Sinister slow-burn suspense. Wirt does an expert job creating an atmosphere of mounting dread. Unable to look away, I flew through the book. Highly recommend.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

I will read anything this talented author writes - his books are NEVER disappointing!

On to my review...

Tony Wirt’s Silent Creek is a taut, small-town thriller that simmers with unease and erupts with emotional resonance. It’s the kind of novel that lures you in with the promise of a homecoming and then locks the door behind you.

Jim McCann was once the pride of his Iowa hometown—a high school basketball phenom with NBA dreams. But after a career-ending injury and years of self-imposed exile, he returns for his father’s funeral only to find the town hasn’t forgotten him… or forgiven him. With his mother slipping into dementia and the family propane business thrust into his reluctant hands, Jim is forced to confront not just his past, but the people who never left it.

Wirt excels at weaponizing nostalgia. The friendships feel lived-in, the grudges calcified. When Jim reconnects with his childhood best friend Kyle and meets Kelli—a woman who sees through his defenses—there’s a flicker of redemption. But that flicker dims fast. Colton Reid, a former classmate with a long memory and a short fuse, becomes the catalyst for a series of increasingly sinister events. What begins as petty harassment escalates into full-blown psychological warfare, and Wirt masterfully tightens the screws with each chapter.

The prose is lean and unpretentious, but the emotional stakes are anything but. Wirt doesn’t just build suspense—he builds empathy. Jim’s unraveling isn’t just about fear; it’s about identity, guilt, and the cost of coming home to a place that no longer fits.

I enjoyed Silent Creek the premise drew me in right away, and the pacing kept me invested the whole way through. It’s one of those stories where you’re always wondering what’s just around the corner.

Some of the characters didn’t fully click with me, but I appreciated the journey of the main character. His development felt real and meaningful, and I liked how his actions evolved as the story unfolded.

Overall, it’s a compelling and well-paced read that kept me engaged without giving too much away. Worth picking up if you enjoy character-driven stories with a touch of suspense.

Silent Creek🤫
By Tony Wirt📖

Review‼️

This is my third book by this author, so I'm not surprised by how amazing it was. Like the others I've read, it was a page-turner that drew me in. It kept me glued to the pages, my mind racing with possibilities. While this was an excellent thriller, it also contained elements of mystery and romance. The main character finds himself in a variety of scenarios that made me sweat. If you enjoy swift, suspenseful reads, I strongly suggest this!

Page turner📄
Mystery⁉️
Suspense🫣
Romance💘
Small town🏡

4 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tony Wirt excels at putting regular people in extreme situations where they must react with desperation to protect themselves and their loved ones. This started with a very relatable situation—moving back home to care for an aging parent, confronting old friends and enemies—and then escalated from there. My favorite kind of crime novel: quick, suspenseful, character-driven. It'll stick with me for a while. Highly recommended!

This was great! Really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the whole back to my hometown now someone's trying to hurt me plot.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

If you're looking for a domestic suspense/thriller, look no further than this book. I found the main character relatable. You move back home and find out your high school best friend was your father's right hand, great right? You can't trust anyone in this town! If you're looking for new adult suspense book, 16 and up, this is it. I did find the reasoning childish on all accounts. Poor, Jim.


Thank you for the opportunity to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for this arc. My opinions are my own.



#netgalley #Thomas & Mercer #arc

I’ve really enjoyed Tony Wirt’s past works and “Silent Creek” is no exception. The book is excellently crafted to provide the maximum amount of suspense, without making it seem rushed. The book did start out kind of slow, but the backstory was needed. That being said, I never was to the point of being bored. It was quite intense to watch everything unfold, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I will say I found Jim to be a little annoying at times, but overall I really enjoyed the book.

I received this book free from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Written by Tony Wirt and published by Thomas & Mercer, Seattle in 2025, this is a basketball-themed story set in Southern Minnesota: Silent Creek, Minnesota, to be exact. James McCann, who goes by “Jim,” was a local and state basketball star before he injured his knee. That ended his basketball career, but he went on to graduate from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and then served a successful stint with a medical equipment supplier based in Boston. Jim’s best friend, Kyle, used to play with him in high school, but then dropped out of UMM and entered the workforce. Colton Reid, was a hard-headed local from Silent Creek who played on the high school team for a short time before serving a term in prison before returning to his family farm in Silent Creek.

