I was initially intrigued by the premise of this story, but the execution fell horribly flat. Tense swapped back and forth within scenes. Character point of view swapped within scenes. There was so much head hoping my own head was spinning. Everything was so confused it was impossible to read.

First off, I would like to thank Datura|Datura Books and author Sandra J. Paul, for allowing me to read this novel, The Girl Without a Voice, via Netgalley. All opinions following are my own.

Alice is a prisoner and invisible. A prisoner in her home and a prisoner in her own body. Alice is mute. Her parents don't notice her, and for "her own safety," she is kept locked in her house, primarily in her bedroom. As far as she knows, no one outside of her parents and herself know of her existence.

Then she meets her new neighbor, Hailey. They secretly start communicating through their bedroom windows. It changes Alice's life for the better. So much so that when her father, a traveling salesman, comes home one day and tells her mom and her that he is dying, she is able to lean on Hailey for support.

As her father dies an agonizing death in their basement, Alice, against her mother's wishes, goes to check on him. That's when, in a stupor, he seemingly confesses to hurting and/or killing women and claims he can help her speak.

After he succumbs to his illness, Alice decides to investigate. With Hailey's help, Alice discovers shocking details about her family's secretive life.

Overall, I found this novel pretty straightforward. I didn't feel as if there were many twists and turns, but it was still creepy. Therefore, I don't think it necessarily needed the twists and turns. The ending left me with a lot of questions, but it wasn't an ambiguous ending. After thought, I decided to give this read ⭐️⭐️⭐️. I would recommend this novel for fans of realistic thrillers/mysteries because, in many ways, it read like a true crime novel.

Alice has been living under her parents’ strict watch all of her life because they told her that she would not be able to survive in the world as she has no voice. At times she questioned whether they were telling the truth but ultimately you only know the life you always knew. Her life is rocked when two things happen in quick succession. The first is that a new neighbour moves in and she is slowly able to communicate with her and form a friendship, giving her a taste of a life beyond what her parents have shown her. The second thing that happens is that her father confesses that he is in the final days of a terminal illness and makes a deathbed confession to Alice.

Based on the publicised blurb of this book, I expected a very different story than the one that I got. The blurb explicitly said that Alice’s father confessed to being a murderer however that just didn’t happen. Her father’s confession was incredibly vague and it felt like a massive leap that Alice made to go from “my father said he had done some bad things to folks” to “my father told me that he has murdered a woman a year for the past 30+ years”. I also felt as though the blurb implied that the bulk of this book’s story was going to be Alice and her neighbour, Hayley, going on a roadtrip to uncover the truth. The deathbed confession doesn’t even happen until around the 40% mark and then Alice and Hayley go to exactly one town, extrapolate A LOT from some vague notes in her father’s journal, tell the police, and are immediately believed despite so serious suspension of belief happening. It felt as though a lot of this book was kinda filler with very little actually happening in Alice’s life before her father’s confession and we already had that spoiled for us because it was in the blurb. Overall, this was a book that limped to the finish line.

Beyond having issues with the pacing of this book, I didn’t feel as though it was crafted very well. We were basically explicitly told quite early on that Alice was mute because of something that her father had done when she was too young to remember. This happened just after Alice’s father sexually assaulted her so it wasn’t subtle at all about what was going on there. Hayley also acted incredibly suspiciously so it was clear that she had her own ulterior motives so it didn’t come as a surprise when it was revealed that she was the one who had killed Alice’s father. Even Alice’s origins felt not very subtle. Whilst it was surprising when we learnt about Alice’s biological mother, that was really the only surprise that this book had as everything else felt like it was broadcast with a bright, flashing light.

Whilst it is fitting that the victims of Alice’s father weren’t found as it would have been too neat, it did make for a very unsatisfying and unfinished ending. This especially felt the case since we have no idea what Alice’s father actually did with any of the women and he had said he wanted “one that he could keep” so did he immediately kill them and dump their bodies somewhere? Did he do something darker? Also, how had no one come across the body of Alice’s mother because bodies, even weighted, will eventually float.

