This is an awesome thriller, which I thoroughly enjoyed and loved.

The story is about a woman called Maggie who is an Emergency Room doctor. One day her husband Will is brought there as he has been shot. He doesn't survive, and she is told that he took his own life. She is then sent a note while she is on holiday, which confirms to her that Will was killed. People around her are then taken out, and she is scared for her life,

I found this book very exciting and thrilling, as it was so fast paced and like an adventure story with a lot of action. It would make a good movie. Highly recommended!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

Wow! Was not expecting that!

Well written and interesting, you will be reading nonstop until the very end. Highly recommended if you want twists and turns that keep you in the edge if you’re seat until the very end.

Maggie’s husband , Will is found dead in his home office, ruled a suicide. But Maggie doesn’t believe it. Why would Will kill himself when he was so happy? To help her deal with his death and to help her find out why, Maggie sets off to their Island home in the Croatians. Once Maggie arrives to the Island she discovers the Island is empty of the holiday visitors who flock there in the summer months and the ferry only runs one day a week. As Maggie is settling in, she discovers a letter from Will disclosing a secret he has kept for the last past 6 years. Suddenly a storm hits the Island and Maggie is finding her “smart home” is malfunctioning or is it someone on the Island who knows Will’s secrets and wants to put an end to them once and for all?

I have enjoyed Robert Bryndza's Detective Erika Foster series and recently began his new Kate Marshall, which I am also enjoying, so when I saw that he had a standalone thriller, I had to read it. Fear the Silence is a story that will grab you from the beginning and keep you on the edge of your seat until the end. Maggie is a doctor and her husband used to be a pathologist. Six years ago, he abruptly quit his job and is now a real estate developer. While Maggie was at work, he is killed, shot in their home. When the police tell her he committed suicide, she can't believe it. Maggie needs time to grieve, so after the funeral she heads to their vacation home on an island off Croatia. What she finds there, a letter telling her he was killed, sends her on a chase and eventually running for her life. What is going on? Who killed Will? Why are they after her now?

This is one of those stories that would make a perfect movie, with its action, remote location, secrets, and suspense. The plot was intricate, twisty and creative. Could it really happen? Maybe. There is a cast of characters that are suspicious, leaving this reader not sure who Maggie could trust. The setting of the "smart house" was intriguing and when it began causing accidents, I decided I will never do that to any home I live in. As things were revealed, I got a few aha moments, and a few that threw me for a loop. With lots of twists and turns, secrets and suspicions, corruption and power, Fear the Silence is a wonderful read. Grab the popcorn, sit back and enjoy the ride.

3★
“I returned the smile, trying not to show how nervous that made me feel. Our house was in the most isolated spot on the northwestern tip of the island, and I would be the only woman here with two men.”

She had good cause to be nervous. The publisher’s blurb gives away a lot of the first 20% of the story, presumably to attract readers, but I think it could have held a bit back.

Maggie is a London trauma doctor who married another doctor from a well-to-do family. A few years ago, he told her he’d become a doctor only because it’s what his parents wanted, but his real passion was always for architecture and design – so he quit! His mother has never approved of the change or of Maggie.

“I was surprised to see Will’s mother. Marelle is very tall and willowy and was elegantly dressed head-to-toe in black. Not a hair was out of place. Her height has always intimidated me, and she has this habit of looking down at me without needing to angle her head.”

Will was found dead in his office chair, shot through the head – an apparent suicide. Maggie doesn’t believe it for a minute. He’s been happy and has plans. She decides to escape for a time to their holiday house on a small, much-loved Croatian island.

This is no humble cottage. It is a big home with all the latest smart features, cameras, automatic pool covers, timers. These wi-fi connected conveniences are great when they work, but a good storm can knock them out. Or an intruder who knows the system.

This is a step up from the cat burglar who cuts the phone line or flips the circuit breaker, but the tension is exactly the same. Except this is an ‘almost’ empty island with a weekly ferry, and Maggie is entirely alone. I mentioned storms.

“The wind hit me as it whipped my hair about my head. Waves were smashing against the rocks at the bottom of the cliff, and a knot of black storm clouds gathered on the horizon. It was forty miles to the mainland. I shivered at the thought.”

This part of the world had suffered political upheaval (to put it politely), and Maggie doesn’t really know where the old enmities lie. Can she trust anyone?

As the action heats up and there are wounds to dress (she’s a trauma doctor, remember), she’s on the ball. I’m exaggerating to say she keeps herself going with bones sticking out of her legs, but I just had to suspend disbelief that a good bandage and a dose of pills conquers all.

