A unique thriller/mystery centered around a widowed mother and her deaf child. The action jump starts on page one and does not ease up until the very end. This book does a great job showcasing the deaf community. An aspect that is not highlighted near enough in fiction.

There were a few points that I disliked. But any mystery that I can figure out within the first half of the story always tend to let me down. I did enjoy this fast-paced story and the glimpse into a minority group of people.

This book was a super unique and cool twist on suspense—I mean, Elise has a deaf son, and is a lip reader and sign language-er (what's even the right term here? Maybe interpreter?) at the courthouse. Obviously, she sees something she wasn't supposed to, and now someone wants her silenced.

It was a good, suspenseful book, but...(there's always that one little word, isn't there?) I don't know. The writing seemed almost...amateurish?

Don't get me wrong, it was not at all like a middle-schooler had written it (nothing against middle schoolers, y'all, but your writing is supposed to mature with you). Usually the story hooked me. But then sometimes there were just those little words or phrases that completely took me out of the story.

The plot was engaging, and when I expected a romance to bloom, it didn't (the main reason for that being that one of the parties involved was married, though that fact wasn't brought out until over halfway through the book), so that was actually a pleasant surprise. The rookie agent, though? I felt like her character was...overplayed? I mean, her arrogance and condescending attitude made her character more real and diverse, I suppose, but I think it may have been a little bit over-the-top.

I appreciated Elise's gradual wading back into her faith and prayer life (and if that was a spoiler, please forgive me), but somehow it seemed...detached from the mystery. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, seeing as how it was prayer that got her through it all, but...I don't know. I wasn't a huge fan of that.

Sawyer was super cute, though, and while he wasn't perfect, he wasn't a spoiled brat either, so that was utterly fabulous.

(And detective Rodriguez? Give the man a high five, for both his patience and his work!)

Elise is a widow and a court reporter who happened to read the lips of a guy talking on the phone with another man standing by. She is proficient in reading lips because her son, Sawyer was born deaf. What she read was someone wanted her mother-in-law, a state senator, dead. Then while she was was processing the fact, she receives a call that Sawyer has been injured and taken to the hospital. She forgets everything as she rushed to her son’s side. Next day she hears that her mother-in-law has been murdered. Thus begins a harrowing tale of murder, kidnapping and murderous threats all aimed at Elise because she has told the FBI all she knows and tried to identify the two men. Even when she does not fully trust the FBI and feels that they are too slow in acting. Elise afraid for her son does much of the “acting” on her own, much to the despair of the agents…….You need to hold onto your seats as you read this book……(An ebook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.)

I have read several of Caroll's novels and this one is not her best. On the positive side, I liked the relationship Elise had with her son. There is also a strong Christian message included. On the negative side, the plot was not very engaging. I knew who the bad guy was early on. No subtle hints there. I found it irritating that it seemed everything the FBI did was wrong. Elise and her sidekicks could find out much more information than the FBI, which seemed implausible. The husband of the murdered woman recalls a threatening phone call his wife had made a few days before her death but reveals it to Elise about two thirds of the way through the novel. He never thought to tell the FBI when they interviewed him? And there was a point when Elise wants to go over the time line so she and the others rehash all that has happened. That did not move the plot and seemed to only fill a few needed pages.

I have enjoyed other novels from Caroll and reading this one will not deter me from catching her next one.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

Elise already has her hands full as a single mom taking care of her deaf son and working as an ASL interpreter for courthouse. She reads the lips that someone is going to killer her mother in law, a state senator. The mother in law is murdered and the killers are coming after Elise and her son.
I enjoyed the book, but solved who the person behind the murder was at about half way through. I didn't find the book as suspenseful as other of Robin Caroll's books, but it is an enjoyable read.

I received a complimentary copy through Net Galley, but all opinions are my own.

Elise Carmichael is a single mom, widow & a court sign language interpreter. Elise loves what she does and since her son is deaf it helps give her empathy when on the job. However, never in her wildest dreams did she think her lip reading skills would land her right in the middle of a crime. The death of a senator, her mother-in-law, nor  could she imagine a situation where she would be so grateful for her son being deaf.  While going through this her relationship with Mary Ellen ( her sister in law) gets stronger. They had always been friends but this showed her that they could truly rely on one another.  God shows them both that with Him all things are possible. 
Thank you Robin Carroll for allowing me to participate in this influencer opportunity. This was a little different then all of your other stories, no romance, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Great story! And I will tell you why. Because there is so much going on to keep you busy wanting to know what is about to happen next. I know it did me. Amazing characters! Especially Sawyer. He was unique. That is why I loved his character so well. And take that amazing plot that went on and on with twists and turns, that gave me a challenge! And, this one, fast-paced, took me on a well enjoyable journey that also took me a while to figure out. I loved it!

