Robert Bryndza writes murder mysteries that are international best sellers, and is one of my favorite mystery writers. His writing is always fresh and fast paced, and I enjoyed this new book because the murder victims in mysteries are often women. In his story, the heroine is a female physician Maggie who works long hours. Her husband dies suddenly and his death is considered a suicide. Maggie doesn't not accept that her husband committed suicide, and goes to their home in Croatia to deal with her husband's belongings. The plot thickens as she narrowly escapes several attempts by a mysterious person to murder her as well. I would recommend this writer to anyone that enjoys mysteries.

When Maggie, an ER doctor is faced with her husband's apparent suicide, she desperately tries to find the truth. Twists and turns throughout will keep readers guessing about why Maggie's life is in danger. Why are people close to Maggie being killed? Fast read and very entertaining. Recommended.

Will and Maggie's life is going well. They have been married a long time, they are both happy in the their careers. So why has Maggie been told that her husband has taken his own life?
After the funeral she travels to Croatia, to their holiday home that is on a small remote island. As it's the winter, Once the ferry drops her off, she will be on her own for a week until the ferry returns. When strange things start to happen, she wants off the island as soon as possible. It's not easy with storms raging.
This is a real page turner. You really root for Maggie and I found myself forgetting to breath in places!

I enjoy the author's police detective Erika Foster series and particularly the series featuring private investigator Kate Marshall. This book is a stand alone and catapults the author to the top of action thrillers.
The book moves between London and Croatia ( specifically one of the small islands). Maggie Kendall is a hard working hospital doctor , married to Will who previously worked in pathology but is now a propery developer. They are in their late forties and childless.
When Will is brought into A & E with a gun wound, Maggie is fearful of him having been attacked, however the police say it was suicide after Will dies.
Maggie has never been comfortable with Will's family. They are wealthy whereas Maggie was brought up by her single parent mother.
Maggie whilst on bereavement leave visits their house that Will designed on a small Croatian island. Maggie receives a letter from Will sent by a solicitor. She gets clues as to why Will was silenced and a government minister is implicated. Alone in their house Maggie is terrified by a man who enters the house in the early hours, unlocking the main door and disabling the alarm.
Maggie is happy when a good friend Eric appears on his boat. Together she feels they can unlock the mystery. But Maggie little realises the danger they are both in.
As usual well written and very suspensful. There is danger all around Maggie can she survive? Highly recommended. Just one question what happended to Luna the stray cat?!

📖BOOK REVIEW📖
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#FearTheSilence by #RobertBryndza

⏩for synopsis

Could this be RB best yet?

We are MAHOOSIVE fans of this author and he never fails to give you an exhilarating read but this one, well WOW….

This book actually made me late for work!!! What a great read. It grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let go until the last. The characters were so vivid that you lived through the stress, fear, paranoia and anxiety alongside them; especially Maggie who carried the story with steel. The story was exciting, scary, unpredictable and very unsettling at times but also interesting and addictive.

I enjoyed RB easy writing style to guide me through a complex plot and liked how I didn’t guess the ‘baddies’ until the very last minute. As always, RB delivers a complete story that leaves nothing unaddressed. I loved it.

With thanks to the author, @netgalley and #ravenstreetpublishing for allowing us to read this one early!

RELEASiNG: July 6th

-EMILY

@the_book_girls_1

This was something different from RB. It was fast paced conspiracy and betrayal. The lead character doesn’t know who she can trust! I enjoyed the multiple settings for the plot. A very quick and easy page turner.

When Maggie is told that her husband Will took his own life, she can't believe it. Will had seemed so happy, so excited for the future - there's no way he would have done this. Struggling to reconcile the police report with the man she was married to for twenty-four years, Maggie heads to the holiday home they built on a Croatian island to grieve, and soon begins to realise that there is a lot more to Will's death - and life - than she had thought.

Robert Bryndza's first stand-alone crime thriller has a lot of promise, but is ultimately let down by its overly ambitious premise and frustrating protagonist.

The setting, a forboding, isolated island in the Adriatic Sea, abandoned in November apart from Maggie and a handful of suspicious-seeming islanders, is deliciously eerie, and the author uses it effectively to set the plot in motion and maintain an unrelenting pace through the middle part of the story. The island was vividly described and had a real air of menace, exacerbated by stormy weather and the fact that Maggie is stranded there.