Jim’s father, James Sr., had established and operated a Liquid Propane (LP) gas plant outside of Silent Creek. It was successful until father passed away from a heart attack. When Jim returned to Silent Creek for his father’s funeral, he learned that his mother was suffering from dementia, a fact that his father had kept from him. Jim decided to return to Silent Creek to take care of his mother, Gail, and to run the family business. When he did, he found his old friend Kyle acting as the general manager of the business. The first thing Kyle did was to have Jim sign papers firing Colton Reid, who Kyle believes is not a good employee. Jim does as Kyle demands and makes a vicious enemy out of Reid.

Before the book ends, one of these three men will be dead, but that will be at the end of the book, which is not very fast-paced. In my view, there is too much small-town basketball and not enough suspense and story in this novel. On top of that, the protagonist, Jim, is irresponsible, dishonest and dumb. He certainly is not a hero, and I did not find him to be very likable. I did not like this story and will not recommend it to other readers. I award only two of the five available stars. Feel free to skip this one unless you are a serious basketball fan.

Normally with thrillers i can guess where the plot is heading quite early on but this one i did not which was nice. First thriller ive read in a while and it has made me want to read more from this genre.

This was an engaging thriller that kept me hooked and brought back some nostalgic feelings! The characters kept making very questionable decisions, which is always fun because it keeps you reading! I liked trying to see what the main character was going to do next and how all the other characters related. I did guess the ending pretty quickly, but there were still moments that shocked me! Overall a good thriller I would recommend, especially to read in winter!

A slow-burn thriller set in a small town. A former star high school basketball player returns to his home town when his father dies, and he takes over the family’s propane business. Tension was amped up by a series of questionable decisions by the male protagonist. A good read that held my attention.

Silent Creek by Tony Wirt is one of those thrillers that will have you on edge the whole time! It’s full of small town nostalgia and creeping dread. Jim McCann is a former high school basketball star returning home after years away, and the emotional weight of his homecoming is done so well. What starts as a trip back home for his dad’s funeral soon takes a turn. The suspense picks up quickly between the stalking, the threats, and the unraveling tension between friends. It’s gripping and intense, and will have you questioning everyone!

Silent Creek by Toni Wirt, published by Thomas & Mercer is a full length, stand alone thriller thatr packs a punch.
Jim left his hometown bitter years ago after the end of his sports career.
Years later he's back for a funeral and decides to take over the family business. What he doesn't know is, his whole life is about to change when he leta an employee go.
Dark, sinister, full of unexpected twists,an intersting story that took me a while to get into.

Tras la repentina muerte de su padre, Jim McCann regresa a su pueblo natal, Silent Creek, con la intención de cuidar de su madre enferma y asumir el mando del negocio familiar. Lo que debería ser una vuelta nostálgica se convierte en un viaje incómodo al pasado, donde las viejas amistades, los resentimientos no resueltos y las heridas emocionales resurgen con fuerza.

A medida que Jim intenta adaptarse a una vida que ya no siente suya, se enfrenta al peso de las expectativas, los recuerdos de una prometedora carrera deportiva truncada, y las tensiones con antiguos compañeros, como Colton Reid, cuya presencia revive viejos conflictos. Su reencuentro con una comunidad que no ha olvidado ni perdonado lo pone contra las cuerdas, y todo se complica aún más cuando comienzan a surgir hechos inquietantes que lo obligan a cuestionar su versión de la historia.



Esperaba mas misterio, pero estuvo entretenido.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest

This book is such a powerful blend of emotional depth and suspenseful mystery. The author’s writing style is clean and direct, perfectly suited for a thriller that’s as much about personal struggles as it is about uncovering dark secrets. What really drew me in was the small-town atmosphere; there’s something so haunting about secrets lurking beneath familiar faces and places. The mystery unravels with just the right mix of slow-burning dread and emotional payoff. I was hooked from start to finish and found myself thinking about it long after I was done with it.