Reviews

The Silence by Luca Veste

laceydm's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

epilieaspiechick's review against another edition

3.0

My full review can be found on the Epilie Aspie Chick blog!

This book has a lot of different angles: the friends committing a terrible crime, a serial killer, and seeing the group fall apart. It should have cumulatively lead to a strong story, but for whatever reason I could not emotionally connect to it. Things go horribly awry (in a very horror flick way) and I didn't care much. 

cindy_todd1's review against another edition

4.0

Friendships. One last chance to party all together before marriage and families separate them for good. Witnesses of a murder. One of their own. Secrets that need to be kept.
A year later and those friendships have been tested. One of the six is dead and they all see each other for the first time at the funeral. Somebody outside the group knows what they did. Somebody told. Now their lives are in danger, who will be next?
Thanks to #netgalley for an ARC of this book. I loved the mystery surrounding all of it. Killing someone and then having the quick thinking to cover it up. I think we all do crazy things at times. Not sure I'd be able to go along with their decisions. Which you realize is why they all have issues from that night. A great mystery read. Makes you think about who you can truly trust. Fear puts a whole different perspective on reality.
Fans of mystery and childhood friendships will enjoy this book.

stiney7887's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

reading_and_wheeling's review against another edition

4.0

Six friends want to recapture their youth by going to a 90s music festival in the countryside. On the last night, someone dies who may have been a serial killer. The sextet and they decide to keep the events of that night a secret, but what happens when one of the friends dies in the same manner as the killers' victims?

This book was a very fun thriller. The characters are well developed via the dual timeline story where we get to see how the group of friends met and their how their friendship evolved over the years. The pacing kept me wanting to turn the pages to find out what happened. I would definitely recommend this one!

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Landmark and author Luca Veste for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

theirresponsiblereader's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
This is one of those thrillers where it feels like if you say anything, you'll ruin something. But, I've got to try (if only for the sake of my NetGally Feedback Ratio).

WHAT'S THE SILENCE ABOUT?
I'm going to borrow the blurb, because if that says too much, it's on Sourcebooks, not me.

It was supposed to be our last weekend away as friends, before marriage and respectability beckoned. But what happened that Saturday changed everything.

We killed a stranger and covered it up.

In the middle of the night, someone died.

We didn't know our victim was a serial killer.

The six of us promised each other we would not tell anyone about the body we buried.

But now the pact has been broken.

We don't think he was working alone.

And the killing has started again ...

The year following the killing of the serial killer was not easy on these six friends, the toll on them all is great. Then when the killing starts again, it's even worse, the fragile hold that Matt (the narrator) has on his life and mental health is about to shatter. Sone of his friends are doing somewhat better, while others...well, you should read that for yourself.

While we what happens to these six around the one-year anniversary we get some quick glimpses at some of the formative experiences they shared through childhood, adolescence, and university that shaped who they are and how they reacted to the present crisis.

WHAT CAN I TALK ABOUT?
That borders on too much about the plot, and I really don't think I can talk much about the characters for the same reason—almost everything we learn about them is tied to the story.

Let's focus instead on the feel of the book, the atmosphere. Wow. The opening pages are upbeat, joyful—but you can tell that won't last for long (and not just because you've read the blurb). Then it gets bad, and worse, and worse yet. And you can't look away—like the proverbial car wreck you see coming. Not only can you not look away, you have to see more, you have to keep turning the pages to see just what kind of damage will be done. How these lives will be further shattered.

It's horrible. It's tragic. It's compelling.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE SILENCE?
I don't know that I can honestly say that I enjoyed this book—I don't think anyone can. It's not that kind of book. It's a serial killer novel like you've never read before. If for no other reason than the focus isn't on the killer or the hunt for the killer. It's about the victims, prospective victims, and those that are left behind. It's about seeing the ripple effects of trauma.

It's a great experience. An intense read. This will be lurking in my subconscious for a while. Veste tapped into something here, and you've gotta try it.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Sourcebooks Landmark via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.