I had a bit of discomfort with the way that Alice’s mutism was handled. I didn’t like the way that characters pushed for her to speak and she eventually did. It treaded dangerously close to disability just magically being cured. I don’t know enough about trauma to know how accurate the portrayal of the onset of her mutism was but it also felt a bit odd, her father told her once if she spoke her would kill her and she immediately internalised that to never speak again?

I wanted to love this book so much and I think there was the potential for this to be such an interesting story but the pacing just did not work for me and I felt that there were a lot of narrative conveniences that made it hard to believe the story that was being told.

Thanks to NetGalley, Datura Books, and Angry Robot Books for this free copy of "The Girl Without A Voice."

This suspenseful and exciting story drops clues along the way (and the blurb tells us that Alice's father is a serial killer) but I was extremely surprised by the ending!

Alice, a young mute woman, is kept (what feels like) almost-captive by her parents. She has no interaction with anyone outside until Hailey moves in next door and learns to communicate with Alice using ASL.

The story would have been so much more compelling for me if Hailey was allowed to tell her side - what it was like meeting Alice and what she felt as the two became friends.

But the page-turning part was Alice and Hailey unraveling and following the threads left by Alice's father. And Alice's mother finally sharing her part in the story.... wow!

The Girl Without a Voice is a thriller novel written by Sandra J. Paul, published by Datura Books. A psychological thriller that slowly builds the suspense while experimenting with a dread sensation, a plot partly inspired by true crime stories and a main character searching the truth while confronting her fears, discovering a total new world for her.

Alice, a 22-year-old woman, was born mute; her parents kept her isolated in their home, without a connection to the real world outside of books and soap operas. At her father's bedside (as he's dying from cancer), during his agony, she discovers that he might have been a serial killer; together with her neighbour Hayley, her first human contact outside of her family, she will start an investigative journey while trying to confront her fears and the real world, trying to tie the knots that connect his father with mysterious disappearances.

With Alice in the spotlight, we have a rather interesting and brave main character; one that is discovering the world at her 22 years, but also having to confront the reality that her parents have lied her all her life, almost abusing her to keep her tied to them. A reality that also brings her panic and anxiety, but in that regard is where Hayley enters. Her door to reality, but also the balance for those moments when everything is too much over Alice; she has her own motivations, but between our two characters a nice relationship is established.

Using a small town in the 1980s as the setting is a suitable choice; a start for what it is a big journey for the characters. During the novel, we can see how, among the thriller, Paul deals with themes such as trauma, healing and isolation; the weight of past wounds over the soul.
The pacing is fast, making you easily devour this book.

If you like psychological thrillers and true crime, The Girl Without a Voice is the perfect summer read for you; a smart and fast-paced novel with a fascinating main character.

Thank you to NetGalley and Datura for the eARC.

This book was so interesting! The father is the absolute best villain, the puppet master extraordinaire. I loved Alice coming into her own and learning how to stand up for what she knows is right. What a story!

3.5/5 ⭐ (read the ebook and listened to the audiobook)

I dove into this book without paying too much attention to the blurb. Because 1) Sandra J Paul is one of my auto-buy authors and 2) a few of the reviews said not much happened outside of what is mentioned in the blurb.

The first 40% of the book: very absurd and unbelievable, didn't quite know what to think of it. There are also various things occurring that are completely contradictory.
40%-60%: I was hooked because of things not making sense and all the red flags apparent from the very beginning.
60% - end of the book: things begin to make sense, you get more information, you can feel that everything is being set in motion. You get plottwist after plottwist, and they are very twisted, believe me. Just as I was expecting ;) at the end, you can finally see how everything fits together perfectly. Some things I predicted, others I didn't.

I would have given this book 4 stars if the first half of the book had been a bit more realistic and if some of the sentences would have been reworked to flow a bit better.

This memorable mystery follows Alice, a lonely young mute , who finds out her father may be a serial killer.
So many secrets, isolation and haunting evil leaves the reader gasping for air!

TGWAV is set in the 1980s and follows the story of Alice who is hidden away from society and kept prisoner in her own home. Her parents are cold and distant and Alice lives in a world without love and care. Added to the fact that she is completely mute, her parents treat her as a social pariah and as such keep her hidden from the world. When her father dies suddenly from cancer, Alice sets out on a mission to prove her father was a serial killer with next-door neighbour Hailey.

