The Silent Cry (William Monk Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Anne Perry (Author) "JOHN EVAN STOOD shivering as the January wind whipped down the alley..." (more)
Key Phrases: Leighton Duff, Rhys Duff, Miss Latterly (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Readers of Anne Perry's series of Victorian murder mysteries know that her novels are as much social histories as crime stories. She pens her tales with an acute eye for period detail and a strong moral outrage at the hypocrisies and miseries of life in 19th-century England. Mysteries featuring Inspector Thomas Pitt and his upper-class wife, Charlotte, explore the life of the middle class and aristocracy; those that center on William Monk illuminate the back alleys and pauper's hospitals of England's lower classes. In The Silent Cry, Monk and his friend Hester Latterly, an independent young woman inured to life's horrors by her nursing service during the Crimean War, investigate the murder of prostitutes in Seven Dials. As always, Perry's grim landscape of tenements, sweatshops, and boozing kens becomes almost as much a character as the living people who inhabit them, while Monk and Hester's rebellious intelligence and unconventionality keep us coming back for more. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Prolific murder-mystery writer Perry has evaded the scientific precision of modern forensic fact-finding by weaving current-day issues and characters into a richly detailed Victorian-era milieu. One man is found murdered and another on the edge of death in the notorious London slum called St. Giles. Although it looks as if they may have engaged in a mortal fight, they are in fact father and son from a well-to-do family. Later, links develop between these men and a series of violent rapes of prostitutes. Hester Latterly, nurse and protector of the surviving son, Rhys, counterbalances detective William Monk in their mutual pursuit of the truth. By the novel's end, revelations of corruption and depravity break through the severe conventions of upper-class Victorian prudery in a dramatic courtroom scene. Perry followers and others will enjoy this new addition. Highly recommended.?Michelle Foyt, Fairfield P.L., Ct.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Ivy Books (July 29, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804117934
• ISBN-13: 978-0804117937
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 3.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #44,556 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 8 in The William Monk Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great, great mystery., May 13, 2000

By	Sharon Wylie (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read a LOT of mysteries, and the outcome of this one left me stunned. When you read a mystery, you hope to be surprised by the resolution, and this one rates with the best of Agatha Christie.

If you've never read Anne Perry, this one showcases all that she's capable of.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars just okay, August 10, 2004

By	Marty Gardner (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I had mixed feelings about this book. On the positive side, the Victorian atmosphere and detail are absorbing, the Cockney dialog is well-rendered, if occasionally heavy-handed ("D'yer want me ter say 'oo I got, an' wot 'e found?"), and the mystery does come to an unexpected and dramatic conclusion.

However I found the investigation to be very slow-moving and implausible. A murder has occurred in a dodgy London slum, and several prostitutes have been raped in another. On the surface these crimes appear to be unrelated, but Inspector Monk comes to an "inescapable" conclusion as to what happened and the motive behind them based on, in my view, the thinnest of circumstantial evidence. I could never accept that a detective of his purported caliber would see this as a closed case. Similarly, when the book moves to the courtroom, the defense attorney -- supposedly a man of unparalleled gifts -- is stymied as to how to refute the iron-clad case against him. I would fire that attorney.

Lastly, while the turmoil of Monk's halting romance with Hester and his memory loss may be a satisfying thread for readers of the ongoing series, I didn't think either of these dimensions moved far enough along to engage people who have just read this book alone.

I found John M. Gray's "The Fiend in Human" to be a much more subtle and effective Victorian thriller. This one left me flat.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Believable, compelling and enthralling., October 24, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Silent Cry (William Monk Novels) (Hardcover)

Anne Perry is one of my favorite authors and this is one of her best books. By now, I am more than ready for her hero, Inspector William Monk, to make his mind up about his feelings for Hester Latterly, an independent, non-conformist, and highly likeable nurse who challenges all of Monk's ideas of what (or whom) constitutes the "perfect" woman. Ms. Perry weaves this problem (for Monk anyway) throughout the story and finally provides us hopeless (hopeful?) romantics with a few sops of encouragement. All of the supporting characters are finely and wonderfully drawn (likeable or not) and the attention to detail of the historical period is unmatched. Well worth anyone's time.