Omg......... this book was amazing I flew threw the pages with Olympic speed I was hooked from the very first page. I found it full of twists and turns threw out and it kept me on the edge of my seat all the way threw  I would defiantly recommend this book if you like a good book to keep you reading threw the night hopefully you enjoy it as much as I did

Don't say a word by Rebecca Tinnelly is a very dark and disturbing read with a back story of abuse, gried and a dysfunctional upbringing it's a very thought provoking read.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

Gripping and with good pacing. It's dark and disturbing at times as it tackles a few difficult issues. The alternating narrative between Connie and Selina works well.

This book was not at all what I was expecting

From the first chapter I was hooked. What had selina done that was so bad? Why did Connie not want to see her own daughter? Why was selina ignoring her best friend Esther?

These were the questions after only the first chapter.

The book was full of questions, twists and turns and I really enjoyed it

I did not guess what had happened and was gripped throughout trying to find the answer

This was a brilliant debut novel. The story centres around Connie and is told in the past and present. Connie’s parents were killed in a car crash which Connie witnessed when she was six years old and hasn’t spoken since. Connie and her cousin Michael, who lived with her, were then brought up by their grandmother, who favoured Michael and taunted Connie calling her a ‘retard’. But Connie is anything but, she is intelligent and can speak when she wants to. We then meet Selina and Esther, who have been friends for a long time but after a fallout have a strained relationship. Esther, who is Connie’s daughter, is worrying about her dying father when her mother is taken to hospital after trying to commit suicide and she asks to see Selina. Esther calls Salina, but she doesn’t realise that Selina is carrying a secret that Connie disclosed to her a few years ago and this has affected her relationship with Esther. Is the secret finally going to be uncovered? I don’t want to reveal anymore of the plot but I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was very gripping. A bit of a dark and difficult story to read at times but one which I highly recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I liked the idea of this book but I really struggled to enjoy it. The story jumped all over the place and I couldn't stay interested.

A very dark and disturbing read. Following the back story of Connie, now a mother and wife, from her childhood. After witnessing a massive traumatic event involving her parents Connie becomes mute and is seen as backward. However, she has complete intelligence but no way of showing it. Selina is in todays story linked to Connie via her best friend Esther, Connie's daughter. Connie and Selina have a secret and as it comes out it becomes more shocking the more we know. This covers many unsavoury topics but is a good read and I really wanted to find out the complete story and outcome.

With thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Staughton for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

Selina and Esther had been best friends since they were eight years old. The friendship continued in adulthood, Selina became a successful barrister and lived in the same block of apartments as Esther.

Esther`s mum Connie had been mute since childhood after the sudden death of her parents. One day Connie called Selina out of the blue asking for help. Connie told Selina a secret she had been holding since a child, shocked Selina promised to help no matter what. However the secret was so evil it affected Selina`s friendship with Esther and they were no longer close.

There is so much more to this story but I don't want to give any spoilers. Don't Say a Word was a dark story and at times very disturbing. The plot was told from the POV of Selina and Connie as a child and the present day. I.didn't know what Don't Say a Word was about when I requested it. As the story progressed I was hooked and found It hard to put down.


The cruelty Connie suffered at the hands of her grandmother made me angry .My heart went out to the young Connie and I just wanted to give her a hug. Connie was obviously intelligent and i was sad that her doctor had written her off as a `retard`. (I know the scene was set in the sixties but that word shocked me to the core!)

I liked Selina who was woefully misguided but I admired her loyalty to Connie and Esther.

I won't say anymore but I highly recommend this book

Connie is only young when her parents die and she, along with her cousin Michael, are sent to live with their Grandmother. Michael's own mother, Connie's Aunt, having abandoned him to her sister's care already. Her Grandmother favours Michael and pretty much writes Connie off as a waste of air! Although once she falls ill, it is down to Connie to take care of her whilst Michael continues his education. Fast forward several years and Connie's daughter Esther is now grown-up and worried about her father who is on death's door. She feels alone as her best friend since childhood Selina and her had a falling out a few years since. Selina, a barrister is holding a secret from Esther, the reason for their distance, something Esther is unaware of. Could this secret be the reason that Connie has been mute for years? And, could its eventual exposure make or break the lives of several of the characters?
This book was a bit convoluted and I spent quite a while in the dark, floundering. But towards the end, when several layers have been peeled back and certain truths uncovered, it all started to come together nicely. OK, so I had to read through a mild discomfort in getting there, but the end was worth the journey taken and left me, on the whole, satisfied.
The characters were quite hard to get to grips with initially, probably due to the narrative and what the reader was privy to along the way. Again, as I learned more about them, I did start warming to them and I really did start to feel for certain ones along the way. It's hard to qualify this due to spoilers but you'll just have to take my word for it. I will just say that the book does take a bit of a dark turn towards the end but the whole subject is handled very sensitively.
The one thing that didn't quite sit right with me was Selina's part in the whole thing. I am not wholly convinced about certain decisions she made and some of the actions she did / didn't take along the way. Things that, well, could have made things turn out very differently indeed. It just didn't seem congruent with the rest of how she was portrayed.
All in all, a good read that kept me engaged even when I was completely confused. My confusion was never enough to put me off finishing. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This book sounded good but sadly I found it difficult to read and gave up on it. Sadly this one isn't for me , sorry .

I really liked the idea of this book but I really struggled to enjoy it. Don't Say a Word was a tough book to read - dark and confusing for me. The story jumped all over the place and I couldn't stay interested. The characters were not very likeable either so I could not connect with them

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased.