“When I was clean I applied gauze bandages to the more significant cuts on my legs, and dressed in a warm, soft tracksuit, thick socks, and trainers. I took more antibiotics and painkillers…”

Every time she puts on thick layers of dry clothes, she seems to be immediately drenched again. She’s confused and terrified, but also furious. As she begins to figure out what has happened and why, she is even more frightened (and wet, and cold, and badly wounded). She’s in more trouble than she ever thought possible.

It’s a great premise, with the personal stories mixed with politics and international intrigue. I lost interest as she seemed to overcome such terrible assaults and injuries with bandages and a handful of pills. For me, it felt repetitious.

I like mysteries, so I enjoyed that part, and I’m sure the thriller part will probably appeal to true thriller fans who will forgive a lot for the sake of action!

Thanks to NetGalley and Raven Street Publishing for the copy for review.

3.5 stars for this book, I absolutely love all the authors series however this stand alone was good but not fantastic like his other books. The plot is a dark thriller based around the main character Maggie and her search for answers after her husbands death. At times it felt far fetched and I didn’t warm to Maggie as I have the authors other characters. Over all is was an ok read but I look forward to reading more of the author series books.

A fast paced psychological thriller with lots of twists and turns along the way. Another brilliant book from Robert Bryndza.

As always, Bryndza has published another unputdownable thriller. From start to finish this book had me engrossed, I read it in one sitting. The characters, the setting, and the thrills were entrancing. A very excellent standalone.

Thank you Robert Bryndza, NetGally, and Raven Street publishing for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Okay, so from the start I was hooked. Maggie Kendall is a leading trauma surgeon; her husband Will was a former pathologist and property developer. A patient comes into the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. The patient is Will, who has taken his own life.

Maggie goes to their holiday home in Tisina, when she gets a letter from Will the events that follow are fast paced and a race for survival. Who can she trust and what is the truth. Could not put this down, brilliant from start to finish.

When Maggie left their London flat that morningto go to the hospital where she works as an emergency room doctor she had no idea that it would be the last time she would see her husband of twenty-four years alive. A few hours later he is brought in with a gunshot wound that the police declare is a suicide. Maggie doesn’t believe that Will would kill himself but she has no choice but to accept it. Grief stricken she goes to their vacation home in Croatia to close it up for the winter. However, when she gets there mysterious things start to happen. She hears someone in the house late at night, she almost drowns after a strange occurence and then there is a shocking death. Maggie realizes that her life is in danger and flees, but things don’t go well.

Fear the Silence had so many twists and turns and I couldn’t stop reading it! If you love psychologiacal thrillers and fast paced stories, you will love this book! This is the first book by Robert Bryndza that I have read but it won’t be the last. Thanks to Raven Street Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy. Fear the Slence was published on July 6th.

I have been a fan of Robert Bryndza for years, so I was happy to get a copy of his first stand alone. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me. I couldn’t connect with the main character and this plot was full of “exaggerated” or “unbelievable” events that made it hard to sink into.
Again, thank to Net Galley, the author and the publisher. I will remain a fan

I have read and enjoyed every book published by Robert Bryndza, and whilst it was still enjoyable, this one just missed the mark because it was too far fetched and unbelievable.
If you can overlook the implausible events then you will still enjoy this book, personally I am looking forward to a return to what Robert does best and that is police procedures.
2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

London trauma doctor Maggie Kendall's life is turned on its head when her husband Will arrives in the Emergency Department - as a seriously injured patient. Sadly, Will's death is inevitable despite the efforts of Maggie's colleagues, and to make a horrible situation even worse, it quickly becomes clear that police regard his death as a suicide.

Left reeling, Maggie retreats to the holiday home she and Will shared on the (fictional) Croatian island of Tišina. That's when things start getting creepy... Maggie receives a mysterious letter from beyond the grave from Will, forwarded by a London solicitor, indicating that there's more to his recent death than authorities realise. She also faces a couple of inexplicable but life-threatening incidents connected to the "Smart" features of the modernist house. Then Will's best friend, who'd said he was unable to attend Will's funeral, turns up on his yacht. As the island is cut off by a storm, Maggie's caught up in a spine-chilling struggle to solve the mystery of Will's death, while not falling victim to the same malevolent force herself.

The tightly-plotted story contains a well-balanced combination of suspense, shocking twists and political intrigue, which kept me on the edge of my seat until the end. Robert Bryndza captures the emotional torment, fear and determination of the main character phenomenally well - resulting in a thriller that will have a visceral effect on readers. The setting on an island off the Dalmatian coast of Croatia is inspired by the author's own experience of holidaying in Baška on the island of Krk and elsewhere in Croatia. He evocatively relates the dramatic scenery, isolation and wild weather of the Adriatic in winter.

