2012: #68 – Silent Scream (Karen Rose)
Title: Silent Scream
Author: Karen Rose
Format: Kindle
Pages: 601
Release Date: 2010
Publisher: Headline
Source: personal copy
When a teenage girl dies in a suspicious fire, Detective Olivia Sutherland is assigned to track down the arsonist. Then she discovers something more sinister: a vicious blackmailer who preys on young people and murders without hesitation. Making her work even harder is sexy firefighter David Hunter. He’s not only sharing the case but sparking memories of their long-ago night of passion, when feelings were left unspoken and hearts were broken.
David has his own ghosts, and a million regrets. But while he and Olivia try to face the wall of pain between them, a diabolical puppet master is pulling strings to make a group of twenty-somethings do his bidding. Soon Olivia and David are scouring the city for a calculating criminal who seems tantalizingly close–and is moving in for the kill.
My thoughts:
I read this book in bits and pieces on my phone, so it took me quite a while to get through. The good thing was, I was able to put it down and pick it up again a couple of weeks later and still figure out what was going on.
The mystery was solid, and kept you guessing, even when you are in the killer’s head part of the time.
This is set up to be more of a romantic suspense novel, but really I think it’s a police procedural with a heavy romantic element. Besides the parts where Olivia and David are each torturing themselves about their present and past actions, the romance is actually a rather small part of the book. Neither of them acted in a very logical way in between their first meeting and their second, but it’s not too hard to chalk that up to people being dumb about love.
Overall, I rather enjoyed this and will definitely keep more Karen Rose books on my to-read list.
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | WorldCat
Other reviews:
- “There is a good twist at the end that actually had me cheering because it wasn’t Karen Rose’s typical straight line.” — Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
- “As loathe as I am to admit this, I had not heard of Karen Rose’s novels prior to this one and I will be reading all of her earlier novels as I believe there may potentially be some character carry-over, or at least I hope there is, as she puts together an amazing cast of characters.” — Rundpinne
- “If you enjoy detective thrillers with strong woman lead characters, I highly recommend Karen Rose’s novels in general, and her latest novel, Silent Scream, in particular.” — Starting Fresh
I’m not a big fan of romance with my suspense so I’ve been hesitant to try one of Rose’s books. The fact that you were able to read it in bits in pieces is appealing though – I swear that’s the only way I read these days.