Silent Scream

By: Karen Rose

Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

When a teenage girl dies in a suspicious fire, Detective Olivia Sutherland is assigned to track down the arsonist. Then she discovers something more sinister—a vicious blackmailer who preys on young people and murders without hesitation. Making her work even harder is sexy firefighter David Hunter. He’s not only sharing the case but sparking memories of their long-ago night of passion, when feelings were left unspoken and hearts were broken.

David has his own ghosts and a million regrets. But while he and Olivia try to face the wall of pain between them, a diabolical puppet master is pulling strings to make a group of twentysomethings do his bidding. Soon Olivia and David are scouring the city for a calculating criminal who seems tantalizingly close—and is moving in for the kill.

©2010 Karen Rose Hafer (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic Reviews

“Rose packs action into every moment…Thriller fans will love the high-adrenaline story and robust cast of intriguing supporting characters.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Wish I knew it was a series

Would you try another book from Karen Rose and/or Marguerite Gavin?

I wish I knew it was a series because the current story needed information from the other books. Too much was revealed about the others so I don't want to read them.

Bad Narration

Would you consider the audio edition of Silent Scream to be better than the print version?

No

How could the performance have been better?

Another Narrator - Marguerite Gavin draws out the words in the middle and at the end of every sentence. It is really annoying. I am about 10 minutes into the book and already want to stop.

just overall BAD!

i only purchased this book because it was cheap. not even woth the $5! i couldn't finish listening. too many characters, bad story line and TERRIBLE narration! don't waste your $$$$!

Disappointed

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I purchased this book based on positive reviews but I am struggling to get through it. I really don't like the narrator, but I can't tell if it's because she has crap dialogue to get through versus not being a particularly good story-teller. Won't buy another book written by Karen Rose or narrated by Marguerite Gavin.

Action and Suspense From The Very Beginning!

This book starts out with action and suspense right off the bat. There is a group of college kids about to start an arson fire. Little do they know, there are a more people watching the event than they realize. One of the people watching is clearly planning to use his view of the events to blackmail the group into doing some crimes for him.

There were a lot of fires in this story and it really sounded like the author had researched building fires and fire fighter techniques making the story more realistic. My techie friends will be happy to know that they also used some computer and internet sleuthing skills in this story.

There were a few things I didn’t like about the story. The romance between our two main characters, Detective Olivia Sutherland and firefighter David Hunter, seemed like a whine fest at first. I was happy when they author finally moved past all the old stuff that happened years ago between them and got them going on their current day romance.

Another thing that bugged me was the coroner not figuring out that capsules swallowed didn’t equal the amount of narcotics in the victim’s system. Then deciding that the amount in his system would have made it impossible to function and do things like walk, dance, or drive. Isn’t that a basic thing that coroners do right away? Coroners do blood work, stomach contents, looking for other mysterious injuries and marks on the victim’s body first?

I think what I liked most about the story was that you kept thinking the main bad guy or the college kids were going to mess up and get caught, but they kept slipping through the grid. It was a great game of cat and mice.

The Narration Review
This audiobook as narrated by Marguerite Gavin and she has a very unique story telling style. She does a great job using different character voices that are distinct and easily identifiable during the dialog portions of the story. During the rest of the narration she slips in her crime genre narration mode with a big change in tone, cadence, and enunciation. She sounds very crisp and clear almost like she is going for the ‘just the facts’ type speech.

Enjoyed it more than I thought I would

If you could sum up Silent Scream in three words, what would they be?

Suspenseful, romantic, Mystery

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Even though the central story is NOT about David and Olivia's relationship, it is this relationship that I found annoying. David pining over Olivia got old....
It was hard to image that this so called

What does Marguerite Gavin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She was great. In fact, she is why I give this audio 4 stars.
Olivia is a tough independent woman who is guarded. She's been hurt in the past and she keeps her emotions tucked in tight. She is fearful of being rejected. David is Mr. I love you, I moved here for you, I'm kinda needy but I'm hot and I will wear you down. M.Gavin does well narrating both emotional characters.

Any additional comments?

There are a lot of characters and interesting developments throughout the book. It is a very good murder mystery with a nice slice of romance. Give it about 45 minutes and it really starts to pick up. Once I began the audio I used any free time I had to to finish it. It is definitely credit worthy and an enjoyable listen.

Beware of coffee shops

I’m wondering now if I’ll be afraid of microphones in the napkin dispenser or that the sugar is laced with cyanide. This book was a good whodunnit but when I found out who—in what Universe are women serial killers? It’s so unlikely it didn’t ring true and I was very disappointed. Still, it was a distraction.

Not Enough Romance

Love the story but needs more romance. Her first books were amazing with romance. On to the next book!

ok

this book was ok. it was a little too long but did keep my interest.

overall pretty good

I've loved EVERY other karen rose book, but this started off a bit slow for me. Didn't get exciting till half way thru book. It still was a great story and love story!