This book was really interesting. I kept thinking I knew who the killer was gonna be and then it switched up again. The mystery was good, the characters were likable, and the narration was great. 😊

Silenced Girls by R. Stelljes, published by Bookouture/audio, is the first book in the Agent Tori Hunter Series. I already read the book and now that the audio book is available I just had to have this too.
Beautifully narrated by K. Handford, this audio is a pleasure listening to.
Blurb: FBI Agent Tori Hunter was away from her home in Manchester Bay, Minnesota for twenty years, ever since her twin sister disappeared on the Fourth of July, when the girls should have been together. But when she receives an anonymous newspaper clipping about another missing girl, Genevieve, Tori is dragged back to the past. Just like Tori’s sister, Genevieve vanished without a trace, her empty car abandoned on a lonely lakeside road as Independence Day fireworks lit up the sky overhead.

Returning to Minnesota lake country, Tori finds Genevieve’s parents desperate for answers. How could their beautiful, popular daughter be snatched so near her own home? Under pressure to make an arrest, the police have no time for Tori’s theories. Besides, they already have a suspect for Genevieve’s abductor: a local man seen flirting with her the night she disappeared.

But then the suspect is found dead in his isolated cabin, days before another girl’s body is discovered in the trunk of her car, two strange dots on her back. The bloodstains surrounding her body belong to the one man Tori thought she could trust. Tori knows the closer she gets to the truth, the more her own life is at risk. But can she catch this killer before it’s too late for Genevieve?

"It has to be devastating to know your sister was killed by someone you thought to be a friend.
Now I think I know why because he is a cold blooded killer. He sent you that article at first to taunt you and then to draw you here. Once you were here, he let you hunt for him before he tried to kill you. That didn't work, so now, he's doing the next best thing. He's killing you by driving a stake into your heart . He wants you to die a little each day knowing the truth . He knows that every time you think of Jessie, you'll think of him. He's been dying to do it for 20 years and he just got to do it now and he's going to want to continue doing it to you."

Phew!!! 17 hours and 3 mins in audio format. Finally done 😂.. I enjoyed listening to this gripping thriller but at the same time, also glad it's finally over - for book 1, that is...😂😅 There are parts which are a bit dragged out and I can't with some of the repetitive dialogues, unnecessary conversations. For the most part, the narration was good and captured my attention/ interest. Circumstantial evidences pointed out to Gunther and Eddie as the suspects but one commited suicide while the other strongly denied the allegations. Who is the real suspect? I'm just glad the killer did not turn out to be Will Braddock - the one I heavily suspected from the start -or else I'll be really pissed that I've wasted my time.😅
📖 If you like:
✔️Twins as MC
✔️ Missing girl tropes
✔️murder mystery/ Cold cases (this one a total of 26!)
✔️Multiple POVs - including the killer's
✔️Enemies to lovers plot 🤷‍♀️

3.75 ✨ rounded up
2.5 🌶️

Original Date of publication is April 19, 2019 but NetGalley recently posted this audiobook version with Nov 1, 2024 as publication date . Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for granting access in exchange for honest review! 🖤

On coming to write this review I note the title was released originally in 2020 and that there are another 5 available, another 5 added to my wish list immediately I should add. Perhaps there’s a book 7 on the way, or a change of publisher. No matter. I loved it!

I loved Tori pretty much instantly, more importantly though the story was absolutely fantastic. I kept thinking that I could really envisage it adapted for tv, Mare of Easttown type vibes. Plot twist after plot twist executed to perfection, fabulous narration. This worked brilliantly for my liking.

4 stars 🌟
No notes.

My thanks to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for this ELC

This was both a new author and narrator for me and it worked really well. I got thoroughly engaged in the story. Although as normal the lead character has issues these were resolved during the story and the ending (which was a nice recap and conclusion).
I liked the off the wall workings of Tori's mind and cant wait to listen to book 2.

I won’t lie, I was kind of dreading the fact that the audiobook was over 17 hours long and almost wished I hadn’t started it. But listening at 2x speed made it way easier to handle. I’m really glad I gave this audiobook a shot!
This first book in the series is absolutely fantastic! It has everything you could want: compelling characters, an engaging backstory, and a mystery that keeps you guessing. The reveal of the killer is truly unexpected! You'll quickly find yourself rooting for the main character, Tori. There are so many twists and turns, and I never saw the ending coming! I also really enjoyed the narrator's voice; she did an excellent job.
I'm really looking forward to exploring the rest of the series!

