The Silent Witness (Detective Amanda Steele Book 3) – ARC Book Review

It’s 4 a.m. when her mom shakes her awake. “Get up baby, we’re going to play hide and seek.” The little girl presses back into the dark space, holding her breath as she hears the shots ring out. She knows she’s next…

When the bodies of a local family are discovered on a quiet street in the small town of Dumfries, Virginia, Detective Amanda Steele takes charge of the case. Brett and Angela Parker were shot three times each, leaving no hope of survival, and their tidy suburban home has been ransacked. But there is no sign of their beloved six-year-old, Zoe.

Zoe is the same age as Amanda’s daughter was when she died, and Amanda can’t bear the thought of another little girl in danger. She’s organizing a search for the child, when she notices something strange about the ottoman at the foot of the Parkers’ bed. She opens it to find Zoe, mute and traumatized, but alive.

With Zoe completely uncommunicative, Amanda must find another way to untangle what destroyed this seemingly perfect family. It’s clear that the killer is searching for something the Parkers had, and until she has this monster behind bars, Amanda fears that he may return for Zoe. When she learns that Brett Parker cut short the family’s recent lakeside vacation, she wonders why. What happened at that lake house, and did it ultimately get them killed?

Amanda heads out to Lake Chesdin on the feeling it might be key to the case, and when she finds a cell phone in the murky waters next to the Parker cabin, she knows she’s made a breakthrough. But then terrible news reaches her from Dumfries; Zoe has been taken from her school playground.

Someone wants to silence the Parker family for good, can Amanda catch them before the little girl she’s desperate to protect pays the price?

A completely gripping and addictive crime thriller that will keep fans of Rachel Caine, Lisa Regan and Robert Dugoni entertained into the early hours.

No. of pages:- 263 pages

Publisher:- Bookouture

Date published:- will be published on September 24th 2021

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:-

Behold! Detective Amanda Steele is back with a brand new case!

Plot:- How would you deal with a situation, when both parents are murdered at gun point and the only witness is the six year old girl who was hiding? Zoe Parker saw both her parents being murdered at gun point. Detective Amanda Steele and her partner Trent are in charge of this case. While investigating this case, they find that the Parkers were on a vacation in Lake Chesdin, a few days before their murder but their vacation was cut short by returning early. And while investigating, they find out that Zoe Parker’s father was a witness to a horrible crime committed at the lake and the detectives think that the they are both related. Then while in school, Zoe Parker was abducted and Amanda and her partner Trent realize that they are running out of time…

Good ones

Gosh, there are so many good things about this book!

• From the first chapter to the end, the story was so gripping that I was literally hooked into the story, not wanting to put the book down!
• I felt like I was watching some sort of acting-packed thriller and I felt like I was sitting at the edge of my seat while reading this book!–it was that good!
• The slow budding developing relationship between Zoe and Amanda sounds so maternal and touching–that Amanda in fact reminded Zoe of her deceased daughter Lindsey which was very touching to read.
• So many of twists and turns, many are unexpected and as I said earlier, quite unputdownable!
• The writing of this was intense, the author did a good job drawing the reader into the story!
• AND I cannot wait for the fourth book to come soon!

Bad things…not many!

Overall, this was an unputdownable, gripping twisty thriller that will keep you up all night!

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.