I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. Interesting story. Perfect for drama/thriller/suspense. Recommend read.

Reading Between the Wines book review #116/115 for 2021:
Rating: 3 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book 📱: The Silent Speak
Author: Val Collins
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers
RELEASED on February 23, 2021!!!

Sipping thoughts: Can you say CRAZY!!! This book can be triggering with the content and the callous nature of which the killer kills. Shane Grogan has killed his wife and three children then committed suicide. Only his sister, Lisa, believes in his innocence. She asks Aoife to help her solve the case. Only Aoife isn’t sure Shane is innocent. Boy, do we go on a whirlwind investigation with Aoife and the true story will just leave you speechless. This book will keep you guessing until the end and even then you will not want to believe it.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley and @XpressoBookTours for an advanced copy of @TheSilentSpeak.

#TheSilentSpeak #XpressoBookTours #NetGalley #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult

This was a well written and enjoyable mystery. There are plenty of suspects to choose from with a cleverly crafted plot. The character of Aoife Walsh was realistic and interesting.
Many thanks to the author and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was absolutely amazing this is my second book from Val Collins and she is now one of my favorite authors. Her writing gets right to the point and I love the twists she does at end of her books. Bring on the next book in ready.

Aoife is shocked to the core when she hears about an entire family who were viciously murdered in their own home. Two members of the family were members of her book club.Law enforcement have made it known that they feel this was a case of murder-suicide.

Aoife is astonished at an invitation to interview extended family members for an exclusive story .... the freelance journalist she is cannot say no.

As she digs into the secrets of her fellow book club members, Aoife discovers potential suspects everywhere: people having affairs, a jealous husband, and a power-hungry business partner who’s clearly hiding something.

The more she investigates, the more questions she has. And the more she asks those questions .. the closer to danger she becomes.

The plot is well-crafted, action-packed, and fast paced. I enjoyed the blend of professional with the personal, as Aoife is preparing for the final dissolution of her marriage to an abusive man and start a new union with a police detective. His teenage son has reservations, so she has been working on building some kind of bond with him. Although is 3rd in the series, it is easily read as a stand alone. However, I do recommend reading in order as Aoife's back story is most interesting.

Many thanks to the author / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Aoife Walsh is busy finalizing her her divorce from her manipulative husband, settling into her still-new relationship with Detective Conor Moloney, and trying to win the trust of his teenage son, Blaine. She is working as a part time journalist as well, she gets the news about an entire family being slaughtered in their own home – no one survived including the small kids!! What kind of a monster would do that – the cops are saying that the head of the family did it, and killed himself but then there are doubts rising up by Lisa, the main suspect’s sister which leads to further investigation which reveals more hidden truths and some hidden relationships as well.
To make matters worse more people get killed and it intensifies everything! Lisa also offers Aoife the access to victims’ extended family if she helps in investigating the case.
This was a good edge of the seat thriller, and keeps the reader guessing!

I could not put this book down! So many twists and turns that I did not see coming. Compelling and well-written, would definitely recommend!

This is my first book by Val Collins and it did not disappoint. We follow journalist Aoife who is in the midst of a divorce and she is dating a detective. The story is set around a family being slaughtered in their home, and it is one of Aoife's book club members. I do not want to give too much away but if you like an edge-of-your-seat murder/thriller then this makes a great read.

Love how Val Collins writes, I find it interesting and really easy to understand. Some books I do feel like there are too many descriptions/characters and I can not always keep up, but with Val Collins novel it is the perfect amount.

Thanks to NetGalley, Val Collins and the publisher for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

The Silent Speak by Val Collins

Aoife Walsh has her hands full at the moment mostly with finalizing her divorce but she has also met someone new. A man that has a son with whom she would like to connect with. As her story continues, Aoife was in other books as well, we learn a lot about her as well as her character. It is hard not to connect and root for her in this novel. Val does an amazing job of putting together a thriller that will keep you in suspense as this book certainly accomplished. I do have to admit though that it was pretty easy to figure out but overall it still is very well written and the characters are well developed.

I thought this was a decent book. The storyline intrigued me right from the beginning. Several points were predictable and a bit slow.

Another hit from Val Collins! I previously read her book Only Lies Remain last year, and absolutely adored it, it was such a refreshing thriller. I was so excited to get into this one and I wasn't really disappointed. Now - here me out with this review, because I didn't rate it as high as the last one, but thats a personal issue. I loved the characters, I loved how independent and strong Aoife was once again, which is so rare in thrillers these days. There was lots of build up to who dun it, but it felt a good pace and I couldn't guess who had done what throughout the whole book. My one negative takeaway from this book was how quickly the ending unfolded - it was such a buildup for it all to come undone in the last short bit of the book, which is a huge hangup for me in thrillers. Honestly, if you need a good thriller that isn't full of the typical tropes, pick this up!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A journalist and her boyfriend detective work together to solve the horrific murder of a family while working on creating a blended family.

