I didn't get a chance to tackle book 1 in the series but this was such a solid read. You do miss a bit of backstory without book 1 but not enough to make "The Silence" any less of a worthy read. 

From start to finish, "The Silence" sucked me in. I was kept my attention. The only down part for me is that I didn't really connect with the characters. Could that be because I didn't read the first book in the series? I don't know but I may take the time and read book 1 because I am very interested in reading the next novels to come in this series.

This book had me at the edge of my seat the whole time. This book was very hard to put down. One of the best Thrillers I read this year! Highly recommend!

Loved it!  I am always amazed at the twists and turns Kendra Elliott’s books take.  I always think I know who did it and what is going to happen and then BAM another twist!  It is fantastic!  I think the interplay between Ava and Mason’s cases are masterfully woven together and leave you unable to put the book down.  I also love how characters from her other series make appearances in this book.  I cannot wait for the next!

There was so much going on in this book it was hard to put it down.  It’s loaded with excitement, suspense, action, danger, and romance.  The characters are great and the storyline engaging as we get to follow Ava and Mason through their current cases, puzzling connections, family drama, a wedding not to miss, and many twists and turns along the way to keep you on the edge of your seat.  A great read from start to finish!

*I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, and I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

Yet another book where Kendra Elliot hits it out of the park. I want to start off saying that you should read at least the Callahan & McLane series before picking this one up. Most of Kendra's books are interconnected so you see characters from other books in this series. 

When evidence at a crime scene suggests a bomb threat, Mason Callahan races to the spot to help law enforcement mitigate the threat. Evidence at the scene also suggests a connection to Ava McLane, Mason's fiance. When the bomb threat turns out to be an ambush, a task force is formed to find the sniper. How are all the people connected? And will they be able to find the connection before it's too late?

This book definitely kept me guessing through all of the twists and turns. There was so much going on and Kendra made it all come together perfectly. I loved getting to see Ava and Mason again, along with so many of the other characters from other series. It was hard to put this book down because I just had to know how it was going to end. I can't wait to read the next in this series!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Montlake, and Kendra Elliot for the opportunity to read her latest thriller - I loved getting back into these characters' lives but they are written so well that you don't need to have read the first book in this series to enjoy.  There are many returning characters from many of Elliot's books which is always fun.  4.5 stars rounded up because I love these characters!

Detective Mason Callahan and his partner, Ray, find a man brutally murdered and evidence at the scene leads them to a possible bomb threat at the nearby courthouse.  The evidence also mentions Mason's fiancee, FBI agent Ava McLane, so Mason is doubly worried.  Ava is investigating the shootings of multiple police officers and finds that Mason's investigation intertwines with her own.  When Ava's troubled twin sister disappears, there are too many coincidences to believe that all these crimes are anything but personal.

A quick read and one that was hard to put down as the story built to its conclusion.  I loved all the emotions and relationships between the characters even in the midst of murder and mayhem.

Oh my god! Ava and Mason are in for the fight of their lives when a murderd man is found with a terrorist plot in his office. No spoilers intended in any way, but you guys are going to love this one! There are so many things going on and the puzzle pieces don't seem to match. We get to see all the old characters make appearances and Ava and Mason's wedding is shaping up to be an do not want to miss affair. If they can all make it there alive! I can't believe how much was packed into this story and the action is non stop! Seriously, when do your characters get to take a break?? No one is going to want to miss this edge of your seat, thrilling, bodies are dropping like flies book! Seriously, don't skip it!

Welcome back to the world of Mason Callahan and Ava McLane!   A long anticipated foray into a familiar world.

When the brutal murder of a conspiracy theorist ties back to an informant that his FBI fiancee has ties to, Mason Callahan has no idea the mess they are going to step into. Add in the complications of Ava's twin, Jayne, and there is no telling how this will end.

Fast paced and crisply written, Kendra Elliot's books are full of twists and turns that will keep you reading well into the night.

Twists and turns and just when you think you have it figured out BAM! it turns again. Ava and Mason are tangled into the same case when Mason's murder case turns out to be one of Ava's CI. In the house there is evidence pointing towards a bombing and when law enforcement converges shots are fired and Mason's partner, Ray, is wounded before he can put his vest on and several other deputies are taken out. It was not a bombing but a targeted shooting. So begins the mystery of who, what, where, and why of it. Oh, and Ava's twin, Jane is back in the picture.  All this with the wedding coming up. Will they make it to the wedding finally?  This one was so good and I consumed it in one afternoon!

