Book Review: Dead Silence by Robin Caroll

Political games can be deadly…

 

Elise Carmichael is a court sign language interpreter who reads lips all the time. As a widow with a young son who is deaf, lip reading is simply second nature, until the day she reads the lips of someone on the phone discussing an attempt to be made on a senator’s life—a senator who just happens to be her mother-in-law. Before she can decide what she needs to do, she receives the information that her son is rushed to the ER and she must leave. Then she later sees the news report that her mother-in-law has been shot and killed. But when she comes forward, her life, as well as her son’s life, may now be in the crosshairs of the assassin.

My rating:

This book was a super unique and cool twist on suspense—I mean, Elise has a deaf son, and is a lip reader and sign language-er (what's even the right term here? Maybe interpreter?) at the courthouse. Obviously, she sees something she wasn't supposed to, and now someone wants her silenced.

It was a good, suspenseful book, but...(there's always that one little word, isn't there?) I don't know. The writing seemed almost...amateurish?

Don't get me wrong, it was not at all like a middle-schooler had written it (nothing against middle schoolers, y'all, but your writing is supposed to mature with you). Usually the story hooked me. But then sometimes there were just those little words or phrases that completely took me out of the story.

The plot was engaging, and when I expected a romance to bloom, it didn't (the main reason for that being that one of the parties involved was married, though that fact wasn't brought out until over halfway through the book), so that was actually a pleasant surprise. The rookie agent, though? I felt like her character was...overplayed? I mean, her arrogance and condescending attitude made her character more real and diverse, I suppose, but I think it may have been a little bit over-the-top.

I appreciated Elise's gradual wading back into her faith and prayer life (and if that was a spoiler, please forgive me), but somehow it seemed...detached from the mystery. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, seeing as how it was prayer that got her through it all, but...I don't know. I wasn't a huge fan of that.

Sawyer was super cute, though, and while he wasn't perfect, he wasn't a spoiled brat either, so that was utterly fabulous.

(And detective Rodriguez? Give the man a high five, for both his patience and his work!)

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. A positive review was not required. All thoughts are my own.

Don't you agree that we need more books with ASL interpreters?