The first book in a new series is always a bit of a challenge. You have to get to know all the recurring characters and you have to concentrate on the story. 

The main character here is DC Beth Young. What stood out was that she was so young and new to the team but she was also the most mature and clever of the group. It felt a bit strange to me. The way she acted was superb and would have suited the title of DI better. 

But nevertheless, I really enjoyed the book. I love psychological thrillers, but  I also like police procedurals. I am fascinated by the way the story unravels and the work needed to complete the puzzle and to finally put the culprit behind bars.  It's not a fast paced story, but little by little the steady stream changes into a rapid one. 

I am looking forward to getting to know Young Beth a lot better and I hope she will become a DI soon, leading her own team.

It's always a joy to see that more and more female detectives become leading ladies. 4 stars.

Thank you, Graham Smith, Bookouture and Netgalley.

Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via netgalley and for letting me take part in this tour. I love a good Detective novel and this one sounded too good to pass up.

This story follows Beth Young she has just joined FMIT. A serious crime unit. Beth is extremely bright and a lot of the time her brain works things out before she can articulate them in a way that everyone else can understand. Beth spots connections long before others and this has got her a spot on FMIT. I think that Beth has quite a story to tell us and although we have heard some of it in this book I'm looking forward to hearing more of it.

This is the first book I have read by this author. I really enjoyed Graham's writing style. Graham built up the mystery with chapters from unknown perspectives which kept me guessing for a long time.

I enjoyed getting to know Beth and the rest of FMIT. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Beth and the rest of the team. I'm especially looking forward to seeing Beth grow in confidence and believe in herself and her ideas.

A Dark & Twisted Thriller

The Silent Dead is the first book in Detective Beth Young series and a solid police procedural. As a young detective, Detective Beth Young is transferred to the major crimes team and her very first case involves a brutal killing & a body posed in a ritualistic manner – arms spread and graceful wings attached. As more bodies are discovered in derelict homes across the Lake District, Beth knows there is a deranged serial killer on loose. Will Beth be able to stop the killings?

Though it’s a start of a new series, the book doesn’t waste too much time in introductions. The story starts with a bang and the action is fast paced throughout. For a serial killer mystery, the case is intriguing as neither the victims are easily identifiable nor is the motive clear. There are no prime suspects and the investigation keeps hitting a dead end. It’s upto Beth to use her intellect to find a way forward each time. The story is dark & has a lot of gore. The murders and post mortems are especially gory and not for the weak hearted.

The story is narrated from Beth’s POV but we also have a mystery narrator who identity is not fully clear till the end. Not much of Beth’s past career is revealed in this book (maybe in the next book). Beth Young as a cop is intriguing; Motivated by the desire to bring every criminal to justice and fuelled by her own tragedy, she is a strong and unbreakable. Her conflicts and partnerships with her colleagues are well written. The short chapters told from two different POVs not only keep the story moving at a rapid pace but It also gives an insight into a deranged mind and his disturbing thoughts. The mystery was not predictable and it will keep you guessing as the clues are hard to come by. Overall, the plot was solid but I felt it needed a few more tense moments. The investigation part especially felt pretty linear without any major twists and turns.

Overall, It’s a solid start to a new series from the author. It would interesting to see how the series moves forward. If you enjoy a dark & disturbing thriller or even a good police procedural, then you will enjoy this book.

Many Thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Graham Smith for the ARC.

Absolutely stunning book full of suspense and drama., it had me on the edge of my seat holding my breath in anticipation. Beautifully written, kept me guessing right until the end. Very clever piece of writing! I really enjoyed this book, I can’t wait for book 2 in the series. A very well deserved 5 stars.

This is the first book of a new series, set in the Lake District. Detective Beth Young from the Major Crimes unit is investigating a body found in a remote area. The body has been posed in a ritualistic manner and the police are on red alert. I loved the character of Beth and the beautiful setting and I look for ward to book two. Thanks to Net Galley for my copy.

I always enjoy picking up a new thriller by Graham Smith as he writes books I love to read. The Silent Dead was no exception, a dark and engaging tale which introduces Detective Beth Young to the crime reading community.

Young is finding her feet in Cumbrias major crimes team. Eager, determined and keen to impress but hampered by a degree of naievity and she still needs to learn the politics of her new role. It makes Beth an endearing and entertaining character to follow.