3.5⭐️ rounded up to 4

Connie was just six years old when she witnessed the death of her mother and father in a car crash. That's when she stopped talking. Selina and Esther are best friends but they have drifted apart a little. Esther has been looking after Connie and helping to care for her dying father. Connie has also tried to commit suicide.

There are some surprises along the way, especially at the end. The story was not what I thought it was going to be like. It's dark and gritty at times. It's quite a difficult book to read.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Hodder& Stoughton and the author Rebecca Tinnelly for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After the death of her parents, Connie goes to live with her Grandmother and her cousin Michael. But things are not rosy, Connie doesn’t speak and then is treated as a retard and a mute. She is ignored by her Grandmother. But Connie is clever and pretends to be silent and when her Grandmother is ill, she is left to look after her instead of going to school with the other kids her age.
Years later, Selina and Esther are childhood friends. Selina is a junior Barrister and Esther is Connie’s daughter. Selina is hiding a secret of a box of Connie’s. Trying to find the time to tell Esther what secrets lie in it.
Thank you NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for a copy of this book. For me personally, this story started well, and I was engaged the life of young Connie and Michael. But, the relationship between Esther and Selina I couldn’t engage to. I wasn’t really interested in any of their characters and I struggled with the rest of the book. 3 stars from me.

This is a meaty thriller dealing with some hard hitting issues. Well written and twisty, it draws the reader in bit by bit. I really enjoyed it.

thank you for allowing me to read this book. it was very easy to read. i enjoyed the story line and the characters. look forward to reading more from this author.

Connie has always spoken very little. She stopped talking after witnessing her parents death in a car crash aged 6. People have always assumed she is a bit simple & admire her Grandmother, her cousin and her husband for the care they have taken of her throughout her life. She is an adult now and her beloved husband is dying. Connie’s daughter Esther calls her friend Selina back to Somerset when Esther’s world finally seems to collapse – her Father is dying of cancer and her Mother has tried to kill herself. The final straw is that Connie is asking for Selina and not her daughter Esther…………….now why would that be the case?

This is a very dark book which addresses some dark family secrets. I’d like to say that the themes are too extreme for reality but I suspect unfortunately that isn’t the case. It caused some very conflicting views in my mind – sympathy and revulsion about the same characters. A difficult book to read.

I don’t want to say much about the characters as you need to discover them for yourself. The reader needs to discover who they are and what makes them tick gradually as the book develops – I don’t want to leave spoilers!

The plot itself is generally well written. There are some big reveals at the end which didn’t come as a surprise to me. However, they were well constructed and fitted with the book.

I wasn’t totally convinced by some of the characters actions – in particular Selina, Esther’s close friend. It was this that made this a four star as opposed to five star book.

This is a generally well written book but there are some very dark themes within it. At times it was a very uncomfortable book to read.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

My thanks to NatGalley and publisher Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC.

Oh My Goodness! This is so much more than the proverbial 'roller-coaster ride' - this book begins to start as an uncomfortable but sedate read about familial relationships and childhood friendships, but inexorably moves along faster and faster until you feel as if you're on a runaway train which has no choice but to hit the buffers at speed. Honestly, I felt I was the passenger and no way could I, or would I, hit those brakes.
This would make a fantastic film or extended TV series. I think now I've been too generous in the past with my 5*s - I really do need more for this one. It has everything, it really is an emotionally-charged thriller which eventually 'slaps you in the face'.

1955- there are twin daughters, Caroline and Charlotte. Charlotte succumbed to the world of drugs and left her son Michael, aged 7, to be cared for by Caroline - a 'chic' young woman who wrote for lifestyle magazines and had a Nanny to care for her 1yr-old daughter Connie. Connie and Michael were brought up as brother and sister but in 1959 Caroline and her husband died in an horrific car crash, ending on the verge of their cottage, consumed by a fireball, witnessed by Connie and her Nanny. Connie hadn't spoken a word since then. Both she and Michael now lived with the twin's mother - their grandmother. Connie declared to be a 'simpleton' - a 'retard'. However, Connie is intellectually clever - she can read and write well, and can affect the persona of a 'retard' effortlessly - but she can find words when she needs to - only she isn't encouraged to - and she lives in Hell!

Two, from-childhood, friends, Selina and Esther, have an estranged relationship - entirely due to Selina wishing with all her heart that she could tell Esther her secret, but knowing that if she did it would devastate her best friend and probably land herself in prison. Selina is a successful Barrister - Esther a Solicitor. Esther is Connie's daughter.

Esther's father is dying. Connie is admitted to hospital after overdosing on morphine. The secret which Selina holds is hidden under her bed at her Taunton flat, but Connie has told her daughter she needs to speak to Selina. Esther doesn't understand at all, but is determined to find out. The call to Selina from Connie is not the first - but it will be the last.

So now I have to STOP! cannot say any more. You really need to immerse yourself in this incredible - and very believable - story.

Amazing.

I struggled to engage with this book. The relationship between childhood friends Selina and Esther are distant and unfriendly. The story of Esther's mother Connie and her grandmother was difficult to read. I found the characters unlikeable and the story too disjointed for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Selina and Esther have been friends forever but Selina has pulled away while Esther has been looking after her dying father and caring for her mother, Connie. Connie is a mute who has suffered through their life. Following Connie through her life to find out why she is the way she is and what Connie did that drove Selina to lose touch with Esther.

Wow.... I am going to need to take a breather after reading this. It was sooooo gripping and not at all what I expected. Definitely one for my book club! Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.