Rome, 2019. Time-traveling, Smithsonian archaeologist Rabbit Ward is back in the present, but not for long. Helen, his former adversary and growing ally, is in trouble with the law after being framed for a murder she didn’t commit. Stuck in hiding and running out of other options, she turns to Rabbit for help. "Help" in this case involves a trip to first century Jerusalem to track down a mysterious man named Einar Eshek.
But Rabbit won't have to do this mission alone; as soon as he arrives in 68 CE, he meets a younger version of Helen, one who has never met him before. Together, they work to track down Eshek, who turns out to be not only a time-traveling thief, but a murderous psychopath.
As they pursue Eshek through time, Rabbit and Helen feel something even bigger pulling them together. Torn between the two versions of the woman he knows, and with the clock ticking down on Helen’s fate in 2019, Rabbit might have no choice but to betray her past self to secure Helen’s safety in the future. Tensions rise as Jerusalem prepares to go to war with Rome, and Rabbit races to capture Eshek, clear Helen’s name, and make it back to 2019 in one piece—a feat that’s proving to be easier said than done—before everything falls apart.
Double Shadow by Andrew Ludington will be published on April 21, 2026. St. Martin's Press provided an early galley for review.
This is the sequel to 2025's Splinter Effect, which I liked. I was down for more adventures, and the author has accomodated that with a new novel.
The story opens at a good pace, diving right into a new mystery for Rabbit to decipher. Once again, Ludington shows his knowledge of history by steeping the action directly into an ancient era (history was definitely not my strong suit in school). Through Rabbit, the reader learns a lot of this information (as this is known history to someone from the 21st century). The downside is that at times the dialogue can come across as a bit expositional when he is explaining people, places and events to Helen.
Still, the adventure is interesting, and the ending clearly sets things up for the next book in the series.
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