Al-Qaida isn’t dead — yet! That’s what counter-terrorism task-force commander Jack Oldham believes as he tracks a new generation of American-born jihadists through a post-bin-Laden world.

In “Hell City,” New York is ground zero once again as the former NYPD homicide dick and his crack but colorful crew patrol a maddening world of clues that take them through the grittiest precincts of the city, the back roads of America, the lawless regions of Pakistan, the faceless chat rooms of the Internet and the dark corridors of the military-intelligence complex — not to mention the whiskey-tinged environs of The Christmas, a raunchy dive bar in Hell’s Kitchen frequented by Jack and other oft-recovering alcoholic cops.

Along the way, Jack strikes up an unlikely romance with the last lovechild of Beat-generation guru Neal Cassady as they share a lust for the city’s dark side and a yearning for a “lost” America. Through powerful, hard-boiled prose, this darkly comic, streetwise novel twists the mind, the language and the senses as it heads for a crash course with disaster.

“Shadow has crafted an entertaining mystery that borrows from the best in mystery and noir, while adding a heavy dose of modern paranoia… A striking read that will leave you looking around the corner in fear.” — Kirkus Reviews