Customer Reviews

The Silent Cry

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Other reviewers mention small flaws and inconsistencies in the plot of this book and I am afraid, for me, they detracted from what was otherwise an interesting look at the hypocrisy of Victorian London. Unfortunately it is hard to point out these flaws without being a spoiler so suffice to say that the ending was not borne out by the behaviour of the characters throughout the book and I think that, even allowing for the mores of the time, there are elements of a nurse's job that would have required closer contact with the patient than Miss Latterly seemed to exercise.

I read a LOT of mysteries, and the outcome of this one left me stunned. When you read a mystery, you hope to be surprised by the resolution, and this one rates with the best of Agatha Christie.

If you've never read Anne Perry, this one showcases all that she's capable of.

The story's topical subject matter adds suspense to the already curious mystery which slowly unfolds. Monk and Hester are still unsure of how they feel about each other, and this just adds further spice to the mix. A well thought out plot, which only leaves one yearning for more.

After hearing this as a book on tape, I found myself compelled to read all of Anne Perry's William Monk books. Hester Latterly is one of the more appealing characters out there! I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to wait for the next one!

Once again, the setting is detailed and chilling in its darker aspects. As a side element, Monk finds out more about his forgotten past.

The disappointment arises from two sources: the formulaic repetition of remembering 'all the challenges that they (Hester and Monk or Hester and Rathbone) had faced together in the past.' The second disappointment lies in the "rabbits out of the hat" solution of all the troubles.

Once I picked up The Silent Cry, there was no putting it down. This is the very first Anne Perry book I've ever read. Upon finishing it, I went to the book store to purchase all the previously published books in the Monk series. Last year, I read all the Elizabeth George books during the first month of a snowy Minnesota winter. I can't wait to get started reading Anne Perry's books during my first "Maine" winter. Nothing like a good mystery when the snow is falling outside.

Anne Perry is one of my favorite authors and this is one of her best books. By now, I am more than ready for her hero, Inspector William Monk, to make his mind up about his feelings for Hester Latterly, an independent, non-conformist, and highly likeable nurse who challenges all of Monk's ideas of what (or whom) constitutes the "perfect" woman. Ms. Perry weaves this problem (for Monk anyway) throughout the story and finally provides us hopeless (hopeful?) romantics with a few sops of encouragement. All of the supporting characters are finely and wonderfully drawn (likeable or not) and the attention to detail of the historical period is unmatched. Well worth anyone's time.

The Silent Cry is the best so far in Perry's Monk series. The mystery is genuinely mysterious, the period color superb, the characters well-developed and fully realized. The nurse Hester Latterly, Monk himself, and the other returning characters are as engaging and realistic as ever, and Perry's dialogue, as always, sounds like real Victorian people having real Victorian conversations. The book is slightly flawed by some minor incononsistencies in the plot, mostly having to do with the injuries to Rhys Duff, but these are not very troubling. The picture Perry paints of Victorian London and the social issues and manners of the time would make the book worth reading even if it weren't an outstanding mystery.

TOUR DE FORCE. Read Immediately. One of her best. Suspense, raising of social consciousness about rape and poverty, superb dialogue, tightly drawn. Historically accurate and a continuing deepening of our knowledge about the Victorian era.

The slums of Victorian London is a dangerous place where a man with cash can purchase anything. Leighton Duff is just a man. However, something must have went wrong because the renowned solicitor is found beaten to death with his son Rhys lying barely alive right next to him. As a frustrated Rhys begins to heal under the care of nurse Hester Latterly, he is unable to speak and with his broken hands unable to write.

The police are convinced that Rhys killed his father, but Hester is not. She hires Rhys a barrister, who employs investigator William Monk, Hester's lover, to uncover the truth. As Rhys faces murder charges in a courtroom, William soon finds a connection between Leighton's death, and other murders and rapes, but that does not prove whether Rhys committed patricide or not. William must continue to dig in the slums if he is to uncover the identify of the killer, who still may turn out to be his client's client.

The eighth entry in the William Monk darker side of Victoria England is an interesting who-done-it because of the historical perspective that sheds light on what has historically become an age of morality. William remains an intriguing, brooding hero and the support cats is top rate. However, readers of the series may find THE SILENT CRY seem a bit stale as nothing new has been added to what has been a wonderful historical mystery series.

Harriet Klausner