Why was the senator silenced? Why are Elise and her son being targeted? Could they know something? If so, what? And why? What evil could be behind it all? And, who would benefit the most from the evil deed? I liked the way Elise was very protective; the way she kept fighting showed she was afraid, but she still fought back tooth and nail. She didn't care how she did it, or for the consequences that might follow. To me that showed great courage and love!

DEAD SILENCE, by Robin Caroll, great title, will shock you once you find out the reasoning, of why! The author's skills showed through with the reasoning behind the story and that never-ending plot! That, to me, was the main reason I could not put the book down until the very end.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review.

This is a suspense filled book. The "who done it" part left me hanging all the way to the end.

Of special note was the deaf culture that was accurately portrayed. I have lived among the deaf for decades. They were the only friends I had. I was surprised to see the underrepresented group in this novel. It is my favorite part.

Elise Carmichael is a widow with a young son, who is deaf and mute. She works as a court sign language interpreter. One day, as she was leaving the courthouse, she lip read a security guard talking on the phone saying the senator would be permanently done away with. The senator just so happens to be Elise's mother-in-law. As Elise was processing what she'd just seen, she received a phone call that her son had been in an accident at school and taken to the hospital. Naturally, she rushed to the hospital. Unnaturally, she totally forgot the death threat to her son's grandmother until the following morning when she received word that the senator had been murdered in her own home.
I, personally, found it difficult to believe that a person could forget something of such a magnitude.
The FBI becomes involved in the case. Elise begins receiving packages on her front porch with threatening messages inside. Also, pictures of herself at home which meant someone had been inside her home. She was told to not tell the FBI any more information. When she did not, her son was kidnapped from their backyard. Dumb that she would have left him alone knowing they were being watched by a very dangerous person.
I also had problems with the fact that she and her new reporter friend came up with information that the FBI did not. Simple things. Like about the hunting cabins, and hunting lease permits. I even thought of checking those out as soon as the reporter discovered that information.
Elise had felt for a long time that God did not hear her prayers and she had stopped praying. She had lost her husband and her son was unable to hear or speak. What I did like-a lot- was when her son, Sawyer, was kidnapped, she finally did turn back to God. And the best part, was that she asked for forgiveness. I just don't see that much in books anymore. Mostly, I see that the person suddenly began praying to God again, and that was it. No mention of repentance. For that, I gave the book four stars.
Even though, there were things that were a bit far-fetched, the book was well written and I did enjoy reading it.
Perhaps the FBI investigator just wasn't as bright as he should have been.
I was given a free ecopy of this by the publisher, Barbour Publishing and Netgalley. I was under no obligation to leave a positive review.

This is a captivating mystery involving politics, family, a deaf child, and murder. Many of the issues are definitely contemporary/relevant to what's happening in our nation these days. One thing I love about it is that the heroine is not wishy washy as in so many novels!
A good book.
I received an advance copy of this book from Netgally and the publisher, and I agreed to give an honest review, which I have. Thank you!

Thank-you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of this story. Dead Silence is the story of a single mother who will do anything to protect her young son and extended family. After unknowingly lip-reading a murder plot, Elise becomes the target of unknown forces set out to silence her. The premise of the story was a very good one but had me wondering why it was tagged as a Christian Fiction. The beginning of the book did not play as a Christian book but when it finally kicked in we are bombarded with too much of it. For such a strong character, Elise makes a lot of questionable choices at the wrong time. At about 38%, I was able to solve the mystery. I am conflicted as I enjoyed the book. There was no hint of sexual anything going on, the relationship between Elise and her family was nice to see. I just needed a little more cohesiveness to the story for me. I would not mind reading more from this author. ***These are my honest opinions and not meant to take away from the author's hard work.***

First book I have read by this author & now I am hooked! I really want to read more. In this book, Elise Carmichael is a sign language interpreter for the court systems. She is also a young widow with a son who is deaf and mute. She is very adept at reading lips when people are talking and one day reads the lips of a person who is on the phone. What she finds out while reading his lips is both startling and scary at the same time. She learns that an attempt will be made on a senator and that senator also happens to be her mother-in-law. In the meantime before she can tell anyone or take any action, her son is in an accident and is rushed to the ER. Her mother-in-law is found shot the next day. Feeling like she is sometimes working with the FBI and against the FBI, she and her sister-in-law work together to help solve what happened.

Once I started this book, I couldn't stop reading it. I stayed up late to find out the ending. Great read!!

Thanks to the publisher, Shiloh Run Press, and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book to read. This is my honest and unbiased opinion!