She is cutting her teeth on a brutal murder case. A body has been discovered – the dead man was suspended upright and subjected to some extremely unpleasant reconstructive bodywork (no spoilers) before his killer abandoned the corpse.

We follow the investigation, a narrative I always love, but progress for Beth and her colleagues is slow so we share their frustrations too.

A second narrative is shared – that of a hunter. A predator looking to add to his “angels” and readers get to see him choose his next target. The cut-away from the investigation to this predator and his potential victims made the story seem more urgent and this kept me reading. You are urging the police to get cracking and stop the bad guys before anyone else is harmed!

The Silent Dead is highly recommended to all crime fiction lovers. Beth is a great lead character and Graham Smith can spin a cracking story.

I was thrilled when I heard that another favourite crime author had a new heroine to introduce to us. Graham Smith is responsible for the Jake Boulder series which I ABSOLUTELY LOVE so I was keen to meet Detective Beth Young.

This is the first female protagonist that Graham Smith has introduced to us as a lead character and I thought she was fabulous! A feisty female detective who was the perfect opponent for the twisted serial killer stalking the area. She comes with baggage (don’t they all!?!) and some facial scarring that adds a frisson for a certain someone! But she still remains a bit of an enigma and I hope we find out a little bit more about her backstory in future books. The relationships she forms with her team are probably some of the best I’ve read recently. And because of that, this investigation felt realistically portrayed which is a real bonus for fans of police procedural novels.

This is a dark and gruesome crime chiller that made me feel incredibly uncomfortable at times. The villain is well drawn and creepy at all times plus I was kept guessing as to their identity which I liked! The setting was an added bonus for me as it set up a sense of time and place that was atmospheric and current.

Overall an enjoyable crime thriller!

I received this book from Netgalley to review. The excerpt for this book sounded quite interesting murder and wings attached to the victims. However i was very disappointed over all, i found the characters dull, annoying or virtually irrelevant to the story line. There were many strange stories about the secondary characters that had no relevance, from a random teen pregnancy to a break up, very odd inclusions. The main character was the biggest flaw in this book, she was more perfect than the characters in an episode or Criminal Minds or CSI, able to pat everyone on the back to cheer them up and virtually psychic in the ability to pull suspects and theory's from out of thin air, theories that are always correct and no one but her can come up with them. The story dragged on and to be quite honest if i wasnt reviewing i would have not finished the book. Also fair warning to readers is you are American there are phrases and titles in this book that will be difficult to comprehend and follow. My one last critique would be the comment that beautiful women lead a "high risk" life style because their looks leave then open to being raped ( and yes that is almost verbatim).

Beth Young is the youngest and newest member of the major crimes team and it takes her a little while to find her feet. Between trying to figure out the policing styles of her team mates and what makes them tick, she also tries to figure out who the killer is of a series of bodies which are posed, and have wings attached to their backs. Luckily, Beth is a bit of a lateral thinker and an observant person so she holds her own in the team.

This was a solid police procedural which was very enjoyable to read (albeit a bit gruesome!). I liked Beth Young and I can't wait to read another book featuring her and her colleagues. There were several parts in this book where I held my breath, but that is a good thing, in this case!

4.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

this was one twisted, dark and disturbing start to a new police procedural series!

This is the first book in a new series, featuring young newbie detective Beth Young.... The mystery was twisted, sick, and sadistic... what compels a man to stage a body with a burnt mouth and wings attached to their back? Yes, actual wings! Makes you wonder what goes on in the mind of this brilliant author, Graham Smith....

The story is told primarily from the point of view of Beth... however, we also get some creepy insight from another undisclosed character... this gruesome prime appeared to have no pattern, the victims appeared to be chosen at random.... The detectives were baffled as was I, but Beth seem to have an unusual way of puzzling crimes out...

I really like the fact that Beth was a brand new eager detective, she was not yet disheartened... however, I’m not sure that the team would have given her as much respect and responsibility as they did in this book, although it would be nice... Additionally I really had a hard time connecting two Beth... we really got very little of her backstory both personal and professional... we really didn’t get a look into her personal life at all, but there is room for that in future books and this does leave her with lots of room for growth... A solid start to a brand new series...

Recommend to anybody who is a fan of this author, this genre, or sick sadistic crimes!

