I admit I was sold as soon as I read the blurb. I don't think I've ever read a thriller with a deaf main character before... The premise of The Silent House had a lot of promise of being an original story and sounded simply fascinating. I have been looking forward to read this one ever since my request was approved, and it might just have been that my expectations were set too high, but I'm sad to say that the story fell mostly flat for me. I'll try to explain why below...

First of all I have to say that I still think that the premise of The Silent House is both unique and fascinating and definitely one of the strong points of this story. The insight in the Deaf community provided in The Silent House helps those who have never had direct contact with profoundly deaf people understand a little bit more about the challenges they face and what consequences it has for those surrounding them. Not only do we have Paige and her freelance job as a British Sign Language interpreter, but the mayority of the main characters involved is either deaf or has family members who are deaf. This definitely gives the story an unique angle as well as an opportunity to teach us more about the Deaf community itself.

That said, sadly I found the character development to be rather lacking. What could have been a golden opportunity to shine a light on the Deaf community and develop a cast of interesting characters that are able to teach as well as entertain us, ended up being a rather flat and lackluster representation. I found that most characters lacked personality and instead were mostly build up out of cliches without real development. I wasn't really a fan of any of the characters and Paige's behavior is quite frustrating most of the time as well as not exactly all that believable. This lack of realistic character development made it a lot harder to stay invested in the story and definitely had a negative influence on my reading experience.

It wasn't just the character development that disappointed me though. I also struggled with the plot itself. Apart from the fact that I found the execution of the plot to be rather dull and predictable, I also had doubts about the credibility of it all. The twists and secrets that were surely ment to build up that suspense weren't really believable and I'm sad to say that I saw most of them coming from a mile away... Add the fact that the behavior of the characters was both cliche and not exactly credible most of the time, and the plot mostly fell flat for me. Instead of a twisty and suspenseful thriller that had me on my toes, The Silent House was actually rather boring and that isn't exactly a word I would normally associate with a crime thriller about the murder of a little girl.

While the writing did read fast and I enjoyed learning more about the Deaf community, what sounded like an absolutely fascinating premise fell mostly flat for me in the execution. Among other things, the pace was quite slow, the characters are unlikeable and I had issues with the credibility and predictability of certain aspects of the plot...  All in all not my favorite read, although I still think the premise itself is solid and it has been interesting to learn more about the deaf community and everything it entails.

18-month-old Lexi is found in her bed, her dead body laying between her sleeping brother and half-sister.
No one has heard anything... the whole family is deaf.
Paige, a freelance British sign language interpreter is called to assist with the police interviews. But as she arrives at the crime scene, she realises with dread that the murdered girl was her sister's goddaughter.
Soon embroiled in the investigation, she starts receiving serious threats urging her to stay away.
Who killed Lexi? Was it a stranger or is the family somehow involved in the brutal act?

Such a fantastic and gripping debut.
I have never come across a novel where most of the characters were hearing impaired, and it was like a breath of fresh air.
I did have a good suspicion about who the killer was but although I had guessed correctly, I was forced to reconsider several times as new suspects were brought to light.
The one downside that got in the way of me fully enjoying this book was the fact that because the dialogues were written in italics, sometimes it got a little confusing where one person's dialogue started and the other one's began. But this might have been due to the copy of the book I received, being a proof one.
It was a thrilling read, nonetheless, and I couldn't put down, so I will be looking out for more from this author. I highly recommend you put this book and its author on your radar.
I was on the fence about the rating, but in the end decided that although it does deserve 5 stars, I will give it 4, because of the dialogue issues. Hopefully, it will be resolved in the final version.

I'll be honest, after seeing some of the early reviews if this book, I didn't have high hopes. Glad to say I was pleasantly surprised. I think the plot was interesting but the characters could have used a lot more development. It also could have probably been a bit shorter. I will say that I saw the ending coming from a mile away (the murderer and the motive). That did not really take away from the book in my opinion. I still enjoyed it. I wasn't dying to get back to it when I put it down, but all in all, a good read.

Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

The blurb for this book sounds really interesting but sadly it doesn’t prove to be as intriguing as I hoped. Following the murder of Lexi, a little girl, Paige Northwood is asked by the police to the the BSL interpreter as the father Alan, ‘stepmother’ Elisha and mother Laura are all deaf. The story is principally told by Paige in the present day but also backtracks to various characters before the murder.

The start of the book does grab your attention and draws you in and it’s unfortunate that this momentum is not maintained. I really like that many of the protagonists are deaf as it’s a different perspective. I have a family member who is profoundly deaf so that resonates with me. The trolling that the father Alan receives on social media seems very relevant too as nuggets big, small, slanderous are shared for everyone’s edification.

However, I’m not sure this book quite knows what it wants to be. Is it a crime drama or is it about Paige? There are so many ‘maybes’ and thoughts from the inside of Paige’s head and some are not very illuminating and there are a lot are tangents. The plot is slow and repetitive - there are only so many times a reader wants to go over the same ground. Despite threats to Paige I don’t get the feeling of menace or tension. The characters need further development as they are a bit like cardboard cutouts and I can’t take the lead detective Forest seriously. As Paige knows the family before the murder I feel it’s very unlikely the police would use her as the interpreter and ultimately they do stop using her but not before she rides in on a white horse and tries to solve it!

Overall, there are issues with the book but with some improvements this could be a really good book, the premise is good as is the different perspective.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books.

This was a terrifying book! Just in the sense that someone is in your house and your unable to what the danger!

A chilling read with a great insight into the deaf community also, very tense in places and I raced through it until the end, highly enjoyable book.

Think about someone breaking into your house in the middle of the night and murdering your child but you slept through the entire thing because you are deaf. Just that thought is utterly terrifying!
Paige is an interpreter for the deaf. Her sister Anna and their parents are deaf so she has grown up in the deaf community and knows many people who frequent the deaf club. Paige receives a text from the police department to be an interpreter but is shocked when she shows up to a home where a child has been murdered. As if that isn’t bad enough, the child is her sister Anna’s goddaughter. Paige finds herself drawn to the case and can’t stop doing her own investigating and soon Anna can’t stop herself either. But, someone is determined to keep the truth of that fateful night hidden and Paige and Anna find themselves threatened both by text and by incidents. Who would kill an innocent child? There are many suspects but who had the most to gain?
I enjoyed the book and the storyline of people being deaf was new to me. I just found that I figured things out early on in the book. The end did have a few twists. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book was an excellent read, both for its nuanced and empathetic portrayal of the Deaf community and its magnificent storytelling. I was particularly impressed with the author's choice to use italics to indicate dialogue in British Sign Language -- that one choice served as a constant visual cue to remember that this dialogue was signed, but still very much being "spoken." Unlike many thrillers, where the resolution can feel forced with far too much exposition and explanation, Pattison guided the reader to the mystery's conclusion. A definite must-buy and must-read from me.

A very unique and deeply unsettling story. But so we’ll written. I loved it. Highly recommended for fans of dark psychological thrillers x

I loved the premise of this - there's a killer in your house and you can't hear them - and I really enjoyed the insight into the Deaf community that it shared. That being said, I felt there was more that could have been done with the great set-up. It was enjoyable and it's well-written, but I felt that there was a slight lack of emotion which meant that I didn't fully immerse myself in the fear that I think the author was trying to create.

This book grabbed me from the very beginning. It held my attention throughout and kept me on the edge of my seat trying to guess what would happen next. A tense and chilling read.
A must read for thriller fans.

“ There’s someone in your home...but you can’t hear them.“ <— with a line like that on the cover how can you not want to dive in? The promise just gives goosebumps. I thought what an amazing concept! A family is going to have to fight off intruders in the dark when they are hearing impaired. Unfortunately that’s not what goes on. It pains me to have to DNF a book but I had to do so. No action and bland characters from the opening pages. I gave it my 100 page rule. I’m sorry.

