Even as I am writing this post, Iām going back and forth on how to rate this book. My gut is telling me to assign a low score, because I didnāt enjoy the book, but on the other hand I also finished the whole thing, so how bad could itĀ reallyĀ have been?
Itā¦ was pretty bad. Part of it is my own fault; this book is actually the tenth in the Griffin Powell series by Barton, although it was the first of BartonāsĀ many books that Iāve read. Yes, you read that right: I read the tenth book in a series as my jumping-off point with an author. In my defense, I had no idea! What happened?! Iām so glad you askedā¦
I was on vacation and out of things to read when I discovered the hotel had a small collection of books to borrow. Based on the quality and condition of most of these books is that they are cast-offs or rejects from past travelers, but beggars canāt be choosers so I blithely selected some reading material and went back to sitting by the pool.
Silent KillerĀ seemed like it was going to be a quick read, and if I didnāt finish it before I had to return it the the desk I wouldnāt be too disappointed.Ā NowhereĀ on the book was there any indication that it was a sequel or otherwise related to a series. It didnāt say so on the cover or the spine:
Nor does the back blurb imply that there is any prior knowledge about the story needed:
Then, inĀ two separate lists of books by Barton, neither list mentions that all these books are in the same series!
Lo and behold, within the first several chapters I was confused by what was happening, so I looked up the book on GoodReads, and figured out what the issue was. But, while every few chapters would be confusing and meaningless to me, the overall story arc was unrelated to the series, so I kept reading (plus, I was in a literature desert, so what choice did I have).
Even with my exasperation about the book being a series, I would have still scored this book much higher, except it really was terrible. For an author who had previously written at least 9 other books, the dialogue and storytelling felt extraordinarily amateur. Characters are constantly telling the reader things, rather than the facts of the story emerging more naturally. Another thing that really decreased the score was the fact that the depiction of law enforcement was laughable; I am not now, nor never have been any sort of police officer, but I am pretty sure that it takes someĀ kind of training and actual skill, a fact that Barton doesnāt seem to be aware of. Within 3 days on the job our āheroā Jack, who got the job because heās BFFs with the chief and needed employment, not because heās qualified, has already taken over an investigation and started telling other officers how to do their jobs. And thatās just the tip of the iceberg; once the killer really starts doubling down on the murder-spree the police become less and less professionalā¦ and yet they still sort-of manage to catch the killer (spolier?). I mean, the ambiguously aged teenage soon of the heroine figures it out just as fast. (About that: the kid is sometimes 15, sometimes 16, sometimes almost 17, and sometimes somehow born 14 years ago? And the story only takes place over a couple of days or weeks, so itās notlike heās having birthdays all over the place. Itās confusing). Thereās also enough POV characters to make your head spin.
Besides the clunky writing, there are also 11 pastors/rabbis/priests in this story. ELEVEN. I had to get out a notebook and count them in order to keep them straight. Living in the Bible Belt Iām no stranger to having a town with a high-density of churches, but the town was made out to be the kind of small where you know everyoneās grandparentās intimate business, so I donāt think it would be able to support more than three or four churches- certainly not 8 or 9+.
Perhaps the one redeeming quality is that the killer was kind of unsuspected? I mean, I had it figured out before the reveal, but it was my second guess and I wasnāt sure until two thirds of the way through, so at least it wasnāt obvious from the get-go, and it wasnāt the even worse sin of someone totally out of left field. The final confrontation was corny and implausible, but I got caught up in it enough as I was reading so after everything else it didnāt bother me much.
For all the faults, this was an ok book for mindless reading by the pool, but what really set me off came at the very end, when I got to this page:
Thatās right! After reading the whole thing, suddenly Barton is desperate for you to know that thereās a whole series! (And you thought Ā was done with the rant about this, didnāt you?)
Anyway, this book didnāt do it for me, but if youāve read the first 9 Griffen Powell books, then maybe youāll like it more?
Silent Killer by BeverlyĀ Barton 3/10? Even as I am writing this post, I'm going back and forth on how to rate this book.
