Customer Reviews

Without a Word (Rachel Alexander & Dash Mysteries)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I highly, highly recommend this book. I have read all the other Rachel Alexander and Dashiell books and this is the best by far!!! It is very well written and I fell in love with Madison, the little lost girl in the book. She touched my soul, as she did Rachel Alexander's. If you have not read all the other books, that is okay...this book can stand by itself.

If you love mysteries with good character development, and a plot that engrosses you to the point that you do not want to put down the book until you finish, then this is the book for you.

...if you are reading the series for the "dog" aspect, which I am since the author is one of the few writing mysteries which include dogs who actually KNOWS dogs, you should be aware that Dashiell is pretty much just an "accessory after the fact" in this one. I'd probably give it another star otherwise because as a mystery it's pretty good, but I read a lot of mysteries and from this series I look for a working partnership between Rachel and Dash in addition to the "mystery".

"Without a Word" is more than just a page-turner (although turn the pages you will). Benjamin was created indelible characters, places that are real and vivid, a mood that's equal parts brooding, disturbing and exciting. If you're often let down by the abrupt, unbelievable conclusions of most mysteries, read this book. The ending lingers long after you've finished.

In a city where enemies are as easy to come by as friends and where paranoia is the norm, private investigator Rachel Alexander is surprised to see someone waiting for her at New York
City's Washington Square Park dog run, where she takes her pit bull, Dashiell, for his daily R&R. When the distraught man asks her to find his missing wife, Rachel accepts the case reluctantly. After akk, the chances of finding a woman who disappeared without a trace--and without a word--five years earlier are silm. But Rachel is touched by the missing woman's daughter, a trouble young girl who has been mute since her mother disappeared and who is now suspected of the brutal stabbing murder of her doctor.


Although the girl can't, or won't, speak for herself, Rachel believes she is innocent and is determined to find a way to communicate with her in order to discover the truth and clear her name. Against a backdrop of infidelity, neglect, and a city at times as lonly and frightening as a child's worst nightmares, Rachel's involvement in the case uncovers issues more complex, and more tragic, than she's ever seen, eventually exposing problems that someone is willing to doe, or even kill, for.


Mining the underbelly of New York City's oldest and most fascinating neighborhodds and exploring its rich tapestry of people, Without a word is a gripping and unforgettable work from one of mystery's most talented authors.

Five years two months and eleven day ago, Sally Spector was walking Roy the family pet when she vanished. Her daughter Madison has not spoken since her mother disappeared and is the prime suspect of murdering her doctor for causing a drooping eyelid. Though hurt by his wife's abandonment, Leon is more worried over his daughter; he concludes that Madison needs to see that her mother is okay if she is to start to heal.

In Manhattan's Washington Square Park, Leon sees Rachel Alexander walking her pit bull Dashiel a former therapy dog. He asks for her help in finding his missing wife and mother to his shell shocked daughter. Seeing father and daughter wear deep psychological wounds from the abandonment, Rachel agrees to help starting with Dashiel offering friendship to the distraught girl. As Rachel investigates the disappearance and the homicide, she soon learns that the doctor's mistress apparently committed suicide. Rachel knows this is too coincidental to be happenchance; she wonders who connects a mute frightened girl, her doctor, and his mistress for that missing link is the killer.

WITHOUT A WORD is a remarkable private investigative tale because the prime cast members seem genuine and the events quite plausible. The hearts of readers will go out to the silent sad little murder suspect who as Rachel digs deeper into the case it seems increasingly likely she committed the homicide though the sleuth's gut and Dash's opinion evidence by his actions towards Madison speak otherwise. Fans will be fully entertained as Rachel works the missing mommy inquiry for a fee and the murder investigation pro bono for a little girl who has touched her soul.

Harriet Klausner

Touching and heartbreaking- one of the best of this excellent series. This is a serious series, do not let the dog fool ya.

From my 16 yo dd:
"I really like this book. i never really liked reading that much and as soon as a picked up this book i didnt stop reading it until i was done. i was always wanting to read more and more. It was sad when i read the whole thing. I am ready for another mystery that will do the same as that book did to me."

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was insightful, well written, entertaining and satisfying. I'll have to buy more of the Rachel Alexander & Dash books. I'd never heard of them before I picked up this book, but I'll look for more in the future. The mystery was just right and Rachel's handling of the suspect, Madison, felt very realistic.

Author Benjamin, a former detective and dog trainer, lives in Greenwich Village with her three dogs.

Rachel Alexander also lives in Greenwich Village, and is a P.I. with a four-footed assistant, Dashiell, a rescued pit bull. Rachel is in the park dog run when she is approached by an inarticulate stranger who wants to hire her to find his wife who has been missing for five years. She went out to walk the family dog and never returned.

Rachel is hesitant to take the case until she meets the missing woman's daughter, 12-year-old Madison. Shortly after her mother disappeared, Madison was diagnosed with a nervous tic, and she has not spoken since. She is a very real suspect in the murder of her pediatric neurologist as she was the last patient of the day--and he was killed with the syringe meant for her.

Rachel cannot stand to think of the poor girl being railroaded into the role of chief suspect, and she sets out to find the missing mother, if she is still alive, and also to learn who really murdered the doctor.

Rachel is good both with dogs and also with lonely, traumatized and abandoned girls as she was once one herself. Through a trail of altered medical records, lies and deceit, and another murder, Rachel follows like a dog following a scent, until she discovers the truth.

This is the eighth book in the series, and every bit as gripping as the first seven. The next book, The Hard Way, comes out in October 2006.

Armchair Interviews says: Dog, detectives and hurting daughters make for a good read.

Rachel and Dash are back, searching for a woman who might or might not want to be found, and making friends with a sad child who might or might not have killed her doctor. This book has the same noir feel as FALL GUY, and is every bit as enticing.