Every Silent Thing by M.R. Madonna is a haunting, atmospheric read that pulled me in with its unsettling premise and slowly building tension. I really enjoyed the way the story creates a sense that something is wrong beneath the surface, keeping me curious about what was coming next.

There’s a strong emotional undercurrent to the story, and I appreciated that the horror and suspense weren’t just about scares—they also explored fear, secrets, and the things people keep buried. The atmosphere was definitely one of my favorite parts.

A creepy and intriguing read for anyone who enjoys psychological suspense with darker, unsettling elements.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

I was hooked on this book from the first page! I am new to this author’s writing but they had me not wanting to put my reading device down! The plot twist was WOW! From bruises to babies to birthdays ruined… simply amazing thriller and I will be looking for more of his books!

Every Silent Thing pulled me in with its layered characters and the feeling that there was always another secret waiting to surface. M.R. Madonna’s writing is especially strong in the way it shifts between tense, fast-moving moments and quieter, more reflective ones, giving the story a really natural rhythm. I loved how the suspense builds gradually while the characters become more complex with every chapter. Captivating, atmospheric, and incredibly immersive, this is a story that stays with you.

Every Silent Thing is one of those rare novels that grips you from the first page and doesn’t let go—not because of shocking twists alone, but because the emotional stakes feel painfully real. M.R. Madonna crafts a dark, intimate story about a mother and son trying to save each other in the only ways they know how, even as those choices threaten to unravel everything they’re fighting for.

Levi is a heartbreaking narrator—thirteen, terrified, and already carrying the weight of impossible decisions. His bond with Doley, a loner with a bruised past, is both tender and unsettling, and the way their friendship hardens into something dangerous is handled with such nuance. At the same time, Maggie’s secret adds a whole new layer of tension, reframing the story in ways I didn’t see coming. Watching Levi’s faith crack and reshape itself as he learns the truth was one of the most affecting parts of the book.

What really stands out is how seamlessly this novel blends domestic drama with psychological suspense. The pacing is tight, the atmosphere heavy with dread, and yet the emotional core—devotion, innocence, and the desperate hope for a way out—never gets lost. Madonna’s writing is sharp and immersive, and the characters linger long after the final page.

Fans of Gillian Flynn, Liz Moore, Chris Whitaker, and Dennis Lehane will find a lot to love here. Every Silent Thing is a powerful, haunting debut that announces a compelling new voice in the genre.

With thanks to MR Madonna, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC

Some books ask, How far would you go for someone you love? Every Silent Thing takes that question, strips away every easy answer, and leaves you sitting in the uncomfortable space between love, desperation, and survival.

At just thirteen years old, Levi Tallon is carrying burdens no child should even understand, let alone believe he has to fix. Living beneath the constant threat of his father’s violence and watching his mother endure it, Levi reaches the kind of conclusion only a terrified kid could convince himself is simple: if his father is gone, his mother will finally be safe.

Except nothing about this family is simple.

What I loved most about this book was how deeply layered it became. This isn’t a thriller that relies solely on a shocking reveal or a perfectly timed twist. The suspense comes from watching people who love each other fiercely make choices for one another without truly knowing what the other is hiding. Levi has a plan. His mother, Maggie, has secrets and plans of her own. And somewhere in the middle is Doley, a boy with his own complicated history who becomes both an escape and a dangerous influence in Levi’s life.

There is such a sense of impending collision throughout this story. You know these secrets cannot stay buried. You know these choices are going to have consequences. The tension comes from not knowing exactly how badly everything will unravel when the truth finally catches up with them.

But underneath all of that suspense is something much sadder: a coming of age story about innocence being taken far too soon. Levi’s perspective gives the book its emotional punch because you’re watching a child try to make sense of violence, loyalty, faith, guilt, and the adults who have failed him. There were moments when I wanted to reach into the pages and remind him that thirteen year olds are supposed to worry about thirteen year old things, not how to save their mothers.

Every Silent Thing is dark, intimate, unsettling, and incredibly human. It explores the frightening reality that love can make people brave, but it can also make them reckless and sometimes the things we do to protect the people we love are the very things that change us forever.

M.R. Madonna has written a psychological suspense novel with plenty of darkness and tension, but it was the emotional devastation underneath it all that stayed with me. This one doesn’t just ask what people are willing to do to survive. It asks what survival can cost them.

