An Act of Silence

I read a sample of An Act of Silence by Colette McBeth when I attended the Killer Women Festival in London last October. After reading the first few pages I couldn’t wait to read the rest of the book and I was thrilled when my Netgalley request was approved.

In the novel we meet Linda Moscow, a former politician who was once the home secretary. When her son Gabriel returns home to ask for her help she is put in a difficult situation. Gabriel is a suspect in the murder of a girl who he slept with the night before her body was found in an allotment which backs onto his house. The police are building a strong case against him and Linda must decide if whether or not she believes her son. Is he really capable of something as heinous as this?

The direction that the novel took after the shocking opening really surprised me and added real depth to the story. An Act of Silence is an intricately plotted piece of work with great characters that were really well developed. The story is told from multiple viewpoints and at different points in time. There were times when I did find this a little confusing but it didn’t take me long to work out what was going on. Colette really made me feel for her characters, especially for Linda who is at the heart of this novel and her quest to get to the truth in this book was inspiring.

I loved the ending of this book. I thought it was a great way to wrap up the story and it left me feeling very satisfied. Colette McBeth is a very talented writer and I can’t wait to read more from her. I’ll be reading her previous novels very soon.

An Act of Silence is a powerful, emotional story. It is crime fiction at its very best. Thank you to Netgalley and Wildfire for providing me with a copy to read.

I enjoyed this book. I thought it was well written and I enjoyed how we heard from different characters and at different stages. I thought the author handled a difficult subject well and I hope it allows readers to see the powerful impact abuse can have especially around beliefs of blame and choice.

Fantastic, tense and gripping psychological thriller that readers of this genre will love. This book had it all right up to brilliant climax!

I have to applaud the skill of the author Colette McBeth for this book. There is an intricate plot, told through in multiple viewpoints, shifting timelines and I'm amazed and delighted to say that at no point did I feel lost or confused. There is some dark subject matter which interestingly is not mentioned in the blurb and I will respect that and just say that while that subject is distasteful I felt that the author's handling of it was pitched just right. Her characters leap off the pages and from about a quarter through I was glued to it until the end. What I am left with after reading this is the haunting thought that it probably isn't too far from the truth.

AN ACT OF SILENCE IS even more intricately woven than Ms McBeth's earlier novels, but delivered with the same verve and style. The subject matter (sexual abuse) is not for the faint-hearted but it is handled with aplomb. Nothing is gratuitous in this regard, but it is, by its nature, a much darker book than I expected it would be. The tension and pace ratchet up throughout as we are hurtled to the chilling denouement. It's very easy to imagine AN ACT OF SILENCE as a major TV series. I am sure this will be another big success for Colette McBeth and leave fans desperate to know what she's working on next.

Thank you to the publishers, Headline, and Net galley for the arc in return for an honest review.

"How far will a mother go to save her son? Linda's decision might save Gabriel, but it will have a catastrophic impact on the lives of others. What would you do if faced with the same impossible choice?"

I started this book thinking that it was going to be a book that investigated Gabriel's involvement in the death of Mariela and how his mother Linda reacts to this. This book is SO MUCH MORE than the "blurb" suggests.

At times it is a very hard read, as it deals with historical sexual abuse on a large scale, and a hideous web of lies and (political) favours to cover up the abuse. The book is told from various viewpoints; Linda's, Gabriel's, Anna/Charlie's and others both in the present day and at various points in the past. Slowly a story is built of sexual abuse, blackmail, power and corruption that is insidious and far reaching. We learn of Linda's love for her son and what this has cost her and the abused girls.

The very dark subject matter of the book is handled really well and at no point does it feel gratuitous. The novel is full of twists and turns that kept me turning the pages and I look forward to Colette McBeth's next book.

The next of my #20BooksofSummer is the brilliant An Act of Silence by Colette McBeth. Linda Moscow was a high flying politician, once Home Secretary, who was disgraced when allegations about corruption came to light. Her son, Gabriel, is a famous comedian. almost as famous for lurid tabloid revelations about his love-life and drug taking. Linda's loyalty is stretched to its limit when he is accused of murdering a young woman he has spent the night with. She wants to believe him, but she's not sure just what he is capable of and now he has disappeared. As a mother, she will do anything for her son but this time secrets from her past may come back to haunt her and even threaten her life.

One of the main themes is a very topical issue and handled with great sensitivity. One of the characters is what you would call a 'National Treasure' and has been accused at various times of child sexual abuse. As the story develops, the reader sees the level of cover-up involved both at the time and in the present day. Reading the story from the viewpoint of the victim who felt so helpless, guilty and betrayed was quite moving.

This book was very cleverly constructed. It moves back and forward in time with each part filling in a little more of the puzzle. Quite often, the reader sees the same scene (or part of it) played out through another character's eyes, adding another perspective and a deeper understanding of events. There were lots of revelations throughout the book too, so that quite often I didn't know who I could believe or trust. There was so much corruption, lies and deceit. It was hard to tell which of the narrators, if any, were reliable.

Some of the characters were put in such difficult situations that they just couldn't see a way out of, they had impossible choices.  I had initially despised  some of the characters but came to see some good in as they tried to redeem themselves. Others, however, proved irredeemable. During the last chapters of the book it was really fast paced, edge of the seat reading!

