Silent Child

Title: Silent Child

Author: Sarah Denzil

Genre: Thriller, Suspense

Source: Ebook: Amazon

Rating 5 out of 5 paws

Summer of 2006 torrential rain caused the river to flood.  School called and notified parents to come get their children before the flood got worse.  Once Emma got to the school she discovered the unbelievable.  Her son was not there, her son had slipped away from the class and no one knew where he was.  Amid the search efforts, Emma stood by and watched as her son's red coat was fished from the river. Young Aiden was declared dead, drowned in the river flood, despite no body being found.  Ten years have gone by and Emma has learned how to move past her grief, she is married again and about to give birth to a baby girl.  But then....Aiden is found wondering out of the woods.  Unable to speak, his body shows signs of abuse, and neglect.  The truth is revealed, he never drowned but was taken.  But who would take a helpless young body?  Emma does everything she can to reconnect with Aiden and encourage him to talk, but he remains at a distance.  What will it take for Emma to get Aiden to talk?  Who took her son?  Who has been lying to her all these years?

 Reading the synopsis of this book draw me into it. It sounded interesting and the cover gives it the air of being incredibly creepy and chilling.  And it was.  It is sometimes rare to find a book that completely draws you into the story without even beginning the story yet.  I couldn't wait to begin reading this one, and boy am I glad I did.  I couldn't put it down, and needed to know what happened next.  It is one of those books that I have to recommend to others and it shot right to the top of favorite books of the year so far.

It all began with a flood, in a single moment everything changed for Emma.  She didn't know how she could survive with the loss of her soon, and then her parents soon after.  In her darkest moment, she meets Jake who seems to put her back together again like she was Humpty Dumpty.  He was there when no one else was.  But is he the man he claims he is?  Rob, her ex, Aiden's father abandoned her in her time of need.  Too consumed by his own grief.  Now that Aiden is back, so is he.  And he seems to have changed, but did he really?  Emma finds herself looking at everyone around her differently, wondering who knew what happened to Aiden, a boy who was too traumatized to tell her what happened all those years ago.

There is so much in this book that will keep you on the edge of your seat, anticipating what will happened next.  Just when you think you have everything figured out, something will happen that will change everything you thought you knew.  You have a character who doesn't speak, but he says so much through his actions and reactions to certain situations. There is so much depth to this one character than he seems to overshadow some of the others.  There are a few things that didn't fully get answered like why Aiden remained silent, but then again why are kids who are traumatized silent?  I do wish we went more into the psychology of it, but still enjoyed the read and that aspect of the novel.

One aspect is rather predictable, but not in a way that you would think which is what threw me for a loop.  I didn't think the people it ended up being were possible suspects despite clues that I didn't realize were clues.  Emma had a LOT of inner dialogue which got tedious for a bit, but doesn't fully take away from the story.  I can see why the author did it this way, I would have almost liked some more from Aiden other than the one chapter we get towards the end. Like maybe something with him battle with himself at telling Emma everything as opposed to remaining quiet.

Don't be surprised when you read this book in one sitting.  I read it in two, only because I needed to go to bed despite not wanting to.  It may have been a little longer than it should have been, but that's okay.  If you can get past the length (417 pages) you would enjoy it.  Especially if you like thrillers, or suspense.  The material may seem dark, but the author tackles it in a tasteful way that isn't too difficult to read.

Couple Next Door

Title: Couple Next Door
Author: Shari Lapena
Genre: Suspense, Thriller
Source: Hardback: Library
Rating: 3 out of 5 paws.


Anne and Marco are next door enjoying a dinner party with their friends.  Or rather Marco is enjoying himself.  Anne is not only worried about their baby and wants to go home, but she watches as her beautiful neighbor shamelessly flirts with her husband.  Upon arriving home, they discover the front door is open, and the worst has happened.  Someone has taken the baby.  Immediately suspicions falls on the parents.  As Detective Rasbach investigates the kidnapping, the truth of what happens begins to unravel and he believes the couple are hiding something, but what is it exactly that they are hiding?

I heard a lot of different good things about this book and people saying that I wouldn't be able to put it down. so I decided to check it out. While it was good but I don't think it was as phenomenal as a lot of people say it is.  It fell flat in many places and I found myself not really caring about the characters.  I tried to tell my mom and best friend about the book, but struggled to explain some of the "twists" found within this novel.  It is interesting and engaging in the beginning, but as the investigation continues it becomes completely unrealistic and I found myself wondering "now why would he do that," "shouldn't he have thought of this."  Again while it was good and interesting, it was completely outlandish and I struggled at times with it. There are so many different theories in this story intended to lead the reader to think one thing when it turns out to be something else.  At first I felt for Anne, her baby is missing, the detectives think it's her.  But as the story progresses and as a reader I notice things aren't right with her husband, I begin to wonder how she could be naïve.  There wasn't really any depth to the characters other than a few hints at something in their past, but nothing that really goes anywhere with the story.  Just a bunch of red herrings that after a while it begins to distract from the tale. I found it easy to put down and then come back to because it wasn't one of those books with a lot of deeper things happening within the story, everything was surface action.  Characters began to get annoying and their actions completely far-fetched.  The consistent switching of POV got to be annoying, I wanted the story to focus on one person rather than 3 or 4, it took away from the suspense in finding out what would happen.  For example readers would find out something in one chapter from the POV of a character then it gets revealed two chapters later and it feels anti-climactic because we already knew it. Now would I read this book again, probably not. Would I recommend it?  I don't know, I have but then took it back because of how much of a let down the rest of the book became.  I will not say it was the best book I have read, nor was it the worst book that I have read. I think if you are interested in thrillers and suspense novels you should give this a try.  Just because it was meh for me doesn't mean it would be for you.