I spent sixteen years in chapter form getting to know all these people, building this world of intricacy and connected relationships, and the whole ethical question comes tumbling down because of a clerical error. I wanted to like this book more, because I think there are some interesting ideas, but the last few pages soured me. (hide spoiler)]
This book is centered around one of the strangest concepts I have ever encountered, which is saying something considering the number of Sci-fi books I have enjoyed recently. It's a suspense thriller with multiple expeditions into what could almost be called science fiction but isn't quite, considering the very likely possibility that the events posed as fiction by Guilfoile could be very real concerns in the not too distant future. Cloning is a fairly common occurrence in the story and one physician clones a baby after a criminal so he may have a living version to compare physical appearance to in order to identify the man he is actually hunting. Due to the nature of the plot elements there are times that the story line seems to drag on and lose momentum but ultimately I found it fascinating, suspenseful, and thought provoking. The author has an acute sense of irony that I really appreciated, particularly at the end. I won't recommend this but I wouldn't warn an interested reader away from it.http://bibliofilesbookrating.blogspot...
What do You think about Cast Of Shadows (2006)?
This is normally not my genre (as you can see by my other reads). However the author is so good-looking that I ventured into it. (Actually he is married to one of my best friends--I added the good looking in the event he reads this.) The plot is exciting, many twists. Kevin takes an improbable although believable concept about human cloning and weaves it into a really great story, one that is relatable to parents in a heart breaking way, both in his determination to find a killer as well as finding the facts that no parent wants to know. The portrayal of parents desperate for children who turn to cloning is believable and adds to the credibility of the plot. If you are a mystery/thriller reader I highly recommend.
—Ginny
De eerste kennismaking met de schrijver Kevin Guilfoile. Dat dit boek al eerder was uitgegeven onder de naam Des Duivels heb ik helemaal gemist.Het boek beschrijft de zoektocht van dokter Davis Moore naar de moordenaar van zijn enige dochter Anna. Dokter Moore is werkzaam als specialist op het gebied van fertilisatie = klonen. Hij gaat heel ver in de zoektocht naar de moordenaar en overschrijdt daar meerdere grenzen bij, maar voor hem is dit de enige weg om de identiteit van de moordenaar te kunnen vaststellen.Het boek is opgebouwd in de twee delen en dit is goed, want 2 delen vertellen het verhaal, maar zijn niet met elkaar te vergelijken.Het is een uniek boek met unieke onderwerpen voor een thriller. Een vader die tot het uiterste gaat om de moordenaar van zijn dochter te vinden. Het boek was/is zijn tijd ver vooruit door de onderwerpen, maar daardoor intrigerend en boeiend.Ik geef het boek 4 sterren.
—Joyce
I read this with friends for our book group. It's a thriller set in the near future, when human cloning has become legal. A geneticist's daughter is killed, and rather than clone his own daughter, he clones the killer using DNA from the crime scene. He becomes obsessed with his daughter's murder and with the idea of being able to look into the killer's eyes. I don't usually read stories in this genre, but I found Cast of Shadows to be pretty engaging, although somewhat weak in the storytelling, especially later in the book as a not-entirely-believable computer game becomes a major playing field for the story. It's an enjoyable way to pass some time if it falls into your hands, but I wouldn't really recommend rushing out to pick up your own copy.
—Jessica
