I didn't care for this one. The pace is slow and the whole thing seems to take place at a distance from the events that are actually interesting. Max has inherited his mother's house but little of the book actually takes place there. Instead, he's trying to unravel the mystery from a distance.

REVIEW: THE SILENT CHILDREN by Anna K. Boheim

A disturbing and intensely thought-provoking neck, THE SILENT CHILDREN deftly enfolds a past both glorious and ugly (Vienna, from 1938 and the encroaching Third Reich through World War II) with contemporary London and Vienna. Max is a junior executive at a financial firm in London, educated at Princeton, whose formative years occurred with his unusual mother in Vienna. Estranged for years, he is shocked when she announces her imminent demise and requests to see him. He delays, and doesn't arrive until after her death, but discovers quickly that her house is suffused with her presence and not only hers. Connecting to his mother's long-term friend Vivienne, in Vienna, and her childhood friend Oskar,whose Jewish family emigrated to London in 1938, only entraps Max further into the complexities of his mother and grandparents and the children's orphanage they founded and administered.

I loved this book! The suspense, the horror - I could imagine it all so vividly! It had me awake nights, and a little bit terrified of the dark. Just what you would expect from a novel in this genre. Highly recommended!

A great book for a stormy night. Gave a few thrills and we'll written as well.