The Silver Collar

Shortlisted for the HWA Gold Crown 2021

By: Antonia Hodgson

Narrated by: Joseph Kloska

The fourth novel in Antonia Hodgson's award-winning series featuring Thomas Hawkins and Kitty Sparks is at once her most thrilling and the most darkly disturbing story yet.

The next rip-roaring thriller from Antonia Hodgson, featuring Thomas Hawkins.

Autumn, 1728. Life is good for Thomas Hawkins and Kitty Sparks. The Cocked Pistol, Kitty's wickedly disreputable bookshop, is a roaring success. Tom's celebrity as 'Half-Hanged Hawkins', the man who survived the gallows, is also proving useful.

Their happiness proves short-lived. When Tom is set upon by a street gang, he discovers there's a price on his head. Who on earth could want him dead - and why?

With the help of his ward, Sam Fleet, and Sam's underworld connections, Tom's investigation leads to a fine house in Jermyn Street, the elegant, enigmatic Lady Vanhook and an escaped slave by the name of Jeremiah Patience.

But for Tom and Kitty, discovering the truth is only the beginning of the nightmare.

A powerful, deeply immersive thriller, The Silver Collar is both a celebration of love and friendship and a terrifying exploration of evil.

©2020 Antonia Hodgson (P)2020 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

An excellent end to the series!

My heart feels so heavy after reading this book. This book is very well-written but it's a LOT. I enjoyed the last book because bad things weren't necessarily happening TO my favorite characters but the same cannot be said here. They had everything thrown at them and it's not a light read. Thankfully, I was listening to this on audiobook, so that helped me get through a lot of the more depressing parts. You shouldn't attempt to read this book in one sitting, but I do recommend this book as a good way to close out Tom and Kitty's story for now. I think the door is open just enough for the author to come back to them at some point (I do want a book for Sam at some point), but we can all agree that these characters have earned some peace and quiet after a very trying ordeal.

A lot of things are happening in this book but they do tie together eventually. After the blackmail material Tom got on Queen Caroline in book 3, I thought she would put up more of a fight, but we actually never hear from her again in this book. She is not the big bad in this book. I did, however, have an inkling we would be getting more of Kitty's story, because her past had always been such a mystery and then the first chapter literally is just Tom recapping what little he did know about her, as if to bring us up to speed. Also, life was going well for them which is never a good way to start out a mystery book where terrible things happen to the main character.

Jospeh Kloska does really well narrating this audiobook. This might be his best work in this series. I enjoyed his narration, even though I realized listening to this book I have assumed the wrong pronunciation of the country of Antigua my entire life (apparently the 'u' is silent). He does read through the author's Historical Note at the end of this book, so that is in the audiobook. I don't know what the deciding factors are to whether or not they're included into an audiobook (maybe they're not ready where the narrator starts recording the audiobook) but I am grateful we get it here.

The ending is a happy one because Tom and Kitty are still together and very much in love, and we do get closure on the villain of this story.