The Silent Dead – ARC Book Review (Detective Jackie Cooke series Book 2)

She was lying as if asleep on the wooden kitchen floor, beneath the fridge covered with a child’s colourful crayon drawings. But her frozen expression showed she would never wake again…

When Detective Jackie Cooke is called out to the scene, she’s expecting a routine check. The bottle of pills on the kitchen table, next to the note with the single word SORRY written in a shaky hand, make it seem obvious what’s happened. But Jackie is shocked when she recognises her old schoolfriend Claire – and she is convinced Claire would never take her own life.

Determined to dig deeper, Jackie soon discovers evidence that proves her right: a roll of notes has been thrust down the victim’s throat. And when she finds another woman killed in the same way, she realises someone may be targeting lonely single mothers. As Jackie talks to Claire’s distraught children, one of them too young to understand his mummy is never coming home, she vows to find answers.

Both victims were in touch with someone calling himself Nice Guy – could he be the killer? Pursuing every clue, Jackie is sure she’s found a match in dead-eyed Tyler, part of a dark world of men intent on silencing women for daring to reject them. But just as she makes the arrest, another single mother is found dead – a woman who never dated at all.

Forced to re-evaluate every lead she has, with her boss pressuring her to make a case against the obvious suspect, Jackie knows she is running out of time before another innocent woman is murdered. And, as a single mother herself, she cannot help but wonder if she is in the killer’s sights. Can she uncover his true motivation and put an end to his deadly game… or will he find her first? 

Jackie Cooke is back with another case with her partner Dave.

In this book, a woman was found brutally murdered with notes stashed into her mouth. Jackie recognizes the woman as one of her classmates Claire although at the time of the murder, she had changed her name to Rachel. But as she investigate further, she finds that Claire had been on dating sites and had been in contact with someone named “Nice Guy”. Soon she finds out that there are three women, who also met the same fate as Claire. Is there are a serial killer on loose?

I love reading serial killer thrillers so I actually enjoyed reading this book. This was a fast paced thriller that will keep you on the edge, wanting to find out, who would be the murderer, if all the other murders are also connected to Claire’s murder. Jackie felt a connection to Claire as they are both single mothers, so it was interesting to read about that point of view. This was also a page turner with the twists and turns, many of them quite unexpected. and the reveal of the killer in the end was mind blowing! Overall, I enjoyed reading this twisty thriller and highly recommend to anyone. Can’t wait for the next book in the series–worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.