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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." Victor Hugo, June 26, 2010
Ex-con Parker Harrison pesters PI Lincoln Perry until Perry agrees to look into a case for him.
Harrison had gotten into a home for paroled murderers run by wealthy, Alexandra Cantrell and her husband, Joshua. Harrison feels that Alexandra's intersession saved his life. Now, after being missing for twelve years, Joshua's body is found, buried in the woods. Harrison wants Linc to find Alexandra.
Alexandra is the sister of Dominic Sanabria, a powerful Mafia figure. Soon after Linc begins his investigation, Sanabria pays him a visit and attempts to find out who hired him.
Another PI, Ken Merriman, approaches Linc. Merriman had been hired by Joshua's parents when he went missing twelve years ago. Now, he wants to work with Linc in his search for Alexandra. Merriman sees the advantage he'd have sinc Linc, a former cop, has connections with the local police and he has experience in dealing with homicides.
Linc is also contacted by Quinn Graham, a police detective who is working on the case of Joshua's remains being found in Pennsylvania. Quinn is a stern law enforcement official who demands that Linc go through him in any investigation.
As the story progresses, the reader sees the frustration investigators have in working a cold case. Linc wasn't too anxious to take the case in the beginning and with lack of success and another tragedy, Linc puts the case on back burner. However, something changes his mind.
The novel is a good study of a man in turmoil and provides an interesting view of how paroled people attempt to adjust to society. The plot is complex, with numerous plot twists to keep the reader guessing about the outcome.
There is less suspense than in the author's "Tonight I Said Goodbye," but perhaps this is a more factual manner in which private investigators deal with some of the cases and misfortunes that can occur.
The author's theme seemed to be that the belief some people place in others can be rewarded.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE SILENT HOUR is not to be missed, September 14, 2009
Known and revered for his Lincoln Perry novels almost immediately from the publication of TONIGHT I SAID GOODBYE, Michael Koryta took a momentary break from the series and its Cleveland area environs with 2008's ENVY THE NIGHT. If you skipped that book because of the change of locale to Wisconsin and the absence of Perry, I would urge you to go back and read it. There are passages that will resonate far after you've turned the last page. That having been said, Perry's return in THE SILENT HOUR is most welcome.
I spent my formative years in the Cleveland area in the 1960s and 1970s; it was a great time and place if you loved rock music and the trappings that went along with it. Its fortunes have risen and fallen a number of times since then, but no matter what happens, it seems informed by an ennui that never leaves --- infusing not only the city proper once one gets beyond the outskirts of downtown, but also some of the tonier suburbs such as Chagrin Falls and Rocky River. Koryta captures this feeling perfectly through Lincoln Perry, an ex-cop turned private investigator who isn't exactly sure that this is what he wants to be. Perry's state of mind results from the fact that his job brings the people around him into jeopardy, whether it be Joe, his partner in their investigation firm, Perry's girlfriend Amy, or occasionally his clients. It has also brought Perry a degree of notoriety, by turns welcome and unwelcome --- and it is the latter in THE SILENT HOUR that brings Parker Harrison to Perry's door.
Harrison is a convicted murderer who, upon release, was a resident of Whisper Ridge, a hauntingly beautiful but unusual home that housed a unique program for paroled murderers like Harrison. It was the brainchild of Alexandra Sanabria Cantrell, the daughter of a deceased Mafia don. Reluctantly aided by her husband Joshua, Alexandra had operated the erstwhile halfway house on the theory that its rural setting would aid violent offenders in their efforts to keep their darker sides in check. After a little more than three years, however, the Cantrells disappeared, apparently abandoning the program and the house, which has sat deserted and neglected for over a decade. Harrison wants to retain Perry for the purpose of locating the long-missing Alexandra; Perry is reluctant, even resistant, to do so, in part because of his basic distrust of Harrison at first sight.
Nevertheless, Perry begins an investigation and almost immediately discovers two things. The first is that someone has been paying the property taxes on the Cantrell house, which has never been sold. The second is that the decomposed body of Joshua was discovered in rural Pennsylvania at almost the exact time that Harrison began his attempts to locate Alexandra. Furious with Harrison and himself, Perry fires his client. Yet he is drawn back into the matter by a number of individuals, including a sincere but only semi-competent investigator who attempted to find Joshua when he first disappeared; a hardened Pennsylvania police investigator whose jurisdiction was the site of the discovery of Joshua's body; and a former FBI agent who is obsessed with the Sanabria crime family, particularly Dominic, Alexandra's brother. Perry wishes to be left alone, not wanting to visit the trouble that is surely coming upon Amy and the semi-retired Joe. But the case tugs at him, and pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place even as tragic events, past and present, are revealed as well.
Many surprises are uncovered here, and this continues until practically the last page, where the law of unintended consequences is laid bare for all to see. Koryta emerged fully formed as a major talent in the mystery genre with his debut novel, and with each new work he continues to exceed the promises made by its predecessors. THE SILENT HOUR is not to be missed.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Study in Character, August 12, 2009
Lincoln Perry has ignored Harrison Parker's letters for several months, but when the ex-con shows up at his office door step, he doesn't have much choice but to talk to the man. So, he'll listen and politely decline. Parker wants Perry to locate his former employer, Alexandra, who disappeared with her husband twelve years ago; he's convinced Lincoln is the right man to tell the story.
The case seems simple enough and despite his determination not to take it, Perry agrees. Then little by little, he discovers all the details that Parker conveniently left out of his explanation. The details that walk Perry right into the middle of a murder investigation with possible ties to the Cleveland mob.
This is the summary of the crime that Lincoln investigates in this novel. But it is really more of a by-product of the main focus of THE SILENT HOUR. Lincoln does have to be a storyteller and find something that is hidden from the world. However, that search is internal. What Lincoln needs to find most in this novel is his way, the answers to his own questions. Lincoln must find the person inside himself who isn't full of the rage and the hate and vengeance. Even more than a crime novel, THE SILENT HOUR is a passionate study in character.
This is a Koryta novel that is going to wreak havoc on the spectrum of the reader's emotions, more so than any of the novels before it. And when Lincoln's story has finally been told, the reader will forever be changed.
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