There are many topics raised in the story such as mental health, alcoholism, sexual abuse and of course murder.

I feel the story had a very slow start, there was very intricate details into Alice’s life and how she was treated by both parents, and there isn’t a lot that happens in the first 50/60% of the book.

From the point that Alice teams up with Hailey, the story accelerates quickly from there, with the ultimate conclusion of the book happening so suddenly - I wish there was a bit more of a build up of how they worked things out and proved what her father did.

I feel due to the abrupt conclusion, I wasn’t able to feel completely involved with the storyline and was left feeling somewhat underwhelmed due to this. Ultimately, I felt the ending was anticlimactic.

Undoubtedly, there are some beautiful moments within this sombre novel - especially that of the friendship to relationship of Hailey and Alice which blossoms throughout.

Alice has a very interesting and personal journey through the novel including learning to stand up for herself, to make her own decisions and choices as well as a journey through her own sexuality and what this means for her.

I did enjoy this novel, but the initial slow pace and rushed ending have been the deciding factor in my 3 stars. I would be interested to read further novels by this author.

The Girl Without a Voice had so much potential.

There were many mistakes where the author says something like “her clothes were left behind” only to say later in the story that she put on her own clothes that she supposedly left behind.

The “relationship” between Alice and Hailey was also ridiculous because after only a few times communicating the they were saying they loved each other.

There are so many wrongs in this story and it’s sad because the story line of Alice living in the house and her father being who he was had so much potential to be at least a 4* story.

A book like nothing I have read before, the girl without a voice follows alice, a girl who has grown up isolated from society and whose been mute as long as she can remember. With a cruel mother and absent father her only means of communication as been sign language, not that it has achieved much when they didn't care enough to listen. When a new neighbour moves in they connect and for the first time Alice feels heard, the neighbour hailey is dedicated to learning sign to understand her and as each day goes by this forbidden connection only gets stronger.

When dad suddenly returns from his travelling job and reveals he has cancer and the end is approaching, the dynamic change and a deathbed confession is made that changes Alice's whole reality as she sets out to uncover what her dad actually did while working as a travelling sales man and if he is behind a trail of dark events waiting to be connected.

I loved how this book had an phenomenally engaging plot but also managed to skillfully handle so many important experiences from exploring queer identity late in life, to fighting internalised issues such as ableism and homophobia. Despite the struggles we see our mc grow in strength, no matter the barriers faced and the masterful storytelling made this book so addictive I truly couldn't put it down until I was done.

Alice’s story is haunting and her journey they take is full of twists, trauma, and jaw dropping revelations.

My Rating: 2⭐️⭐️ It had promise, but let me down big time!!

Set in the fall of 1980, isolated mute Alice comes upon a startling discovery that her father may be a serial killer.

Born mute, Alice has never known a normal life. Kept from the outside world by her cruel mother and overbearing father, her only friend is her neighbour Hailey with whom she communicates through sign language.

When Alice’s father is diagnosed with terminal cancer, she listens to his feverish drug induced ramblings. And then, in his final days, he reveals something Alice never expected.

Alice confides in Hailey and together they vow to find out the truth and decide to journey her fathers old routes as a travelling salesman. With patterns emerging and missing women connected, Alice is wondering if the real reason she lost her voice is hidden in this secret mess…

Alrighty, this had promise, but was ultimately a let down. I have left some info out of the synopsis that is misleading because when you actually read the story things that happen in the synopsis do not happen the way they said… personally that annoys me because it gives away information in a deceitful way.

Where to start, I liked the idea of Alice’s awful weird life being the centre of this mystery, I thought we would get a lot more insight into her life in the house where she wasn’t even allowed to have the drapes open… but page after page it was just Alice reading… all day, not allowed to watch TV, secretly watching TV, until shes about 24 and thats really all shes done. Now don’t get me wrong thats a bloody awful life.. but other things must have happened in 24 freaking years… and why you ask is she mute.

We don’t know, why is she locked up, again we don’t know… the book goes on and on in a repetitious manner for at least 50% and I am thinking surely soon we are going to get something…. And what we get is after 24 years of Alice only breaking very minor rules she suddenly decides she will have a sign language chat to her neighbour… just like that.

