The Silent Girls by Eric Rickstad _ Book Review

With the dead of a bitter Vermont winter closing in, evil is alive and well …

Frank Rath thought he was done with murder when he turned in his detective’s badge to become a private investigator and raise a daughter alone. Then the police in his remote rural community of Canaan find an ’89 Monte Carlo abandoned by the side of the road, and the beautiful teenage girl who owned the car seems to have disappeared without a trace.

Soon Rath’s investigation brings him face-to-face with the darkest abominations of the human soul.

With the consequences of his violent and painful past plaguing him, and young women with secrets vanishing one by one, he discovers once again that even in the smallest towns on the map, evil lurks everywhere-and no one is safe.

Morally complex, seething with wickedness and mystery, and rich in gritty atmosphere and electrifying plot turns, The Silent Girls marks the return of critically acclaimed author Eric Rickstad. Readers of Ian Rankin, Jo Nesbø, and Greg Iles will love this book and find themselves breathless at the incendiary, ambitious, and unforgettable story.

“Movies created suspense out of a “forty-eight-hour window” cops had to find a girl alive, as if kidnapped girls had a “kill-by” date. The colder reality remained: A girl gone missing against her will, nine times out of ten, was dead within three hours.”

The Silent Girls by Eric Rickstad had me hooked right from the first chapter, which was creepy as hell! I’m a reader idea of fun is watching back-to-back True Crime shows. This book had everything I want in a crime thriller novel.

The novels main case was interesting and fast paced. A teen goes missing and it leads to the discovery of others missing and there has to be some sort of connection. I appreciated the actual crime statistics throughout the story, though unnerving, they added to the overall intense ominous feel of the story. I was fully invested in the plot line all the way until the end.

Eric Rickstad’s characters had depth, an aspect that can make pr brake a book for me. The multiple POVs allowed us to get to know the key players and enhance the characters feelings, especially with Frank Rath. While I didn’t gain a connection with Harland Grout I did really enjoyed Sonja Tests character and look forward to learning more about her in the next book.

The Silent Girls main plot line was wrapped up by the end but the characters personal story seem to just be beginning. Holy crap that ending was unexpected and shocking! I can’t wait to find out where Eric Rickstad takes it from here.