Silent Victim, book ten in the utterly brilliant DCI Matilda Darke series gets off to a blistering start and stays that way throughout.

As Michael Wood once again delivers a harrowing story that packs a punch and inevitably keeps you on the edge of your seat.

When fourteen year old Tilly Hall is abducted, raped and left for dead. DI Christian Brady is at the end of his tether. As Tilly is not the first to be forcibly abducted and brutally attacked and an understaffed CID thanks to budget cuts and Covid just can't cope.

Not to mention the last case, the now disbanded HMCU worked on is still reverberating around Sheffield. With South Yorkshire Police in special measures and very few coming out unscathed.

But DI Brady has an idea of how to get things back on track. Bring back DCI Matilda Darke in the hope she can crack this latest horrific case wide open and get South Yorkshire police out of the governments bad books.

But with Tilly just about alive and unable to talk and no evidence to go on. How can Matilda really make any difference? And will she even want to?

And with fantastic pacing, humour, twists you won't see coming and an ending that I can guarantee will leave you asking WTH!!! This is quite frankly a bloody brilliant read. But then I've naturally come to expect nothing less from Michael Wood. But seriously what the hell? And when can I get my very eager hands on book eleven?

I would 100% recommend Silent Victim and the DCI Matilda Darke series to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sara Roberts @ Just one more chapter publishing for inviting me to read and review this book.

The DCI Matilda Darke series is without a doubt my favourite. I absolutely devour these books, they are amazing!

The book opens with DI Christian Brady overworked and overwhelmed with paperwork. Matilda is still at home not working after the unit was shut down in the previous book. A serial killer has murdered 3 women by slitting their throats. The fourth survives! With no evidence or suspects the chief invites Matilda to come back to work and investigate the case. She agrees to comeback to solve this one case.

The team has been disbanded. They are without Sian and Matilda no longer trusts Christian. Scott and Finn return and Zofia, now in a wheelchair. A new member Tom rounds up the team. Together they investigate, but the killer is clever and leaves no evidence. Tilly the survivor saw him, but he cut her throat and she can’t speak. With little to go on Matilda baits the killer…

I enjoyed this so much. I couldn’t put it down. The whole series is addictive, well written, fast paced and able to pull you in and invest with both the characters and the storyline.

Just when you think @MichaelHWood can’t put Matilda Darke through any more he pulls a blinder. What a cliffhanger! 5stars!

Last thoughts -the whole Matilda Darke series deserves to be a tv show!

latest #DCIMatildaDarke series #SilentVictim is perhaps one of the most gritty, intense and dramatically captured whodunnit thrillers of recent vintage. It keeps you at the edge of your seat throughout. Michael Wood does it again and he doesn’t disappoint.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Silent Victim by Michael Wood is book 10 in the DCI Matilda Darke police series and yet again this is another outstanding storyline. There is a killer on the streets of Sheffield who is raping and murdering young women and then his fourth victim he leaves alive. She is a fourteen year old schoolgirl, whom he has raped and sliced her throat leaving her unable to speak again.
This is at times a subdued Matilda that we know, although at times now that Adele is living with her and Christmas time is near she seems happy and content. We see a smaller team because of Covid and Sian having left but they all work together to try to stop any more deaths.
A cliffhanger of an ending makes the reader guessing until the next episode of DCI Matilda Darke that can’t come soon enough.
Highly recommended

A really well thought out storyline and great read.
The premise is that a man is violently raping and then murdering women and there is no particular pattern to the murder victims. The one we focus on is a fourteen year old girl as she is set apart from the other victims (no spoilers). I think the terror of the killer being at large was built up stealthily and brilliantly as was the fear of the unknown and not knowing who would be attacked next with escalating violence and grotesque means.
I’ve read several books in the series so it was also great to pick up where I left off with them and it was easy to catch up and feel involved and engaged with them almost on a personal level.
The pace was excellent and built to a terrifying crescendo, which then had a satisfying ending which lulled me into a false sense of security, followed by a heart racing ending, I actually don’t think I can wait for the next book, definitely the mark of a great author. Thank you for letting me read this instalment, very enjoyable.

DCI Matilda Darke is asked to come back and head up a unit investigating a brutal murderer on the Sheffield streets. A depraved, violent sick beast is preying on young women and each one is worse than before. Can Matilda catch him?
Yet again another fantastic instalment in this series. There was points I swore at the kindle, held my head in my hands and then swore again!
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Oh my god what an incredible book! I was hooked from the first page and didn’t relax at all! I was so gripped, so absorbed in this story. Impeccable writing, amazing characters and quite possibly the most devious, evil murder that Matilda has been up against. Matilda is incredible and is one of my favourite characters but there were moments when even I doubted if she’d succeed. Michael Wood you are an amazing writer!

Omg!! Wow! That was a crazy read! But good crazy! this book had a bit of everything! It had suspense, intrigue, action, murder, serial killer, a great who done it and great police work! The storyline was very very interesting and had me glued to my Kindle! My heart was pounding and i was yelling at my Kindle! Lol I highly recommend reading this book! It was so worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins for sharing this book with me! I can't wait for more from this author! He's definitely becoming one of my go to authors!