Fear the Silence - BookWyrm

Kindle, 380 pages

English language

Published by Raven Street Publishing.

ISBN:: 978-1-914547-13-3

(1 review)

‘Do you believe Will took his own life?’

The question echoed off the white tiles in the hospital’s cold, cavernous morgue, and I studied my husband in peaceful repose. I leaned down and put my forehead against his. Silent tears ran down my cheeks. They felt hot, and he felt so cold. It was five days since his death, and my grief felt heavy, like a vast, dark mass pushing down on me.

When Maggie’s husband, Will, is shot dead in their London home, she thinks he is the victim of a burglary until the police tell her the shocking news that Will was the one who pulled the trigger.

Maggie is consumed with grief and questions. Will wasn’t suicidal. He had so much to live for.

After the funeral, Maggie travels to their holiday home on a small Croatian island to escape London. She finds a disturbing letter written …

‘Do you believe Will took his own life?’

The question echoed off the white tiles in the hospital’s cold, cavernous morgue, and I studied my husband in peaceful repose. I leaned down and put my forehead against his. Silent tears ran down my cheeks. They felt hot, and he felt so cold. It was five days since his death, and my grief felt heavy, like a vast, dark mass pushing down on me.

When Maggie’s husband, Will, is shot dead in their London home, she thinks he is the victim of a burglary until the police tell her the shocking news that Will was the one who pulled the trigger.

Maggie is consumed with grief and questions. Will wasn’t suicidal. He had so much to live for.

After the funeral, Maggie travels to their holiday home on a small Croatian island to escape London. She finds a disturbing letter written by Will, containing clues to a dark secret.

As Maggie puts the pieces together, she discovers Will’s death is connected to someone from his past… Someone who will go to extreme lengths to keep Maggie silent.

Three can keep a secret... If two of them are dead.

The international multi-million bestselling author of The Girl in the Ice is back with his first stand-alone thriller, a heart-racing, hold-your-breath read that will keep you hooked until the very last page.

1 edition

Sharyl reviewed Fear the Silence by Robert Bryndza

A Compelling Mystery

3 stars

Many thanks to Raven Street Publishing and Netgalley for introducing me to Robert Bryndza. This thriller was just that, and kept my rapt attention most of the time.

Maggie and Will are middle-aged professionals living the affluent life of their dreams: Maggie is a trauma surgeon, and Will has left medicine to pursue architecture, his passion. The author quickly paints a picture of a happy life together, until Will is carried into the trauma unit where his wife Maggie is working, dying of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Maggie has a very hard time accepting the idea that Will has killed himself. She saw no signs of depression, no sign of anything amiss.

In the following days and weeks, as Maggie tries to come to grips with her new life, she travels to the vacation home they built on an island in Croatia. This is when things get scary …

Many thanks to Raven Street Publishing and Netgalley for introducing me to Robert Bryndza. This thriller was just that, and kept my rapt attention most of the time.

Maggie and Will are middle-aged professionals living the affluent life of their dreams: Maggie is a trauma surgeon, and Will has left medicine to pursue architecture, his passion. The author quickly paints a picture of a happy life together, until Will is carried into the trauma unit where his wife Maggie is working, dying of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Maggie has a very hard time accepting the idea that Will has killed himself. She saw no signs of depression, no sign of anything amiss.

In the following days and weeks, as Maggie tries to come to grips with her new life, she travels to the vacation home they built on an island in Croatia. This is when things get scary and creepy. Once there, Maggie will discover more about a part of Will’s life he never shared with her, while alive. However, it turns out that he has made arrangements to tell her everything, should something happen to him. Without giving away too much of the story, I must say that this part of the story was hard for me to fathom, that Will would dump all of this on his poor, unsuspecting wife, a woman he was very much in love with.

The author’s depiction of Maggie’s experiences on this island in Croatia, during the quiet, deserted off-season, is vivid and memorable, and her angst feels real.This part of the novel was extremely well written.

However, Will’s willingness to get himself into such trouble, to compromise himself in such a way, does raise some questions about Will’s morals and life that I don’t feel were answered in a very believable way. Maggie, meanwhile, is an incredibly strong character, and very smart. Through sheer toughness and a little luck, she reinvents her life–perhaps a little too tidily. All in all, this story was compelling, if not always believable. I would happily read this author’s work again.