The author describes her characters as complicated and complex., and flawed. Some characters seem very quirky, and could be suspect to many things. Our heroine,Nurse Amelia Winn is now deaf after a terrible accident. To deal with the after-effects of losing her hearing, Amelia became an alcoholic and now is in recovery. Her hearing loss is not the only loss that Amelia has suffered. She is on the verge of divorce with her husband, and has to have supervision to see her step-daughter Nora. She is not longer a practicing nurse. My favorite character is “Stitch”, Amelia’s service dog.

Amelia and Stitch are paddling on a small river by her cabin, and discover a dead body. Amelia recognizes the now deceased person. This is the beginning of a dark and dangerous mystery  that Amelia has gotten herself involved in. Both Amelia and Stitch are very curious.  On the cover of the book is written ” Silence is Deadly” A major problem is that Amelia can’t hear anything and is dependent on her other senses as well as Stitch.

I appreciate that Heather Gudenkauf  brings to our attention disabilities, such as hearing loss, and how it is hard work to learn how to function  in the best way possible.. I also am impressed the amount of personal experience and research that went into this. The author also brings up the relevant and unfortunate topic of Cancer and other illnesses, and the cost to patient and families.

I would highly recommend this novel with twists and turns, suspense, intrigue. Again, MY WARNING:  Very hard to put down!! I look forward to reading more of Heather Gudenkauf’s books.