24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"We're surrounded by illusions.", October 19, 2005
Kate Wilhelm's "The Price of Silence" takes place in the small desert town of Brindle, Oregon. Todd Fielding and her husband, Barney, are low on funds and Todd is thrilled when she gets a job at a small newspaper, the "Brindle Times." She edits, does layout, and troubleshoots computer problems for the eighty-year-old publisher, Ruth Ann Colonna. In addition to her regular duties, Todd is helping Ruth Ann with a special centennial edition of the newspaper that will deal with the history of Brindle. It seems that back in 1888, there was a fire in an inn that killed four people, including a young woman named Janey. Was the fire deliberately set or was it an accident? Ruth has uncovered sources that reveal shocking secrets about the circumstances surrounding the tragedy. She intends to tell the town the truth about what really happened and why.
When Todd starts working at the newspaper, she is startled to learn that a series of teenaged girls have disappeared over the years and, recently, a fourteen-year-old named Jodie Schuster has just gone missing. Did these girls run away or were they abducted? Todd senses that there is an evil presence in Brindle, and she stirs up a hornet's nest when she decides to write a series of articles about the disappearances.
"The Price of Silence" is a solid psychological mystery with spooky supernatural elements. At night when she is staying in Brindle, Todd occasionally feels a tremendous chill spreading throughout her body. After the chill subsides, she feels depressed and even breaks down in tears. As time goes on, Todd believes that she is experiencing a paranormal phenomenon in which a ghostly presence is attempting to communicate with her.
Wilhelm's characters include the aforementioned Ruth Ann, who is a crusty, brilliant, and forceful woman. Her son, Johnny, manages the newspaper, and he bitterly resents Todd. He would love to get rid of this nosy interloper, but Ruth Ann will not hear of it, since Todd's skill with computers and her insightful reporting quickly make her an indispensable asset. Todd's doting husband, Barney, a doctoral candidate in philosophy, fears for his wife's safety when she begins to receive hate mail. His fears prove well founded when someone makes an attempt on Todd's life.
"The Price of Silence" effectively deals with the themes of complacency, family dysfunction, and courage under pressure. The inhabitants of Brindle would prefer to believe that all is well in their town, although the evidence points to the possibility that there is a dangerous predator in their midst. It takes a fearless outsider, Todd Fielding, to shake things up, but can she find the killer before she becomes his next victim? Wilhelm maintains a high level of suspense, and she skillfully describes a place where people would rather live in a world of illusion than face unpleasant truths.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
terrific amateur sleuth, September 28, 2005
Having lost her job and knowing that her beloved spouse Barney has two years to go on his dissertation, Oregonian Todd Fielding obtains work on the Brindle Times as the newspaper's octogenarian owner Ruth Ann Coleman knows her paper needs a computer expert journalist. Though on the other side of the mountain from where Barney attends school and teaches, Todd accepts the position that comes with a rent free house. Barney's faculty advisor arranges his schedule so that they can spend most of each week together.
Todd and Ruth Ann become close confidents as the newcomer's work and ethics are excellent. When a high school girl Jodie Schuster vanishes, Todd questions the local cops who blow her off insisting she is just another bored teen runaway. Todd investigates further and soon finds a shocking pattern of missing teenage females over recent years with law enforcement doing nothing except yawning. With Ruth Ann providing an identical but much older pattern of disappearances, the two women investigate not realizing the danger from a town icon who wants his predatory nature to remain secret.
This is a terrific amateur sleuth tale that enables the audience to first appreciate the strong relationships between Todd and Barney (in spite of a sexual female prowler), and Todd and Ruth Ann (the "cold" air and the recognition the paper is the elderly woman's "baby"). Once the tale switches to the amateurs sleuth investigation, fans obtain a fantastic mystery as the two journalists struggle to uncover who is behind the abductions of recent note and who got away with the first generation killings under the watch of Ruth Ann's late father. Kate Wilhelm writes a terrific thriller that hopefully will have sequels set in Brindle, Oregon.
Harriet Klausner
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