The Shadows We Hide cover art

The Shadows We Hide

The highly acclaimed sequel to The Life We Bury

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free

$8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Get this deal
Offer ends on July 15, 2026 at 11:59 PT.
More purchase options

The Shadows We Hide

Written by: Allen Eskens
Get this deal

$8.99/mo. after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends July 15, 2026 at 11:59pm PT.

Buy Now for $34.39

Buy Now for $34.39

Journalist Joe Talbert investigates the murder of the father he never knew, and must reckon with his own family's past, in this "brilliant sequel" to the national bestseller The Life We Bury (Publishers Weekly)

Joe Talbert, Jr. has never once met his namesake. Now out of college, a cub reporter for the Associated Press in Minneapolis, he stumbles across a story describing the murder of a man named Joseph Talbert in a small town in southern Minnesota.

Full of curiosity about whether this man might be his father, Joe is shocked to find that none of the town's residents have much to say about the dead man-other than that his death was long overdue. Joe discovers that the dead man was a loathsome lowlife who cheated his neighbors, threatened his daughter, and squandered his wife's inheritance after she, too, passed away -- an inheritance that may now be Joe's.

Mired in uncertainty and plagued by his own devastated relationship with his mother, who is seeking to get back into her son's life, Joe must put together the missing pieces of his family history -- before his quest for discovery threatens to put him in a grave of his own. Amateur Sleuth Genre Fiction Historical Mystery Traditional Detectives Fiction Detective Crime Suspense Murder
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

What the critics say

FINALIST -- MINNESOTA BOOK AWARD, BEST GENRE NOVELFINALIST -- BARRY AWARD, BEST NOVEL
"A rewarding sequel . . . The Shadows We Hide completes a one-two gut punch that was well worth the wait."—Ginny Greene, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"The Shadows We Hide is a riveting novel about one man's search for his father that becomes a perilous journey into a labyrinth of deceit and lies. Eskens vividly renders how small towns try to keep their secrets, and how sometimes they cannot."—RonRash, author of Serena
"Whether you like mysteries with surprise endings and terrific twists or you are a reader who never reads a mystery, but loves literary novels that explore the emotions that bring families together or tear them apart, you will want to read Allen Eskens's excellent novel, The Shadows We Hide."—Phillip Margolin, New York Times bestselling author of The Third Victim
"Talbert proves himself a true hero."—New York Times Book Review
"The search for the father is a favorite theme of authors and one that is perfectly suited to the detective story form. Allen Eskens has drawn an intricate and intriguing search map full of sharp turns and returns. Suspenseful, revealing, clear-eyed, and brightly told, The Shadows We Hide is a real experience, page to page to end page."—Fred Chappell, author of I Am One of You Forever
"Riveting...Readers will enjoy trying to untangle all the clues."—Pioneer Press
"A brilliant sequel full of deeply developed characters... Eskens keeps readers guessing until the last pages in this darkly lyrical and brutally intimate story of one man's journey of self-discovery."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Murder, arson, betrayal, and reconciliation will keep pages turning and leave readers eager for more of Joe Talbert."—Booklist

Continue the series
The Stolen Hours cover art
The Stolen Hours Written by: Allen Eskens
All stars
Most Relevant
Really enjoyed the twists and turns. Love the way the character figures out what’s going on. Even nicer that he remains too to himself.

Great mystery!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Allen’s writing style has excited me from his first book I read. If you like twists and turns, this is just one of Allen’s fine books. You can’t go wrong with any of his novels. Putting them down is the hardest part.

Another Great Thriller

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Mystery and connections are all part of this story. The character development is solid, which makes this a very good story.

Very Enjoyable Listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Love the characters, and the narrator's voice. Descriptions of situations made it easy to picture the story.

Loved it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Every now and then comes along a novel that knocks my breath out. This was one of them. I enjoyed every bit of it. Once again the narrator did a fantastic job. I wouldn't say every book in the series was equally as good, only those that revolve around Joe Talbert.

Near perfection

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews