Silenced is book 4 in the Alaskan Courage series by Dani Pettrey. I would suggest reading the series in order to have a good amount of backstory on the characters. I did not read the books in order...and haven't read them all...so I had to get a little help from a fellow reader to know what was going on before I read this one. I was able to enjoy this story without having read all of the previous ones (I have read book 2), but I think I would've enjoyed it even more if I knew past details.
Book summary (from Amazon.com): A relaxing day of rock climbing takes a disturbing turn when Kayden McKenna's route brings her face-to-face with a dead climber. Is it a terrible accident or something darker? When the case is handed to overburdened sheriff Landon Grainger, he turns to Jake Westin for help. With Jake's past now revealed, he's ready to use his talent for investigation again--but he could never prepare for where the mystery will take him.
Kayden's climbing expertise soon leads her and Jake to the realization that the death was no accident. And worse, it seems the killer is onto them. When strange things begin happening in Yancey, Jake is terrified that once again his world may put someone he loves in danger. But the truth is far worse than he could ever imagine.
As I mentioned, I have read book 2 in this series so I was eager to read another part in the story of the McKenna family. Each book is a chapter in the life of one of the McKenna siblings, but it also includes side stories of the other siblings, which has opened doors for future books in the series. Silenced is no exception.
The main story focuses on Kayden McKenna, who is an expert climber but has an almost obsession with being healthy and doing everything in her power to be in top physical shape. It's been her way to deal with the physical decline and death of her mother, which happened years before. Her mother suffered with a degenerative disease and Kayden wants to do everything in her power to prevent it from happening to herself...or passing on any burdens to a husband and future children. It does make her seem a little cold and stand-offish, but it offers an internal struggle that makes her character grow through the story.
Jake knows that Kayden is trying everything she can to push him away, but he's persistent, and that's always an admirable trait for a hero : ). Jake is strong and reliable, but definitely vulnerable and wounded when it comes to love. He's lost deeply (this happened in the previous book), and doesn't want to lose anyone else that's close to him.
I really like what I've read of this series. In this story, I liked that Kayden wasn't a pushover, going all gaga over Jake, even though I think most girls would go gaga over him. Each of the stories in this series involves a murder mystery of some kind. I liked they way Jake and Kayden, along with the other McKenna family members, worked together to solve the mystery. It made for an action-packed page-turner. The aspect that sort of fell flat for me was the actual solving of the murder that was central to the story. There was a build up of "whodunit?!" and then all of the sudden a person confessed and that was it. And the confession didn't really seem right...like that person may not have really done it (maybe this part of the plot will continue in the next book?). Even some of the characters in the book were saying, "I can't believe that person did it." I couldn't believe it, either. It just didn't have the closure I hoped for before the action jumped right into another story line that had been hinted at throughout the story. This part concerned someone basically stalking and wanting to kill Jake and Kayden. The peak of that part of the plot came right after the "solving" of the other murder. It was also very action packed without having that too dark and creepy feel. It was a good balance of having a believable bad guy but not making them too Stephen King. I also liked the way that the stalker/killer person tied in to some of the previous novels and even revealed some misconceptions about who really was the mastermind behind some previous crimes. I love the "aha!" moments in a book.
Overall, I would definitely recommend Silenced and the other books leading up to it in the series. All have some mystery, action, romance, and the rugged outdoor setting of Alaska. Very good combination. I'm going to give this book:
****
4 stars
Really enjoyed it!
(I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley/Bethany House publishers in exchange for an honest review)
My next post will be about our trip to Baltimore, MD and Washington DC! I can't wait to share what I learned and how we did it with two kiddos! Stay tuned!
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