Member Reviews

A fast-paced, thrilling novel that you will find yourself immersed in as you flip through the chilling pages. One of them is guilty, but which one? I enjoyed the suspsense and the who-done-it vibe of the book, as I tried to guess who was responsible and what exactly was happening. I love a good book that keeps you guessing and this book does just that.

An enjoyable read that I recommend.

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I really enjoyed this book all the way through. It had a really good plot, great main characters and really keeps you hooked on the plot. I would highly recommend this book.

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Silent Night was a clever and twisty police procedural. The angle of working with deaf people was intriguing and really interesting. I really enjoyed it and I learnt quite alot, things that I had not considered before for people without hearing. I have not read the first book, Silent House but I will absolutely be adding it to my list.

A dead head teacher and a missing 15 year old student. Sign language interpreter, Paige Northwood is called in by the police to help work the case. The student is from a school for the deaf and went missing during an overnight school trip to the woods. Both the students and teachers are keeping secrets from the police and it is becoming hard to know who to believe. And for Paige, her past comes back to confront her but could he be a killer?

Thanks to Avon Books UK and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book to read.

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Whilst camping with the deaf school Leon goes missing and body is found. Paige Northwood is a British Sign Language interpreter she has worked with the police on another case and is back, reluctantly, to help again.

I really enjoyed the story line. I liked how it was centered around deaf children and the daily challenges they have. I was skeptical on this area but the author did the deaf community justice. I was drawn into the book from the start. I loved all the twists, the secrets and the tension. It's quite dramatic and fast paced. I loved it

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Five teenagers from a deaf school are on an overnight school trip to the snowy woods at the start of winter. In the morning one of them is missing and a teacher is dead. The four remaining students close ranks and if they do have idea what might have happened to Leon, the missing boy they’re not saying.

Paige Northwood is an interpreter for the deaf who is called in by the police to help interview the students and teachers. To her horror, she discovers her ex-boyfriend, Mike, who treated her badly for years before an acrimonious split three years ago now works at the school. Being at the school with the police where students and staff are being interviewed, she can’t help overhear things about the case that she shouldn’t hear and finds herself getting involved in the case.

The closed community of a deaf school, with some students also orphans in care is an interesting location for a murder mystery, but I would have preferred the focus to be on the police and the murder investigation rather than split between that and Paige’s personal life which only served to slow down the plot. This is the second book in this series featuring Paige but I don't yet feel I'm getting to know her yet (although I do now know a lot about her past). She's not a particularly engaging character and isn't well equipped to play amateur detective, keeping information to herself that should have been handed on to police and putting herself at risk.

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A teacher murdered, a missing student and teenagers keeping dangerous secrets…

The main character, Paige Northwood, works as a Sign Language Interpreter for the police on an investigation of a missing deaf teenager. On a school trip, the head teacher is found murdered and the boy might be the last person to have seen him alive. As the police look into his background, they start to wonder if the missing teen is really in danger or if he might be responsible for the heinous crime…

Silent Night was a good read, but missed the mark for me on some levels.

I found the first half of the story was slow-paced and lacked action. It dragged on for a bit too long, but the second half was much better. There were some good suspenseful moments and I didn’t see the ending coming!

Also, I quickly realised this novel was the second book in the Paige Northwood series, after The Silent House, though it could easily be read as a stand-alone novel. Only some of Paige’s backstory was mentioned and made me realize it had probably happened in the first novel. As I said though, I didn’t find Silent Night confusing without having read the first in the series.

I enjoyed learning about the deaf community through the storytelling. The author seemed to have good knowledge of the do’s and don’ts regarding the etiquette with the deaf community and it was really informative. Also, I liked that the language barrier wasn’t an issue in the story, but that conversations were played out normally, as the main character is an interpreter.

One thing that bothered me a little bit though, was how the main character was extremely involved with the investigation, and nearly solved it all by herself. Of course, I understand that to write an interesting story, sometimes it’s needed to have a character that’s very in-the-know, but still. I found it doubtful that an interpreter would be as skilled at solving a crime than a detective.

All in all, this wasn’t my favorite read, but it was interesting to read about a community I know so little about. I give Silent Night a 3-star rating, as it was a good read, but dragged on a bit too long.

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**This review will be cross-posted to my blog and all social media sites close to the publication date**

3.5 stars rounded off to 4!

A school for the deaf go on an overnight camping trip to snowy woods. The next morning, a student is missing, and the dead body of a teacher is found. The police bring in a British Sign Language expert to help with the interrogation, but as it proceeds, the BSL expert finds herself deeper into the investigation than she was supposed to be.

This murder mystery revolves around the deaf community and dysfunctional families, and I think it was told masterfully. Full marks for originality. The story gradually unfolds, everyone is a suspect but they all have an alibi. The mystery goes deeper and darker with every chapter. I liked how perfectly the characters were described, as exploiters and manipulative, and how easy it is for some to fall into this unfortunate trap.

The plot was great, the pace was okay, and I couldn’t guess the culprit and their reason till the end. But I think the story would have done better if it was bit shorter, also I thought the protagonist was a very naive, and unlikeable character, and was taking too many liberties, inserting herself into the investigation like that, which is very unrealistic imo and threw me off so many times.

Thanks to Netgalley, author, and publishers for the eARC. All opinions are my own. Pub date Nov 12.

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This book was very interesting. I love the back and forth from paige to other characters before the murder. I honestly was very surprised at the ending.

