Book Review: Seeing a DOUBLE SHADOW Down the Rabbit Hole
Double Shadow (Splinter Effect #2)
Written by Andrew Ludington
Published by Minotaur Books
April 21, 2026
Hardcover, 288 pgs.
In this second outing for Dr. Rabbit Ward, we get a little bit of a Back to the Future effect in that Ward finds himself working with a past version of his colleague, who’s still destined to be a competitor before she becomes his colleague.
Helen finds herself in trouble with the law, having been implicated in a criminal conspiracy and framed for murder. She sends a cryptic note to Rabbit with a request for help, asking him to travel to 68 BC to find someone named Einar Eshek. Ward is already hot on the trail of a murderer he encounters in 64 BC, one who brutally mutilates his victims and is clearly from the future.
So it’s off to first century Jerusalem to track down Eshek, and along the way Ward encounters Helen at a younger age, just starting out in this business after being pressured into it by her sister. The two are now on Eshek’s trail together, each having an agenda that eventually will be at odds with the other. And this is interesting because now Rabbit is working with foreknowledge that Helen doesn’t have because she hasn’t experienced it yet, and he doesn’t know what’s coming, either, only that this is her first meeting with him, and whatever happens here is likely what sets her on the path to consider him in a negative light. So he’s at an advantage in one way, but he’s also regretting that fact because of the evolution of their relationship in the first book.
Ward also realizes he’s got a vested interest in finding Eshek himself, not just for Helen’s benefit, as he realizes that he and Eshek have crossed paths before, only Ward didn’t know him by name at the time, only that Eshek was a sadistic murderer who mutilates the bodies of his victims.
So we have Rabbit Ward going back in time in an unauthorized jump to find a murderer who’s capture may lead to exoneration for Ward’s not-quite-girlfriend whose younger self doesn’t know Ward yet but needs his help to find the murderer only she doesn’t know he’s a murderer yet so they have to stop him during the First Jewish-Roman War when Ward could maybe possibly get his hands on a scroll that points to a vast treasure lost to time.
Got it?
For the most part, this entry in the series is just as entertaining as the first. I will admit, however, to a certain amount of frustration in keeping all of the characters straight in my head. There’s a certain amount of skullduggery and the use of aliases and disguises going on, so it was a challenge for me to know which character was in particular scenes I was reading. And there’s one particular very coincidental encounter that seems almost too coincidental by half, but one could argue the logic behind it from a certain point of view, I guess.
On the whole, though, I enjoyed it. The story moves apace, with the requisite danger from many quarters. Besides the looming war between the Jews and the Romans, there’s also the threat posed by Eshek, the danger Ward faces getting stuck in a time that’s not his, and the tension from Ward having knowledge that Helen does not, as they are at different-from-usual points in each other’s timelines. I also like the fact that Helen doesn’t dominate the space, that she’s a partner and can work with Ward as an equal.
There’s also no dumbing down the story. You need to pay attention to keep up. And along the way, you will encounter the smattering of historical information about the time period that Ludington uses to add authenticity and believability to the story. I also appreciate that this story is not just another verse from the same song as the first book. The motivations and mechanics of this one are different enough that it feels like a fresh tale instead of a sequel that retreads what we’ve already experienced. It has me curious how Helen and Rabbit will interact in the next book, because I’m sure there will be some interesting conversations to be had after this little adventure…
