Welcome to the blog tour of M.R. Mackenzie’s book
IN THE SILENCE!
My Review:
In The Silence by M.R. Mackenzie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In The Silence has a blurb so enticing, I just had to read it, and author M. R. Mackenzie did not disappoint.
Anna Scovalini has finally come home; a place she avoided for several years only to find herself involved in a murder case, up close and personal. At first she doesn’t mean to get involved, but when she feels the police aren’t taking things seriously enough curiosity gets the better of her and once she has a poke around for answers she uncovers much more than she bargained for, and inadvertently puts herself into trouble, too.
Throughout this story I found myself intrigued by some of the serious issues discussed, from femicide, rape to gang mentality, and this was all played out by some great characterisation and an exciting plot, where the more I read the quicker the pace sped up until it reached the final reveal of who the killer actually was!
I found the unravelling of the secret surrounding the reason why people were getting killed really enjoyable. Mix this with those paragraphs where there’s a hooded figure tracking people down that literally sent shivers down my spine and made my blood run cold. Is that corny? Maybe. But true!
A word on the dialect. For an East Anglian, born and bred, I thought the Scottish dialect was actually quite fun to read. When I tried the words out loud I actually could do a very good impression of a Glaswegian! On one hand I always find this a little distracting as it does take you out of the story as you’re experimenting with how the words sound on your tongue, but on the other hand it was not full-on throughout the book, and I quickly got used to it.
Returning to characterisation, I loved how Anna (now a criminology lecturer living in Rome) and her best friend Zoe, (who like me has never left her home county) seem to have lives which are worlds apart, and when they get back together they’re instantly best pals again. But under the stress of the investigation even Anna has to think twice about Zoe.
What happened back in the past, that caused so many people in one town to have so many secrets? For me, uncovering the truth made this story for me. For a debut book, I’m exited to see what this author writes next!
An intriguing, fast read that had me guessing who the killer was throughout, with a satisfying, final conclusion.
View all my reviews over at Goodreads, and visit this review on Amazon!
In The Silence Book Description:
Anna hasn’t set foot in Glasgow for ten years. And for very good reasons…
Anna, a criminology lecturer, returns to Glasgow from Rome during the coldest winter in memory. While out with her best friend from school, Anna has a chance encounter with a former flame, Andrew. Tragedy strikes later that night when Anna discovers Andrew stabbed and dying on a blanket of snow.
Soon Anna finds herself at the centre of the investigation as the star witness for the police, and embarks on investigating the case herself. But Anna doesn’t realise the danger she is in and soon finds herself in trouble.
When another body shows up, who has links to the first victim, it appears that the motive may lie buried in the past.
As Anna gets closer to the truth, the killer starts closing in.
But can she solve the gruesome mystery before the killer strikes again?
Author Bio:
M. R. Mackenzie was born and lives in Glasgow, Scotland. He studied at Glasgow University and has a PhD in Film Studies. In 2016, he contributed a chapter on the Italian giallo film to Cult Cinema: An Arrow Video Companion.
In addition to writing, he works as an independent Blu-ray/DVD producer and has overseen releases of films by a number of acclaimed directors, among them Dario Argento, Joe Dante and Seijun Suzuki.
When he’s not doing any of the above, he works in a library, which tests his sanity and keeps him in touch with the great unwashed.
In The Silence is his first novel.
Links:
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