Customer Reviews

Dead Silence

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Liza Edwards is a counselor for a company in Seattle, Washington that seems to be downsizing, and it is her job to help employees come to terms with losing their jobs. With a husband that mysteriously vanished, Lisa has her own private demons with which to contend. Suddenly, however, she finds herself embroiled in a work related mystery, and people around her seem to be dying without rhyme or reason.

Feeling that she is being stalked, Liza realizes that her company may be involved in some highly questionable practices. When it dawns on her that she may be holding the key to the secret of certain illegal activities that may be taking place, Liza finds herself walking a fine line between life and death.

This is a moderately interesting novel of suspense that is hampered by somewhat pedestrian writing and characters that are not well-fleshed. This is a plot driven book, where the plot itself is overcome by the torpor of the writing, causing the book to fail to rise to any great heights. Moreover, the main character is not only not particularly likeable, she is also a bit of a boob, the kind of person who walks into a dark haunted house by herself and finds herself wondering why she feels spooked. Still, the plot has its moments, giving the reader whose expectations are not too high a modicum of enjoyment.

I read a lot and this one was horrible. The writing was very amateurish - the plot was predictible and the characters were annoying. I will not read this author again.

If you love suspense you have to read this book. I sat down with this book to read for a few minutes and before I knew it I had read the complete book. I could not lay it down. You must read this book.

Donna Anders is one of the most gifted authors of our time. This book was so compelling with a plot so masterfully woven that I could not put it down. Every book that I read of hers is better than the previous. I don't know how she keeps writing such masterpieces but I hope she continues to do so for many years to come. I can't wait for her next book!!

Donna Anders is one of the most gifted authors of our time. This book was so compelling with a plot so masterfully woven that I could not put it down. Every book that I read of hers is better than the previous. I don't know how she keeps writing such masterpieces but I hope she continues to do so for many years to come. I can't wait for her next book!!

Liza MacDonough is a counselor for International Air helping downsized employees to get back on their feet. Most of her clients feel that there is something fishy going around in the company since they were doing the job of two or more people. Liza's other concern is that her husband has disappeared for over a year and he is always on her mind. She starts her investigation and is shocked what she discovers.

The author overwhelms the reader with too much information. We always have to know what Liza is thinking and why she is thinking it. She also puts a lot of suspects on the plate so that one goes, "he did it", "no he did it", "no she did it". Every time she gets close to the truth, somebody dies, gets mugged, or their houses broken into. She wants to make Liza a strong character but after a while I just found her pathetic and I just finished the book. I was slightly surprised with the ending but that was it.

There were two main things that really bothered me with the novel. The first is that there is a big, loose thread involving the guilty person's son and I would have liked to see that resolved. The second thing was that there is a scene where Liza finds a doll filled with fifty thousand dollars in thousand dollar bills. The largest denomination of dollar bill available in the United States is the hundred-dollar bill. The thousand and five hundred dollar bill have been discontinued for almost twenty years. One can say that this story could take place during the sixties or seventies, but with all the musical references added to the book plus the use of the Internet it is highly unlikely. This novel was poorly written and the fact checking was just nil. Ms. Anders might be a popular author but not with this novel.

This book reads like a bad script for an old made-for-tv movie. I can visualize Connie Selleca wondering around in a daze, with Dave behind her yelling "Brown Eyes." By a few pages, I had begun to become irritated with the heroine. At the middle, I was hoping that the murderer would kill off "Brown Eyes" and the rest of the predictable, flat cast of characters. Unfortunately, I'm the type who has to see a book or movie through to the end. So, I felt compelled to complete this drival. In this day and age, you expect writers to create female characters that are smart and edgy. If these are some of your expectations for a novel, don't pick this title off the shelves.

I mostly enjoyed this book and yet I found myself getting angry with it at times. I found the plot interesting enough and I read the book quickly as I really did want to found out the ending. However, the characters were a bunch of idiots. They were shallow and weak and if Dave had called Liza "Brown Eyes" one more time I think I would have screamed! Ms. Anders knows how to build suspense, but her character development needs work. There is not much depth (the same goes for "The Flower Man")to her characters and I never find them particularly engaging.

This book is absolutely wonderful, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!

Liza MacDonough is a counselor at International Air in Seattle, helping downsized employees relocate. Liza soons begins to notice a lot of the employees saying the same thing, why are they being laid off when other employees are being forced to work over time to keep with the demand of their work? She soon begins to suspect something fishy going on inside the company and can't help but wonder if it has something to do with her husband's strange disappearance a year ago.

Soon Liza relizes that she is onto a scandal inside the huge company and unfortunately the villain also knows that she's beginning to figure things out. Her high rise condo is broken into, but it appears that someone used keys to get in, things in her office are moved, and then her friends and co workers begin to die of "accidental" deaths.

Ms. Anders has created a mystery that is almost impossible to guess before the book is over and the killer is revealed. Everyone around Liza looks guilty and you don't know whom to trust, just like you are part of the story yourself. Liza is a wonderful, three dimensional character, whom you can't help but like. I enjoyed some of the details of the story, like Liza answering the phone before it woke up her sleeping cat or only having half of her deceased mother's dishes in her china cabinet because her sister has the other half. It made her seem very human and reminded me of my own life.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a very fast paced, believable story. Prepare ahead of time to read it in one sitting though, you won't be able to put it down!

A major fan of psychological thrillers, I found this book to be among the top in this genre. The female protagonist, Liza MacDonough, is compelling, strong, and believable. Although understandably frightened by a string of fatal "accidents" to people close to her, she remains proactive in trying to research her clients' complaints of conspiracy. Donna Anders excels at making every character we meet, a possible anatagonist, so that we, along with Liza, don't know whom to trust. For analytical readers who love to problem solve, this story will delight you. The suspense keeps you caught in its grip right up through the end.