I'm a 19-year-old university student from the Netherlands studying Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences. I love to read thrillers, mysteries, crime fiction, historical fiction and a whole lot more!
"Fast, Furious and Good" - Ian Rankin
A few months back I bought Stuart Neville's previous book 'Ratlines' on sale for only a few euros and absolutely LOVED it. Right after I finished Ratlines I looked into Stuart Neville and found out he was releasing this new thriller the next month. Without hesitation I pre-ordered the book and about a week after the release The Final Silence finally arrived.
It's the third book in the Jack Lennon Investigation series about DI Jack Lennon and however I haven't read any of the other Jack Lennon books, I had no trouble understanding the story. The Final Silence is about a woman named Rea Carlisle who inherits a house from an uncle she never actually knew. After a short while she finishes cleaning out the house, though one room remains tightly locked. When she finally manages to open the room she finds it is as empty as the rest of the house, except for a table, a chair and a book. Inside the book she finds fingernails, locks of hair and stories about victims.
Rea wants to hand it over to the police, but her parents won't let her. The only person she thinks she can turn to is DI Jack Lennon. But he is experiencing his own problems. Being suspended from the force and investigated by DCI Flanagan. Despite this he eventually starts uncovering the dark secrets of the dead uncle's diary. This unravels into a harrowing investigation taking Rea's father down with it.
That's about all I feel I can say about the plot without spoiling the story, so lets get to my opinion.
As I stated above, I really liked Neville's writing in Ratlines and this book agains shows his brilliance. I read it in two afternoons, and for me (not the fastest reader) that says a lot. I loved the way he the characters personal issues were dealt with without influencing the pace of the story. This way I could really get to know these flawed yet lovable characters and I found them really recognizable.
The story was well paced and I never felt like the story was just dragging along. The book was plenty suspenseful and the characters, as stated before, were very well drawn.
I can recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a Thrilling, well written, in-depth and fast book! Although I do think it would be even better to read the other three book in the series, just to get to know DI Lennon even better. Even though in the first book 'the ghost of Belfast' Lennon is just a minor character.
An easy 4,5/5 stars for The Final Silence, and I can't wait for Neville's next amazing book!