*** Big thanks to Bookouture for my copy of this book ***

The first in a new series which certainly lives up to the author's other crime thrillers that I have read. The main character is Detective Beth Young who has a very tough job trying to solve some very gruesome murders. She is nobody's fool and has an inquisitive mind which is definitely needed as they don't have any DNA evidence or anything to connect the victims. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will look out for the next in the series.

Can I just say how much I love the cover of this book? Gorgeous colour and very atmospheric imagery. Great job by the Bookouture cover design team.

I really enjoyed my first book by Graham earlier this year (you can find the review of that here.) but this is something very different. The first in a new series, it features brand new DC Beth Young, who is in her first week as a member of the FMIT (Force Major Investigation Team) and she is a fascinating character to be the focus of the book. Extremely bright and ambitious, but unsure of herself and her place in the new team and carrying scars, literal and metaphorical, from an attack in the past, she is a riveting conundrum of a character and I was eager to learn more about her throughout the book and see how her relationship with her colleagues develops. It was a very interesting dynamic, seeing someone so new in her job and relationships with her colleagues, and I very much enjoyed this aspect of the book. The author does a wonderful job of giving us some insight into Beth but leaving tantalising details to be teased out in future books.

Beth is thrown in to the deep end as, no sooner is she in the job, the team is confronted with a murderer carrying out bizarre and ritualistic killings that seem to have no pattern or motive for them to fix on. We are then given certain aspects of the book from in the minds of other characters, including the killer and a potential victim. I have to say that I was quite confused at certain points in the book as to whose perspective we were looking at things from between two unnamed characters. I am sure this was deliberate on the part of the author as a method of deflection and deception as to who was carrying out the murders but I did get a little muddled in parts. There was absolutely no way I had any clue who was doing what and why until right at the end, so it worked well as a book giving us the same perspective as he police have, as they seemed equally as baffled, but it did have me frustrated in parts as I felt we were scrambling around in the dark!

The plot is very twisted in this book, with a very disturbed killer and a lot of violent and graphic imagery which is intimately described. Not a book for a reader looking for a gentle Agatha Christie-type mystery, but if you like your crime gritty and dark, you will enjoy it. The brutality of the murders forms an interesting juxtaposition against the picturesque Cumbrian setting, and the whole book works really well from that perspective.

This book kept me intrigued and on the edge of my seat all the way through. I love the new protagonist in Beth Young and will definitely want to read the next book she appears in. Great work by the author, I highly recommend it.

I must start this review with a little bit of author awe and praise – Graham Smith has created three fantastic protagonists over three separate series of books and I have come to the conclusion that he is either a true genius or a little bit mad! To be able to “listen” to these characters then tell their stories and do every single one of them justice must take some doing. Graham often says that he is nothing more than a stenographer for the voices in his head and I have the upmost respect for his ability to translate all this into some outstanding stories and the talent to draw his readers into every new novel.

In The Silent Dead we are introduced to his latest creation, DC Beth Young, a new recruit to the Cumbrian Major Investigation Team. Beth is the youngest (a fact she is not allowed to forget) and she is torn between proving she is good enough to be there and not stepping on the toes of the already established team. As this is the first in the series we are given some background information of them all and gain an understanding into how they all react to Beth initially. I love how Beth often just blurts out her theories in one word Staccato answers; her initial thoughts are shot out and then she fleshes them out for those around her. I can imagine this would be quite disconcerting until you got to know her!

The murders in The Silent Dead are some of the most gruesome I have ever read and I loved this (don’t judge me). Bodies are being found in abandoned stately homes and not just rolled into a ditch or hidden away…these bodies are displayed and wings have been attached to their back. The wings aren’t the extent of the horrors that these poor victims have endured but I’ll leave those juicy details for you to find out for yourselves!

The Silent Dead is a fantastic start to a new series and I look forward to reading many more.