Thank You NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for allowing me to listen to the audiobook.

SPOILERS

This is so tricky to review.
It's long, overly so, there's a lot that could have been trimmed off.
The main character comes off as a spoilt bratt fairly often.
The characters behave in ways you can't imagine anyone acting , ever.
I spent a very long time waiting for law enforcement to catch up with me on knowing who the killer is.
Not really a fan of the killer spilling every single detail as soon as he gets the opportunity.

However, it's 17 hours long I think, and I listened to every single second of it, and I'd listen to more when the next book comes out.
Overall, if you're happy to read the next one (and this is book 1) then the book is doing something right.

This could have been a really good listen! But 17 hours is a lot!! There are a ton of characters to try to keep up with. I read a lot of thriller books so I was really looking forward to this but it was so hard to stay engaged. There could be a ton shaved off of this, there’s a lot of needless conversation between characters. Things were on the more predictable side storyline wise as well. I had such high hopes for this one but it really did fall short in my opinion.

On the 20th anniversary of her sister's disappearance, another woman goes missing in eerily similar circumstances and draws Agent Tori Hunter back to her home town. From the very beginning, you are rooting for Tori to finally discover what happened not only to this missing woman but also to her sister. She's feisty and tenacious, and despite the setbacks she faces nothing will stop her, and you'll be with her every step of the way as she searches for the truth.

I wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy a longer mystery/crime thriller novel. Surprisingly, I found myself invested early on, zoomed through this, and ended up liking it way more than I was expecting.

There wasn’t really anything mind blowing about the plot. It’s definitely a police procedural book, which I just so happen to enjoy. Mixed in is a bit of spicy romance which lightens the intensity of the investigation.

There was a section where Tori is called away to work a missing children’s case while Will continues to work on Jessie and Gen’s. I’m not sure that really needed to be there. Unless Rogers wanted us to get a taste of what kind of work Tori normally does? Given this is book one of the Agent Tori Hunter series, it probably could’ve been scrapped.

I listened to the audiobook. There wasn’t anything special to it. There’s one narrator even though there are multiple POVs. Maybe because it’s supposed to revolve around Tori? I think one female and one male narrator could’ve made the experience better. Voice actors make audiobooks way more fun to listen to.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for a copy of the audiobook.*

I've got a new book series to binge read! Silenced Girls, a gripping thriller, sucked me in and had me turning the pages. The plot was intriguing, and I enjoyed the investigation, the banter, the investigators, and the well thought out plot.

FBI Special Agent Tori Hunter received a disturbing letter which had her going back to her hometown of Manchester, Minnesota to investigate the case of a missing woman. It has been twenty years since she has been back to the place where her twin sister disappeared without a trace. There she will work with detective Will Braddock to catch a killer. As they began their investigation, I did my best to also figure out whodunit.

I enjoyed the premise of a woman coming home to investigate a case which has similarities to her sister's missing person case. Tori’s old wounds that coming home opened, the questions that have lingered, and the desire to know the truth were palpable. I enjoyed the investigative work and the chemistry between Tori and Will.

I enjoyed the tension, the dread, the twists, the mystery and the writing.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narration.

this was a good story. quick read tori is a fbi agent who speciality is finding lost and kidnapped girls. the driving force for this is her twin sister dissaperrence. now she back to find out what really happened. thank you net galley

Oh dang, I LOVED this. FBI Agent with a horrific past has to go back to her hometown to catch a killer who may have killed her sister 20 years prior... and obvs she falls for the lead detective on the case! So many twists and turns, I couldn't figure out who'd done it! I was fully engaged the entire story!

Tori Hunter’s twin sister disappeared from her hometown 20 years ago. Now a letter sends Tori back to Minnesota with new questions about that time. This introductory book gives all the background of this popular FBI agent and sets up the series for future reads.

Kate Handford does a great job at narrating this story. I have listened to several of her narrations and find her voice and inflections on point.

Oh my goodness, this book just gave me down right chills. I can not say enough about how well Roger did with this! It was just gripping. Absolutely loved it! It'd be a great book club read.