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The book starts with a school for the deaf taking their students on an overnight trip to a snowy cabin. Five teachers go to sleep but only four wake up and one of the students is missing and a teachers body is found in the woods. DS Singh is investigating and he brings in Paige Northwood again as his interpreter. The book goes between present day and the hours leading up to the murder where it seems everyone has a motive. The book also sees Paige facing some of her old demons as she and DS Singh do their best to find the missing child and the killer.

Although the plot worked well I just felt that the book was too slow paced and went on for too long. This is something that I felt with the author’s first book also so sadly this has put me off reading any of her future work.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books UK and the author for the chance to review.

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Firstly a big thank you to Avon for my copy to review on netgalley i loved Nells debut which is the first in this series so was thrilled to read this.

Raced through this, Nell is a fantastic writer who captures the attention of the reader and has you hooked. Its absolutely fascinating to get a insight into the deaf/hard of hearing community.

Well written with a fast plot and twists and turns. Great charactars and i really enjoyed the charactar development of Paige as we learn more about her past.

I enjoyed this and did not see where this was heading, unpredictable and gripping.

Published 12th November and i look forward to reading more in this series.

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Thank you Netgalley for the ARC to this book for an honest review.

Students and teachers from a school for the deaf take an overnight trip to the woods during the winter. When the head teacher is found dead and a student is missing the police and deaf interpreter Paige Northwood are tasked to find the missing child and killer.

The book has a lot of twists and turns and keeps you guessing. It seemed a bit long-winded to me and it seemed to focus more on Paige and her current and past relationships then the case itself. Though her past relationship with her ex, Mike, who happens to also work at the school does make you start believing he is a suspect. The teenagers hiding things from the police and Paige thinking most everything she seems to see or hear are not important for the police to know was a bit annoying but seeing Paige get more involved was interesting.

I did like that this book revolved around a deaf community which I rarely see in books. The character development was good and though the book is the second of a series it can be read as a standalone.

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I didn’t realize this was a series when I requested, but was excused after I found out, because I loved the first. Unfortunately, this one was not really for me. I found it to be quite slow paced and hardly keeping my attention. I seemed to really put off coming back to it. It may have been my mood, but I did love first, this not so much,

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Having enjoyed the first book on the series I was excited to read this, and it certainly didn't disappoint. Another fantastic book, so different than other police reads. Brilliant characters and a great insight into the deaf community. I will be recommending this to everyone.

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I would like to thank netgalley and Avon books UK for this ARC .
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THIS BOOK WAS A LUKEWARM TO ME. The main character (Paige) was really infuriating at times, keeping information to herself, also the events weren't fast paced enough for me.
I really liked the concept of having deaf characters in a book, but it wasn't written well

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I have read the first book in this series and enjoyed this one just as much. I love the idea of the main character being an interpreter for the hearing impaired, it is quite an original idea.

In Silent Night a boy has gone missing and a head teacher has been murdered on a school trip. The police need an interpreter as the school is a school for the deaf. There were many twists and turns throughout the book, and it moves backwards and forwards from the present to before the murder, which made it suspenseful. I can’t wait for the next book!

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This was an intense fast book for me. The mystery and drama is a fresh outtake from this book. What’s interesting is that this is the first book for me with the characters who are hearing impaired use their skills of sign language. My heart was pounding with the suspense and action. Somewhere in the mix romance bloomed between the two main characters. The distrust, self- confidence and trying to heal a broken heart is well written to draw in the readers.

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This is the second in the “Silent” series. The basic premise of the series is that the protagonist, Paige, grew up in a family with deaf parents and a deaf sister. Paige can hear but she also speaks sign language. She is a sign language translator for the police.

She also likes poking her nose in places and things that aren’t safe but manages to come out unharmed.

The basic premise is interesting in that the victims, witnesses and potentially the suspect may not be able to speak. But the protagonist is a translator so it seems, rather than adding an extra element of a communication gap to the story, the translator makes it so that it’s a regular crime book.

This one takes place in a school for the deaf where the head of school was murdered. The story is good and engaging. I also was effectively led in different directions, not knowing who the murderer is. In the end I was kind of surprised but the motive was never revealed until the end so there was no way to figure it out.

If you like mysteries, it’s a decent beach read. But considering the mastery in this genre, I wouldn’t yet put the author near the top of the list. At the same time, The writing is intriguing enough for me to pick up one of her other books if I needed a quick plane read or something.

#netgalley #silentnight

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A school for the deaf. A murder. A missing student. It’s no surprise that no one heard a thing, but what if someone saw something?


This was such an enjoyable read! I truly loved learning about the deaf community, all the while reading a stellar thriller storyline! I did have a small complaint about the protagonist, because come on! So often she found a VITAL piece of evidence and didn’t think to tell anyone which drove me INSANE. But I would be more than happy to read this authors work again!

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I really enjoyed this book it is super addictive and well paced. The story is really gripping. Set against the backdrop of a snowy winter landscape a number of murders take place amidst a group of hearing impaired young people. I love the main character Paige and the relationships she has with her sister and the police. I also love the extra dimension the story being immersed within the deaf community brings. This book follows on brilliantly from the first book and in fact I think it is even better than the first one. I don’t think you need to have read the first book in the series but if you get the chance it is worth it as it does tie in nicely and helps you to get to understand the characters and relationships even better,

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Silent Night is a well crafted story. I was hooked all the way to the end thanks to all the twist and turns.

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