Reviews

I had the audiobook read by Sofia Engstrand. The voice is excellent for Gail, but not distinctive for the unidentified male voice. There’s a great level of feeling infused by the narrator.

Gail is s*xually ass*ulted in her own home, she reports it to the police but they don’t take her allegation seriously. Two years later she is trying and failing to put it behind her when she meets another of his victims.

We are told the story from both Gail’s and an unidentified male pov.

The author tells this story brilliantly, and the best way I’ve come across of using incel forums where the reader gets the content but not in a boring social media format listing conversation exchanges.

The story is dark and contains triggers, there are so many twists and turns. This one grabbed my attention immediately keeping me hooked, it managed to keep up a really good pace throughout.

This book has everything I love in a thriller, so it’s one I highly recommend. I’m giving the story 5⭐️, the narration 4.75⭐️ due to the lack of distinction for me in the male voice.

ashjaywebb13's review against another edition

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fast-paced

5.0

corinne82's review against another edition

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challenging slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Diamond delves into an important topic within this storyline. It’s told from the points of view of 3 of the characters Gail, Shona and a mystery person who we aren’t aware of their identity. The blurb really caught my interest and I think it was brave of the author for going down this route but at times it did feel like I was stuck in Gails head and her constant ramblings which was just to much at times. It felt like it really dragged the a#% out of the storyline. I really wanted to empathise with Gail but she was so bitter and entitled she ended up being very unlikeable. I did like Shona as a character but she didn’t feature as much. I found the storyline to be far fetched and unbelievable and I could see where it was going about a 1/4 way in. The outcome was very meh for such a drawn out build up. Where I get what the author was trying to do it just didn’t have the desired effect.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for the opportunity to read and review #TheSilence

emmareadscrime's review

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4.0

Well this is certainly not one for the faint hearted. Please look into any trigger warnings before reading this!

This was my first book by this author and I was very kindly sent a copy. I really enjoyed this and the plot wasn’t something I’d come across before.

Around the halfway mark I did guess the killer but I raced through it to see if I was correct!

pbfhpunk's review

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5.0

I loved this book, I've never read much thriller before but I definitely want to read more! I read this over a couple of days with only sleep getting in the way!

What I've realised as I start to read more and more books is that I really enjoy a multi narrator style. In The Silence the chapters are told by either Gail Reynolds, who in the first chapter of the book is sexually assaulted, DS Shona White, who is advised to talk Gail out of taking her complaint further due to the low solve rates of these crimes and the affect they'd have on the station's rating. Finally the the assailant tells his story of what turned him from an innocent boy to a rapist.

His chapters were so interesting, if the book had been told in a linear way there is always the risk that you might have felt sorry for him but by starting with the assault first and then straight to Gail's experience as she tries to report it to the police, you already feel so much anger towards him and the system that you never feel any sympathy towards him at all.

Gail's chapters are unusual in that she spends a lot of time talking to her attacker, wondering if he's watching her, is he someone she's seen in the seaside town that she lives in, is it someone she knows, a customer at one of the many jobs she drifts to and from as she struggles to cope following the attack. And although Shona has her chapters that talk about what she's doing, after being riddled with guilt from not taking Gail's initial complaint further, Gail's chapters talk about the investigation more and give more depth to it.

Very early on in the book there is a time jump of three years as Gail finds - through a support group of sexual assault survivors - someone with a story the same as hers, showing they were attacked by the same man. They form a friendship from this shared experience, and dig deeper into what could be the connection between them, that ultimately leads to revenge.

I genuinely loved this book and found it very easy to read and a page turner.

I would 100% recommend it to everyone I know, but do seek out content warnings.

maz403's review

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2.0

An interesting read and a worry perspective on the reporting of rape. Strong female characters though no redeeming qualities in any of the males ! Just became too violent and far fetched for me during the last third.

denaiir's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Well this one was too long. It started strong but the internal monologues of the victims got old pretty fast. I figured out who the murderer was about halfway through and hoped therw would be a twist, but no. Definitely not as good as the Imogen Grey series

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