?Have You Heard??Audiobooks for Your Listening Pleasure?Silent Lies by Kathryn Croft?Narrated by Antonia Beamish and Rosie Jones?

Posted September 19, 2018 by RobbieLea in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Silent Lies by Kathryn Croft
Published by Audible Studios on November 11th, 2017
Genres: Psychological Thriller
Format: Audiobook
ISBN: 1786812843
ASIN: B074YGZTPB
Goodreads
four-half-stars

‘Your husband didn’t kill himself.’ Five years rebuilding your life. Five words will destroy it again. Mia Hamilton lived the perfect life with her husband, university teacher Zach, and their two-year-old daughter. But everything changed when Zach committed suicide on the same night one of his students vanished. Five years later, just when Mia is beginning to heal, stranger Alison walks into her life, saying her husband didn’t kill himself. Fragile, slight Alison leads Mia on a path into Zach’s past, and Mia begins to think she never really knew her own husband. As the secrets revealed get darker, Alison becomes harder to read, and Mia starts to wonder – why is Alison so keen to help? And then a piece of the puzzle appears in an impossible place, and Mia has to ask, is she losing her mind, or should she be afraid for her life?

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#psychologicalthriller #childabuse #murder #suicide #darksecrets #twistedending #antoniabeamish #rosiejones @KatCroft

Just an observation about book descriptions to start with . . . sometimes they are spot on, sometimes they promise more than the story delivers, and sometimes it seems as though they were written about another book entirely. Silent Lies by Kathryn Croft doesn’t fit in any of those categories. The description is so benign compared to what actually unfolds, you will find yourself completely unprepared for the outcome. Mia Hamilton has been through hell with the untimely death of her husband Zach, an apparent suicide. Not only has she lost the man she loves, but she is a victim of public outrage because of what others believe about the circumstances surrounding Zach’s death. Josie Carpenter is a student of Zach’s who goes missing the night of his death. The evidence indicates that Zach killed Josie even though her body is not found. Five years later, Mia has a new life with a rewarding career, a new love interest, and a stable home for her daughter Freya. Silent Lies is not a fairy tale, so we know this idyllic situation is about to change and, sure enough, into the door of Mia’s counseling practice walks Alison Cummings, Josie’s former roommate. Not only does Alison drop the bombshell that Zach’s death may not have been suicide, but she proceeds to entangle herself in Mia’s life in a way that is far from professional. Alison is one of those characters who should be sympathetic, but she’s not. I really disliked her on every level especially with the voice she is given by narrator Rosie Jones who makes her sound like one of the wicked stepsisters in Cinderella! As Mia’s carefully constructed life is torn apart, I think you will begin to feel as I did — that everybody in this book is guilty of something!

The story is told from alternating POV’s. With narrator Rosie Jones revealing the past from Josie’s perspective and Antonia Beamish portraying the present day Mia, we have an obvious contrast between two women whose circumstances are very different. Josie is a fighter who has overcome a bleak and abusive childhood. Mia is just as much a fighter as she moves forward from tragedy and loss. Both narrators give very effective performances of where their characters are in life.

Silent Lies is one of those books that has a satisfying ending that isn’t really a conclusion. As a reader or listener, you will be left to form an opinion as to how the passage of time will treat the characters. If you are the sort of person who needs “The End” or “HEA”, you may not like the author’s use of what isn’t a cliffhanger but rather a “time will tell.” Be prepared for a storyline that will take you to some places you didn’t conceive of going as Kathryn Croft plays her mind games. I highly recommend this true psychological thriller.

four-half-stars

About Kathryn Croft

Kathryn Croft is the bestselling author of The Girl With No Past, which spent over four weeks at number one in the Amazon chart. Her other novels, Behind Closed Doors and The Stranger Within, and The Girl You Lost all reached number one in the psychological thriller charts.

Her sixth novel, The Warning, will be published on 12th October 2018, and is now available for preorder on Amazon.

After six years teaching secondary school English, Kathryn now writes full time and has a publishing deal with Bookouture.

Having always been an avid reader, Kathryn believes in the power of words to entertain, teach and transform lives. She is also a firm believer in following your dreams and says anything is possible if you work hard enough and never give up!

Kathryn lives in Guildford, Surrey with her husband, baby son and two cats.

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