Remains Silent [Mass Market Paperback]

Michael Baden (Author), Linda Kenney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 2006

When a body is found beneath a construction site near the Catskill Mountains, New York City deputy chief medical examiner Jake Rosen is called to the scene, where he meets his match: Philomena “Manny” Manfreda, a beautiful crusading attorney. Together they stumble upon a decades-old mystery involving a long-shuttered mental institution, shocking medical experiments, and a troubled love affair.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Married couple Baden, former New York City medical examiner, and Kenney, legal commentator for CNN and Court TV, team up for this debut thriller starring a romantic and professional pair with job titles remarkably similar to their own. Dr. Jake Rosen, deputy chief medical examiner for New York City, gets a call from his beloved mentor, Dr. Pete Harrigan, who as county medical examiner in his retirement upstate, has just been handed a pile of bones dug up in an excavation for a new mall. After Harrigan identifies the bones of Korean War vet James Albert Lyons, who mysteriously disappeared in 1963, Jake suggests that Lyons's daughter hire an attorney, Philomena "Manny" Manfreda, a fashionista spitfire who specializes in representing the downtrodden. On their first date, Jake takes Manny to dinner and then to an emergency autopsy, where they banter cute while he dissects the corpse. After Harrigan dies of apparently natural causes, the body count rises, the romance between Manny and Jake heats up and soon nefarious experiments by the government come to light. Pedestrian writing and an implausible ending detract from this vehicle for Baden and Kenney's medical and criminal expertise.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Baden, a former medical examiner and host of the HBO series Autopsy and Kenney, a legal analyst for several cable news programs, add some sparkle to a rapidly growing subgenre with this energetic thriller that introduces a pair of strong-willed, affable protagonists who come to grips with bodies both long dead and hardly cold. Jake Rosen won't turn up on anyone's best-dressed list, but he's a crackerjack medical examiner, and he doesn't hesitate when he's summoned by his mentor to scrutinize human remains uncovered by a crew clearing land for a shopping center abutting the grounds of a state mental hospital. He stubbornly pursues the case, despite a series of occurrences obviously meant to warn him off. Just as obdurate as Jake is attorney Philomena Manfreda (Manny for short), "fighter for the underdog," whose client is the daughter of one of the dearly departed. Cruising around in her sports car, impeccably attired Manny seems flaky at first, but in terms of wits and courage, she's a perfect match for Jake. If not entirely bloodless, the forensic details are surprisingly tidy, delivered with an almost tutorial detachment, and the quirky personalities of the characters, especially Manny, add a layer of comedy unheard of in forensic thrillers. There's even a little romance. All in all, it's a very promising start to a new series; expect demand. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; First Edition edition (September 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400095611
• ISBN-13: 978-1400095612
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.6 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #328,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #43 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Medical

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Could be better, August 21, 2005

By 

N. Gargano "nokegchris" (Waynesville NC and Bradenton, Fl) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Remains Silent (Hardcover)

I wasn't really sure how to review this book....3,4 or 5 stars....it was a really fast, fun, interesting, hard to put down book...yet it was a little shallow, and.....surface.....
not sure how to explain.
I guess what I am trying to say, it was predictable, and mystery "light", yet it was so fun, and I read it in a day...it has been a long time since I started a book and couldn't put it down until it was finished. Well worth the read, I hope there will be another one coming with the same characters because I am not ready to let them go.....
Hard to explain....fun, quick book, good mystery, interesting forensics, not a five, but a strong four.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Are two sleuths better than one?, August 16, 2005

By 

E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Remains Silent (Hardcover)

Michael Baden is a former New York City Chief Medical Examiner and his wife, Linda Kenney, is an attorney and television commentator. Baden and Kenney are also the joint authors of "Remains Silent," a mystery featuring forensic pathologist Jake Rosen and attorney Philomena "Manny" Manfreda. Jake is a recently divorced workaholic and Manny is a crusader who specializes in helping the downtrodden. In many ways, Manny and Jake are polar opposites. She is a fashionista. He dresses in rumpled and out-of-date clothes. She is passionate and excitable. He is cool and collected. However, both Manny and Jake share one important characteristic. Neither one can stand idly by when someone needs help.

Jake's mentor, seventy-two year old Pete Harrigan, is one of the few people in the world whom Jake truly admires. Pete retired from his job as a forensic anthropologist in New York City, and he is now a medical examiner in upstate New York. Although Pete appears to be troubled and physically ill, Jake cannot find out what is tormenting his old friend. All Pete will say is that he wants Jake to come up and examine some old bones that have been found at a local construction site. Jake soon determines that the bones are human and that the skeletons may be the remains of homicide victims. He enlists Manny's help in solving what turns out to be a decades old crime.

Unsurprisingly, there are people who do not want the truth about these old bones to surface, and when Jake and Manny dig into the past, they find themselves in danger. As the plot plays out, there are burglaries, assaults, murder attempts, and quite a few twists and turns. "Remains Silent" is a competently written and mildly humorous novel, and Jake and Manny generate some romantic sparks. However, the novel goes downhill towards the end when Baden and Kenney come up with too many far-out revelations. Overall, this is an average thriller in what promises to be an ongoing series featuring these two amateur sleuths.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars poorly done..., March 13, 2006

By 

M.Carlington (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Remains Silent (Hardcover)

I found this book horribly dull and unbelievable, not to mention very poorly edited. Who edited the book - the authors' dog? Not only the car snafu, but on pgs. 28-30 Harrigan is misrepresented repeatedly as Harrington! A huge disappointment after the back cover's glowing reviews. So glad I didn't spend a penny on the book, rather, checked it out from my local library.