THE SHADOW TRACER by MEG GARDINER

This mystery novel is fascinating as well as disturbing. The Shadow Tracer by Meg Gardiner happens in Oaklahoma City, Mexico and Texas. The novel is about a clan who really want to rule the world. If you don't share the blood of  Eldrick and Grissom, you don't deserve to live especially if you have taken one of their own. Zoe, a little girl, who loves her mousie is the center of a battle which is full of meanness and bloodshed. The story begins with the murder of Zoe's mother, Beth. Beth's sister is Sarah. When Beth succumbs to a bloody death, Sarah takes Zoe knowing she is the person who will love her more than anyone else.

Sarah epitomizes love. She will fight to the end to keep Zoe away from these crazy people who call themselves a family. Knowing there are such groups in the world fills me with sadness. Really, they didn't care what happened to Zoe. It was their fight: Reavy's, Fell and Grissom to gain control.  Gain control of what or whom? Anyone or anything which got in their way. They just wanted to prove they could win. Forget the child caught in the middle of firing guns, forget the child who will definitely need counseling after living through such a gruesome ordeal, forget the love of a father and the wishes of a dead mother. Just fight to Hell and back to say you're a winner.

The novel proved people don't always die for a great cause. Sometimes people are willing to give their lives just to prove they're the strongest or they're the ones who should rule the world. It's not surprising that the author mentions Timothy McVeighbritannicaTimothy-McVeigh. I thought of the Waco murders. I don't know the name of these groups in the novel. I just have read about their actions. Let's kill until there is no more blood to shed. By the way, the clan is polygamist. This is not to say Polygamists are people who like bloodshed. I'm just stating the fact that this is the lifestyle of the people in the novel.

There are many themes weaved throughout the novel. One of the themes is the definition of family. Family isn't always the biological mother and / or father. Enduring love might have to come from another source. That's okay. As long as the child, the children are loved in the way Danisha, Teresa, a nun of a sort, and Sarah and Lawless and finally, Nolan are able and willing to love. Sarah and all were willing to give their lives for the sake of Zoe. Perhaps, that's why they won the gun battles. They had a purpose for fighting whereas Grissom and his gang had no purpose. I don't think they ever called Zoe's name. Still, they had the audacity to place a microchip in her body that could be scanned like she was a loaf of bread. That fact thoroughly made me sick.

It's also about the fact that people can change and do change for the better. People grow like flowers. Nolan grows and leaves the arms of the brutish clan. Fell grew also. In the end Nolan gave his life for his child. I would never have expected his life to go in the direction it ended up going. I am so looking forward to reading more books by Meg Gardiner. I loved the wild chase through the airplane junkyard. I didn't know there was a place for airplanes, graveyards. Who knew? I've learned about technology, the meaning of family and good always wins over evil. By the way, where can I buy a mousie for my grandbaby? meggardiner,
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