**Received this ARC for review from the publisher via NetGalley**

Murder, thrills, and suspense. Plus a twist ending that you will not expect. This book has it all! Highly recommend!

The Silence is Book 2 of Kendra Elliot's Columbia River series. These stories stand perfectly fine on their own. I haven't had a chance to read Mason and Ava's story yet but I followed along nicely. As typical with this author's books, this story was fast-paced, intriguing and engaging right from the start. Lots of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. Great story!

When readers happen upon a book set in THEIR neighborhood, it can go one of two ways. Maybe they grow even more fond of the book than they might otherwise have been. Or, if the writer doesn't do justice to the setting, nothing can salvage their opinion of the book as a whole.

Let me tell you, Kendra Elliot does justice to her settings. The Mercy Kilpatrick series about the "prepper" FBI agent is set in Deschutes County, on the high desert of Central Oregon. I've lived there for five years, and she nails it.

The first book in this series, The Last Sister, was set in Clatsop County, on the northern Oregon coast. I was a reporter there for the daily newspaper in Astoria, and the book made me nostalgic.

In this second book in the Columbia River series, a mass shooting takes place overlooking the Clackamas County courthouse, on the banks of the Willamette River, upriver from Portland. Elliot pinpointed the shooter's position, high on the bluffs overlooking the river -- and just blocks from where I was born.

So, yes, I enjoy these books. But that wouldn't be the case unless they were well-written, well-plotted, and well-balanced. There is a lot of suspense, a bit of romance (nothing overboard or unrealistic), and plenty of solid friendship and support among law enforcement professionals from various agencies and jurisdictions.

Elliot's writing is clean and basic, but I've read enough of her books to predict that you will never come across a poorly-turned phrase that stops you in your tracks and makes you lose the thread of the story (a common occurrence for an avid reader.)

In this novel, Ava McClane is an FBI agent working on the aforementioned mass shooting. Her fiance, Mason, is an Oregon State Police detective who is investigating a single murder with connections to the larger crime. There are also complications from their personal lives -- and a wedding to plan. Elliot handles it all deftly.

Thanks to NetGalley and Montlake Romance for an advance readers copy.

Buckle in for the ride of your life buttercup. It's finally release day for book two of this riveting series and you're going to want to run and pick up your copy now. Starts out with a bang and the action just keeps ramping up until the explosive end. Unputdownable. A must read. Happy reading!

THE SILENCE is the second book in Kendra Elliot's new "Columbiana River" series. It picks up shortly after the end of book one (The Last Sister), and begins with tying up plot threads from that investigation by Ava and Mason. As the plotline continues, a man is gruesomely murdered outside Portland, and the blood-spatter evidence found by Detective Mason Callahan is troubling. The murder victim, Ruben Braswell, is found to have been a radical conspiracy theorist. While searching his home rantings against law enforcement are found by investigators and a name is found, Ava McLane fiancee to one Mason Callahan and an FBI agent. It turns out that the vic was Ava’s informant and had good reasons to be paranoid but Ava was dismissive of those rants, until Ruben turns up dead…And then law enforcement officers, responding to a threat found in evidence at Ruben’s house, are attacked. It’s a race against the clock to find out what happened to Ruben and stop the killer before they kill again. Good RS, and another good series by Elliot.

Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) provided by the Author and Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an fair and honest review.

Kendra Elliot is one of my favorite authors. She writes a wonderful mystery plot and her characters are fantastic. I especially like that she weaves characters from her older books into her new work. In "The Silence" we get a new McLane and Callahan update in this new series. I love it!

When Oregon State Police detective, Mason Callahan, catches a murder call, he has no idea what a can of worms has been opened and how it will affect him in ways he never imagined. The murder was brutal, but what Mason finds in the victim's office is even more chilling as it involves his fiancée, Ava McLane, and conspiracy plans to wreck havoc in the Portland area.

Ava McLane is an FBI agent who has finally gotten her life together. She has recovered from being shot last fall, is engaged to a man she loves deeply and the wedding is on track. Life is good, with some minor exceptions. When she is informed that one of her confidential informants has been brutally murdered and she was named in a conspiracy diatribe, she is glad that Mason caught the case. He would see that Ruben Braswell's killer is caught.

