Review: 'The Silent Suspect' by Nell Pattison

 I read the first book in the Paige Northwood series, The Silent House, last year and loved the different point of view it gave me. Although I missed the second book, Silent Night, I was really happy to get reacquainted with Paige and her friends in this third installment. With another intricate crime at its heart The Silent House was a fun read. Thanks to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pub. Date: 4/29/2021
Publisher: Avon Books UK

On a quiet street, one house is burning to the ground…

By the time sign language interpreter Paige Northwood arrives, flames have engulfed her client’s home. Though Lukas is safe, his wife is still inside. But she was dead before the fire started…

Lukas signs to Paige that he knows who killed his wife. But then he goes silent – even when the police arrest him on suspicion of murder.

Is he guilty, or afraid? Only Paige can help him now…

The Silent House was a fascinating insight into a community I'm not directly linked to and provided me with a whole new viewpoint when it came to thrillers and detective novels. I also adored Paige, a fascinating main character that clearly had a past and had baggage, but also had a big heart. She remains the beating heart of the third installment of her series, the one thing that ties it all together. Nell Pattison never ignores the emotional beats of her story, showing the slow growth of Paige's independence and her developing friendships and relationships. It is one of the few detective series for which I am tightly connected to the main set of characters and truly want them to be ok. 

What do you do when someone refuses to communicate with police but has given you an indication of their innocence? That is the dilemma facing Paige Northwood and while she tries so very hard to not get involved she simply can't just stand by. It's the character trait I enjoy most about Paige, although I appreciated her valid struggle to stay within the lane prescribed to her. There are a lot of elements at play in The Silent Suspect, not just the issues facing the Deaf community, but also the hurdles set up for immigrants. I do feel that The Silent Suspect suffered a little from a need to make things bigger and better/badder. There are just so many factors at play. While the crime is still kind of rooted within the deaf community, there are some major criminal elements that at times felt almost too big for the story that Pattison was telling. While it raised the stakes, it also removed some of that familiarity and intimacy that I adored in The Silent House. However, I raced through this book and Pattison managed to keep me hooked throughout every twist.

Nell Pattison does a great job at allowing each installment of the Paige Northwood Series to stand on its own while slowly adding more complexity to her characters and plots. While The Silent Suspect occasionally reaches too far in my opinion, I greatly enjoyed reading it. The pace starts of slow to assure we're properly settled into the latest crime, before picking up in speed with one twist after the other. The newly introduced characters are fleshed out enough to make us invest in them, even if one in particular feels a little bit like a caricature. Pattison moves comfortably between moments of action and moments of personal connection, making sure readers are invested in both. The tension definitely escalates throughout The Silent Suspect and while the book ends with its storyline nicely tied up, it leaves enough room to speculate for the next installment. 

I give this book...

4 Universes!

The Silent Suspect is another great installment of the Paige Northwood Series in which the tension and the stakes are raised. For fans of the series it should be a no-brainer, but I would highly recommend it to those new to it as well.