Silent Night (Paige Northwood, Book 2)

Sign language interpreter Paige Northwood is request to work with the police following a murder. A school for the deaf took five students for an overnight trip. Only four woke up .. one boy was missing. To further complicate things, a teacher's body is found in the forest. Everyone involved with this overnight stay is interrogated. What Paige finds is that everyone has a motive for murder.. but they all have alibis. Paige senses immediately that someone is lying ... but who? and why? This is well-written, the story line is well-crafted and the characters are deftly drawn. The author shines a spotlight on the deaf community with the advent of a deaf female protagonist. Suspenseful from the get-go, there are twists to follow that lead to an unexpected conclusion. Although 2nd in the series, this is easily read as a stand alone, but I highly recommend reading these books in order, as the lead character has an interesting backstory. Many thanks to the author / Harper 360 / Avon Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this mystery. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

What I have come to realize about this series is that it's less about the plot/storyline and more so the lead heroine, Paige, I dislike. Not a strong character to begin with, I'm not exactly a fan on how she becomes too emotionally involved in the investigations. If she was a bit more 'detached', so to speak, she would have been better suited for the novel. Also another tidbit that became repetitive and annoying is how Paige is often times connected to at least 1-2 characters who later on become prime suspects in the murder mystery. I understand it's a small town and pretty much everyone knows each other in the deaf community, but c'mon! It was something minor that later turned to a pet peeve as the story progressed. And let’s not forget to mention how Paige liked to play detective. Last I checked you were an BSL interpreter. Say it with me: in·ter·pret·er. Being fully involved in an investigation and attempting to discover who the murderer is yourself is a bit above your pay rate, don’t you think? Which leads me to point out that this novel probably would have been a stand out if the lead heroine was an actual detective with interpreting skills. The author missed the nail on that one. Needless to say, this was not an improvement from ‘The Silent House’ and there is not much to rave about with the lackluster plot, eye rolling make believe detective and less than splendid mystery. Obviously with all that being said, there is a high chance of me not picking up on this series again.

thank you! very interesting