Wall of Silence by Tracy Buchanan
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- Shalini
- in Book Posts, Book Reviews, Digital Reads Media, Digital Reads Reviews, Fiction
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Blurb
Her children have a deadly secret. Can she uncover it before the police do?
Melissa Byatt’s life in Forest Grove seems as perfect as can be: a doting husband, three loving children and a beautiful house in a close-knit community. But appearances can be deceiving.
One evening, Melissa arrives home to the unimaginable: her husband lies stabbed on the kitchen floor, their children standing calmly around him…With horror, she realises that one of them is to blame. But which one? And why would they attack their own father?
Her loyalties torn, in a split second she decides to protect her children at all costs—even if that means lying to the police. But when someone in the neighbourhood claims to know more than they should, Melissa discovers that some secrets are beyond her control…
Can she find out the truth of what happened before the rumours spread? And can the family unite to escape the spotlight of scandal—or are none of them as innocent as Melissa insists?
My Review
What was it all about
Wall of Silence by Tracy Buchanan was an amazing, heart-bounding thriller of a father found stabbed on the kitchen floor with the bloody knife by the side and his three children around him.
Then the mother walked in and realized the horror of her life. One of her kids was responsible for this. But what was the motive? And who was it?
The story then led to the can opening and worms crawling out, one by one. Each secret was bigger than the other until it led to an explosive ending.
The Characters
Wall of Silence denoted the children who stood loyal to each other where being schtum was their only weapon.
Melissa was the only bridge between the children, her in-laws, and her husband. She was the one who had a past of terrible things happening and who was still discovering that life could still turn upside down. I felt in most of the book, her character grew from strength to strength until at one point, she kinda gave up. More about that later.
The village was a small place, so I liked how the author gave distinctive qualities to the villagers, even the trolls. But there were too many of them, and keeping them in line was quite a task.
Life was certainly active in their facebook group with controversies and sarcasm were dished up regularly. Those kinda were fun reading.
The Intricacies
An apparently perfect life was cleaved asunder when the father and an upstanding citizen of the village was stabbed. That itself was a shocker by itself.
The intricacies of the plotline lay in the main story where the children kept quiet even on repeated interrogation. And Melissa trying to help them as well trying to run her own interrogation about what had gone down on that day
Then there were the various subplots which involved secrets and deceptions being played all around her.
Her own past too was embroiled in pain and abuse and the death of her first son. That gave the book an additional layer of family drama.
This book was well written where something kept happening every few chapters, so technically, the author knew what depths she wanted to give this story and her characters. Tracy Buchanan was often a hit or miss for me. And this was a sureshot hit.
The Setting
The author created an interesting world where the Forest Grove village had the forest in its outskirts, where some of the characters had love and respect for the trees growing in it. It was nice to see nature playing a role in the book.
This small village seemed kind on the surface, but was actually narrow-minded in many ways, where racism and arrogance abounded.
For me, most of the characters were quite unlikable, and I never managed to trust even the ones that appeared to be good.
I didn’t think I would like living among them. The overall vibe was not at all cozy even when the author tried to create a comfortable aura.
The style of writing - The Prose
More like a family drama was the style of the prose with Melissa trying to keep the balance in the family and being stonewalled every single time. Only in the end, did she get some answers.
The book had a lot of her emotions seeping into the story, where there were times, I felt she was quite naive and had a lot of growing up to do. But probably that added to the suspense to the subplots.
How it made me feel - The Good
The entire concept was hard-hitting, and as a thriller gal, it scored a home run for me. I spent the afternoon, savoring every single word of it. The whole plotline was haunting and addictive. I did have a theory about what could be the motive, but beyond a stray thought, I didn’t put much weight to it.
An edge-of-the-seat thriller was this book, with dramatic, emotional sections, that kept me completely hooked. The last few chapters blew the secrets open, causing to me keep flicking those pages every few seconds. I craved to know the truth.
Quite a rocking read.
What I didn't like - The Bad
Oh, there were a couple of niggles. Melissa was growing stronger by the page until the author pulled the rug from under my feet and made Melissa revert back to the clingy teenager who looked to her in-laws to save her.
I couldn’t believe my eyes and wanted to hit someone for doing that to the character. Women were stronger, especially where their children were concerned. Here, Melissa was on the verge on discovering the truth when she suddenly gave up and asked her in-laws to take charge. Someone whom she perhaps didnt like so much. Why o why? It was so frustrating to read those sections.
How could Melissa not know the various secrets surrounding her life, whereas those of the other characters’ were laid wide open? The villagers didn’t like her so much that they would try to protect her by keeping quiet. From the lot that was so b*tchy, I thought they would have taken pleasure in revealing all those dark secrets.
And to think, she was kept in the dark for the past twenty years was unbelievable.
The Summary
Wall of Silence was thrilling whodunit that kept me on my toes.
Do I recommend this book?
Absolutely yes. The whole book was a pulse-spiking read. I loved books that gave me a cardiac workout.
I downloaded the digital version of the book from an online retail, and this is my journey down its pages, straight from the heart. STRICTLY HONEST and UNBIASED.
If you’ve loved the review, buy me a cuppa to perk me up.
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3 Responses
Great review, Shalini. It sounds like a gripping read.
Thank you so much Carla. I have been so away from life itself that I shocked myself. Slowly getting back to the way I used to do things.
I hope to hear from you more, Shalini. Glad things are getting back to normal for you.