Over the past few years I’ve become a fan of Smith’s, there is something about his writing style and overall originality that appeals to me, so when I heard he was releasing a new book that would also be the beginning of a new series, I just knew I had to read it!
I spoke of the authors originality earlier, let me expand on that now. Beth is a very new police officer and I found this so interesting, I don’t think I’ve read another police procedural where the protagonist is so early in their career. She was also extremely fascinating, I feel like there is so much to learn about her as a character and I’m eager to see what will be revealed in the next book. Then there is the case itself, talk about bizarre and creepy! The killer is not only displaying his victims in an odd manner he’s also attaching wings to their backs, and there also seems to be no rhyme or reason for the victims he chooses. Some are male, some are female and none seem to have any connection to each other. It was a highly unusual premise and one that kept me engaged.
There was something dark and twisted about this one, there are some gory scenes and heart pounding moments, especially in the end. A very solid start to a new series from an author I know I can trust to deliver a great crime read!
The Silent Dead in three words: Unusual, Twisted and Menacing.

CONTAINS VIOLENT AND GRAPHIC SCENES.

DC Beth Young has just been transferred to the prestigious FMIT unit, clever and ambitious she especially wants to impress her boss DI Zoe O’Dowd and prove that’s she meant to be there.

A body turns up at a manor house with a pair of wings attached killed in a way that even the experienced officers have never seen before.

More bodies turn up and it’s a race against time to unravel the mystery before the brutal killer claims another victim.

So this is actually my first Graham Smith novel, he’s been on my radar for a while, I even own a couple of his earlier novels that I’ve yet to read (yes, I know I have a problem!). I have also been told that this is first novel featuring a female lead character which I felt was a nice bonus!

This is a solid police procedural with plenty of red herrings, realistic characters and brutal murder. The murders themselves were unusual too, having victims with wings attached to the their backs was definitely a new one for me!

Beth is a forthright and intelligent character. A former model who ended up getting glassed in the face when she was younger but instead of that setting her back, she forged ahead to the career that she really wanted to become a police officer. She also has a problem with her mouth not being quite as quick as her brain, with a tendency to spit out words in no particular order, which happens to me occasionally!

While we get inside the characters head, Beth’s especially, her introspection tended to get a little rambly and threatened to lose my attention. Also and this is just me being picky I didn’t really appreciate the slightly lazy Liverpudlian stereotype of one or the minor characters,.i.e. we’re all troublemakers who put the word like after every sentence.

Overall The Silent Dead is a puzzling yet gruesome mystery with an interesting cast of characters that will keep you guessing until the end.

After reading the description for this book I was instantly intrigued and couldn’t wait to start reading! In The Silent Dead we follow Beth Young a newly arrived detective in the Cumbrian major crimes team and let’s just say her first case is certainly interesting. Providing quite a puzzle for Beth and the rest of the team but will they figure it all out in time?

I thought that the balance between getting to know the characters and seeing the investigation play out was pretty good. I felt like I got to know Beth quite well and I thought that Graham Smith built her character up with care throughout the book. Showing her determination and strength along with a keen eye especially as she has a love of puzzles. Let’s put it this way this case definitely tests her and you get to see how her character thinks but also a little bit of her past which has had an effect on the person Beth is today.

There are a few threads to the story with different view points shown which certainly helped to keep my interest. At times I was left guessing about certain things but I think this helped to keep the mystery going just that little bit longer. Sometimes the pace would be faster and then at other times there would be a slightly slower pace, in a way this added an extra tension as you will wonder what will happen next. Some of the perspectives made me feel right on edge as they provide a much darker and very creepy undertone.

I really enjoyed seeing how the puzzle eventually fit together and seeing the mystery behind the murders being revealed. It was great getting to know Beth along with some of her colleagues and I will be looking forward to catching up with them again in the next book!

Having only finished reading this book a few minutes before typing this review, my thoughts on the storyline are still incredibly fresh which I hope is a good thing! That said, because of the intense complexity of the novel, I hope I am able to get my opinion across without sounding like a woman who is fangirling a popular boyband!

Beth Young….or ‘Young Beth’ as she is known – a complex character with so many layers. Just when I thought I had her personality sussed, the storyline took a darker turn and I found myself in the dark once again. Her confidence and bulshy attitude made for excellent reading and, whilst it was evidently clear that she was very good at her job, I couldn’t help but feel as though we weren’t given much on her background or who she was outside of work.

Pardon the pun, ‘The Silent Dead’ is a slow burner of a read and that’s what makes the storyline a lot more intense and, I suppose some might say – gratifying. Sounds weird doesn’t it, calling this type of novel gratifying, yet the fact that the author teased his readers with minimal information at times allowed my thought process to become gripped by what may or may not happen.

