“Your child is dead… Are you next?”
- Book: The Silent Mother
- Location: Bournemouth
- Author: Liz Lawler
This is my first Liz Lawler book, but it most definitely won’t be my last, although in my mind, I did mark this story down a little, as I had worked out what I thought was happening quite early on. I was still taken on quite a journey of discovery though, as I was left to wonder exactly how Liz was going to unmask the guilty party and tie up all those annoying loose ends, which I failed miserably to do, so I was still more than satisfied with this as a 5 star rating, as I always enjoy a complex plot which has me thinking outside of the box!
There were essentially two separate strands to this storyline, which little by little were drawn inexorably closer together, although they never really completely converged right until the very last minute. This seamless story was narrated in alternating chapters, which were short and well signposted, by Rosie and Ruth. Both ladies with something to hide, although for one there is only grief and loss, the wish to uncover the truth, the need clear and cleanse her son’s name and professional reputation, and her hope to be able to set her own troubled mind to rest. Whilst for the other, there is only jealousy, vengeance, revenge and hatred in her heart and she will go to any lengths to save herself, whatever the cost to anyone else. By the time this is all over, one will be vindicated, the other vilified.
A multi-layered, well structured storyline, which is intense, immersive, slowly evolving and highly textured. Replete with red herrings, one or two shocking revelations and with multiple twists being thrown into the mix right until the very end. Keeping track of all the medical staff involved in a gripping and disturbing plot, where the stakes are so high and where so many personal and professional reputations are at risk, keeps everyone on their toes, eager to say and do the right things to make a good impression.
I don’t want to give away any specific spoilers, however, suffice to say that I felt this story also served to highlight the many guises in which mental health issues can manifest themselves and how unstable individuals can suffer in silence for so long, because of the unseen hidden nature of the illness.
Also brought to the fore, is the way in which most of us will blindly and often misguidedly accept, without question or challenge, the power of those people in trusted professions, who we deem to have authority and integrity over our day to day lives. This storyline blows many of those perceptions out of the water, even though the transgressions might have been taken with the most honest of intentions and motives. How far can you bend the truth before it breaks, leaving misery and devastation in its wake?
Liz has developed a well drawn cast of characters, who whilst all complex, emotionally starved and vulnerable, with little or no synergy or dynamism between them, really divided my feelings and emotions right down the middle. Many were raw and passionate, yet still authentic, genuine and believable. Others were unreliable, volatile, manipulative and duplicitous. I’m not sure that I really connected with, related to, or invested in, any of them totally. Often dour and lugubrious, none of them really offered me a compelling reason to identify with them, which made uncovering and exposing their many hidden motives so difficult, just as I am certain, Liz intended. Not all of them were given a strong voice with which to tell their story either, so there was a lot of reading between the lines to do and emotional attachments to be unravelled and analysed, before any kind of truth or justice was revealed. When two like minds meet, there just might be the spark of a happy ending and new beginnings for two of the protagonists, which I was pleased about, even though my enthusiasm might have been a little tempered by the means and cost taken to get the eventual end and closure.
“Oh! what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”
I am a big fan of the cover art for this story and if you check out Liz’s previous three novels, you can immediately spot the common theme running through their respective covers, making them a good looking, eye-catching suite of books (no pun intended!)
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