A review by panicatthebookstore
The sound of suffering by Mark Towse

4.0

Malcolm has learned to live with the noise in his head. At least he thinks he has. Only recently it's become more than just a hum. It's become a loud ringing that brings pain with it and causes him to lose consciousness. And each time it happens, it gets so much worse. 
Alongside a group of people suffering as he does, they desperately try to find out what's happening to them, and if their episodes have any connection to the "terrorist attacks" happening all over the world. 

I went into this blind, and I really didn't know what to expect. It started so well, and the first chapter is definitely not something those of us with a fear of flying should be reading. Add the events of that chapter to the ever-growing list of things that can go wrong mid-flight. 😅 
After that, it seems to mainly focus on Malcolm. He is grieving the loss of his daughter, struggling to deal with the breakdown of his marriage, and he's doing all of that from the bottom of a bottle. We see what feels like his slow descent into madness as the episodes of ringing in his ears gets worse and more painful. He feels completely alone in the world, unable to talk to his wife about anything, and being fobbed off by doctors. And then he finds a group of people just like him. Throughout all of this, we get to witness awful events that are happening all over the world. Events that happen at the exact time Malcolm has an episode. 
I genuinely had no idea what was going on, so the big reveal was definitely surprising. The ending left the door open for a second book, but it also left it in a way that it could just be left there. 


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