#BlogTour ‘The Silent Man’ by David Fennell

About the book…

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. Once again the victim’s face is found wrapped and inked.

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 made an orphan?

My thanks to Tracy at ‘Compulsive Readers and publishers Zaffre Books for my gifted e-arc of ‘The Silent Man’

It is published in e-book and hardcover formats from August 31st, and can be found wherever good books are sold!
This is a challenging read, with multiple story lines that tackle abuse, intimidation, violence and murder, anyone who has read the previous Grace Archer novels (you can read this as a stand alone but I would definitely encourage reading them from the start) will have more than a nodding acquaintance with the issues Archer is up against.

Her family (her wonderful grandfather) are on constant alert after Grace has put away the grandson of a local crime figure, who has subsequently died in prison.

Also she has this thing about organised crime not being something she will turn a blind eye to, and is not manipulated by fear, greed, or promises of glory therefore Grace has to live with a state of constant alert of where the next threat is coming from.

Her father was killed by Frankie White’s goons, so from the very start of the book you have this sense of tension and angst that leaves me baffled as to how she managed to hold down such a high pressured job whilst worrying about her Grandfather who is this wonderful character, fiercely protected by a neighbourly widow with a naughty twinkle in her eye (completely love the scenes between these two, they are just fab!)

So the book starts at full throttle with a very clear shot across Grace’s bow, and a particularly nasty murder which put me in mind of Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon.  

It remains one of my favourite books so I am comparing the tension there, and the scene building not in any way suggesting it is derivative, I genuinely had cold shivers reading the murders that the Silent Man commits.

There is a third arm to the structural narrative, involving a boy who suffers the most horrendous abuse, and the light shone into it by a friendly young girl , also an outcast and bullied , because she has epilepsy . As the mother of an epileptic daughter, I really appreciated the portrayal of her frustration , and how people see her as ‘Epi-Iris’ , all except Brynn, this bullied and put upon boy. Brynn is Welsh, out of place, without a mother and his father is, well, no spoilers but it’s heart-breaking what Brynn goes through.

As you navigate through the police investigation, it dovetails with the Frankie White arc and you gradually see where Brynn and Iris fit together. It’s a lightning bolt moment and really challenges the way you consider what makes a killer, especially when you compare that to the police corruption angle, where Grace is fighting not only those outside the law, but those within it who seek to subvert it for their own personal gains.

That to me, is so scary, that those who are meant to maintain the thin blue line, are using it to advance themselves for financial gain, and contrasts beautifully with Harry Quinn and Grace who have this very firm moral compass.

Investigating this baffling set of murders with seemingly no connection between them is one thing, having to watch your back is another and when those close to you literally are in the firing line, Grace comes put all guns blazing to protect those she loves.

It’s an action packed, meaningful novel, where you have a sense of an ending, but at the same time, there is this hint of a door which is ajar for Grace to walk through at any time in the future. It’s a trilogy, but that doesn’t mean we have seen the last of Grace and her team, just that they might feature in a very different way, though how she will manage to be a supplemental character when she is so much larger than life will be interesting to read!

I love the dynamics between Grace and her team, the unwavering loyalty they have towards her whilst still being able to call her out when she is wrong, it feels very real.

The panic and frustration in catching the Silent Man is very palpable and in creating characters whose emotions you invest in, nit just the police procedural aspect although again, you could read it for that alone and be completely satisfied. What is the stand out feature for me, is the way the team work, it’s all about Grace but it is so much bigger than that and allowing her to be a feature but not the focus of this book shows a writer with an excellent understanding of his characters who create a multi-layered, tense and thought provoking thriller. Absolutely loved it!

About the author…

David Fennell was born in Belfast during the Troubles. Writing was his escape from Northern Ireland’s smothering political unrest.

As a boy, he read Sherlock Holmes, Ian Fleming and Tolkien; books he still loves today. He left school at 16 and trained as a chef at Rupert Stanley College. With youthful dreams of a new life, he left Belfast for London in 1985 with £50 in one pocket and a dog-eared copy of Stephen King’s The Stand in the other. He worked in bars and restaurants and later worked as a writer in the software industry.

David has played rugby for Brighton and was awarded the 2009 Player of the Year for the veteran’s team. He loves to cook and is learning to box. He lives in Brighton with his partner and their two dogs.

Twitter @DavyFennell @Tra4cyF3nt0n @ZaffreBooks

Links-https://www.davidfennell.co.uk/