I don't think this book lived up to its potential. Considering the detailed descriptions of the streets and neighborhoods of Barcelona, plus the explicit mention of Victor Hugo (who masterfully wrote of Paris in The Hunchback of Notre Dame as if the city itself were a character in the novel), I kept waiting to feel immersed in Barcelona - but it never happened. The author seems to try too hard in his efforts to paint the image of a city full of mystery; shadows are mentioned excessively, even for a book with the word "shadow" in its title. The book seems to have been written for an audience that prides itself in being well-read. A reader who understands all the literary references will feel smart for recognizing names and titles. At times, the book seems to speak specifically to readers who secretly want to be published authors themselves.
I wasn't fond of the manner in which the story's mysteries unfolded. The main character, Daniel, repeatedly found no shortage of strangers who were willing to reveal to him everything they knew about third parties, even though they knew nothing about Daniel or his motivations for poking around other people's business.
I did enjoy the character of Fermin Romero de Torres, who was, in my opinion, the most developed and most interesting character. There was humor in his description as well as in his dialogue. If this book were a movie, he would have stolen every scene he was in.
The story itself was not uninteresting, but it stopped short of being intriguing or riveting. There is so much foreshadowing and dropping of hints that I was rarely surprised when a revelation was made. On page 56, I made a prediction that came true on page 421. It wasn't until 2/3 of the way through the book that I finally read something that made me want to read more to find out what happened next. About 40 pages after that, the melodramatic stage that had been set finally seemed justified. After 400+ pages of storytelling, the last 40 pages were the best.
