Customer Reviews

Night and Silence

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Tessa Cordiner and her policeman husband David have moved to an idyllic rural village in Wales. But the idyllic life soon turns to terror. The body of a dog is found that police feel may have been practice for a human killing. A young woman is found murdered and left naked on a hilltop. And Tessa feels she is being watched and threatened

Templeton did an excellent job of conveying the discomfort of moving into a very small, insular community, particularly where the native residents speak a different language. There felt to be a lack of cohesion to the plot; the bits just didn't seem to tie together. I had a hard time connecting with the characters, including the protagonist. The suspense was good--I think it could have been stronger---and I didn't see the killer until almost the end. This was good, but not my favorite of her books.

The writing is not terrible but I thought the mystery lacking and I definitely wanted to smack some sense into Tessa Cordiner. It wouldn't be bad if Tessa did not show the occasional ability to cope before going all put upon. too stupid to live, and totally dependent on her husband to save her.

There's four different plot threads: 1)The anonymous interview of a mental health professional with a very unpleasant and plainly delusional patient; 2) Tessa and David's difficulties fitting into the village largely based on the villager's support to the point of idiocy of a local hooligan accused of stalking Tessa; 3) The murder of a young nurse and the waves it causes in the lives of those who were involved with her; and 4) David's difficulties with his ex-wife and his teenaged son.

The interview pops up as a continuing chapters through out the novel. I thought it a dead give away as to the solution of the mystery and the final twist.

As for Tessa's problems with the locals-- the author does everything she can to isolate Tessa including alienate her from her policeman husband and having her car break down at a very unfortunate moment. This book might have worked very well as a study of a woman brought to the edge by the circumstances she finds herself in if the author had stuck to Tessa's story and not added all the other threads. The fact that the author tells a great deal of the story from Tessa's point of view makes the conclusion less satisfying when near the end the viewpoint shifts permanently away from Tessa.

The murder of the young nurse does stir up some suspense but that is quickly dissipated.

While the crisis near the end tries to bring things together, the actual mopping up of the various mysteries is weak and unsatisfying.