The Silence by Kendra Elliot

A dead conspiracy theorist. A mass murderer. Two cases collide for Callahan and McLane in a pulse-pounding thriller by Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author Kendra Elliot.

A man is savagely murdered outside Portland, and Detective Mason Callahan finds blood-spatter evidence that tells a troubling story. Files reveal the murder victim, Reuben Braswell, was a radical conspiracist. In his home, investigators find pages of diatribes against law enforcement as well as ties to Mason’s fiancée, FBI special agent Ava McLane. The victim was her informant—and had strong reasons to be paranoid.

To Ava, Braswell’s rants were those of a wearying and harmless man… until they collide with her investigation into the murders of police officers and finding the connection becomes urgent. Meanwhile, Braswell’s brother and Ava’s twin sister both disappear, and disturbing acts of sabotage target Ava’s personal life.

For Mason and Ava, the brutal crimes and escalating mysteries create a perfect storm for a terrorist conspiracy that becomes dangerously personal—one that has yet to claim its last victim.

Book 2
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
~ Also Available with KindleUnlimited ~

Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆
M/F Thriller

Ava is an FBI agent who has been seeing a CI for a while now. She's not quite sure he's a true CI as he never really has ever given information that is worth anything. When her CI is found to have been killed, but left behind strange bomb references, Ava is called in to see if there could be any credibility to the threat.

Mason is Ava's fiancé, but he is also a police officer himself. When he realizes that Ava is semi-implicated in his case, he knows that she'll want to be a part of it. Mason is trying to figure out why there might be a bombing and trying to keep Ava out of harm's way.

While these two race against the ticking clock to find out where the bomb might be happening and why, the twists and turns this story take are very fun. You also get to glimpse into Ava's home life and family life. Both Ava and Mason are used to dealing with Ava's sister, but this time, it comes at the most inopportune time. I really enjoyed seeing other characters from Elliot's other stories too. This won't disappoint if you like a mystery with a little romance thrown in.


Veronica – ☆☆☆☆
We start with Mason at a pretty gruesome crime scene where an informant of Ava’s has been murdered. A manifesto found at the crime scene leads to a bomb threat which leads to an even more devastating crime. While Mason works on the homicide investigation, Ava is assigned to the task force looking into the fallout from the bomb scare. More crimes take place that may or may not be connected to the investigations Ava and Mason are working on and it was exciting watching it unfold and trying to figure out who did what and how various crimes were connected, if at all.

The Silence flowed really well and had a good pace. Not so slow that you get bogged down in details and not so fast that you can’t keep up with the story. During all the crime solving and action, Mason and Ava are preparing for their upcoming wedding and dealing with the disappearance of Ava’s misbehaving twin sister.

This is a really good, easy-to-read story for those of us that like good crime solving and a little bit of love story mixed together. The action is really good too and as I read, I couldn’t help thinking that this would make a great movie or TV series. The Silence gets a solid 4 stars from me.


Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
This is a huge, confusing jigsaw puzzle of a murder mystery. Kendra Elliott fans will remember Mason and Ava from previous books. Here, the state police detective and the FBI agent are thrown into overlapping cases weeks before their wedding. As Mason attempts to solve a homicide, Ava is appointed to the task force for a related mass shooting.

This story is complicated, moving quickly between Ava and Mason’s investigations. I really like the interplay between the couple and their partners. Many of the characters are familiar from the author’s earlier books and I enjoyed seeing them in a different context.

This story moves quickly, and I like the way all the plot threads eventually meet up. I don’t feel like Mason and Ava are quite as developed as some of my favourite Kendra Elliott characters, but the storylines involving Ava’s family add depth and complexity to her character. This isn’t necessarily a murder mystery that readers can solve alongside Ava and Mason. I enjoyed following the twists and turns of their investigations, but I usually like to be able to put the pieces together for myself. I enjoyed the fast pace of the investigations and I love that there are a couple of revelations that took me completely by surprise.

Fans of the author will enjoy this book but I think new readers might be thrown by the many characters we’re expected to know from previous books and series. I’m fairly sure the book could work as a standalone but I’ve read too many of the author’s books to know this with any certainty.


Shannan – ☆☆☆☆
The Silence is the second book in the Columbia River series. You should read book one to completely understand the storyline.

Ava and Mason are planning their wedding until a murderer forces them to put their plans on hold. Mason finds out his murder victim is tied to Ava. While they work together, they face many obstacles, both on the job and with family. As always, Kendra Elliot leads you on a suspenseful page-turning journey. The Silence does tie up some lose ends that were hanging from book one, bringing their story to a natural ending.

I was intrigued by this read. It had me invested throughout.

Also Available in the Columbia River Series

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
~  Also Available with KindleUnlimited  ~

For reviews & more info, check out our The Last Sister post.

Kendra Elliot has landed on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list multiple times and is the award-winning author of the Bone Secrets and Callahan & McLane series and the Mercy Kilpatrick novels. Kendra is a three-time winner of the Daphne du Maurier Award, an International Thriller Writers finalist, and an RT Award finalist. She has always been a voracious reader, cutting her teeth on classic female heroines such as Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Laura Ingalls. She was born, raised, and still lives in the rainy Pacific Northwest with her husband and three daughters but looks forward to the day she can live in flip-flops.

Connect with Kendra

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Silence (Columbia River #2) by Kendra Elliot to read and review.