When a young girl is murdered inside the home of a deaf couple, Paige Northwood a sign language interpreter is called in to assist the police with finding the killer. As Paige navigates a thin line between overstepping her professional boundaries and finding out who would have motive to kill a child she quickly discovers that not everyone is telling the truth.

The Silent House is an interesting thriller set primarily in a small, close knit, deaf community. Paige Northwood is called in to aide in the investigation only to realize she knows the family. As she attempts to use her connections with the community members to get answers she finds herself receiving threats. The premise for this novel sounded really interesting and it actually starts out really good but it quickly loses momentum and seems to just drag on and on for the rest of the novel. I didn't care of any of the characters and there were several parts of the novel that weren't relevant to the story. Paige continually says that she doesn't want to lose her job by talking about the case, investigating the case, etc. and then immediately does just that. This might be more entertaining for other readers but I struggled to get through it.

Unfortunately this one didn't work for me, and it has been relegated to the DNF pile. I really wanted to like it, as the premise is really intriguing, but I just couldn't get into it from the beginning. Thank you for the ARC.

Just okay. Serves its purpose for the genre. I rounded up in stars because I think it's so important to represent the Deaf community in fiction, and this novel does that well.

Different slant on the death of a child - focussing on the deaf community. This highlighted some of the difficulties of communicating between the deaf and hearing communities which seemed realistic.
The story follows Paige Northwood, a BSL translator who is brought in by the police to help interview some of the suspects, family of the dead baby and members of the local deaf community.
There are lots of red herrings , twists and turns which are quite confusing.
Parts of the story are very slow and repetitive. Paige is a weak character and in real life would have been kicked off the investigation much earlier.
Many of the main characters are not likeable and this detracts from the plot as I didn’t care for most of them.
A lot of positives in the book but I felt disappointed at the end.
Thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books for allowing me to read this ahead of publication.

A great story showing a huge amount of research into the world of the deaf. Loved the way that the sign language parts were in Italic so that it felt real. I cannot think of anything worse than waking up to find someone in your home but being deaf added so much more to this horrific thought. The twists and turns abounded throughout the story and although I fairly quickly thought I knew who committed the murder I kept getting my doubts as more actions were revealed. A beautifully paced book with the police investigation so realistically portrayed..
a book full of action, incriminations, twists and contradictory accusations throughout. A great book written by a great author and one which I highly recommend. Thank you Net galley for the Arc copy to give my unbiased review.

Being an interpreter for the deaf, I jumped at the chance to read this book. I really enjoyed it and felt it was portrayed the deaf community well.. It was a page turner and kept my attention! I will be buying this book for the library and will recommend it to my patrons.

I really enjoyed this book so much. It has a really great plot, superb main characters and I read it in one sitting. I would highly recommend this book.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.* This book was like no other mystery novel I have read (and there have certainly been a few). It focuses on the shocking murder of a baby girl, Lexi in her own home, an act made even more horrifying by the fact that her family were asleep in the house with her. However, as they are all deaf, no one heard the horrendous deed occur. Enter Paige Northwood, a BSL interpreter who ends up being a little too closely tied to the case, as her sister Anna is Godmother to the murdered child. I thoroughly enjoyed the book for the intrigue and mystery it presented, its exploration of relationships and human frailty and also its insight into the Deaf community.

Thank you Netgalley, Avon Books UK and Nell Pattison for allowing me to read this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I can't even imagine a world without sound. To not know when someone knocks on your door, your phone rings or most importantly be able to hear if your child cries out for help.

This book made me think about things that I have taken too much for granted and helped me understand the obstacles and ways the deaf community navigate life.

As far as the story goes, I got through almost the whole book trying to figure out who the suspect is. I kept bouncing back and forth and then back again. Loved this book and will look for more books from this author again.