dig_the_plot 's review for:

Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James

3.0

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I thought this was going to be spooky. I was so disappointed. It had all the makings of a spooky story but just failed to deliver. An old deserted mansion converted into a medical hospital for soldiers with PTSD was the perfect atmosphere for this scare tale. Not only was it a deserted mansion but the family who lived there had just disappeared into thin air. How could this go wrong? Katherine Weekes applied to be a nurse at Portis House, a hospital for mad men. She had absolutely no experience but her boss was desperate for nurses so she hired her anyway. Immediately Kitty feels that things aren’t right at the hospital and not just the men. She feels cold drafts, sees a shirtless man in the hallway, patients screaming about a man coming to get them. Kitty becomes friends with Patient 16 who turns out to be Jack Yates a war hero. They become fast friends and try to discover the truth of what’s going on at Portis House. This is described as gothic fiction. There just wasn’t anything scary about it and I didn’t enjoy the romance aspect at all. The best part of the story is what happened to the family that lived there and it wasn’t a huge part of the story. The story is very slow paced and I had a hard time connecting to the characters. I really thought it was going to be a chilling story and it just wasn’t. It’s an enjoyable book just not what it’s described to be which is why it was a let down. The haunting wasn’t scary or believable which made for an underwhelming book.