Customer Reviews

Silent Night

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Three bestselling authors collaborate on an anthology but the result is a big letdown. Claudia Dain seems to have used teenflicks as inspiration for a story that's a bit immature for adult readers (I'd rather watch "The Blair Witch Project" again!) although Evelyn Rogers presents us with a thriller that's worth reading on the next dark and stormy night. It's hard to grab attention in a short story rather than a full length novel tho

Again, I know I say this alot, but I try not to blast a book too much because the writing is very hard to do and time consuming and I know the writer or writers in this case do not intend to make a 'bad' book, but sometimes, we need to call them out.
I gave this 2 stars when I really was thinking 1. Why? Because of the story written by Dee Davis. The second one.

Claudia Dain's story 'Tracked' was first and probably the worst. I was stunned at the childish way it was done and the characters being so unbelievably unlikeable. Aren't we supposed to like the heroine? The 'scary' parts were FAR from frightening and the story left me not scared or worried for her, it left me hoping she would perish and the story would end. I hadn't realized it would be about a bunch of kids doing stupid things in the woods while a killer lurks and somehow a love story emerges? More along the lines of a 'B' movie. 1 Star...

Dee Davis's 'Still of the Night' was good. It was far from excellent, but it was fairly entertaining. The heroine was realistic and the scenes were charged with suspense. Not what I expected still for the title of this collaboration is 'Silent Night' with a dark and cold snowy setting and a lone glove seeming to reach out for help in the tracks left behind it. But if you're looking for a real thriller in this story, you won't get it still. This is about mistakes and set-ups and murder-for-hire plot. 2 Stars...

Evelyn Rogers is the last in the novella with her story 'Wounded'. It was not a thriller and never scary or suspensful. I guess one could loosely call it a mystery, but I would never. This one is more 'wounded stranger on the run, stumbles upon irritating woman alone in house in the woods'. The heroine is very irritating and soon you start to empathize with the hero. She doesn't make for an interesting character.

Looking for a collection of thrillers? Not here...look elsewhere. Very disapointing. This is one of those rare books in which I felt like I wanted my money back.

Tracy Talley~@

**** Throughout this trio of stories runs a common thread, a woman is in danger, and must rely on the man who loves her, even though she may not realize he does to help her save herself. Beginning with a college girl lost in the woods running from danger, going to a woman who learns the man she wanted to be rid of has a secret, and ending with a DEA agent involved in a suspense filled mission, each one will hold you riveted. The strongest of the three is Dee Davis' entry, the middle story, with enough plot twists and romance to fill a full length novel. ****

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

Tracked

The story was a great idea! I liked the plot a lot. The writing was very realistic for getting into the brain of a 20-year-old (speaking as a not-so-distantly-20-year-old myself). My only complaint was that it ended too soon! But it WAS a short story, so some things have to be left unsaid, I suppose...

Still of the Night

This one had me on the edge of my seat. GREAT action and suspense scenes, and the hero had me falling in love with him. (Oh CONNOR! *swoon*)

Wounded

Evelyn Rogers's story was the sexiest piece of the three in Silent Night. I'm all about the tall, dark and handsome mysterious stranger, so this one was fine by me. The heroine was a little more tortured than I generally like my heroines to be, but I enjoyed the story anyway, and the ending was satisfying.

My review is just for Dee Davis' "Still of the Night" story in this anthology.

"Still of the Night" part of the Silent Night anthology
Reviewed by Nicole Boedeker


"Get out of there. Now."

With those urgently whispered words from the other end of the phone line Jenny Fitzgerald's life turns from bad to worse. It's Christmas time and her estranged husband, Connor, was just killed in the line of duty. Granted, they were getting a divorce, but his death gives her no real closure. The phone call saves her life as two killers enter her home and she is caught in a tangled web woven by the revelation that Connor was a dirty cop, working both sides of the law.

Turning to Connor's former partner for help and unexpected comfort, she tries to stay one step ahead of the killers as they try to figure out what the killers are after.

Dee Davis just gets better with each story she writes. In Still of the Night, the second story in the Silent Night anthology, she successfully marries gripping suspense and heart-pounding romance. This exciting thriller had me devouring the chapters in rapid succession, eagerly anticipating what shocking plot twist Davis hands her readers next. Ms. Davis is truly a rising star in the romantic suspense genre and has a talent for pulling the reader in and making them hang on her every written word. Look out Linda Howard, here comes Dee Davis.

"Tracked" by Claudia Dain. In the snow laden isolated Massachusetts forest, her so called friends abandon returning home college student Lindsay Gray. Now the Tracker is coming for her; as she flees she must decide whether she can trust Jeff, whom she does not realize that she has loved for a long time.

"Still of the Night" by Dee Davis. The phone call saved Widow Jenny Fitzgerald's life. Now she is on the run from a killer who wants her silent after murdering her husband and her best friend. The culprit hunts Jenny giving her no time to grieve her losses even if she was about to divorce her spouse. No place or person seems safe; can she trust even the caller who saved her life?

"Wounded" by Evelyn Rogers. During the snowstorm, Tessa Hampton finds the wounded man severely injured on her property. She wonders who is he and has he brought trouble to her isolated property.

These three wintry suspense thrillers with touches of romance hook readers from the start of each tale and never let's go until the final altercation occurs. The heroine in danger story lines will have readers freezing while on the lam alongside the females in peril.

Harriet Klausner