3 out of 5

Spoilers.

The copyright on this was 1977.  So I’ll allow the way it treats telekinesis and other parapsychology stuff like it’s outta’ left field.  I liked the other Mongo book I read because it took a somewhat logical approach and applied it to a fantastic setting.  ‘Shadow’ goes the way of Stephen King, though, and uses a traumatic incident as the magical method that kickstarts a character’s mental prowess.  …However, I should note that the Stand was written in ’79, so take that for what you will.  I’m curious if a 1977 version of me would have been surprised by this ‘reveal’ is all I’m saying.

This was also pretty early in Chesbro’s career – the first of the Mongo series, and perhaps the author’s first book?  This might account for some of the dodgier bits in the writing – incredibly canned dialogue between the lead and his brother, Garth, and a bit too much jumbling of characters and sidesteps for its 230 pages.  But alas, you can’t just brush that aside, and those moments did make the reading a bit eye-rolling or a trudge at their respective times, especially when you could suss out the paranormal turn early on (even not knowing Chesbro’s penchant for that) and the ‘major’ plot twist’s gist thanks to those ‘reeks of red herring’ sidesteps.  It’s also an odd introduction to Mongo, as, yes, he comes out as heroic but succumbs to crippling fear at times, and is presented to the reader as though we’ve met the guy before.  I found the character’s confidence and mindfulness made his feats of daring-do that much more fun in ‘Fear in Yesterday’s Rings’ – the other book I read – but here, the sudden flips into masterful gun-play and fisticuffs seemed out of proportion (womp womp – because he’s a dwarf, ya’ll) to the lead.  Better was a moment that blended a slow and cautious approach with Mongo’s circus past.  But I understand the need to add in some explosions for the kids.

Anyhow, them’s my quips.  Here’s the plot: Mongo is a teacher with a criminology Ph.D. and he knows karate (mentioned on the back of the book but I don’t think mentioned in the text).  It’s hinted he has a history of handling / attracting paranormal cases.  He’s about to go on vacation.  UNTIL… he’s approached by a man trying to find a dead man, famed wackadoo architect Victor Rafferty, who, for various reasons, he is convinced is not dead.  Chesbro expands on this pretty well, inflating the story out to a government conspiracy at a fair pace and tosses in a notably oddball character in the American agent Lippitt.  Just by looking into the case, Mongo opens up a can of worms, and that can also involves a lot of shooting bullets and Russian assassins.  Woot woot.

And the book was fun.  I can’t deny it.  I sped through it.  The fluff writing aside, I was interested to find out if my guesses regarding the plot were true, and it wasn’t a chore to flip pages to find that out.  Meaning that even if you’ve heard the story before, Chesbro, at this early stage, proved good at just stringing the words and sentences together in a way that made you want to keep reading.  And yes, as with ‘Rings,’ which would be 15 years later, the climactic chapters reach a pretty awesome frenzy where you just don’t want to stop.

So though I can’t recommend it as “one of the best detective novels” I’ve read (a paraphrased quote from the cover), Mongo books do occupy a fun little world of occult-themed mysteries, and ‘Shadow’ – though it doesn’t read like a first book – is a worthwhile addition to that genre.  However, it stumbles a bit for steam, and relies on some predictable tropes to pick up the pace.  Regardless, I can assume the 1977 me would still be intrigued enough to follow the dwarf detective to whatever was next.