What a harrowing new suspense thriller by a favorite author of mine! I was ecstatic to have a chance to read it. The unexpected death of her husband throws Maggie into unfamiliar territory. She’s a middle aged intelligent surgeon, ill-prepared to handle menial everyday tasks. They both had careers but Will took care of their vacation house he’d built on a small Croatian island, a short trip from London. She’s numbed by grief, filled with unanswered questions about his death. She’s going there to close it up for the winter. Right from her arrival little things go wrong, items out of place, unexplained equipment malfunctions, strange figures in the night. Just as anyone who’s lost a loved one in such an unexplainable way, she has doubts about the circumstances and questions the police version. As she digs into clues on the island her true allies and enemies will surface. There are chills and thrills, goosebumps and prickles, I was holding my breath. Will she uncover the truth about Will’s death or die herself trying?
This was a very different plot than the Kate Marshall or Erika Foster books I’ve read and I loved it! Good mystery and characters, wonderful setting, highly recommend.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the digital advance reader copy of “Fear the Silence” by Robert Bryndza, and to Raven Street Publishing. These are all my own honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily.

Bryndza is one of my favourite crime thriller authors. So far, I've read books in his Erika Foster and Kate Marshall series, so this is a first, for me, of his stand-alone books.

It's always a pleasure to read Bryndza's books: not only is he an excellent writer who pens a cracking story, but a very considerate and humble one too. His first port of call in his acknowledgements ia his readers. I love that…to all authors who forget their readers, please take note!

I thoroughly enjoyed this (see book blurb for synopsis). My heart was in my mouth virtually from page one…the suspense is heart-stopping. And what an explosive ending. At about ninety per cent, Bryndza gives the impression that it's all over bar the shouting and almost has you thinking, 'really…is that it?', and then pow!

Series or stand-alone, whatever. If Bryndza's written it, I'm going to love it!

Another great book by Robert Bryndza! As Maggie leaves for her shift in the ER, she waves goodbye to her husband. Little does she know the next time she will see him is during her shift........as a patient. Will is brought into the ER with gunshot wounds to the head that are fatal. The police tell her that Will pulled the trigger himself. And with a gun that he owned! Maggie is in shock and just can't believe that not only is Will gone, but that he killed himself. Had she missed the signs? How did she not know he owned a gun?
After Will's funeral, Maggie travels to their vacation home on a small Croatian island. Her intention is to stay the week and gather Will's belongings. But on the first night, she swears she hears someone in the house. From here, the week deteriorates rapidly. Maggie is left searching for answers. And what she uncovers may put her at risk too!
The book leaves you wanting to know what is happening. There are twists and turns. It is a page turner! Thank you to Netgalley and Raven Street Publishing for this book.

Well, Robert Bryndza has done it again, and with a standalone thriller.

I utterly adore the Erika Foster and Kate Marshall series so was intrigued to see what a new novel would be like.

Mostly set on a small island in Croatia, Maggie, the main character has just lost her husband Will, deemed by suicide, but is it?

Fast paced, full of intrigue, but at parts of the plot, I did think that things were slightly far fetched and not quite believable, but that´s just my opinion, and it didn´t spoil my enjoyment.

Read it and see what you think!

My thanks to NetGalley and Raven Street Publishing for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced digital copy in return for an honest review.

Fear the Silence was the exact thriller I needed to read at this time. Some of its broad strokes were quite different from the usual thriller, which hooked me really fast. And, unlike many books, it doesn’t fall apart at the end. I finished this book in just one day because it was compulsively readable!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

This was a new author for me and I really enjoyed her. The story was told well with good pacing, great twists and turns, things I wasn't expecting. It was hard to figure out exactly who the bad guy was. Love it when an author surprises me like that. Highly recommend for anyone that enjoys a good suspense.

Maggie's husband is killed, and the story takes off from there. Maggie tries to put the pieces together to see who killed him. keeps you guessing until the end.

Read in 24 hours!

Fast paced, exciting, gripping, edge of your seat story, full of twists and turns. There are some moments in the story where the reader needs to forget about reality and just go with it, this is fiction after all. I can already imagine the film, the scenery and the actors who should play the characters, based on the vivid pictures the author draws for the reader.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks Raven Street publishing for the review copy. Robert Bryndaza is one of those authors I am glad I found in the early pandemic stages of ... give me a book that will hold my attention, and take me on a wild ride and help me take a break from this time. I remain a fan!
Fear the Silence is a great standalone entry from this author, intense start, good pacing, and so many solid twists and moments of ... just one more chapter. For fans of this author and readers looking for a good fast whew this is a wild ride kind of read.

I was really looking forward to reading this book. I love compelling thrillers that hook you on the life drama of the main character and keep you on the edge of your seat as you unravel the mystery surrounding them. This seemed like just my kind of book. Unfortunately it was not.

The book opens by introducing us to an extremely loving couple, Will and Maggie Kendall. They seem have it all: two healthy incomes, a very comfortable lifestyle, and an extremely close relationship. After a day of intimacy cementing their love, Maggie heads off to her job at the Accident and Emergency ward of a major London hospital. One of the first trauma cases brought to her was her own husband Will who it was concluded had taken his own life. Maggie’s reaction was visceral. There was no way Will would have taken his own life. None. Yet facts are facts.

Maggie takes a few weeks off to begin a journey to figure out how to proceed into the future without Will. She also must find a way to make peace with the facts related to how Will died—facts she still completely rejects. Her journey takes her to a vacation home that Will had built for them on the small Croatian island of Tišina.

