Silver Falls [Mass Market Paperback]

Anne Stuart (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Stuart (Tangled Lies) delivers fast-paced, dark thrills in this straightforward suspense novel. Professor David Middleton has whisked traveling photographer Rachel Chapman off to sleepy Silver Falls, a small college town in the Pacific Northwest, promising stability for her and her teen daughter, Sophie. Newlywed Rachel soon starts to feel smothered by the gloomy weather and David's repressive personality, which Sophie finds creepy and disturbing. Then David's incredibly sexy brother, Caleb, comes home, and young blonde women who resemble Sophie start turning up dead. Rachel is torn between irresistible attraction to her brother-in-law and impatience when he tries to warn her about the serial killer. Stuart breaks little new ground, and readers may be slightly annoyed by the early revelation of the murderer's identity as well as by Sophie outclassing ostensible protagonist Rachel in both brains and sass. (May)
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From Booklist

It’s hard to imagine a less compatible twosome: Philomena Manfreda (Manny for short) is a tough, energetic defense attorney who goes with her gut and has a classy designer wardrobe that threatens to take over her tiny apartment; Jake Rosen, deputy chief medical examiner for New York City, depends on facts and dresses in clothes that look like they were “bought during the Reagan administration.” But opposites clearly attract, as the duo’s second outing proves. This time around, the pair, aided by Jake’s brother, who does the investigative legwork, pursues a killer with a penchant for stealing victims’ blood. The authors (Linda, an experienced trial attorney, and Michael, a renowned forensic expert) know the background, but they mine it with a light touch; the scientific particulars are less integral to the goings on (and less vivid) than fans of Tempe Brennan or Kay Scarpetta might expect. What’s most memorable here are the brisk pace and the characters’ sparkling repartee, which make for a pleasantly entertaining change of pace. --Stephanie Zvirin

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Mira; 1 Original edition (May 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778325970
• ISBN-13: 978-0778325970
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,054,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been writing since the dawn of time. A child prodigy, I made my first professional sale to Jack and Jill Magazine at the age of 7, for which I received $25 (admittedly my father worked for the publisher). Since then I've written gothics, regencies, romantic suspense, historical romance, series romance -- anything with sex and violence, love and redemption. I misbehave frequently, but somehow have managed to amass lots of glittering prizes, like NYT, PW and USA Today bestseller status, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Romance Writers of America, and a decent smattering of Romantic times and RITA awards.
I live on a lake in Northern Vermont with my incredibly fabulous husband. My two children have flown the coop, but the three cats do their best to keep us from being lonely.
In my spare time I quilt and play around with wearable art, and the rest of the time I write write write. Apparently women of a certain age get a rush of creativity, and I'm currently enjoying it. Too many stories to write, not enough hours in the day.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This Anne Stuart fan says: Don't buy it. Under no circumstances. Just don't., May 21, 2009

By 

R. Murphy (Eastern U.S.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Silver Falls (Mass Market Paperback)

I like Anne Stuart. I like her morally bankrupt heroes, her neurotic and mouthy heroines, and I love how far she pushes the envelope of behavior. I like her old stuff, and I like her new stuff. I just like her.

So please consider that when I say, don't buy this book. Close your eyes and pretend that it isn't even part of Anne Stuart's body of work. Because this is without a doubt the worst thing she has ever written in at least two decades.

Rachel, our heroine, is brain-dead. That somewhere along the line she received a lobotamy is the only explanation for her truly, dismally idiotic behavior. It is painfully obvious from the beginning (yeah, even Stuart gives up the 'suspense' element of the big seecret at about the second chapter) that Rachel has married a serial killer, and one who has a fixation on her daughter. Rachel is constantly presented with things that would send even a fairly dull-minded heroine fleeing for the door (gosh, my husband sure is controlling. gee, he seems weirdly fixated on me signing certain legal documents. wow, isn't it weird that we've only had sex once and that I've never seen him naked? huh, it seems a bit strange that he continually tries to remove all signs of my presence in this house. crikey, you actually mean that I've never been inside his locked home office where he keeps a shrine to his own killings and talismans of his victims?) yet she stays. People around her (best friend, father-in-law, hot brother-in-law) keep warning her about her husband, yet she blithely returns to him. She actually *goes home* after the hero tells her to her face that the husband is a serial killer -- after *she herself* basically responded, "Yeah, that does seem to make sense."

Reading a book with a heroine this deeply stupid is a waste of time, and too frustrating for words. Rachel has a few cute scenes with the hero, which is why I gave it two stars, but not nearly enough to make up for how stupid she is for the entire rest of the book.

Let me put it this way -- a mentally retarded labradoodle would've lasted until maybe Chapter 4 before saying, "You know, hot brother-in-law who I've already macked on, you make some valid points about my husband. I think I'll take your advice and take my daughter to the nearest airport and never ever come back."

I don't know if Anne Stuart just really needed a paycheck, or if her publisher was pushing her, but this book was just a dud. The rest of her books run from fine to great, but just forget that she ever wrote this.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not One of Stuart's Better Books, April 27, 2009

By 

mesillakm - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silver Falls (Mass Market Paperback)

I am a huge fan of Anne Stuart, so when one her books come out, I am super excited. But Silver Falls was not one her best. Dont get me wrong, it was a decent book, but not the usual Stuart book. First off, you know who the bad person is from the start, when usually in her books, there is always that doubt with the main hero. Secondly, it just did not have the suspense between Caleb and Rachel that Stuart usually has. So I am giving this book a 3. It was ok, but not an Anne Stuart Best.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What?, May 14, 2009

By 

Krista Lyn (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Silver Falls (Mass Market Paperback)

I am an Anne Stuart "groupie". I read a few of her earlier books...loved them....and went on to purchase her entire backlist. I've been slowly and surely been working my way through all her earlier books. When I saw that she just came out with Silver Falls, I decided to fast forward to her newest work of fiction. I should have stayed in the past!!!!!!!

This just isn't that great of a book.....(shocking coming from a reviewer who at worst gives Stuart 4 star reviews). There is very little suspense, and David is just downright creepy. Rachel is a character I never connected to. She seemed a little "to stupid to live" and claimed to want what was best for her daughter while making all the wrong decisions. Her language is vulgar, and her "tough girl" act just didn't work for me at all.

Caleb is another one of Stuart's bad boys, and I have to admit that I liked him...but I like all of Stuart's heroes. His arrival to the plot is this book's only redeeming quality, but I did question why he was into Rachel....was it because she was David's wife or in spite of the fact?... I just don't know.

I'd skip this one....or check it out from the library if you must read it. Early Stuart books like Nightfall, Ritual Sins, and Lord of Danger made me a fan for life. Luckily Silver Falls wasn't my first Stuart book because I would've missed the brilliance of this author's breath of talent.