The Silence

June 15, 2020
Early in this chilling thriller from Veste (The Bone Keeper), three couples, close friends from Liverpool, England, go on a camping trip to a music festival. One night, a scream brings them rushing out of their tents, except for the missing Stuart. The other five run into the woods in the direction of the scream. They find Stuart unharmed, but what else they discover leads them to make a split-second decision never to speak of it again. Big changes in all their lives follow. Matt and Alexandra split up after buying a house and talking about starting a family. Stuart and Michelle, who have always had an on-again off-again relationship, agree never to see each other again. Chris and Nicola remain a couple, but rarely see anyone from the group except Matt. Then Stuart is hit by a train, a possible victim of foul play. When another group member goes missing, the remaining four wonder whether their actions that day in the woods are coming back to haunt them. The suspense mounts relentlessly in this hard-to-put-down story. Veste is on a roll.
Agent: Nicole James, Chalberg & Sussman.

June 15, 2020
The past is about to catch up to a group of friends that may have accidentally killed a serial killer. A weekend music festival in the woods featuring 1990s cover bands seems like the perfect way for Liverpudlians Matt Connolly, his live-in girlfriend, Alexandra, and their childhood friends Stuart, Chris, Nicola, and Michelle to reconnect and shake off the middle-age doldrums. The fun turns into terror when Matt awakens in the middle of night to Stuart's screams. The group eventually catches up to Stuart, who is fighting for his life with a machete-wielding maniac. Matt's group soon gets the upper hand, and in the end, it's not clear who dealt the killing blow, but the stranger is undeniably dead. Despite his friends' urging, Matt nixes calling the authorities. For some inconceivable reason, he thinks they'll be accused of killing the man in an alcohol- and drug-fueled frenzy. They bury the guy and plan to skedaddle, but they then discover the body of a young man next to a flickering red candle. They reason that the man they buried could be the mythical (so far) killer dubbed the Candle Man who leaves behind red candles when he abducts someone. But no bodies have been found, suggesting he's a mere urban legend. Yikes, definitely time to leave and never speak of the incident again. Flash-forward a year. Guilt has been eating at Matt, whose narrative alternates between past and present, and his friends. After one of their own supposedly jumps in front of a train, they begin finding the distinctive red candles in their homes. They suspect the man they killed may have had an accomplice who is now targeting them one by one. Unfortunately, the narrative largely consists of Matt and the gang arguing the merits of confessing versus keeping their secret, and after slogging through a glacially paced story nearly devoid of suspense, readers might find it's too much work to get to a shock twist that isn't fully earned. Just watch I Know What You Did Last Summer instead.

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