Ava's sister goes missing and so does Ruben's brother. Other people related and unrelated to the case are murdered and Ava and Mason find themselves at the center of it all trying to solve the case and keep anyone else from dying.

Kendra Elliot doesn't disappoint with this Callahan & McLane book. It's exciting and action packed that will keep you interested. These two are great characters that you feel you really know and like them. 

Detective Mason Callahan and FBI agent Ava McLane are engaged to be married in just weeks - if they can get these new cases they have been involved in solved and stay alive. Ava's identical twin, who has never been anything but trouble, may be trying to spoil the nuptials.  

The cases they are working on are dangerous and possibly connected. Someone seems to hate the law officials and is targeting them including Mason. A murdered man is discovered, Ava's twin sister seems to be missing and possibly in serious trouble. and someone is spoiling the wedding arrangements, All these things keep the couple in action to find the killer or killers and get to their wedding. 

Excellent story that keeps you turning pages late into the night. I like all of Kendra's characters but these two are a couple of my favorites. Well worth the read. Thank you NetGalley, Kendra Elliot and Montlake for allowing me to read this ARC. This is my honest opinion of this book. I highly recommend it if detective, FBI, murder mystery and romance mixed with family trials is what you like.

A gruesome murder, a mass-shooting, a vanished twin, and a wedding send Ava and Mason careening into action working together and apart from the pen of an author who writes some of the most riveting romantic suspense out there.
Review

The Silence is the second of the Columbia River series and one could also say it is the fifth of the Callahan & McLane series which are connected to the earlier Bone Secrets and the later Mercy Kilpatrick.  But, this one can do well enough standalone or out of order if the reader doesn’t mind the occasional mention of a previous case or character.

Oregon State Police detective, Mason Callahan, gets called out on a gruesome homicide that quickly morphs into more when he spots Ava’s name in the victims secret files and a bombing plan.  Meanwhile, FBI agent, Ava McLane gets a visit from her wayward twin’s boyfriend who is looking for her and this leads to Ava splitting her attention between her sister’s antics and a mass shooting of police officers.  Their cases really hit home for them and Mason and Ava turn to each other for support and understanding which bodes well for the wedding they are planning and hope they and all their guests will make it to alive.

I read the first of Ava and Mason’s stories, Vanished, earlier this year and enjoyed meeting this pair and their situations.  This book comes after three more harrowing series of cases and also the first of the Columbia River stories in which they featured as strong side characters.  I already love this authors books, but I was really anticipating the story knowing who were the leads.

Ava and Mason are both in branches of law enforcement and I love how they respect each other so much that they can cheer lead, support, but also worry a little without it getting in the way of their relationship.  Mason is much older and already has a painful divorce under his belt and Ava comes with a problematic twin sister who can also intrude on their lives.  But, they make it work through mature thinking and communication.  Does it mean they can’t make mistakes?  No, they do and they have vulnerabilities, but they learn and grow.

There were quite a few irons in the fire for this one and not all necessarily related to their cases.  I caught on to several facts before the characters, but got a couple fun twists as well.  And, yes, some of those unrelated story threads suddenly got together for a rather exciting finish.  I might have done a little yip of delight when there was a crossover character and Mercy Kilpatrick made an appearance.

All in all, I thought The Silence was a real page turner and I didn’t want to put it down.  There was always some important find or an intense situation that kept me at it.  I can’t recommend this author or her books enough including this one.

I rec’d this book from Net Galley to read in exchange for an honest review.

The Silence is an entertaining book that bends under the weight of the unlikeliness of the plot. 
Was it too much? 
It probably depends on where you are coming from. If you want a police procedural that's true to life, this isn't your book. But if you want some entertaining romantic suspense you'll probably love this book despite the few liberties the author takes.

This author has done it again. Her stories are action packed, with well developed characters. Although she writes books in a series I have always felt they were easy to read as a stand alone also. I enjoyed reading this one!

The death scene is horrific, blood spatter everywhere and the body tortured. Truly an act of rage, but why and by who? Thus, begins one of the most puzzling cases for Detective Mason Callahan, his fiancée Special Agent Ava McLane and their teams. A set up to murder police officers, Ava’s missing identical twin, another murder, a hunt for a killer or killers and an upcoming wedding. Ms. Elliot seamless weaves these events through this complex and fascination mystery. Surprises and twists blend through the lives of the characters as they follow the evidence to solve the various crimes. I was unable to put this one down, I had to know what was next. Great characters and a thrilling story. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)