Irish author Darren Shan -- real name Darren O'Shaughnessy -- has had great success with a string of fantasy horror books aimed at the young teen market, starting with the launch in the year 2000 of Cirque Du Freak, the first book in the Saga of Darren Shan series. His novels, now published in 39 countries around the world in 31 languages, have sold in excess of 25 million copies. Lady of the Shades is his latest work, written specifically for the adult market.

Ed Sieveking is an American author of three modestly successful supernatural ghost stories. In London seeking inspiration for his next story, he is accompanied, as always, by his personal retinue of ghosts. (To explain who these six entities are would be a spoiler.) One of his avid fans who is helping him with his research invites him to a party where he meets a beautiful woman.

There is a mutual attraction, but she confesses she is married to an insanely jealous criminal called The Turk, who would kill them both if he caught them together. Over the next weeks they snatch clandestine hours together, but Ed begins to realise that all is not as it seems and a series of shattering events blur the line between what's real and what is not.

Part love story, part ghost story and part (extremely) violent thriller, this makes for an entertaining, if more than slightly off the wall, read.

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