The Silent Girls

Eric Rickstad

Nov 2014 · Harper Collins

About this ebook

New York Times and USA Today Bestseller

With the dead of a bitter Vermont winter closing in, evil is alive and well . . .

Frank Rath thought he was done with murder when he turned in his detective's badge to become a private investigator and raise a daughter alone. Then the police in his remote rural community of Canaan find an '89 Monte Carlo abandoned by the side of the road, and the beautiful teenage girl who owned the car seems to have disappeared without a trace.

Soon Rath's investigation brings him face-to-face with the darkest abominations of the human soul.

With the consequences of his violent and painful past plaguing him, and young women with secrets vanishing one by one, he discovers once again that even in the smallest towns on the map, evil lurks everywhere—and no one is safe.

Morally complex, seething with wickedness and mystery, and rich in gritty atmosphere and electrifying plot turns, The Silent Girls marks the return of critically acclaimed author Eric Rickstad. Readers of Ian Rankin, Jo Nesbø, and Greg Iles will love this book and find themselves breathless at the incendiary, ambitious, and unforgettable story.

Ratings and reviews

I have a lot of ambivalence about this book. The resolution to the central murder is beyond stupid. The whole "bleeding heart liberals don't have the sense to keep bad guys in prison" trope is in full swing, as is "pro lifers are hateful hypocrites," so at least the left and right get it equally I suppose. The dialogue is often campy. The very last "twist" to the plot was not really a twist; if you didn't know it was coming then you must have been asleep. But it moves fast, it's exciting, it was hard to put down. Overall a middle of the road book: Not a bad way to pass the time, but don't expect greatness.

Decent premise, love or hate characters, a whodunnit sort of suspense. This book crept through slowly and saved all the twists for the very end. Much like most of the reads in the crime suspense, cop drama, so called thriller that seems to be the only thing anyone reads these days, it's just ok. I'm sure that the trigger warning worthy topics of this book will find some fans that thought this was a deep, psychological read ...alas not I. I give it a nod for trying to twist the knife in at the end, but unfortunately, it wasn't a kill shot for me.

The opening chapters were very creepy/gruesome. The story overall was good, but not great. The epilogue was a bummer. I was expecting a lot more. Plot has too many characters with backstories but a very compelling story with a descriptive environment. There's too many "but" words in the book. This part though might mean that there might be a sequel to this story: “ Oh, Ernie and Bert. Canaries. We have two canaries.”

About the author

Eric Rickstad is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of The Silent Girls, Lie in Wait, and Reap, novels heralded as intelligent and profound, dark, disturbing, and heartbreaking. He lives in his home state of Vermont with his wife, daughter, and son.