However, Maggie herself is a disappointing main character. Though she displays the odd flash of ingenuity, she is generally improbably obtuse, to the extent where she was taking so long to put two and two together at times that it was truly maddening. Furthermore, writing her as a trauma doctor was clearly intended to add depth to the character but was just distracting - would she really be recalling her anatomical knowledge or experiences at work in moments of sheer terror?

The big mystery too doesn't quite work. Through the middle part of the book, the reveals come thick and fast and I found this section gripping and exciting. Ultimately, however, the book is not long enough or tightly plotted enough to tie up all the loose ends in a satisfying way, and I was left with too many unanswered questions.

Bryndza shows promise as a crime writer though, and I will look out for his next novel to see how it compares.

Thank you to NetGalley and Raven Street Publishing for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

This was an incredibly emotional read following Maggie as she tries to figure out the truth behind Will's death. I felt it was quite faced paced as we travelled around with her and experienced all that she went through in her quest.
There were occasions that I closed the book and took a few breaths as the action had gotten a bit too intense and I just needed to gather myself before I carried on reading. This author has a very skilful way of writing in that he really makes you care about what is happening in his tales and this is especially so in this stand alone book from him.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading many more from this author in future!

The book started straightforward enough, then we had the drama in A &E but things really took off when Maggie traveled to Croatia. Talk about action packed! I was gripped and didn’t want to put the book down.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have recommended it to my husband.

Having read many of Robert Bryndza Erika Foster and Kate Marshall series before, I was very pleased to see he had written a standalone novel and even more excited when I was accepted by Netgalley and Raven Street Publishing to read an advanced copy.
From the very first chapter I was drawn into Maggies story, happily married to Will for many years, she leaves home for a night shift at the local hospital, waving goodbye to Will after a lovely day together. The next time she sees him, he's being wheeled into A & E with a gunshot wound to the head. The evidence points to suicide but Maggie knows in her heart this wouldn't be the case. With a heavy heart she travels out of season, to their holiday home in Croatia to collect some of Wills belongings. But once there many sinister events start happening and when a letter arrives from Will she knows she has to find out the truth.
This was a action packed, fast paced novel. Very tense at times, and I wondered who Maggie could trust. The setting on a remote Island in Croatia was perfect as the stormy conditions added to the suspense.

Thank you Netgalley and Raven Street Publishing for this eCopy to review

Fear the Silence was a solid thriller, I think it lost its way in the middle and did get a bit implausible at times. I liked Maggie's character and the descriptions of Croatia are amazing.

Maggie's husband dies and is classified as a suicide but Maggie does not believe this. On arriving at their holiday home in Croatia a letter arrives for her from Will which leads her on a quest to find the truth with lots of violence and danger along way

I like how she is able to repair some of her family relationships which is a good ending for the book

As a trauma medicine doctor, Maggie always strives to save a patient’s life. No matter how severe the injury, how complex the situation, she and her team are calm, focused, and decisive. But when her husband is wheeled into her London hospital’s Trauma Unit with a gunshot wound to the head, she freezes, unable to function as her team fights a losing battle with Will’s flatline.

Will committed suicide, she is told. Her happy, successful, loving husband killed himself using a gun he owned for six years and she was clueless. This information is almost as torturous as his loss; the stinging guilt, wondering what she missed. She stumbles through days with no family left to lean on, her wealthy mother-in-law distant and cold.

Maggie must wrap up their life, and travels to their vacation home on a remote island off Croatia where Will kept family heirlooms. It is winter, and the island is deserted but for its caretaker and his son. Her first night alone in the stunning cliff-side home, Maggie is jumpy. Guilt and questions about Will’s death plague her as she falls into a fitful sleep, a winter storm battering the island with wind and rain. Maggie awakes to sounds in her dark and isolated house. The power is off, and a quick check of her security app produces blank screens where camera images should be. Has someone broken in, or is she imagining things?

This psychological thriller has lightening fast pacing and fine plotting. The stormy and isolated setting supports the tension and is lovely to read about. The characterization is as strong and balanced as the scenery. Very well done. Thriller fans will find a great discovery in this author.

