Review: Perfect Silence

Perfect Silence by Helen Sarah Fields
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I won Perfect Remains in a Goodreads giveaway I had not expected to find myself a new addiction. Sure, I enjoyed the first book, but I wasn’t obsessed in the way I am with some series starters. Then came Perfect Prey, and I was a goner. Perfect Prey blew my mind, and I knew I would be diving into each new DI Callanach book the moment I could. Thus, I devoured Perfect Death to cement my addiction to the series before starting the wait for Perfect Silence.

Although Perfect Silence is the fourth book in the DI Callanach series, like any good crime series it works perfectly fine as a standalone novel. You understand certain elements a lot more if you have read the prior books – you especially appreciate the character driven plots a lot more with prior knowledge of the series, whereas the mystery element works fine alone – but you do not need to have read the prior books to see how wonderful this book is. Still, I would recommend reading the series in order, as I’m sure upon finishing this one you’ll be desperate to go back for more.

If I’m being completely truthful, Perfect Silence is not my favourite book in the series. That award goes to the second book, Perfect Prey, as it was insanely good. Perfect Silence is a good book, a solid four-star read, but it is not my favourite. However, any DI Callanch book is a good book, so do not be put off by the fact this one was not my favourite.

Like the prior books in the series, Perfect Silence offers plenty of goodness. We have a dark and gory crime, one that sucks you in deep and leaves you questioning how everything comes together. We have another criminal element that looks at more social aspects of life. We have great character development, in regards to personal life, relationships, and their working lives. In fact, this one offers up plenty of interesting elements for the future books in the series. I’ll admit to having worked out some of the elements that came into play regarding the personal lives of characters and the way relationships developed, yet it did not lessen my enjoyment any – and I’m certainly interested in seeing how things progress in the future.

I’m also super intrigued by the way this one ended. I cannot help but cross my fingers in the hope the way events ended in this book means they’ll be more in the future from certain characters. I will not say much for fear of offering spoilers, but I love it when crime series return to elements from earlier books, and I’m hoping such will be the case later in the DI Callanch series.

There is no doubt in my mind that the DI Callanch series is one of my favourite crime series. There are plenty of wonderful British crime thrillers out there, but this is certainly within my top five series. I’m obsessed, there is no other way to say it.

I need book five, and I need it pronto.

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