In her debut novel, In the Canyons of Shadow and Light, author Emily Donoho transports the reader into the psyche of a jaded middle-aged Manhattan police detective. Though the book frequently references a popular police procedural television program, Law & Order, the book is more a psychological drama than a police procedural.
The protagonist, Alex Boswell, has been a homicide detective for seventeen years. He suffered a gunshot wound on duty resulting in the loss of the right lower lobe of his lung and multiple fractured ribs as well as an injury to his lower back. Despite all his physical problems he remains on the job, toughing it out.
On top of the stressors of his profession, he is part of a dysfunctional family, shattered by his long-ago extramarital affair and subsequent divorce from his wife. Since then, he has been unable to sustain a long-term relationship with a woman. As he battles his internal demons, his fellow officers—his partner, in particular—feel he is “losing it.” Despite his foibles, Alex has an underlying likability, and this reader rooted for him.
Though I never felt like putting the book aside and, in fact, read it in two sittings, I did feel it was a bit too long. At times, the details threatened to overwhelm the story and slowed its pacing. At the beginning of the chapters, the details of the cityscape defined the tone and setting of the book, but I really didn’t need a countdown of streets as the detectives moved through Manhattan from 48th to 49th to 50th Street. A wry humor runs through the book as well, which I enjoyed.
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