The Silent Man by David Fennell | Blog Tour Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received an ebook copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

The Silent Man by David Fennell

My rating: 5/5

Publisher: Zaffre

Publication date: 31st August 2023

Blurb:

A father is murdered in the dead of night in his London home, his head wrapped tightly in tape, a crude sad face penned over his facial features. But the victim's only child is left alive and unharmed at the scene.

Met Police detectives Grace Archer and Harry Quinn have more immediate concerns. Notorious gangster Frankie White has placed a target on Archer's back, and there's no one he won't harm to get to her.

Then a second family is murdered, leaving young Uma Whitmore as the only survivor.

With a serial killer at large, DI Archer and DS Quinn must stay alive long enough to find the connection between these seemingly random victims. Can they do it before another child is orphaned?

Review:

I gave The Art Of Death and See No Evil, Fennell's previous two novels in the DI Grace Archer & DS Harry Quinn series, both five stars and The Silent Man is an easy five star too.

If you haven't read any books in this series before, enough information is given to you to learn a bit about the backstory of Archer and Quinn, but I would highly recommend giving the other ones a read as they are so good.

In The Silent Man, Archer and Quinn are tasked searching for a serial killer whose MO is to taser their victims before wrapping their heads in tape and drawing an emoji style face on them. All of the victims seem to be parents too.

Alongside this, we have the story that runs across all three books, a crime family who are intent on harming Archer. They had previously been the reason for her father's death too.

The pacing is fantastic and I literally did not want to put this down. I just gel with Fennell's writing style and I like this chase. I have to say, as a Belfast native I cackled with laughter at Quinn's line "...my head's poundin' like an Orangeman's drum"! It has everything I want in a police procedural/thriller and a great, diverse host of characters too.

If you haven't read this series yet, you need to!

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A massive thank you to Compulsive Readers for having me on the tour and Zaffre for supplying me with a copy of the book. You can find information about the other bloggers taking part in the tour in the graphic below.