Disaster strikes (again!) at the latest production by The Fairway Players amateur dramatic society of Lower Lockwood. Secrets and rivalry abound. Can lawyers Femi Hassan and Charlotte Holroyd gather the necessary clues to a murder from the wealth of material they have to wade through?
Fans of Janice Hallett need no explanation as to the style of her mystery novels. If you've not read anything by this author before, then prepare for the hours to simply disappear when you pick up one of her superb novels. The Silent Appeal is set in the village of Lower Lockwood, and follows on from The Appeal (sorry, no review as I read this before starting my blog) and The Christmas Appeal (you can read my review here). You really don't need to have read the previous books to enjoy this one. Although many of the characters appeared in the earlier books, you'll quickly pick up each individual's characteristics, the interpersonal relationships, past history, and the rivalry that affects everything that takes place.
Told in epistolary format, you feel voyeuristic as you read each email, text, WhatsApp message, or journal entry. Don't overanalyse what you read, just absorb and enjoy; hunting for clues is useless as the author throws in so many secrets and misdirection that it is impossible to guess who the victim is, never mind who the murderer is.
It is frequently said that it is impossible to pick up nuance from written communications; Janice Hallett proves that this is completely wrong. Her brilliant writing conveys every dig and slight, no matter how subtle. Subtle probably isn't the correct description, however, as many of the characters are completely tone-deaf, they frequently criticise others for a lack of sensitivity without recognising it in themselves.
I found myself sitting up late into the night, frantically turning pages, trying to figure out how everything tied together. Although I managed to guess what was happening in a couple of the threads, all the red herrings kept me in the dark until the very end. Sadly, I, like many fans, now have to wait for the author's next novel.
Author Details
Janice Hallett is the author of six Sunday Times bestselling
novels, most recently The Killer Question and The Examiner. Her smash-hit debut
novel, The Appeal, was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month and won the CWA
Debut Dagger Award. The Twyford Code won the British Book Awards Crime and
Thriller Book of the Year, and The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels was a
Richard and Judy Book Club pick. She lives in West London.
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