The Black Silent [Paperback]

David Dun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2005

In the black depths of the ocean, a discovery has been made - one with the potential to change the future of humankind - and unleash mortal danger for those who know of its existence. Now, Haley Walthers is on the run. Her friend and mentor, Ben Anderson, is missing, and the one man she hoped never to see again is the only man who can help her. Sam Wintripp is a former covert operative whose shadowy past has trained him to be as lethal as anyone he's up against. Together, they set out to find Ben - and learn the secret that a soulless corporate syndicate will do anything to possess. With a merciless enemy closing in, Haley and Sam must prevail in a brutal race through a vast wilderness. Against all odds, they'll risk everything to secure the extraordinary finding that, in the wrong hands, could wreak untold devastation, starting with the Pacific Northwest - and ending with the world...

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Original, compelling...a page turner in the best sense of the word!"

About the Author

David Dun lives with his wife, Laura, on a redwood covered mountainside in far nothern California. When he's not practicing law or writing, he works out, takes forest walks, scuba dives, and cruises the Inside Passage of British Columbia. He is at work on his next novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Pinnacle (July 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078601637X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786016372
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,507,966 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Global warming, living longer and other disasters, September 9, 2005

By 

Amanda Richards (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Black Silent (Paperback)

Scientist Ben Anderson is on to something - something apparently worth killing for, and now he's on the run from some nasty characters backed by a corporate syndicate with seemingly endless resources.

In a nutshell, there are some microbes living under intense pressure, deep underwater, where the water is black and silent, quietly going about their business making tons of methane, and living a lot longer than they should.

As the story goes, these vast methane deposits are simmering down there, waiting to be tapped for energy, or for the next cataclysmic disaster, whichever comes first. Under the right circumstances, there's the possibility of blowing the earth to kingdom come, but the main focus for Ben and his secret society is discovering the secret of longer life. As a side project, Ben is doing the "scientist-playing-God" thing, fiddling with DNA and microbe genes, and experimenting with a trusting giant octopus that hasn't been told that his reproductive days are over.

Ben's adopted daughter Haley Walthers has been framed by the same big corporation, and when she gets a strange call from Ben, she falls headlong into a fight for her life against the psychopathic Officer Frick and his minions, who are trying to uncover Ben's secrets under the umbrella of the corporation. What Frick doesn't count on is Haley's guardian angel Sam Wintripp, Ben's nephew, and full fledged ex-secret agent who majored in survival.

Heavy on the action and even heavier on the science, some parts of this book will make your head spin, and some parts will have you turning the pages without breathing as the man and microbe hunt spirals out of control. The heroics of the once wheelchair-bound long suffering hero are a tad overdone, and you can't help but think that the author had it in for this character big time. His strength and perseverance seem endless, despite insurmountable odds, deadly enemies and a haunted past, and the romance subplot never amounts to anything much more than a plot device.

Never-the-less, this book provides much food for thought, and should satisfy readers looking for an adrenaline fix.


Amanda Richards, September 10, 2005

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting suspense thriller, June 29, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Black Silent (Paperback)

In Washington State marine biologist Dr. Ben Anderson conducts research into organic molecules at the Sanker Foundation though this is his last weekend there. He did not like the brass accusing his adopted daughter Haley Walthers of stealing the ideas of other scientists and he does not trust the security chief Frick from stealing his work on organic molecular structure impacting on youth retention. Thugs accost Ben in his facility.

Haley, who was fired and currently owns a bike shop on one of the Puget Sound islands, is worried about her mentor since she has not heard from him recently and he has been very secretive. She and Ben's assistant Sarah visit his nephew retired private espionage guru Sam Wintripp on San Juan Island to see what he knows. Sam knows as much as the two ladies: nothing. However, Ben's anxious message on Haley's cell phone puts the retired operative back into the field to try to rescue his uncle. Neither he nor Haley is prepared for a nasty corporation that will do anything to own the fountain of youth.

THE BLACK SILENT is an exciting suspense thriller that grips the audience from the moment that Ben barely escapes an undersea attack and never blinks until the final confrontation with an avaricious corporation headed by immoral individuals. Though the enemy seems so depraved that they seem more suited for a fantasy tale than a chilling thriller, readers will enjoy the action that never decelerates. While Ben's caring efforts to prolong the quality of life is about to be abused, fans will root for Sam and Haley to rescue him and save the world.

Harriet Klausner

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Thriller could use some editing, December 31, 2005

By 

Debra Hamel (North Haven, CT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Black Silent (Paperback)

David Dun's The Black Silent starts well: a diver, his air hose slashed, struggles with an attacker in the murky waters off the San Juan Islands. The diver is a scientist, Ben Anderson, who's discovered something people will kill for. When he disappears his adopted daughter Haley and her would-be love interest Sam, a former covert operative, follow the cryptic clues Ben's left behind to discover what he was working on--a complex mix of anti-aging formula and an alternative energy source. Together they riffle through filing cabinets and break into houses and drive boats dangerously fast, all while being pursued and occasionally shot at by the book's chief bad guy, Garth Frick, and his band of hired thugs.

Dun's book could have been a nail-biter, but it falls short, principally because the characters are not sufficiently developed. Frick, for example, is painted as a malevolent entity who pursues his quarry single-mindedly, but we don't know precisely what motivates him--other than his banal interest in money, a kind of all-purpose motivator. Haley and Sam are given more personality, but they are not as fully developed as they might be. We are not always told what the characters' immediate goals are, so that the plot can be confusing. The too-long chase scenes wind up lacking suspense both because we don't know what the protagonists are attempting to achieve and because we don't quite like them enough to care whether they achieve it.

With better character development, further editing of some rough spots in the narrative, and the excision of perhaps a hundred pages, The Black Silent could have been a taut thriller. Dun is a bestselling author, and it's possible that these flaws are the result of the book being rushed to market. Readers may be interested in checking out his earlier books.

Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece