The novel “The Shadow Of Heaven” by Bob Shaw was published for the first time in 1969. It was re-published in a revised edition in 1991.

Vic Stirling is a journalist who is following a crime story. The discovery of the bodies of two strangers leads him to check the list of missing people, where he also finds the name of John Considine, his half-brother. Although his contacts with his family are sporadic, he gets worried and goes to talk to their mother, who confirms that John seems to have vanished.