I had no idea beforehand, how the storyline was going to conclude, and I felt that putting a name to the ‘whodunnit’ wasn’t as important as it usually is. I mean, we are given snippets of the persons psyche by the way they anonymously conduct themselves, yet it was more their actions which held a lot more importance than their identity. Well, that’s what I thought anyway.

‘The Silent Dead’ is a very, very cleverly written novel which grows in intensity as the story develops. I would have loved to learn a bit more about the main characters outside of their day job to make them feel a bit more ‘human’, nonetheless they were a very colourful bunch which made for excellent reading. Let’s just say that where ‘Dowdy’ is concerned, the phrase ‘never judge a book by its cover’ could not be more apt.

A psychologically intelligent, gripping and complex start to a brand new series – I’m looking forward to watching Beth Young’s personality develop in further books.

DC Beth Young has just joined the major crimes squad when a body is found but posed in a ritualistic fashion. Beth has been selected to join this team for her ability to think 'outside the box' and see connections that may not be obvious. However this crime is going to be one that is really going to test her.

As more bodies are found posed in the same sort of fashion but the killer seems to be escalating.

Parts of the story are told from the perspective of someone whose appreciation of young women is creepily categorised into his 'angels' Bearing in mind the way the bodies are styled, this sends out warning signals.There is also another 'voice' telling of horrific child abuse- is this the same voice?

I really liked Beth & the other characters on the team were interesting. I'm pleased that this is the start of a new series as it was a really good read & I'm looking forward to more.

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

So I have been “shouted” shall I say from a fellow blogger (Eva, she is going to disown me soon ahem!) that I have not read Graham’s other series of Jack Boulder, so this a complete introduction to the author and the series. Wow!!! This man can write (obviously), the words flowed and I was hooked from the opening scenes.

The main voice of the book is DC Beth Young, however through the short snappy chapters, there are two unknown chilling male voices. One the women find as a creep looking for his angels, and one where the women want to through themselves at him, but both so sinister.

We have a gruesome start and it is not how everyone pictures their wedding day! Finding a body, a murdered man, and then we meet the team. Beth is an intelligent and observant woman, trying to find her place in her new team of FMIT. Her boss DI Zoe O’Dowd (fab name by the way!), is basically a ball breaker and it was refreshing to see two women lead the way. You have DS Thompon and DC Unthank both with their flaws, however, this team works. The way Beth’s brain works, how she sees things and interprets them was fascinating to see her thought process. I love police procedural books as I have said before, I love seeing the “behind the scenes” and how the team works together, working the clues.

Time is of the essence in this book as I was racing to find out what was going on, trying to figure out who these unknown voices were, but at the same time a little nervous to discover who it is! Peeking out behind the cushions and listening to the sounds in the house, is how much this had me on edge at times!

As I said this is the first book in the series, and wham bam it starts us on an intense rollercoaster of a journey and it awesome! I can not wait for the next book! I also look forward to meeting Jack too.

First in a new series featuring DC Beth Young, a female detective joining Cumbria’s FMIT (Force Major Incident Team) The Silent Dead follows Beth and her team in their race against time to catch a brutal and disturbed killer before he strikes again.

Beth is an interesting character; a model in her teens, her passion for justice drove her to join the police, but she was still in her training period when an off-duty incident saw her left with deep facial scars, ‘ruining’ her beauty. For Beth, beauty was never something she cared about, though, and it didn’t stop her drive and ambition. Tapped for FMIT because of her puzzle-solving skills and ability to think laterally, she’s desperate to fit in. When a major case breaks in her first week, Beth dives right in, determined to prove herself.

Beth’s fear of failure is a very relatable one and it made her a character who was easy to sympathize with, but I did feel there was a bit too much ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’ us her lateral thinking and ability to solve puzzles. Everything she worked out could have been done by any competent police detective tasked with the jobs she was given; I didn’t think there was anything particularly intuitive about what she did.

The crimes were gruesome and sinister, and I thoroughly enjoyed working out who the killer was; the author does throw in some red herrings along the way but as we’re given a glimpse into the killer’s mind, I worked it out well before Beth did and was waiting with bated breath for her to catch up.

An enjoyable read, but still, lacking a little in the ‘showing’ department for me. Four stars.