Shuman, George D. 1952–

PERSONAL:

Born 1952, in Johnstown, PA.

ADDRESSES:

Home—PA and NC. E-mail—author@georgedshuman.com.

CAREER:

Writer. Worked for the Metropolitan Police force, Washington, DC, for twenty years, variously as an undercover narcotics detective; a sergeant in the Special Assignments Branch, Internal Affairs Division; operations commander of the Metropolitan Police Academy; and lieutenant commander in the Public Integrity Branch, Internal Affairs Division. Shuman and Associates (risk-management firm), president.

WRITINGS:

"SHERRY MOORE" SERIES

18 Seconds, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2006.

Last Breath, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2007.

Lost Girls, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

George D. Shuman spent twenty years working for the Metropolitan police force in Washington, DC, in positions including an undercover narcotics detective, a sergeant in the Special Assignments Branch within Internal Affairs, and a lieutenant in the Public Integrity Branch, also in the Internal Affairs division. He then moved on to mine his experiences in law enforcement, first as president of Shuman and Associates, a risk-management consulting firm, and then as a writer. Shuman's first novel, 18 Seconds, is a thriller about beautiful, blind psychic, Sherry Moore, who is able to see the last eighteen seconds of a person's life when she lays hands on a corpse. When Lieutenant Kelly O'Shaughnessy is having trouble determining who killed a young girl, she turns to Moore and together they find themselves embroiled in an old serial-killer case. David Pitt, in a review for Booklist, suggested that the story was too high-concept, remarking that it could "almost sink under the weight of its own premise." However, a contributor for Publishers Weekly commented that "vividly drawn central figures and authoritative voice" keep the readers interested.

Shuman continued the story of Sherry Moore in the second book of his "Sherry Moore" series, 2007's Last Breath. In this novel, the Maryland attorney general asks the heroine to help solve the case of three women gruesomely murdered in an abandoned meat packing plant. Soon, a fourth woman is murdered in an upscale suburban home. Sherry discovers that the serial killer responsible for these deaths is Kenneth Dentin, a twenty-seven-year-old obsessed with slowly strangling his victims. Last Breath was received positively by readers and critics alike, many citing the author's gripping plot and realistic depiction of life inside the world of crime. Shuman brings "a chilling realism to his depic- tion of crime scenes," noted one Publishers Weekly contributor. Last Breath is "part police procedural, part psychological thriller, and … engrossing," wrote a critic for Kirkus Reviews.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 2006, David Pitt, review of 18 Seconds, p. 34.

Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2006, review of 18 Seconds, p. 205; June 15, 2007, review of Last Breath.

Library Journal, January 1, 2006, Jane Jorgenson, review of 18 Seconds, p. 102.

Publishers Weekly, November 15, 2004, John F. Baker, "A First Thriller by a 20-year Veteran of the Washington Police Force, George Shuman, Was Bought for S&S by Roving Editor Rob Weisbach," p. 12; June 11, 2007, review of Last Breath, p. 39.

Washington Post, April 3, 2006, Patrick Anderson, review of 18 Seconds.