Book Review – ‘Perfect Silence’ by Helen Fields 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon books UK, Avon and Helen Fields for the chance to read and review this book.

“Death was a slowly creeping monster, and the terror was almost unbearable.”

The body of a young girl is found dumped on the roadside in the outskirts of Edinburgh.  When pathologists examine the remains, they make a gruesome discovery: the outline of a doll carved into the victim’s skin.

DCI Ava Turner and DC Luc Callanach are struggling to find leads in the case, until a doll made of skin is found nestled beside an abandoned baby.

After another young woman is found butchered, Luc and Ava realise the babydoll like is playing a horrifyingly game.  And it’s only a matter of time before he strikes again. Can they stop another victim from being silenced forever – or is it already too late?

Wow! Helen Fields blew me away with this book. It was her best yet and contained some of the most sickening killings and a serial killer that is among the most sadistic you’ll find. After finishing this book I was sat in shock and awe at just how brilliant it was. This was truly the perfect read to help me out of a reading slump.

Perfect Silence is book four in this series and bring back with DI Luc Callanach and DCI Ava Turner in Scotland feels like reconnecting with old friends.  By this point you know the Team but for anyone reading this as their first book in the series enough information is given for it to make sense and work as a stand alone book. Though I can’t imagine you not wanting to read the previous books after such a fantastic story and I would highly recommended the previous novels.

The horror faced by the first victim, Zoey, as her life ebbs away is a riveting and captivating start to the book. We witness her desperate battle to escape and survive the madman who kidnapped and butchered her, get a glimpse into her tragic life as she reflects on what led her to this moment, and feel her finally accept her cruel fate as she embraces the sweet release of death.

As Ava, Luc and their team hunt for the person who is kidnapping young women, killing them and making macabre skin dolls they find they come up with very few clues. How is he choosing his victims? Why is he killing them? Why make the dolls?

It isn’t until victim four is taken that they finally get some answers and as the police are closing in on their suspect the minutes are ticking by, my heart pounds and the switches in narration between the Ava and the woman being held make the wait agonising. Will they get there in time to rescue her or will a final victim be claimed? Will they capture the dollbaby killer or will they elude them? It is almost too much to bear as we race to the finish line with what seems to be the speed of a tortoise.

Right up until the police are about to knock on their door I’d had no idea as to the killer’s true identity other than the snippets the writer had teasingly fed us along the way. This made the big reveal satisfying for both the reader and fictional detectives.

The tension from the opening chapter is maintained throughout this book and I couldn’t put it down. I love how this author writes: her vivid descriptions, the apprehension that grips you from the first page, the horror mixed in with human empathy and kindness, the awfulness of meeting your fate at the hands of a maniac and knowing you are powerless to change it and the hope you can’t quite lose until that final moment death comes. These things blended together and set amongst the mundane details of everyday life create a story that gets it’s hooks into you the minute you start reading and doesn’t let go until the last sentence. Helen Fields has created one of the best Detective/Crime Series available. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Mystery, Thrillrime books.

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