Customer Reviews

Price of Silence

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

A thoughtful beautifully told taut psychological novel with each of the characters drawing the reader into their innermost thoughts and secrets. All building up to a exciting ending. A must read - you'll definitely enjoy this book. Kathy F. New York City

I enjoyed this book enormously. It operated on several different levels; all of which meshed together beautifully.
On one hand it is a story of a family suffering from a great loss; and then again it is a murder trial. I loved the way it went back and forth between the trial and the people in the family all of whom perceived events in different ways. I also thought the relationship between the student and the teacher was beautifully drawn and showed the difficulties inherent in human relationships. The author's interest in Chinese culture was particulary fascinating. I think this is an author who has
created wonderful complex characters and a very strong plot.
I recommend it strongly. I could not put the book down.

This is a very well written book with beautifully developed and layered
characters. It depicts a family who has suffered a great loss and how
each member is affected by and deals with it. As deception becomes the rule rather than the exception, and unintended consequenses of actions
build upon themselves, the author deftly creates a world of suspense and
drama. These are characters you remember.

From the first surprising page to its stunning denouement, I found this book engrossing, entertaining, and fascinating: Engrossing because I didn't want to put it down despite the fact I had other important things to do; entertaining in its rivetting story line and the unique manner of presentation; and fascinating in its complex depiction of a cast of characters who, on the one hand, are universal and, on the other, are intriguing and unknowable. What a great read!

I don't know how this book is being marketed but it is both a regular novel and a crime novel. It was a pleasure to read such fine writing. I read a lot of crime novels and I seldom come across a book this well written. I won't call it a literary crime novel because I don't like that term. However, some would call it that.

The characters are well drawn and the plot is excellent. It's the kind of book I hated having to put down and couldn't wait to get back to. I'm happy I discovered a new writer. Read it.

In Manhattan Emma Perotti teaches English as a second language. Five years ago, Chinese immigrant An-ling Huang signed up to attend Emma's ESL class. Emma felt the frightened young girl's loneliness and overall defenselessness. Emma suffers from guilt from an incident involving the death of her other child as an infant. She has hidden her culpability from her husband Tom for years. she brings An-ling into her family.

Whereas An-ling thrives on her teacher's motherly attention; Tom is irate and resents the intruder; An-ling perceives his loathing Emma while Tom's teenage son Josh forges his own special relationship with her. However, when An-Ling is found suffocated to death, Emma is arrested. During her trial secrets the Perotti conceal from one another and that of the deceased Chinese woman surface.

This is an exciting family drama as guilty secrets lead to an implosion. The story line is fast paced from the moment Emma feels that helping the vulnerable An-ling will give her some solace from what she accidentally did years earlier to her little girl. Although the climax feels too easy, readers will appreciate this look at relationships when lies are key elements of the foundation.

Harriet Klausner

From the moment I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. The main characters made you genuinely care about them and want things to work out for this family. I loved the way the book went back and forth between the current day trial and the story of what led up to that point. Wonderful book!

I couldn't put this book down, it hooked me from the Prologue, and engaged me to the end, luring me with the twists and surprises, and moving me wonderfully with the writing - sometimes causing me to pause and then turn back the pages to see how she had carried me, the reader, from there to here. Breath-taking in parts, like when riding in an airplane and the plane is losing altitude.

The Price of Silence has gotten very good reviews as a page-turning, intriguing, very creative psychological thriller. New reviews emerged with the publishing of the paper back in June 2008. At the same time the Italian translation, Il prezzo del silenzio, was released in Italy, to great acclaim. The author as you might guess from her name, Camilla Trinchieri, is Italian American. Her father was Italian. She spent years working in Italy, and is fluent in Italian. Covered by multiple radio interviews, newspapers and magazines stories, the launch of the Italian book has received a lot of attention. For more information about the author visit www.camillatrinchieri.com, and keep an eye out for her next book!

A mystery set in New York City, the main characters, a family of three, all present their own perception of events as the story unfolds. The novel jumps from the present to the past and from various locales with such fluidity of motion that you hardly notice. The main characters are all focused around the murder of a young Chinese girl, An-ling Huang. Things are not as they seem as the story begins in a New York court room, where the mother and wife of the story, Emma, is one trial for her murder. This is certainly not your traditional "mystery," as the victim is made known immediately at the start of the story. What is gripping about this novel is how the story retraces the actions of the main characters, who all too easily begin to realize the price of each of their silences.

The novel, written first in English (and also translated into Italian), is masterfully written -- the story compelling and identifiable. You will marvel at how adept Trinchieri is at shifting the points of view of the story between the characters (each chapter or even subsections of a chapter are told from the point of view of different characters) as well as the temporal setting and physical locations within the novel. What is unique about this work is how the story bucks the trend of the traditional linear "beginning to end" who-dunnit. Trinchieri is no slave to tradition and manipulates time and place to heighten the drama as events unfold, which, I might add, builds and then finally climaxes as all is revealed.

Another interesting aspect of this work is how the victim is introduced to the reader. She is not simply a corpse, but an active player in the story -- seen different by each of the major and minor characters. Not only does it add depth and intrigue to the work, it also forces the reader to decide for him/herself which persona of the victim is the most accurate. This only leaves the reader wanting more!

I highly recommend this edgy and creative work. You won't be disappointed!

Narrated from three different perspectives, "The Price of Silence" provides an insider's look into the life of Emma Perotti, who is on trial for the murder of her former student and friend, An-ling Huang. Through flashbacks, courtroom transcripts and emails, readers learn about the complicated relationships between Emma and her husband Tom, her son Josh and ultimately An-ling. There was something wrong with An-ling right from the start which Tom sensed but Emma refused to acknowledge. As Emma grew closer to An-ling, her connection to her husband and son weakened. The story centers around the dangerous consequences of obsession and jealousy, while showing just how far someone will go to hold onto what matters to them.

"The Price of Silence" blew me away. I was captivated right from the start and I literally did not want to put the book down. This book is a perfect combination of all the elements that make up a great psychological thriller. There is so much depth to each of the characters and as the book progresses, another layer of their character is exposed. Though it seems like all the facts are presented at the beginning of the book, nothing is at seems and there were twists and turns that I could not have predicted.

I was also amazed by how the author's writing style shifted between each character's narration. Camilla Trinchieri truly embodied Emma, Tom and Josh as if they really had completely separate identities. I found myself thinking about this story and murder trial as if it were real. Ironicaly, it was An-ling's character that was most real and alive to me, despite her being dead throughout the entire book. Her presence in the book was haunting as she cast such a powerful shadow over the lives of the entire Perotti family.

This impressive book is not to be missed!

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