An Act of Silence was a perfectly paced, tense and gripping read and one of the best psychological thrillers I've read recently. I highly recommend it.

I loved Colette McBeths first two novels but wasn’t sure about this one when I first read the blurb as it sounded like a political thriller which isn’t really my cup of tea! But as I’ve enjoyed her books so much in the past that I thought I’d better give it a go and OMG I’m SO glad I did! I absolutely loved it from start to finish! This book has not only become my favourite book of hers so far but it has definitely reserved itself a place in my top books of 2017! Honestly, you need to put any preconceptions aside and READ THIS BOOK!

I won’t talk about plot details, the less you know the harder it will hit you, but there’s a topical feel to this storyline that develops so slowly and intricately that to begin with you aren’t quite sure if you’re reading too much into it! There will be many recent cases that bubble up into your consciousness throughout your journey into this cleverly crafted storyline and also a feeling of helplessness that nothing and no-one is able to stop the sickening acts that take place here. There are many twists and turns along the way, some I spotted coming whilst others had a jaw dropping effect on me as it was a subject matter that I hadn’t been expecting, but it became one that lifted the narrative to pure brilliance at times. I’m not normally a big fan of seeing the same event told from different viewpoints, but here it was honed to perfection to give the reader a off centred insight into the toxic relationships between the main characters. And although the complex plotting was told in multiple viewpoints and time frames, it never felt messy or incomprehensible.

An Act of Silence is an unputdownable and gripping book that I also found utterly heart wrenching at times. And as the years flew past so quickly here on the pages, it was also a reminder that the past can never be revisited and a badly chosen word or act can have devastating consequences that can never be forgotten but can hopefully be forgiven.

Highly recommended by me!

Ex-Home Secretary Linda Moscow, disgraced while in office in a case of arranging political favours, now lives quietly and alone in her London home. She is reclusive and tormented by her past, especially concerning her son Gabriel, now a famous TV comic, living the racy high life. She has always worried about Gabriel and how to handle his behaviour, flaring temper and excesses and fears that she has let him down with her over protectiveness. But she has her reasons and they are important to this story. He only visits her when he wants something or needs help and then only briefly. So when he turns up at her door telling her that he has to attend Camden Police Station to answer questions about the murder of a ‘lady of the night’ called Mariela, she has a crisis of confidence. All Gabriel wants is to know that she is backing him; believes that he is innocent, but they argue and Gabriel leaves furiously quickly.

This is a cleverly planned and complex story with a number of different interlinking threads. One of these threads is about historical sex abuse involving underage and vulnerable girls, trotted out for celebrity parties. Fabulously wealthy people in high places and with contacts everywhere are more than keen to dodge the bullet and do not mind what lengths they go to in order to protect their wealth and avoid credible detection. The pictures painted are disturbing and highly amoral. There’s blackmail, coercion, betrayal and lies by the plenty at every corner. But I never once lost faith in the story. The language used painted a vivid picture in my mind surreally like a TV drama, so that I had to keep turning the pages, eager to see how the story played out. I think this is the best novel of hers that I have read. The plot was intricate and planned with precision to keep the tension and pace throughout each part of the story. The characterisation was skilfully crafted with some really horrible, mean criminals driving the story ever forward with their depravity and determination to succeed. There are unreliable narrators (my favourite kind) to keep you guessing and other plot devices that will thrill you; twists and turns, red herrings and the odd blind alley or two.

I really enjoyed reading ‘An Act of Silence’ and loved the character of Linda Moscow, willingly taking her share of the blame for the predicament of her son. She knew herself so very well, warts and all, and admitted her errors. At times I found it hard to read this story: the content was very dark, but I was always convinced by the storytelling. I would like to thank NetGalley and publisher Wildfire for my copy of this novel, sent out in return for an honest review. It’s a 4.5* review from me.

This is a thriller with serious contemporary relevance, but it’s much more than that, too. Linda Moscow used to be Home Secretary until a scandal forced her to resign. Now she is simply a humble backbench MP. Her relationship with her son Gabriel is a complex one and the two don’t really know how to talk to each other anymore.
Gabriel is a stand up alternative comedian, making a rapid name for himself and enjoying the lifestyle that goes with that fame.
So when Gabriel comes to Linda asking for her help because a young woman has been found dead – a young woman Gabriel was with only the evening before her body was discovered, Linda faces a real dilemma.
Not only has Linda to decide whether to help her son, she is also setting out to Scotland on a quest of her own which will lead her to rural Scotland and place her life in serious danger.
Set between two timelines, the present day and 1992, this novel flits seamlessly across the decades, giving us insight into the characters and laying out the skeleton of the story that has led Linda to her current situation.
In many ways this is not a particularly novel plot, perhaps because it has very real echoes of contemporary events and political occurrences. I found echoes here of Line of Duty, and like that exceptional drama, McBeth creates such vivid pictures of a world full of political intrigue and corruption that it is all too easy to believe such events are not just possible, but likely.
It takes a rare storyteller to paint such a strong picture and this is a really well plotted and very convincing narrative. Told from different perspectives as well as different timelines, the characterisation is beautifully done and the book flows really well.
Beautifully written, this is a strong and sometimes very emotional read which is both shocking and stomach churning in equal measure. Highly recommended.