A family of five was found dead at their home, and this is the third similar killing in the past three years!
Out of desperation, Lisa requests Aoife to further investigate the murder of her brother, Shane Grogan and his family, in order to find the killer.
As she digs deeper into this homicide, Aoife starts to suspect that the investigation is hitting close to home, and is putting herself and her family in great jeopardy!
The talented Val Collins has adeptly transforming her passion and creativity into this intriguing and suspenseful thriller THE SILENT SPEAK with an unexpected twist at the end!
I would like to thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to enjoy this fascinating and entertaining whodunit.
#TheSilentSpeak
#NetGalley

I love this series! I like Aoife a lot. She is smart and caring. We both like book clubs so she could be my friend. This book finds Aoife getting closer with Conor but having less luck with his son Blaine. Jason is still in the picture, as Amy’s father that is to be expected, causing problems. She has returned to work though and is getting on with her life.
Then a family is found dead, considered to be a murder-suicide. Both the husband and wife were members of Aoife’s book club. Aoife didn’t know them but is drawn into the investigation by the husband’s sister, who believes her brother was also murdered. As Aoife starts peeling off layers, it appears that others in the book club know more about the murders than they said. Then one of those members ends up dead! Strange things have been happening at Aoife’s house, too. She thinks it’s Blaine but could it be the killer coming for Aoife?
There is a lot going on in this book. It kept me turning pages until I fell asleep right before the reveal! I was laying there, saying, “just one more page,” when I dropped my Kindle with my eyes closed. Ugh. When I awoke, the Kindle was dead so double ugh. I put on coffee while charging and quickly got it turned on. Imagine my shocked surprise when a twist happened that I never saw coming! It was so worth the trouble! I wish I could tell you more but it is best to read it yourself.
This is the third book about Aoife. Each book can be read on their own but I think you will enjoy them much better starting with Girl Targeted and reading Only Lies Remain before reading this one. They are all excellent and you will get to know, and understand, Aoife much better reading them in order. Each book has its own mystery to solve.
This is a series I will continue to read. Being American, I didn’t know a lot about how police procedures may be similar or different from the States. Ms Collins does an excellent job describing how they are in Ireland. There are some differences but also enough similarities for me to have no problem following along. Some of the names are in Irish. The author gives you the pronunciation of these and you can also check YouTube to hear them if you like. They are much easier to pronounce than they look. The author sets the mysteries up with plenty of suspects so you have choices to make in deciding who did it. Not everything is as it appears to be, much like real life. Set aside some time for this one!

I received a free copy of this book through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I love mysteries but I am not a huge fan of the 3rd person writing. I prefer to be shown not told a story and I find I connect more with the characters when it is written in first person. That being said I really like Aoife and found her a well developed character. I was not a fan of the chapters that were written about Lisa as they just didn't seem to add anything to the story other than go over what we already knew was going on.

I may be one of the only people that thought this was a fairly predictable read but I figured out the villain upon our first introduction but maybe I have just read too many of these types of books. I thought that there were a lot of twists and turns especially as the suspects and bodies started piling up. But more than the mystery of who killed Shane and his family I was more intrigued by the mystery surrounding Aoife's soon to be ex husband and Conors son Blaine.

Over all this is a good mystery, but had its flaws I would probably try this author again but this book didn't entice me to jump up and track down other books. Also I love reading authors from the UK, Ireland and Scotland but in cases like this I wish that author would put in parenthesis how to pronounce the names! I wound up googling them so I wouldn't stumble over them the whole time I was reading. I'm a fan of authentic names in books but knowing that an audience outside of where it is set will struggle maybe help a girl out!

Great read! I loved the twists and the story definitely kept me guessing. I was definitely cheering for Aoife! I rate this book a 4.2!

I enjoy Val’s books. This story was very thrilling and I enjoyed following how the book would turn out. I look forward to read more of Val’s books.

This was a quick read that is fast paced and keeps you glued to each page to know what happens next. I love when books hook you right from the first page and that is exactly what happened.

Aoife is asked to investigate a brutal crime as a investigative journalist. She never imagines all the secrets and harm that comes from agreeing to this.

The ending 😳😳 so crazy and I honestly did not see that coming. If you like psychological thrillers I highly recommend this one!

The Silent Speak by Val Collins. My first read from this author.

Lisa enlists the help of Aoife (the main character and journalist) to try to find the killer of her brother Shane and his family. Even though the evidence pointed to Shane being the perpetrator, Lisa is convinced that he did not do it and asks Aoife to help her to prove this in exchange for a full honest interview in her own words about the family that she can publish. Aoife is in a compromising position as her boyfriend, Conor, is the lead investigator in this case. But it is such a good offer and will skyrocket her career, she just cannot refuse.

The investigation brings Aoife down a path leading to clues which the police seemed to have missed. Coupled with this, two more murders have taken place. Aoife's personal life is also a mess with Conor and his son Blaine, who she just is not getting on with.

A real page-turner with twists and turns aplenty that will keep you guessing!! Great twist at the end.

Many thanks to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book, it was gripping all the wat through but I loved the detail and thought that had clearly been researched and put into this book.

Will def be on the hunt for more of val collins books after enjoying this one so much