Book Review: Silent Child by Sarah A. Denzil

3 Silent Child

Author: Sarah A. Denzil
Title: Silent Child
Genre: suspenseful, thriller, mystery, psychological thriller
Publisher:
Publication date: January 22nd 2017
Format: e-book ( KU )
pages: 416

IN THE SUMMER OF 2006, EMMA PRICE WATCHED HELPLESSLY AS HER SIX-YEAR-OLD SON’S RED COAT WAS FINISHED OUT OF THE RIVER OUSE. IT WAS THE TRAGIC STORY OF THE YEAR – A LITTLE BOY, AIDEN, WANDERED AWAY FROM SCHOOL DURING A TERRIBLE FLOOD, FELL INTO THE RIVER, AND DROWNED.

HIS BODY WAS NEVER RECOVERED.

TEN YEARS LATER, EMMA HAS FINALLY REDISCOVERED THE JOY IN LIFE. SHE’S MARRIED, PREGNANT, AND IN CONTROL AGAIN…

…UNTIL AIDEN RETURNS.

TOO TRAUMATIZED TO SPEAK, HE RAISES ENDLESS QUESTIONS AND ANSWER NONE. ONLY HIS BODY TELLS THE STORY OF HIS DECADE-LONG DISAPPEARANCE. THE HISTORIC BROKEN BONES AND INJURIES CAST A MERE GLIMPSE INTO THE HORRORS AIDEN HAS EXPERIENCED. AIDEN NEVER DROWNED. AIDEN WAS TAKEN.

AS EMMA ATTEMPTS TO RECONNECT WITH HER NOW TEENAGE SON, SHE MUST UNMASK THE MONSTER WHO TOOK HIM AWAY FROM HER. BUT WHO, IN THEIR TINY VILLAGE, COULD BE CAPABLE OF SUCH A CRIME?

IT’S AIDEN WHO HAS THE ANSWERS, BUT HE CANNOT TELL THE UNSPEAKABLE.

THIS DARK AND DISTURBING PSYCHOLOGICAL NOVEL WILL APPEAL TO FANS OF THE WINDOW AND THE BUTTERFLY GARDEN.

synopsis: goodreads

Might the book be, somehow, predictable? Yes, it might. Do other authors do the same, working on predictable plots, yet receiving hight rates? Yes, yes, yes, and yes!!!! So why not give this book the same treatment others receive? Is it because it has been written by a woman? Probably, yes!

I approached the book how I do with others of the genre. Giving prominence mostly over the characters and not only the plot, which, was an interesting one.

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“Monsters are men and women just like us, and they have the ability to hide their true face.”

Silent Child by Sarah A. Denzil is a dark psychological, mystery thriller narrated from the point of view of a mother in distress after the loss of her kid.
I come across this book on KU, and the blurb had my attention from the start. I wanted to discover Aiden story and what had happened to him during his imprisonment and who had captured him and why.

The book ( as I have already mentioned ) narrate the vicissitudes of a young mother, Emma, who’s devastated by her son sudden death. Although the boy’s body has never been found everyone, his mother too presumed, believed in his death. Ten years later, after a long grief period and after she almost took her life, Emma has accustomed to his death and she has adjusted to a new life too; She is now married to another man, expecting a new kid, and she has found her peace of mind again.

Suddenly thou, Aiden Returns; so traumatized that he cannot speak nor tell anyone what has happened to him for the past ten years. Someone had imprisoned him, abused him and his body tells all the harassment had to suffer from his kidnapper’s hands. Emma, still shocked from the news, has to reconnect with her, now teenage, son hardly managing her new life. She even tries to uncover the whole truth behind her boy disappearance, discovering things she wouldn’t have discovered if Aiden hadn’t returned to her. It’s a roll-coaster of emotions journey of a mother who does her best to avenge his boy from whoever hurt him.

“I lost control of my life. Everything around me fell apart while I remained the impotent bystander.”

As I have already mentioned, The book is narrated from the point of view of Emma who’s throughout the narration is grieving and experiencing a multitude of emotion, most of the time forgetting about her new family especially her unborn child not safeguarding her from any damage. Emma accompanies us trough this wild, unsettling, suspenseful ( sometimes not enough thou ), ruthless, devastating, gory, and dark journey. The story consumed and drained me ..completely; And although I knew already something terribly bad would have happened to Aiden I couldn’t help myself but feel my heart ache. I’m not a mother and I don’t think I will ever experience it, yet I could feel the devastation Emma felt when they informed her how her little boy had disappeared.

Emma tell the whole story under this grief-stricken sensation leading the reader trough her grieving for the last years she could have had with her boy, yet she couldn’t have because a monster took him away from her protection; so now she wants to discover the truth, leaving up for a while with unanswered questions and doubts which thou unfolds themselves way too rushy and why too soon. This rush and some other minor things made the rating for the book swings a lot. I recommend you to read the book in one setting so to avoid my same experience of lost. I expected for the book to take other turns here and there.

I didn’t like some of the side characters either, I felt like some were useless and were created only to fill a void or something. [SPOILER ALERT: you might want to avoid this part]And what about Emma best friend? How has she never realized her husband true nature? And how she has never suspected anything aside from being cheated on? That left me so..I don’t know with a dry mouth. [SPOILER ALERT END]

A fair warning: The book content is distressing and extremely disturbing, so before you engage yourself in reading it be sure you can handle certain sensitive topics.

Like I have already mentioned, there were several times I couldn’t continue reading it and so needed to put the book down for a bit even thou I already knew what was about to happen or what Aiden had to experience. Overall the book is quite enjoyable, inventive and the plot wasn’t redundant nor repetitive. I couldn’t put it down, aside for the time I needed to take sometimes to be able to continue with the story; The ending, unfortunately, was predictable as the author had unfolded the truth way too soon into the story ruining the suspense, and it left me with unanswered questions due to the many side-stories. It left me..with the wants of knowing and somehow I hope for a continuation of for some short stories which can close the circle.

I recommend the book to anyone who’s able to live with unanswered questions and with a good stomach.

3 e mezzo bunny