In the synopsis we are promised that there is talk of her father being suspected of being a serial killer… well keep waiting… this one is going to take a while and when we get there its a bit of a blip on the radar considering the revelations that take place.

The story is told from our FMC Alice POV and to be honest I think it would be have been good to have a multi-POV for this one. It would have been good to see what was going on in her mums head, her dads and even Hailey’s.

So many things started happening in the latter half of this book… but also not happening. It was really unlikely that a locked up mute like Alice would just suddenly swan into the world and start solving crimes. I know she was having panic attacks but literally like two… then shew as like sweet lets get a hair cut and start wearing pretty clothes and by the way… totally attracted to my neighbour and want to kiss her face off… really… a 24 year old, who has been locked in a house away from the outside world her entire life… who cannot speak… who thinks her dad might be the next Ted Bundy… shes definitely getting dolled up and puckering up for her hot neighbour in a bit of girl on girl action.. sorry but I don’t buy it.. there needed to be some time passed for any of that to happen.

This story meandered along at a snails pace repeating itself over and over and then bam everything was happening all at once and often a lot of it was unnecessary, unlikely or just plain weird.

I kept reading because… well I was invested at this point.. but it was a hard slog, that wasn’t really worth it, the writing itself was fine… there were some decent parts so thats why its getting a 2 and not a 1 but really it was a massive let down… and the ending… look I get it… I know what the author was going for…but the delivery… nope… it was shit just shit.

Overall, I don’t recommend this to anyone on my list… I am sure there will be people out there that will love this.. but if you are a thriller lover or even a fiction lover of stories that are not super repetitive and full on nonsense you wont like this. I wish I liked it more… but unfortunately just a big let down.

Thank you to Datura Books, NetGalley and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars.

This book proves that thrillers may actually be a genre I need to explore more.

It’s a story that’s sad, dark, and a bit creepy. I went into it almost completely blind—not fully reading the blurb beforehand. I just saw it was by Sandra J Paul, and because I’d loved her flipover book, I decided to dive in without overthinking it. That ended up being the perfect choice, because every turn in the story caught me off guard.

I read 95% of the book in one sitting, and only stopped because I was interrupted—otherwise, I would have finished it all at once. I kept wanting to know where the story was going. Every time I thought I had figured things out, the plot would shift in an unexpected way, pulling me deeper in.

The ending left me with a lingering, unsettled feeling—not because anything was left unexplained, but because the atmosphere of the story stayed with me. In hindsight, I think that’s exactly what a good psychological thriller is meant to do: leave you questioning, even when you have the answers.

Highly entertaining, and I’ll definitely read more in this genre, and from the author.

The Girl Without A Voice
Sandra J. Paul
Datura Books
08/19/2025

It’s 1980 and Alice, now 24, has been sequestered inside of the walls of her home. She has been told she is different, unable to survive in the world without her parents. She is given books, records, an at home education from her mother and on occasion, she can sneak a television show. As Alice grows up, she picks up on patterns, her mother is an alcoholic, her father is a travelling salesman and rarely at home, but when he is there nothing good happens. Alice finally makes a friend when she gets a new neighbor, Hailey. They talk through the windows and sneak to get to know one another, and Alice finally has something/someone to look forward to; to talk to, to confide in and to have feelings for.

Everything she knows is turned upside down when Alice’s father comes home from work and announces that he is dying from cancer. One evening when in pain, his almost incoherent ramblings lead Alice to believe that her father has killed several women. Alice cannot believe it, but after finding ledgers going back 30 years, she decides to go with Hailey and try to uncover the truth.

The Girl Without a Voice is a chilling, full-throttle psychological thriller that blends the grit of true crime with the intimacy of a deeply personal journey. From the very first page, Sandra J. Paul drops you into Alice’s suffocating world—isolated, voiceless, and caged by the dark family secrets that have defined her life. The road-trip investigation into his past, the slow-burn reveal of each horrifying truth is as tense as it is devastating. Every discovery brings new terror that cuts deeper, and watching Alice grow, change, and fight to endure—and finally understand—the life she’s been forced to live is as haunting as the serial killer story that frames it. This is darkness done right: layered, relentless, and impossible to shake.

