Book Review: Silent Scream by Angela Marsons

 

 

 

First, I must say a big thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of Silent Scream in return for an honest and unbiased review.

This is the debut crime novel from both Bookouture and Angie Marsons and what a fantastic debut it is! I think the general public agree with me, because the publicity this book received on social networks was incredible.

Silent Scream introduces us to D.I. Kim Stone. She’s blunt, hard-nosed, abrasive, has little patience and has a tendency to do what she wants, even if it goes against orders. However, she’s also a brilliant detective. Along with her team, Bryant, Dawson and Stace, she investigates a tough case surrounding the murder of a headmistress. As they investigate further, more bodies start to appear, including several sets of human remains from the site of an old children’s home where the first victim worked many years earlier.

 

The story drew me in from the very start and kept me interested until the very last page. I read the majority of the book without working out ‘whodunnit’ and this is a major plus point for me. There’s nothing worse than a crime thriller without that air of mystery making you wonder who the killer is!

 

The characters are interesting and real. D.I. Stone certainly has her own issues both personally and professionally, and you can see why her colleagues and the public may find her abrasive and rude, however she’s brave, tough, clever and she gets results.  You get the impression that a lot of the brashness actually hides a potentially much softer character who has erected a number of barriers to protect herself from the feelings that can accompany relationships, whether friendships or lovers. She is determined and driven to solve the crime and catch the killer. We learn a little bit about the supporting characters, just enough to make them interesting but not too much, which could detract from the story.

 

The story itself is dark, gritty and contains some sensitive subject matter. The author manages to cleverly explores those issues without dragging the reader too far into them. In doing so, I could understand and sympathise with those issues, without feeling as though emotions were being forced upon me. This allows the story to maintain it’s quick pace and the air of reality created by the author. I did notice a few subtle hints of humour within the story which personalised D.I. Stone slightly and made her more relatable as a character.

 

Finally, I don’t want to say too much and ruin the book, however there is a twist near the end which caught me totally be surprise, I simply was not expecting it. I loved it!

 

For me, Silent Scream was a fantastic crime thriller. It was well-written, complex, tense, gritty and totally un-put-downable. Angela Marsons has produced a brilliant debut crime novel and I cannot wait to read the second offering in the D.I Stone series, Evil Games, which was released on 29 May 2015.

Angela Marsons is the author of Amazon #1 Bestseller SILENT SCREAM.

 

She lives in the Black Country with her partner, their bouncy Labrador and a swearing parrot.

 

She first discovered her love of writing at Junior School when actual lessons came second to watching other people and quietly making up her own stories about them. Her report card invariably read “Angela would do well if she minded her own business as well as she minds other people’s”.

 

After years of writing relationship based stories (My Name Is and The Middle Child) Angela turned to crime, fictionally speaking of course, and developed a character that refused to go away.

 

She is signed to Bookouture.com in an 8 book deal. The second book in the Kim Stone series, EVIL GAMES, is released 29th May 2015.