A father is murdered in the dead of night in his London home, his head wrapped tightly in tape, a crude sad face penned over his facial features. But the victim's only child is left alive and unharmed at the scene.
Met Police detectives Grace Archer and Harry Quinn have more immediate concerns. Notorious gangster Frankie White has placed a target on Archer's back, and there's no one he won't harm to get to her.
Then a second family is murdered, leaving young Uma Whitmore as the only survivor. Once again the victim's face is found wrapped and inked.
With a serial killer at large, DI Archer and DS Quinn must stay alive long enough to find the connection between these seemingly random victims. Can they do it before another child is made an orphan?
I read The Silent Man last year and it's fair to say that I loved it. I'm a huge fan of all of David Fennell's books but in my opinion, this has to be his best so far. It was easily one of my favourite reads of 2023. It's out in paperback today and so to celebrate, I'm re-sharing my review of this fabulous book.
The Silent Man is the third book in David Fennell's excellent DI Grace Archer series. I was hugely impressed by The Art of Death and thought See No Evil was even better but he has surpassed himself with The Silent Man. It's a breathtakingly tense, emotionally-charged thriller and easily one of my top reads of the year. It's not strictly necessary to have read the previous books but the excellent development of the recurring characters over time means I'd be doing you – and the series – a disservice not to recommend reading them in order, if possible.
The book immediately draws on what must be a universal fear; a man is watching a house prior to silently breaking in. The creeping sense of dread is tremendous, David Fennell inexorably ratchets up the tension as the intruder observes Jason Todd and his young son, Lucas. It's chilling enough when he's outside but once inside, the mercilessly cold murder of the father, leaving his head bound in duct tape, with a sinister emoji-like frown drawn over his facial features, is terrifying, and knowing Lucas is alone nearby, utterly heartbreaking.
The Silent Man should probably come with a health warning; I spent much of the book holding my breath and my nerves were scarcely given time to recover before Grace Archer makes her entrance and is soon facing an alarming encounter of her own. The adrenaline pumping scenes here are swiftly followed by an even more frightening revelation as she realises just how much danger she and her beloved Grandad are in. Gangster Frankie White's enduring feud with the Archer family means the stakes are even higher for Grace. This storyline is the climax of an ongoing plot and is superbly crafted, with the impact on her state of mind as important as how it affects her ability to manage the search for the twisted killer who is apparently targeting parents.
Grace's relationship with her colleagues has always added a further layer to the series; the close friendship that has developed between her and Harry Quinn, and the collaborative endeavours of her team are a marked change to the hostile reception she received when she first arrived at Charing Cross police station. Nevertheless, it's certainly not all smooth sailing for her here and the cliffhangers and dramatic revelations in some of these scenes are among the most intensely gripping in the book. Meanwhile, the chapters which reveal the warped actions of the killer are spectacularly dark and disturbing but there's another strand to this complex, intricately woven storyline which is just devastating.
At its heart, The Silent Man is a compulsive, penetrating portrayal of family life – the secrets and mistakes, of course, but love and trust are explored throughout too. Yes, this is a dark, spine-chilling novel but I also connected with The Silent Man on a deeper, more emotional level. It's almost viscerally obvious how much care David Fennell takes to ensure all his characters are nuanced, believable creations and not merely plot-devices. The immersive sense of place means ordinary homes have never felt more menacing but it's not unremittingly creepy; there are also some lighter, more humorous scenes involving some of Quinn's neighbours who, despite being advanced in years, are indomitably resourceful.
The juxtaposition between the nerve-shredding horror which takes place and the intriguing interplay between the characters is exceptional – The Silent Man is an exhilaratingly atmospheric, suspense-packed thriller from beginning to end but it also left me immensely moved. The first two books in this series were brilliant but this is an utter triumph - an outstanding rollercoaster of a read which I'll be recommending for years. The next book in the series will be published later this year, I don't know what David Fennell has planned next but what an exciting prospect it is!
The Silent Man is published by Zaffre Books and can be purchased from bookshop.org, Hive, Waterstones, Kobo, Amazon or your favourite independent bookseller.
About the Author
David left Belfast for London in 1985 with £50 in one pocket and a dog-eared copy of Stephen King's The Stand in the other (he had big pockets). He jobbed in bars and restaurants and later worked as a writer in the software industry.
He is now a full time novelist and some time screenwriter. In 2017 his first thriller, SLEEPER was published by the Dome Press under the partial pseudonym, JD Fennell. The follow up, SLEEPER: THE RED STORM, was published in 2018, and was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. His most recent books include the bestselling THE ART OF DEATH, SEE NO EVIL and the upcoming THE SILENT MAN. He is presently writing the pilot script for THE ART OF DEATH.
David is the founder of Brighton's Beyond the Book Festival. The inaugural festival will be held at the Friends Meeting House in Brighton on 6th April 2024, tickets are available here.
He is married and he and his partner split their time between Central London and Brighton.
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