Twisted Shadows, the sequel 2023’s Liar City, is quite possibly my most eagerly anticipated book of 2024. Liar City was a tense and inventive paranormal thriller featuring superbly drawn, complex characters and a compelling storyline, and while there was not even so much as a kiss on the page, the hints of sexual tension and attraction between the two leads were enough to have me rooting for them to get together and desperate for more.

This is definitely a series where the books need to be read in order, so this is NOT the place to jump in. And I’ll have to refer to past events so there will be spoilers for Liar City in this review.

The series is set in an AU where empaths exist, and although they’re pacifists who would rather be hurt themselves than hurt others, they’re objects of fear and prejudice thanks to the constant flood of misinformation and propaganda pumped out by anti-empath organisations. In Liar City, empath Reece Davies discovered that he had been set up, without his knowledge or consent, to be the subject of an experiment into how empaths can be corrupted (turned to the dark side!), and he now lives with the knowledge that he is existing in a heretofore unknown liminal state between what has been and what he could become. The thought that he could turn into someone willing to hurt others to get what he wants is terrifying, and the one thing keeping him from becoming a complete nervous wreck is the thought that if he goes any further down that path, The Dead Man will stop him by whatever means necessary.

The Dead Man – Evan Grayson – is the final line of defence against empaths because he has no emotions for them to maniuplate and his emotional vacuum is such that empaths can’t bear to look at him or to hear the sound of his voice, and his touch will knock them unconscious (as Reece discovered at the end of the previous book.) Despite the fact that he is the way he is because of his brother, the most corrupt empath Grayson has ever seen, and even though his particular attributes make him useful to the various anti-empath organisations, Grayson sees it as his mission to protect both sides – to protect society from corrupted empaths, but also to protect empaths from those who want to corrupt them. And while the higher-ups are more than willing to use him as a weapon against empaths for the first thing, some of them have become suspicious of his motives for doing the second.

Despite his assertion that he and Reece can’t be friends, Grayson has kept in regular contact with him in the three weeks since he left Seattle. Reece in that in-between state is a ticking time bomb, and it’s up to the Dead Man to make sure he doesn’t experience anything that could send him further along the path towards corruption. In fact, Grayson would be in Seattle helping Reece to move into his new apartment were it not for the fact that he’s been sent to investigate the murder of a Canadian empath in Burlington. He immediately senses something is off – the gloves the victim is wearing look new but the serial numbers have almost been worn off, and the body itself has been posed, with no attempt made to hide it.

While Grayson is in Vermont, Reece’s sister, Jamey, who used to be a cop with Seattle PD, is approached by one of her former colleagues and told about a Canadian empath who has been reported missing in Port Angeles. Jamey knows about the victim in Burlington thanks to her friend Dr. Aisha Easterby, who often works alongside Grayson, but what are the odds of another Canadian empath just happening to be missing in the US? Jamey decides to go to Port Angeles to see what she can find out.

Meanwhile, Grayson’s investigation is turning up precisely nothing – and when he learns that Jamey has also left Seattle, he realises it’s all bogus, that both he and Jamey have been sent on wild goose chases at exactly the same time, which can only mean one thing. Their absences have been orchestrated, and whoever is behind it knows that without them around, Reece is unprotected.

As soon as this realisation crashes in at around a quarter of the way through, the story really kicks up a gear and we’re off to the races with a twisty, dark, action-packed tale filled with shocking discoveries, devastating betrayals and emotional gut-punches. Balancing all that out is the funny, sweet and utterly swoonworthy connection building between Reece and Grayson, a connection dripping with chemistry so strong that it permeates the whole story and absolutely leaps off the page – and they can’t even touch each other without Reece being knocked out. It’s a masterclass in how to create and develop sexual tension through word and expression and actions that show how deeply two people have come to care for each other. The flirty teasing and banter, the longing, the affectionate humour, the sexual tension – it’s all *chef’s kiss*.

The story is told through several different perspectives, which is necessary to impart certain information the reader needs and wouldn’t get from a single or dual PoV narrative. Reece and Jamey get to tell a fairly large chunk of the story, and Grayson’s perspective is a very welcome addition. He’s a fascinating, complex character, and having his PoV this time around means we get to learn more about him and his past, how he thinks and why he acts the way he does, and more insight into his feelings for Reece – even though he’s convinced he has no emotions, it’s clear he’s totally smitten.

His body remembered the things and people that had made it happy, even if Grayson never felt happiness anymore. And … his body couldn’t stop noticing that Reece seemed to be made entirely of things that had once made him happy.

I really can’t say enough good things about this book. The plot is complex, nail-bitingly tense and contains some shocking revelations, the romance is sweet and hot by turns, the worldbuilding is excellent, and the humour lands just right, bringing a much needed levity to a story that goes to some pretty dark places.

The only thing I can find to criticise about Twisted Shadows is that it ends on the mother of all cliffhangers. It’ll take your breath away and then have you screaming “noooooo!” and desperately trying to find a release date for book three. At time of writing this review (September 2024), I can’t find one – I just hope the wait isn’t too long.

But the coming finale is sure to be worth the wait, and despite the frustrating cliffie, Twisted Shadows is one of my favourite books of 2024. It earns a very well-deserved place on my DIK shelf.