It all started with the wrong Shalom...
The Long Shalom is a supernatural noir novel written by Zachary Rosenberg.
The year is 1927 in New York City. Alan Aldenberg is a gruff, deadpan private detective with a history for violence in both the military and mob. In the midst of reconciling his brutal past with his Jewish heritage, Alan's door is darkened by a familiar shape in the form of Erika Nakamura, who brings all manner of danger with her arrival.
Together and with a few other friends along the way, Alan and Erika descend into the dark depths of their unfair city, discovering a dark conspiracy of missing innocents and ancient evils. Their only hope in standing against the wickedness encroaching on their world is each other, and a little bit of faith.
The Long Shalom contains examples of
- Action Girl: Erika and Lenore are just as capable as their male compatriots, if not more, in throwing down with the baddies and saving the day in the nick of time.
- Ancient Evil: Records of the Umbral date back to King Solomon’s reign over ancient Judea.
- Anti-Hero: Alan is certainly a decent person trying to do good, but he's also ruthless thanks to how the world has hardened him, and his past was even more so. His allies, particularly Erika, are also willing to get their hands very dirty to accomplish their goals.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Umbral, or Tenebrae, are a race of gods from “beyond the stars” who feed via Human Sacrifice and glut themselves on whole worlds. Their chief representative, Emicho Hadrian, looks mostly like a human but is simply assuming that form for convenience.
- Humanoid Abomination: Whatever Hadrian truly is, he's decidedly an ancient, dark being of malevolence. Yet he looks, for the most part, like a normal man in a charcoal suit, albeit one who is routinely acknowledged as looking wrong.
- Meaningful Name: Emicho Hadrian takes his first name from Count Emicho and his last from Emperor Hadrian, both famous persecutors of Jews.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: All of the main antagonists are horribly prejudiced against minorities, particularly Jews. Hadrian is out to feast on them all to slake his bloodthirst.
- Shout-Out: There's a picture of Alan's grandmother Esther and her "roommate", who lived in the West.
- Villains Want Mercy: When one of the baddies is left brutalized and at the mercy of Alan's gang, he pathetically begs for his life and even sells out his allies to try to save his own skin. It doesn't work.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: What caused Alan's falling out with Rothstein's gang. A child witnessed one of their hits, and Alan's compatriot Carlo unflinchingly trained his gun on the kid with no hesitation to kill him. This was such an evil act that Alan departed the mob for good.
