The Shadowed Mind by Julie Cave

A suspense-filled mystery which answers an ominous question: Who will be found worthy to live; who is the next victim?
After the deadly investigation into the Smithsonian murders, Dinah Harris is now facing a daily battle to keep her sobriety while struggling to form a new career from the ashes of her former job as an FBI agent. From the shadows will emerge a cunning and terrifying killer, who carefully and methodically will decide whose life has value to society and whose does not.

Using her profiling and security skills as a private consultant based in Washington, DC, Dinah uncovers a connection to the shadowy world of neo-eugenics, and those who publicly denounce the killings but privately support a much different view.

Against this backdrop, Dinah must come to terms with her own past, as those associated with the deepening mystery face their own personal demons, and struggle with the concept of God's inexhaustible grace and forgiveness.

Old secrets are revealed, tragedies unearthed, and the devastating legacy of science without compassion is finally brought to light.


This is the second book in the Dinah Harris series and it is as interesting to read as the first one.

What I enjoy most about these books are the characters, especially Dinah, who is as flawed and wonderful as anyone you might meet in real life. She truly carries the story and steals every scene she’s in. She seemed a bit more passive in this book than in the previous one, but that might have been done intentionally, to demonstrate the change she’s gone through. Cage, the other main character in this book, was quite funny in his straight-laced manner. They complemented each other very well.

Now, what I had the most trouble with was, again, the chunks of this book that were mainly preaching. I don’t mind reading Christian books, but when the sermonizing gets in the way of the story it does begin to bug me a bit. No, I don’t agree with everything said about Darwin and his contemporaries and I definitely don’t agree that throughout the ages the Christian religion has remained free of racism and all kinds of prejudice (the Inquisition, anyone? Or the Crusades?) while the rest of the world has not, as some of the characters claim, but what bothers me the most is that I was yanked away from the engrossing plot many times to ponder all of this. It just felt forced.

Overall, the story was entertaining. If you are not bothered too much by a bit of preaching, then this one is a good choice for mystery lovers.