Shadow Life
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Published by: Cormorant Books
Release Date: October 1, 2022 (Canada), November 23, 2022 (US)
Pages: 296
ISBN13: 978-1-77086-667-6
Synopsis
For fans of John Updike’s Rabbit Angstrom series, Robertson Davies’ Deptford Trilogy and Pat Conroy’s The Prince of Tides comes Shadow Life – the debut novel from Michael Decter, set for release with Cormorant Books on October 1, 2022.
Shadow Life introduces readers to Matthew Rice – a successful sixty-year-old Toronto city manage who finds himself suddenly unmoored after serving jury duty on a devastating child murder case. Retreating to his cottage on an isolated island in Georgian Bay after being placed on medical leave, Matthew spends his evenings nursing scotch and old memories as he tries to evade the encroaching nightmares borne of the trial.
It is not long before Matthew’s trips down memory lane lead to Pandora’s box in the form of a missing birth certificate, and the thread of his life begins to unravel more spectacularly with the discovery of a long-buried family secret.
As Matthew’s desire to uncover the identity of his real birth mother sparks an investigation that will take him from Sydney to Boston to Dublin and back to the rocky shores of Quarry Island, readers are drawn into Shadow Life’s atmospheric and delicate web where memory and myth will ultimately collide to reveal self-discovery and new love.
Praise
"In his thoughtful fiction debut, Decter follows the life-changing experiences of a 60-year-old Toronto politico devastated by the outcome of a trial of an alleged child murderer where he has served as the jury foreperson...While the smooth plotting, polished prose, and light touch of adventure will lure readers in, Matthew’s ability to reinvent himself, from a person escaping disappointment and considering withdrawing from a failing world to a man who finds in his trauma the wherewithal to build a new purpose, also proves engaging. Matthew’s quest to reveal his family history in Ireland leads him not only on an academic journey to learn the accomplishments of his ancestors, but also back on the path to rediscovering love."
- Publishers Weekly
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CBC's Best Canadian Books of 2022 List
Shadow Life is a novel about a man named Matthew Rice, whose life unravels after he delivered a verdict of not guilty in a trial about a murder of a child. He decides to learn more about his mother, who he never knew and ends up living off-the-grid on an island in Georgian Bay. But will this big adventure be enough for Matthew to find peace?
Michael Decter is a writer who was born in Winnipeg and currently lives in Toronto. He has written about healthcare and investment and has written a memoir. Shadow Life is his first novel. https://www.cbc.ca/books/the-best-canadian-fiction-of-2022-1.6674493
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Best Books Zoomer Magazine
"I’m intrigued by this debut from the Winnipeg-born, Toronto-based political insider. The well-known economist and health care authority (and former deputy minister of health for Ontario) is a self-confessed book lover who collects rare titles by 20th century women writers. This is the first in a planned trilogy about Matthew Rice, a 60-year-old Toronto politico with a penchant for good scotch, who is reeling after serving on the jury for a child homicide case. He takes a medical leave to retreat to the majestic landscape of Georgian Bay, where he questions his memories and personal mythology."
– EZ - Everything Zoomer 'The best book to read in October' #9 Shadow Life by Michael Decter
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A family tale with engaging prose but an undisciplined plot."
– Kirkus Review
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"A man’s efforts at self-discovery reveal family secrets and a new way of approaching the world in Michael Decter’s allegorical novel Shadow Life... There’s fitting symmetry to the story’s conclusion, which, in some ways, ends where it began—if with a clearer sense of hope for its hero. Shadow Life is an empowering novel in which a troubled, hopeless man decides what’s worth fighting for.
–Foreword Reviews
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"A great story and I think you really captured the atmosphere of the Bay. Although, we have a little island north of you just inside the Massassauga Provincial Park and of course everyone along that coast is convinced they have the best bay.
Many congratulations and I think it's wonderful to read a novel that brings the Bay to life."
Excerpt
The Court Clerk read each of the charges as she had done four months earlier when the jury selection for this trial began.
“Henry Dawson. You are charged with one count of murder. You are charged with one count of statutory rape. You are charged with one count of kidnap. You are charged with one count of forcible confinement.”
Matthew Rice rose in the jury box and faced the judge.
“Your Honor, as foreperson of this jury, it is my duty to report that the jury is unable to reach a unanimous verdict on any of the charges.”
A thin, ghastly smile spread over the defendant’s face. It was a cruel and victorious grin. Matthew turned away from the defendant Henry Dawson, angry to his core. And defeated. His anger did not the blunt or diminish the sense of failure that overwhelmed him.
“I have no choice but to declare a hung jury,” the judge said, solemnly. “You are dismissed with the thanks of the court for the time and effort you have expended as jurors.”
He then declared a mistrial, before turning to the lawyers for the prosecution. “Does the Crown wish to seek time to consider its position on a new trial?”
“No, Your Honor. The Crown will not seek a new trial.”
The judge sat silent for a moment before he declared, “the Defendant is free to go.”
Matthew’s hands developed a mild tremor. He could not bear to look at the mother of the murdered child. And he could not shut his ears to her cries of anguish and loss that echoed through the courtroom. His own heart felt like it would break. Matt’s eyes filled with tears as the jurors followed the court constable back to the jury room to collect their belongings. In his heart he knew he had failed to convict a guilty man, a killer of a child. In his head he was reeling, looking for the rational world and not finding it.
It was eight o’clock on Sunday night. The jurors were escorted into the sub-basement of the courthouse and sent home in taxi cabs, some individually and some sharing the ride. Matt found nothing to say to his fellow juror in the cab, each sat in silence as the city passed by, lost in their own thoughts. The streets of Toronto had never seemed so barren and cold.