This book will be released on July 6, 2023. Thank you to Raven Street Publishing and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

"Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead." Benjamin Franklin
Robert Bryndza gives me the creeps. He can build settings with his words and make a reader feel the threat of impending danger. His current book which is set to be on the market on July 6, 2023 follows Dr. Maggie Kendall from her posh house in London to her high tech vacation home on an island in Croatia. She plunges from her fast paced hospital life to a near solitary existence living in fear and pain. I received the advanced reader's copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley this is my unsolicited opinion. The mystery of this story is definitely creepy as are the threats to Maggie's life. There is death and sadness, an unnecessary sexual encounter and kind of a cliche reason behind it all. Overall the mystery/thriller build up kept me reading. I'd give it a 3.9 for a rating.
Crude Language

Margaret (Maggie) and Will were both successful Doctors but Will decides to change his career. Will’s folks were very wealthy and gave them a house when they got married. Maggie’s mother gave them a set of steak knifes. Will’s mom was Marple and she was a force to be reckoned with. They had been married 24 years when Will committed suicide. Maggie didn’t believe this story. She is determined to get to the truth.

She headed to Croatia where her and Will had a beautiful home. Unfortunately, she didn’t take the time to figure all the electronics of the house. In the first few days of being there she almost drowns, sliced into by the windows and discovers an intruder.

Eric was Will’s best friend and he comes to help Maggie with her dilemma. I couldn’t even imagine going under the water to these hidden caves. This author definitely keeps you in suspense and you won’t want to put this page turner down.

I received this ARC from Netgalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Having read several books by this author, I was keen to read his first standalone, which is described as a psychological thriller. I found the beginning of the book to be fast paced and gripping, but for me, once the story moved to Croatia, I felt the pace slipped and parts of the tale dragged on. At one point Maggie is attacked so many times in such a short space of time it all felt a bit silly, and my attention started to drift. However, I kept reading as I wanted to see how things played out. The book does perk up again towards the end, which I felt was a satisfying conclusion to the tale, if a little rushed.

Thank you NetGalley and Raven House for the opportunity to read this amazing thriller. The story is exciting, scary, creepy, intense and so much more. Robert Bryndza paints the Croatian island of Tisina in beautifully and the Adriatic Sea at it's most deadly. It's a hard book to put down as the action keeps moving at a rapid pace. There are several mysteries to be solved, there are good guys and villains but justice reigns supreme in the end. This is a heart stopping thriller with something for everyone..

Entertaining, twisty thriller. I tore through this one, wanting to see what would happen next. The plot moves quickly, and Maggie is a great character. I was sucked into the mystery from the very first moments.

“'Do you believe Will took his own life?'

The question echoed off the white tiles in the hospital’s cold, cavernous morgue, and I studied my husband in peaceful repose. I leaned down and put my forehead against his. Silent tears ran down my cheeks. They felt hot, and he felt so cold. It was five days since his death, and my grief felt heavy, like a vast, dark mass pushing down on me.

When Maggie’s husband, Will, is shot dead in their London home, she thinks he is the victim of a burglary until the police tell her the shocking news that Will was the one who pulled the trigger.

Maggie is consumed with grief and questions. Will wasn’t suicidal and had so much to live for.

After the funeral, Maggie travels to their holiday home on a small Croatian island to escape London. She finds a disturbing letter written by Will, containing clues to a dark secret.

As Maggie puts the pieces together, she discovers Will’s death is connected to someone from his past… Someone who will go to extreme lengths to keep Maggie silent.

Three can keep a secret... If two of them are dead."

Thanks to NetGalley and Raven Street Publishing for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

I’m a huge fan of RB writing however this one didn’t quite hit the spot for me, it had some great characters and twists but it didn’t hook me in till near the end, it’s a good 3* read.

Maggie works in an ER treating all kinds of things, gun shots, stabbings, and anything else that come in the doors. One night she is in the ER working as usual when she looks at the next patient and realizes that he is her husband. When she freezes, the remaining members of her team take over but can not save him. When the police begin to tell her that he committed suicide, she doesn't believe them. As she begins to grieve, she returns to their vacation house and has a letter delivered to her at the vacation house. Will this letter help her make sense of her husband's death or will it make everything worse.

Nothing is as it seems when a trauma doctor working in A&E is faced with a man shot in the head. Her husband of 24 years. Death is deemed a suicide and family takes over. The doctor does not believe yet alone understand. The more she investigates the murkier his past becomes and this keeps one engaged until the end.