A must read debut novel. Run to NetGalley now to get it dear NetGalley friends. Oh my God. I am left speechless with so much emotion after barrelling to get to the end of this amazing novel. This one hit the heart hard. This was an unexpected gem in my week, my month and my year to date. This is a book I recommend you all read for so many reasons.

This was one of those easy books to get into from the start and be gripped right to the unbelievable ending. I was shouting at characters in my head in the last few chapters. I had a real true moment of feeling that hitch in my throat, the tears prick the corners of my eyes. Oh man. It hit deep.

Young Levi and his parents move back to the big house where his Mother grew up after his grandfather dies and the property is left to her. It’s another new start but Levi is used to these moves. They are moves away from questions and prying eyes and whispers. His Father. A violent alcoholic, his Mother - his punching bag with a backbone that made little sense for a lot of the book. I kept asking a lot of WHY? I got to find out and it blew me apart. Nothing is simple.

Some would call this a coming of age novel as Levi’s childish self begins to disintegrate the more he hates what he sees at home and questions so much in his life. I watched the hardening in him and my heart broke but I understood him. He is one incredible character I absolutely was rooting for. I needed to hug him a million times. You incredible young man!

Levi forms what is an an initially tenuous relationship with the towns hard kid, the tough kid, the fighter, some would say the bully and it’s incredibly complex as they bond together over so many different things. I want to shoot the damn spoilers out! Their relationship deepens and it is an integral part of the plot. The Author is brilliant at character development and making sure they stand out from each other. It’s also not that easy always to get you emotionally invested in characters deeply but this book did it for me.

There are so many secrets, lies, misunderstandings, cover-ups and deception in this novel. Yet so cleverly intertwined with storytelling and reality and humanness and feelings like pain and grief and loss and torment. In fact most of it is hidden from view. You try to follow the threads and go with the flow but you KNOW deep down something big is coming. It doesn’t just come, it slams through the pages.

I thought I knew the characters really well then something would happen to make my spider senses tingle that maybe it wasn’t so clear. I swung between opinions on many a character in this novel and even by the end, by the time I knew it all I still am conflicted on some of them. People do things for the right reasons or the wrong ones but once decisions are made at times in life there is no going back. That choice or choices can rot you from the inside out and chew you up and spit you out OR it can make you hold on tight to all you know because your very belief system depends on it. Either way things will never sit right inside you. This book is full of that.

I DID have the inkling of one of the major reveals earlier in the book than it was apparent but kept pushing it aside, it kept niggling that me however. I don’t know if every reader my get that same niggle reading this but it doesn’t matter anyway because once everything is laid bare, character by character and event by event you’ll be left speechless and lost in a world of feelings. I’d be shocked if this book doesn’t move your heart. Not in a sappy way - but real raw emotion.

It’s a book that needs to be read. If you are looking for something special to hook you in this is it. This will appeal to readers of any genre. Readers of just damn good storytelling. It took a long time for the Author to get this book from his imagination, a notebook of early outline to publication but thank you for not giving up on it along the way.

I lost track of time completely in the latter half of this book and the first half memorised me into what I thought was all I knew to be true. As layers upon layers and event upon event is thrust open in the last chuck of the book nothing could have interrupted my determination to finish this book.

The very ending. The last two pages. I wanted so much to read what I was reading and despite it not giving complete closure it let me imagine what comes next. If I can be so bold Mr. Madonna to please request a sequel because I NEED to know what’s beyond those trees.

Thank you so much to the Author and Publisher for my ARC via NetGalley. Go get it now!

Once it’s released in the world grab your copy and I highly recommend this one for book clubs. There are even some good discussion questions at the end of the book. I could see some great discussion going on over this gem. This is the type of book and debut Author I’d be wanting to represent if I still had my book publicity company. A book I can get behind and want the world to read. A huge 5 stars without a doubt from me.

My review seriously just skims this novel.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this one! Every Silent Thing is definitely on the heavier side, but I was surprised by how quickly I became invested in these characters. 🖤

This is much more character-driven than I was expecting. It takes its time, but in this case I think that really worked. You actually get to KNOW these characters, especially Levi and Doley, and their friendship was easily my favorite part of the entire book. Two kids carrying around way too much pain and somehow finding each other. 😭💔

There are some really difficult themes in this story, particularly surrounding abuse and childhood trauma, so definitely check the content warnings. But even with how dark it gets, I never felt like it was dark just for the sake of being dark. There is so much heart underneath all of it.