As soon as she arrives, the Croatian mail carrier delivers to Maggie a letter that Will’s lawyer had been holding. In very cloaked language Will points the direction Maggie’s future was to take. Maggie sets off on a brief treasure hunt for the rest of the clues that ultimately point her to the real “bad guy” of the story, a powerful MP in the British government who is involved in criminal, even treasonous activities.

The overall plot of the book is well thought out and caught my attention. My problem was that the first half of the book was so slow moving and passionless that I did not find myself connecting with Maggie at a deep level. She seemed to be sleepwalking in the daze created by the apparent suicide of a husband whom she knew would never do such a thing. It wasn’t until the book was at least three-quarters complete that any real action began and even that led to an ending that was, for me, an exceptionally unsatisfying one.

I recommend this book only for those who want an easy “beach read”. Those looking for a thriller I would point elsewhere.

The start of this book hooked me instantly, the pace dipped a bit for me in the middle but it was still a satisfying thriller with an unpredictable plot.
3 stars.

What a thrill ride from Robert Bryndza. Maggie goes to their holiday home in Croatia after her husband's suicide?. Plenty of action and mystery in this standalone thriller. Could not put it down, highly recommended.
I received this book from Raven Street Publishing and Netgalley for a review.

Robert Bryndza’s latest standalone thriller follows a London emergency physician who is horrified when her husband, Will, is brought into her hospital with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. They have been married since medical school and only recently, six years ago, he gave up his job as a forensic pathologist to become a land developer, which included building a vacation home on an island in Croatia. Grief-stricken and unable to accept that her husband committed suicide, Maggie goes to that house and receives a letter, written years ago, from her husband. It was a “in case I die suspiciously” letter, but it offers scant clues. Stuck on the island, her secure “smart” house seems to have a mind of its own. Too many strange things start to occur — like pool covers trying to drown Maggie and windows trying to crush her. Then there’s an intruder and an awful storm that will prevent the police from getting to the island and her off it. If Will was really murdered, is someone also after Maggie? And why?

This is a twisty tension-filled story and it’s easy to root for Maggie, who finds herself trying to survive as bigger secrets are revealed. Bryndza knows has to write strong female characters who hold their own in an action-packed story. 4 stars!

Thank you to Raven Street Publishing and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO Some bright-blue and caramel colored eyes, but no green ones.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO It’s a barren sort of season in Croatia when Maggie arrives after Will’s death.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BRJ9DDS9
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Raven Street Publishing (July 6, 2023)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 6, 2023
4 stars

Award winning author Robert Brynzda continues to display a talent for writing thrillers that have you sitting on the edge of your seat, and “Fear the Silence” is no exception. This standalone thriller has the main character, Dr. Margaret Kendall denying that her husband, Will, had committed suicide.

When Maggie goes to gather personal belongings and close up the summer home Will had built for them she is shocked to receive a letter from her now dead husband. It had evidently been given to a law firm six years ago, to send to Maggie in the event that he died before she did.

With the letter and only a handful of clues it’s up to Maggie to piece together everything that led up to her husband supposedly putting a gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger.

I found myself quickly drawn into the drama-based story line of "Fear the Silence", and I enjoyed it, and the ending. This was my first book by Robert Brynzda and I think I’ll be looking into more of his work, especially the detective series that starts with “The Girl in the Ice”.

I received this book as a free arc from NetGalley and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Loved this book and loved the characters of Maggie. It's sad and dark and suspenseful and hard to put down. Loved the beautiful setting of Croatia, written extremely well. Highly recommended xxx

Fear the Silence
By Robert Bryndza

Maggie is a happily married 47 year old A and E doctor. As the story begins, she leaves her home, after a quiet day spent with her husband Will, to go in to work. It is a busy night in A and E, but Maggie has everything under control until the medics bring in a man with a gunshot wound to the head – and it is her husband, Will.

Maggie is shattered by Will's death, especially when the police rule it a suicide. She doesn't believe Will took his own life. But the more she tries to understand what happened, the farther down the rabbit hole she falls. She decides to spend some time at their holiday home in Croatia, but things only get more murky and complicated there. Piece by piece, she begins to assemble the outlines of a major conspiracy involving a high government official. But anyone who tries to help her winds up dead.

The tension builds as Maggie's options dwindle. How will she ever get clear of the powerful people trying to stop her and be able to live her life again? My Bryndza's solutions to the many problems are cleverly thought out and plausible.

This is my first exposure to Robert Bryndza's books – it won't be my last.

The thing that attracted me to this book was the cover "3 can keep a secret, if 2 of them are dead." It automatically piqued my interest. I could not put this book down and I could see it being sold to Netflix as a limited series. A romp around Croatia to get to the bottom of Wills suicide was a great premise and I liked Maggie - she is a very strong character and you root for her as the hero unlike other characters who are too whiny. I would love to see this book turned into a show because the book kept me on the edge of my seat. Who is the person who killed Will? Why did they do it? It was a very quick read because I could not put it down.

Wow! This was a fun ride! A womb is working in the ER when a patient comes in having shot himself and when she looks at him, she sees her husband. That can’t be right though. She just left him at home smiling with the new cat. He wasn’t suicidal! He really wasn’t! Everything that happens next is beyond anything I expected. This was my first Robert Bryndza book and it was great! Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of Fear the Silence by Robert Bryndza for an honest review!

Dr. Maggie’s life is turned upside down after her husband “commits suicide” after 24 years of marriage. She doesn’t know what to do or who to trust.

I was not able to put this book down and read in one sitting.

Nothings better than a good murder and this book kept me on my toes the entire read. I will highly recommend this book to any crime fiction junkies.