The story follows Alice, a young woman who was born mute and grew up cut off from the world. Everything changes when her dying father, in a haze of painkillers, starts making wild declarations.
What really stuck with me was Alice herself—how badly she wants a normal life, how much the neglect hurt, and how she’s caught between wanting connection and feeling safer alone. Watching her slowly find her voice is such a great metaphor for figuring out where you belong when the world feels dangerous.
That said, some parts lean a bit on familiar thriller territory: the isolated main character, the dark family secrets, the road-trip investigation. They still work, but you can sometimes see them coming. A bigger twist or a fresh take might have pushed it to the next level.
Overall, it’s an atmospheric, emotionally charged thriller with memorable characters—gripping, thoughtful, and well worth four stars.

I had the pleasure of reading The Girl Without A Voice as an eARC and what a delightful surprise it turned out to be! This psychological thriller delivers exactly what fans of Sandra J. Paul have come to expect: smooth, engaging writing that pulls you in from the start.

I’ll admit, the beginning felt a bit slow at times, but every piece of information you get there proves to be essential once you reach the ending. And oh, those twists and turns in the final chapters! They kept me hooked until the very last page.

I enjoyed every moment of this read and ended up finishing it in less than 24 hours. A gripping, twist-filled psychological thriller that’s definitely worth picking up!

Author: Sandra J. Paul
Book Name: The Girl Without a Voice
Publication Date: August 19, 2025
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Publisher: Datura Books

Thank you note:
Thank you to NetGalley and Datura Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Description:
Set in the fall of 1980, isolated mute Alice comes upon a startling discovery that her father may be a serial killer... A sharp read for lovers of true crime and Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll.

Born mute, Alice has never known a normal life. Kept from the outside world by her cruel mother and overbearing father, her only friend is her neighbour Hailey with whom she communicates through sign language.

When Alice’s father is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Alice listens to his feverish drug-induced ramblings. And then, in his final days, he reveals something Alice never expected. He confesses to murdering several women.

Shocked and disbelieving, Alice confides in Hailey. Together, they vow to find the truth and decide to journey her father’s old routes as a travelling salesman. A pattern begins to emerge, connecting him to various missing women, before the pair discovers the real reason why Alice lost her ability to speak. And how she is at the centre of her father’s crimes…

My Thoughts:
This is a chilling, intense serial killer story with the grit of a true crime thriller. From the very first page, I felt the fear, isolation, and pain that Alice has endured all her life. I was truly sorry for her, and at times, I was shivering in fear for both Alice and Elizabeth. The final line—“I’m his daughter”—hit like a punch to the heart 💔.

In a world filled with violence, abuse, and serial killings, there are still silent women who protect and save each other. Eileen, Elizabeth, and Hailey shine as quiet, determined fighters in the darkness, and I loved their courage.

The way the story unravels is masterful—layer by layer, secret by secret—pulling you deeper into the suspense. Sandra J. Paul has written a haunting and unforgettable thriller that lingers long after you finish.

Recommendation:
⭐ 4/5 – Perfect for fans of dark suspense, psychological thrillers, and true crime fiction.
⚠ Trigger Warnings: rape, sexual violence, child abuse, suicide, murder.

#TheGirlWithoutaVoice #SandraJPaul #NetGalley #DaturaBooks #MysteryThriller #BookReview

WOW! is all I can say

Alice is mute and this is a story that is dark and creepy and most of all just brilliant.

It is a book I enjoyed and that's weird, as a book such as this with everything that goes on. is not something I feel should be 'enjoyed' but it is a good read and fans of this genre will not be disappointed.

Upon his deathbed Alice discover secrets about her father and this sets of a train of events...

Without giving away spoilers this is a read that I am happy to recommend and quite honestly it's amazing...

This was a great, dark thriller. I enjoyed the suspense in and trying to figure out what was going on and who was who. It was heartbreaking reading about how she was cast away from society being mute and having no one in her life to communicate with her. The mother and father were diabolical characters who kept her prisoner her whole life. I really liked Alice and Hailey’s characters. I thought the story was well written albeit tragic. I recommend this to readers who like dark psychological thrillers. Please read trigger warnings before.