Author: Karen Rose
Title: Silent Scream
Publisher: Headline
Trade Paperback: 468 pages
ISBN: 978-0-7553-4657-8
Price: £12.99
Publication Date: 13/05/2010
Karen Rose writes romantic suspense novels [well, at least that's what the font of all knowledge that is Wikipedia claims!]. If I am perfectly honest then this didn’t sound like a genre that I was going to enjoy, but the packaging of Rose’s novels [the titles, shoutlines and cover art] intrigued me and so I sat down to read her most recent novel.
In Silent Scream four teenagers’ arson on a construction site is captured by a mystery blackmailer who then forces them to commit crimes for him. First on the scene is firefighter David Hunter and when he discovers the body of a young girl in the building homicide detective Olivia Sutherland is called in to investigate. They have a history, one which makes Olivia wary of David, despite their obvious attraction for one another. The novel moves between their attempts to discover the perpetrators of the arson and a number of other brutal crimes and their feelings for one another.
Despite my initial reservations about this genre I found Silent Scream enjoyable and a welcome departure from the crime fiction that I usually read. There was a good balance between the romance and the crime aspects of the novel, although there were a couple of romance sections that felt a bit drawn out. Nevertheless, I found the characters interesting [if not exactly like anyone that I have ever met - they feel very much like they could be in a Hollywood film] and liked my first foray into Rose’s writing.
This is a great post, I stumbled across your review. Thanks for sharing, I’ll be sure to come back.