Dead Silence is a fast-paced book full of nail-biting suspense. Elise Carmichael is a court sign language interpreter who can also read lips. This gets her into a heap of trouble when she reads a mans lips talking about something bad going to happen to a senator who also happens to be her mother-in-law. Soon after witnessing that conversation, her mother-in-law is found murdered. It quickly becomes very apparent that whoever is responsible wants Elise to keep quiet. They will stop at nothing to make sure she never figures out who is behind the senator's death. But who would want the senator dead and why? This is a definite page-turner. It totally held my interest as I kept trying to put all the clues together to figure out what was really going on.

I have heard about this author's books for several years, but had not gotten a chance to read one. So glad I read this one and plan to read more of her books in the future.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Net Galley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

DEAD SILENCE by ROBIN CAROLL is an intriguing suspense drama. As a former investigator who spent much time with lawyers and in the courtrooms, I connected with this story. I could imagine the story easily. . It is a well written great characters and an exciting plot. The Christian message running through the story is subtle which I appreciate as it doesn't "preach".
As I always do, in my mind I had a bit different ending to this story which I'd love to share with Robin.
This is my first book by Robin Caroll, but I will search for others. I'm a fan of Teri Blackstock's work and John Grisham. Now, I have another novelist to add to this list. I'm looking forward to reading Robin's past books now.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Barbour Publishing. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

Intriguing and interesting. It wasn’t ,oh no, what’s going to happen next, intriguing, but still intriguing. It’s starts out with Elise, widow, mother of deaf and mute little boy named Sawyer. She works at a courthouse and being a lip reader because of her deaf son, she lip reads a man saying he’s going to murder or do harm, to her mother-in-law, who is a Senator. Before she can let someone know, she gets a call her son is hurt and she rushes to be with him and make sure he’s okay, forgetting all about what she’s lipread, And then everything begins. It’s a truly good read. I don’t believe you’ll be sorry you read it. I really liked it. I thank #NetGalley and the publishers, Barbour Publishing, for the opportunity to read and review #DeadSilence . This review is my own honest opinion of this book.

*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review. All thoughts below are my own.

Dead Silence is a brand new summer release that promised to be a thrilling political suspense novel. This is my first book by Robin Caroll and it was a good read with a plot that moved along fluidly and kept me turning the pages.

Pros: The cover is stunning and alluring! I enjoyed the bond between main character Elise and her son. I love how she rediscovered the closeness of family, friendship and her faith through this tragedy. She is an independent, strong female lead and she’s very intelligent, even if she was a bit impetuous. Her grief over the loss of her husband and protectiveness over her son was palpable and real. The plot unfolds quickly and nicely, is well planned and it kept me guessing which was nice. There is no romance in this story; it is purely focused on suspense and faith which was a refreshing change. The suspense was mild, but it held my interest easily enough.

Cons: At times, I felt like Elise came across as slightly immature in her choices. As a mother, I understood her priority being her son but felt there are some things that are equally important. The light in which Caroll paints the FBI is a little unsettling compared to other books I’ve read in this genre, however, for the premise of this particular story, I understand why it was done, just not sure I was a fan. There was not always insight into Elise’s thoughts which my followers know I enjoy (personal preference, of course!). I wanted a bit more of that from this story. Lastly, I questioned the reality of the ending in which the FBI allows Elise to approach, and in my opinion, further endanger, her son at the location he was being held.

Overall, I found Dead Silence to be good, but not great. Depending on what you’re expecting from the story, you may enjoy it more or less than I did. Again, a strong female lead, supporting female characters and fluid plot deserve much credit! In the future, I will try other books by this author.

Dead Silence by Robin Caroll

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

______________________________________________________________________________

Story Notes

Robin Caroll presents readers with a wonderfully tense and captivating thriller that will have you holding your breath that everything turns out okay in the end.

