Fantasy as a setting allows for a great deal of flexibility in storytelling. David Mack follows that ideal with the third installment of his Dark Arts “secret history” series, The Shadow Commission. For this installment of the series, Mack spins a conspiracy thriller set against the backdrop of the JFK assassination and powerful mages vying for power.
November 1963. Cade Martin and Anja Kernova have lived in hiding for a decade, training new mages. In the United States, Briet Segfrunsdóttir runs America’s top-secret Occult Defense Program from the Silo beneath the Pentagon.
Then the assassination of President Kennedy plunges all their lives into chaos. Briet, whose job was to defend Kennedy, is blamed for his death. Meanwhile, mages all over the world are brutally murdered—with Cade, Anja, and their closest allies being the prime targets.
Outgunned, on the run, and not knowing who to trust, Cade and Anja have just one hope to save themselves and their last few apprentices: they must find a way to fight the sinister cabal known only as The Shadow Commission.
About a decade has passed in the world of Dark Arts since the second installment, The Iron Codex published and our protagonist Cade Martin has managed to train a group of acolytes in the mysteries of yoking angels and demons in order to perform sorcerous acts. It isn’t a spoiler to reveal that JFK was murdered on November 22, 1963, but here in The Shadow Commission, the real world conspiracy that has surrounded the event is extrapolated to be an even larger conspiracy in Mack’s world, as magic and power play behind the scenes.
As global powers have reshuffled after World War II, so have the alliances of the magically endowed, with Cade allying himself with people who were on the side of the enemy previously. What makes the JFK assassination such a touchstone for our protagonists (Cade, Briet, and Anja) is that Briet in particular was charged with ensuring JFK was safe. Furthermore, powerful magical protections were placed on JFK, meaning “the lone gunman,” Lee Harvey Oswald was just a patsy. An ominous figure, referred only as “The Old Man,” is pulling strings to ensure he and his Commission remain the power behind the scenes.
It is tough not to go into too much detail about many of the events of the novel without spoiling things, even through the first handful of chapters. What I can say is that Mack moves the plot around at a frenetic pace, he leaves Cade and his allies guessing for much of the novel and completely on the defensive. Cade has grown more paranoid and angrier since the previous novel. His wife, Anja, manages to keep him on close to n even keel, but much of Cade’s frustration is completely understandable.
That’s something David Mack has proven throughout the three books in the Dark Arts sequence, an ability to build up empathy for his characters, especially the protagonists. Regardless of the character whose viewpoint we are reading, their emotions are completely understandable. Maybe their actions/reactions aren’t always agreeable, but how these characters were led to those decisions has a genuine feel.
Overall, the Dark Arts series is a thoroughly entertaining saga. Mack, builds a “Secret History” with intricate details that honor the actual history, but provides a very interesting magical backdrop to how things may have played out.
The Shadow Commission might be the last in the series, but I hope it isn’t. There’s a definitiveness to some of the events, and they are extremely bold and admirable decisions on the author’s part. However, Mack has left enough room, and enough of a hook, that he can pick up the story should he choose to do so.
Recommended
© 2020 Rob H. Bedford
Book Three of The Dark Arts
Excerpt: https://us.macmillan.com/excerpt?isbn=9780765383235
Published by Tor Books | August 2020
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
