The Last Shadow

by J.D. Robinson

4.3 ★ ★ ★ ★

The woman in the alley scratches a symbol into the pavement, then vanishes from the video. Now her desperate father is begging Bas Milius to accept one last case.

In 1991, strange things are afoot in Boston. Bas is on the verge of hanging up his hat, until his final client—the missing woman’s father—suddenly claims to be someone else entirely. Someone without a daughter.

Across town, Dee Khalaji finds herself having visions of someone watching a strange video in the shadows—a tape whose recording changes each time it’s played.

In a luxurious downtown compound, behind a door with a strange symbol on the front, a secretive couple offers shelter to lost souls. But their daily dance rituals aren’t for therapy alone, and the very first tape in their extensive surveillance collection features someone Bas lost nearly a decade ago.

A man on a mission to put the pieces together. A nonverbal autistic girl with the ability to see through others’ eyes. A story of identity, connection, and magic set in a Boston that never was.

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Book details

A noir-tinged science fiction mystery about grief, hidden patterns, and anomalous evidence.

Genre

Science Fiction

Editor

David Gatewood (site)

Cover designer

Bastien Lecouffe Deharme (site)

Published

October 2020

Print length

440 pages

SPSFC 2021 Semifinalist

The Last Shadow was honored as a semifinalist in the SPSFC’s vaunted SF competition in 2021

Reviews

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

You are transported into a world where your expectations are turned upon their head. A superb read. If I had a hat, I’d tip it.

— N. Snape, Science Fiction author

It’s all wonderfully woven together in a sort of modern day film noire supernatural detective story. Great read!

— Charles H., reviewer

All at once this is science fiction, a novel about family and loss, a detective story and a bit of a thriller. Amazingly, you made this all work.

— Lorelei M., beta reader

On the Loop

With just thirty days until launch, Alina joins the 500-person crew on Tilulipu, where the Company has built a luxurious resort. But when the CEO and her entire executive team vanish from the island, Alina heads the search for answers. The truth she discovers may force the crew to rethink everything they thought they knew about the mission.

Songs from the Void

Deveron can glimpse moments of his own future but he never could have guessed he had a twin brother. Dremond hasn’t been seen in years, and Deveron finds his trail strewn with bizarre voids—rifts that offer glimpses into the man’s life. But the more Deveron learns about his brother, the more he’ll find out just how different identical twins can be.

Broken Helix

Bena Post, humanity’s most distant colony, has vanished from the surface of planet Bena Fidi—but the problems begin when it returns. Now three survivors linked only by one unexplained event must face their own individual struggles as they work to piece together what happened to Bena Post—and to themselves—before their bodies and minds betray them.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

J.D. Robinson’s genius as a visionary and writer shifts into high gear. The world-building is beyond extraordinary, the writing is impeccable, smart and straightforward … The last 150 pages I couldn't stop reading.

— Lonnie B., reviewer