I'd highly recommend Fear the Silence to existing fans of Robert Bryndza's crime fiction, but also as a perfect starting point for those who are yet to delve into his work, given that it's a standalone.

My thanks to the author, Robert Bryndza, publisher Raven Street Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this exciting title.

I love every book from Robert Bryndza and his characters in the series he has written. This standalone book is just as great. Set in London and a small island in Croatia which is idyllic in Summer and deserted in winter, Maggie needs to find out what happened to her husband. Dark, gripping and twisty.

Fear The Silence by Robert Bryndza

This book was more difficult for me to get into, and I am not sure why. I had trouble relating to Maggie’s character and the way she behaved before and after her husband died. As I was not sure I wanted to continue after she reached Croatia, I read the ending, some from the middle, and decided that though well written, this book was not for me – or – not for me at this time. I have had that happen before with books and have gone back to read them later and found them riveting. That said, I did have to suspend belief as I read a fewl of the scenes. Secrets hidden and how they were found, the idea that one person would have so much power and be able to get away with so many evil and illegal things, that if this evil person could get away with so much…that person could be brought down so easily later. And…that is just a hint without giving away secrets the author put great effort into writing.

I have loved other books in series I have read by this author and am hoping that future books I read by him, and I will read his work again, will not only grab me as this one did in the beginning, but also hold me in gripping thrall till I finish.

Did I enjoy this book? Not as much as other books by this author
Would I read more by this author? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and Raven Street Publishing for the ARC – This is my honest review.

2 Stars for me + 4 Stars at least for those who will love this book then split the difference and
3 Stars

This novel had me hooked within the first chapters and it was a real rollercoaster. Filled with clever twists and turns, the atmospheric prose had me gripped throughout the book. I highly recommend this book.

It took me longer to read this book than I intended - because I could only read it during daylight hours and not just before bed otherwise I wouldn't get any sleep! This author is SO good at writing suspense that when I see he has another book coming out, I immediately want to read it. And I was very happy to read this one :)

Maggie is happily married to Will, so when one day she is told he has killed himself, she is shocked beyond belief but determined to get to the bottom of why he seemed to be unhappy enough to do this to himself, to them. Her investigations take her to their holiday home in Croatia and that is when things REALLY start happening.

I can't say any more or I will give the plot away but I tell you what, go and buy this book because it is amazing!!! Well written, suspenseful, emotional - all the things that make it a cracking read for this compulsive reader.

5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Raven Street Publishing.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of this book in return for a review based upon my own opinion.

I love this author! His book are so good. I love his Erika Foster and Kate Marshall series are fantastic, I think I have read all of them. This was a stand alone thriller and it grabbed me right from the first chapter. Maggie is a trauma surgeon, who kisses her husband and heads off for her shift. She is ready for a busy shift but could never imagine that the second patient through the trauma doors would be her beloved husband. When he doesn't make it, she is devastated, but when the police ask her if she knew her husband was suicidal, she is floored, she assumed it must have been a break in. Her and her husband have a great life together and couldn't be more in love. or so she thought.

After his funeral, Maggie heads to their remote island villa in Croatia. She is unnerved being there alone and knowing that there are only two other poeple on the island, the caretaker and his son. Upon arriving she finds a letter in the post from her husband, mailed after his death. The letter leads her to believe that Will did not kill himself and that she may now be in danger. What is the secret that Will was keeping and did it lead to his death, or did he really end it all. As Maggie tries to figure out the answers, she realizes someone is out to get her now, can she make it back home alive and clear her husband's name.

This story was full of twists and action. You could feel the tenseness as Maggie was running for her life and not knowing who was a help and who was out to get her. Great read!

When you spend the most amazing day at home with your husband before heading to your shift in the ER only to have your husband as a patient in a few short hours, it leaves Maggie at such a huge loss. It's worse when she's told that he took his own life. In complete disbelief, she leaves the city to stay in their vacation home to get away for a bit. Shortly after her arrival, a cryptic letter from her husband is delivered sending her on a ride she never signed up for. She knows in her heart that Will didn't take his own life but can she uncover all of the secrets to find out if she's right?

“Three can keep a secret…if two of them are dead” - This was a real page turner that had me hooked from the first page. There are so many twists and turns in this book that literally keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time. Robert definitely knows how to build tension and keep you in suspense. The FMC, Maggie, was incredible. I just loved how brave, driven and clever she was. I definitely felt empowered reading it as she overcame each situation she faced. The ending of this story was so satisfying too as karma came to those who deserved it. I can’t wait to read more by Robert.
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I received an advance review copy from NetGalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.