And can we talk about the title?! 👀 Every Silent Thing means SO much more once you’ve finished the book. I love when a title clicks into place as you’re reading and suddenly you’re like… OH. Okay. Now I get it. 😭 It fits this story so incredibly well.

I also really appreciated that this wasn’t just twist after twist after twist. The suspense is there, but the characters are what kept me reading. I cared about them and needed to know where this story was going.

Dark, heartbreaking, beautifully written, and such an impressive debut. 👏📚 I’ll definitely be interested to see what M. R. Madonna writes next!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📅 Pub Date: October 13, 2026

Thank you to NetGalley and Channel Street Books for the advance copy! 🖤✨

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I thought it was fast-paced, detailed, and had good character development. Looking forward to reading more by this author.

This was such an interesting book. I've never read anything like it! I really fell in love with the characters and the story line. The plot was deep and made you think. Will definitely be recommending this one!

The setting, vibes and characters immediately pulled me in and I was hooked since the first chapter! I finished this in one sitting because I just had to know how it was going to end! This was my first book by M.R Madonna and I'd love to read more in the future!

this book was incredible. this book made every emotional book reader emotion i had stand on end. Madonna makes it so you feel so close to these characters. like we could almost be in their homes and lifes and feel the pulsing unease in whats happening to them and choices they come to make. what we do for love? well, literally anything. but what will it do to us, and is there a too far to doing something you think might keep those you love safe? rescued from a monster what wouldn't we do?
the unease and broken heart comes not just from what this family is going through at the hands of this abusive father but also in what they think they need to do to fix that. in this little boys life it especially took the wind from me. and really did make me see how much these young children in these circumstances have to take on. how much it steal from them. how much it we shape their entire person and lives. that first port of trust and care should be the one that carries you onto what comes next. children and adults alike.
in this book we have one such boy and his mother. and we have one such boy that has had enough, that needs to get his mother safe. and to do that in his mind he of course safe means freedom. means being free from his dad by any means.
but what he doesn't know is his mother knows this and has her own secrets.
what was so fantastic was the unease and fear doesn't come from horror drops. it comes from how real and authentic this felt. how it made us feel as audience to it never mind what the victims of this must feel like every single day. i felt that hard in the chest.
and seeing how it affects this young boy, what it does to him and forces him to build around himself and make choices to do? ouch. ouch indeed.
when he meets and forms a relationship of sorts with the local hard lad. you feel scared even more. can any good comes from these two scarred lads. could it be a comradeship for them both or in Levi's current situation could it lead to something life changing. and not in a good way.
the way Madonna layers this story up makes it feel so vivid and more hitting. you can feel like this 360 world has been created for us here and we are somehow witnessing it in a close way. like you can feel so much in the chest every new things you learn, every new part to the characters, every new and next plot point.
what Maggie is hiding yet again twists you around to think something else, to change and shift perspectives. in her own way she re-frames what you think about her character and role in this story and what comes next.
i couldn't get enough of this book. im trying so hard not to be that person that just spills the plot. because its one of those fantastic reads where you just want to talk about it and feel the need to waffle on as much as you can to let it all out. its a book that is one you cant and dont want to look away from. i seriously lost time. i lost so much time that the colour of the sky shifted completely. it was night time. and in its own way that made the ending all the more engrossing and thought provokingly eerie.
this book was fantastic. one of those you cant ever just work through a search engine to find. because they just have that something else that makes them special. so when they come along by chance it makes them all the more impacting.

Levi is stuck in the middle of his parent’s abusive marriage. We have high stakes here early on in the story. As the violence escalates, the resentment and tension builds. His mother keeps promising him a fresh start but when they move to her hometown memories from the past resurface.

The author did a good job of keeping me hooked because the story was almost told backwards where we are waiting on this secret to be revealed. We get bits and pieces but when the truth comes out I was stunned.

I love a book that can portray how a secret can eat you up until there’s nothing left and this delivered. It also asks the question of what would you do when what you want is within reach but you have to lie to get it? Is it worth it or will you live a lifetime of regret?

This is a fast paced and anxiety inducing plot which is heartbreakingly told largely from the perspective of the thirteen year old protagonist, who is a really convincing creation by this talented author. The comparison to Gillian Flynn is a terrific guide for readers as M R Madonna has a similar rawness to the way they describe people and situations.