Review: ‘The Silent Dead’, by Graham Smith

Published By: Bookouture

Publication Date: 30th November 2018

Format: Kindle

Price: 99p

Purchase Link

Blurb

He’d found an angel for his collection. But one angel at a time was never enough…

Detective Beth Young has just joined the Cumbrian major crimes team when a body is found posed in a ritualistic manner – arms spread and graceful wings attached – at a crumbling castle in the hills of the Lake District.

The entire police force are on red alert. But Beth begins to feel she’s the only one who can follow the disturbing clues left by the twisted killer. Because she doesn’t think like everyone else. To Beth, crimes are puzzles she can solve. Even if real life is a little harder.

As more bodies are discovered in derelict stately homes across the Lake District, she knows she’s in a race against time.

But the killer is looking for another victim to add to his collection… Will Beth be able to save her? Or will he get there first?

A tenacious young detective with scars both physical and emotional, Beth Young will stop at nothing in her fight for justice for the innocent. The Silent Dead is the first book in the series. Set in the Lake District, it is perfect for fans of Joy Ellis, LJ Ross, and Peter James.

My Review

I found out about this book through a bookbloggers group and requested it from Netgalley. Thanks to Noelle and Kim at Bookouture for accepting my request.

There’s a twisted killer on the loose in the Lake District, leaving burnt, be-winged bodies in derelict country houses.

DC Beth Young has just joined the Force Major Investigation Team, based near Penrith. Her boss, D.I. O’Dowd is tough, her colleagues, D.S. Thompson and D.C. Unthank are surly and sarcastic. And they’re all stressed by the murders.

Beth is young, ambitious and burns for justice. And this case could make or break her career in Major Investigations. She finds herself drawn into the crime, as she vividly re-imagines the deaths of each victim. Her insights help to move the case forward but soon they run out of leads. Until there’s another murder and a kidnapping soon after.

I enjoyed the plot and Beth’s characterisation, although at times the author is a little heavy-handed. O’Dowd and the rest of the FMIT team develop as she gets to know them. They have complicated personal lives and histories, and felt like real people. I liked the misdirection of two anonymous creeps narrating their chapters. It was very confusing, but I worked it out with Beth.

I happened to mention to Noelle that the early descriptions of Beth struck me as autistic. This may or may not have been confirmed. I really need to talk to the author about that. Either way, I enjoyed Beth’s ability to put the little things together and treat it as a puzzle, while at the same time being determined to find the truth; she processes things differently and it’s commented upon by other characters. I enjoyed her internal monologues about not knowing what’s the right thing to say so not saying anything – it’s a too familiar thought.

There’s potential for a really good police procedural/thriller series here and this is a good opener. Who’d have thought the picturesque Lakes could be so full of fire and death.

P.S. Not all of us with dragon obsessions want to make dragons.

Edit: This book as now been renamed Death In The Lakes