I have to say that I really enjoyed this book better than some I’ve read lately for one very good reason: the story was all about the mystery and didn’t have a lot of relationship drama to “add tension”. It’s nice to read one that spends it time developing a gripping plot and fleshing it out well. Ms. Caroll begins her story with a young widow named Elise Carmichael who is a court sign language interpreter. She is leaving court after a long day and happens to look up at a court security guard and read his lips. Its a habit for her to do so in everyday life but the words she reads are quite jarring – they threaten the life of her mother-in-law, Senator Lilliana York. Surely they can’t be right? But still, she should tell someone. However, the frantic call from her babysitter telling her that her son, Sawyer, has been injured while playing at the park drives all intention of notifying someone of a possible threat out of her mind. Hurrying to be with Sawyer, Elise is relieved to find that he is unhurt aside from a broken wrist and a bump on the head. Things will be difficult for him while his arm heals given that Sawyer is completely deaf and relies on signing to communicate. Hours later, they return home and both go to bed exhausted. But shock is waiting in the morning when Elise hears on the news of Lilliana’s murder during the night. Instantly recalling the threat she overheard, Elise is stunned to realize it was real. Knowing she must tell someone what she knows, Elise determines to go to the US Attorney’s Office after work. But the FBI meets her coming out of court, stating they have questions for her about Liliana’s death. Elise agrees to talk with them and tells them of what happened the day before. They are understandably upset at her not telling anyone and their questions get very pointed about her relationship with Liliana and her family. Elise answers honestly but still feels like they are trying to find a way to tie her to the death. So begins a race to find the ones responsible before others are hurt. Elise finds herself the target of an unknown assailant and must figure out what is happening or Liliana’s will not be the only death to occur. Working with her sister-in-law, a young reporter who wants to tell the real story and her father-in-law, Elise will attempt to solve the puzzle of why someone would want Liliana dead. The kidnapping of Sawyer from her back yard proves that someone is desperate to hide the truth but Elise will not give up until she finds the answers she seeks and gets Sawyer home. This story is a wild ride from beginning to end. I loved the slow build towards the really intense parts of the story; it gave me a chance to connect with the characters and see all sides of them. I loved how Elise found her strength and became such a fierce fighter for herself and Sawyer, never letting the FBI agent trying to bully her have one thing to blame her for. She was well informed of her rights and stood by them without question. I also enjoyed getting to see a member of the media, albeit fictional, be so intentional about telling the truth. Wesson was such a steel magnolia that I loved the scenes she was in. She had a way of digging for the truth and finding answers that would make anyone want to work alongside her. And the lawyer, Arabella, was a fearsome advocate for Elise. I would love to have someone so smart and prepared if ever I was in trouble. Overall, I really liked each of the characters, even those that were the “bad guys”. Everyone was well written and that made the whole story more enjoyable.The mystery was complex without being overwhelming and all the pieces of it were revealed in a timely manner. This was probably one of the best books I’ve read by Ms. Caroll, and I will certainly be recommending this story to others with the hope they will enjoy it as well.

I received this temporary complimentary E-book from Barbour Book Publishing/Shiloh Run Press via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. I will receive no fiscal compensation for this review and the opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.

It has an interesting plot, the main character can read lips due to her son being deaf. Elise is leaving the courthouse and reads the lips of one of the guards where he says that her mother-in-law, a senator, will be killed. Right after that she gets a phone call that her son has been injured so she rushes to the hospital to deal with that emergency and forgets all about her mother-in-law until the next morning when she finds out that she has in fact been killed. When the FBI start asking questions they are almost presented as the bad guys in the manner that they use. I had a hard time sticking with the story because I didn't like the animosity between the FBI and Elsie. I would have assumed that after the first threat that Elsie received that the FBI would have put her and her son under some kind of protection but that didn't happen either. I like Robin's books so I will read more in the future but I thought this one could have been better.

Dead Silence
By
Robin Caroll

What a great suspense novel. This is the first book by Robin Caroll I've read and I would love to read more.

Dead Silence is a great story. The character's are very likable and reading was easy to follow. "Dead Silence" is a fast read. The story got me hooked on the first chapter.
The story is about Elisa Carmichael, a court sign language interpreter, who happens to read the lips of two guy's talking about killing a state Senator. She was unable to report information to the FBI till the next day, which was to late. The Senator happened to be her mother in law. What do you do? Turn to FBI agents or try to solve on you own. Then there's the possibility to use both. Read "Dead Silence" to see what is the outcome of this murder.

I recommend this to anyone who love a great suspense novel.

I received this complimentary copy of this e-book from Revell and netgalley for a honest review. All thoughts and opinions are mine and mine alone

The adrenaline ride starts on page 1 and doesn't let up until the end. What starts as any normal day is interrupted by a weird phone call Elise "over-hears". With a deaf son at home she has learned to lip read, and Elise unintentionally ends up picking up conversations all the time. While Elise is trying to make sense of what she saw, a life changing phone call comes in. Her son has been injured. The next day Elise remembers the phone call and decides she needs to tell the authorities. In a matter of hours her life is flipped upside down. Threats, danger, and condescending FBI agents pile up creating a never ending nightmare. When Elise's son is pulled into the nightmare, she will do whatever it takes to find the answers and end the threat.
Robin Caroll ramps up the tension with characters that come alive, having the reader trying to keep up. Each page has the reader asking what will happen next. She writes a strong female character that knows how to keep herself together and surrounds herself with family and friends to help her when she needs a lift. They work together to carry each others loads when needed, making each character so relatable. This book will keep you up late into the night, wanting to find the all important answer: who is pulling all the strings in the background. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.