In the Silence by M.R. Mackenzie

 "The ones that say nothing are as guilty as the ones doing it."

Dr. Anna Scavolini returns to Glasgow, where she grew up, in mid-December to stay with her old best friend, Zoe, and Zoe's brother, Victor. She's been living in Rome for the past 10 years and hasn't been home since. Out celebrating Zoe's birthday, Anna runs into a man she had a mad crush on when they both were in school together. After a few drinks, he disappears, and Anna later discovers him dead in a nearby park. Murdered. And he's just the first victim. Anna gets caught up in her own investigation to find out why these particular persons are being killed and by whom. It happens that this might be a vendetta for something that happened during Anna's school days. NO SPOILERS.

Well, if you can apply a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief while Anna is playing at being Nancy Drew, and if you can get past the fact that the character of Anna is so terribly unlikeable with her pontifications, self-righteousness and holier than thou attitude toward everyone, and maybe if you can ignore how Anna acts and the ludicrous things she does, perhaps you will enjoy this debut novel. For the most part, I couldn't overcome all of those detractors and only read to the end to find out who the killer was. And it all made so little sense even then. I found the Glaswegian dialect inserted to be completely annoying because it was so hit and miss sprinkled around some of the characters and not others. The rest of the characters in the book were not very convincing and could be lumped into the stereotypical category of "bad" guys. I just could not buy into the story, feel any empathy, and got tired of all the soap box proselytism on the subject of consent and rape. And why did all this just happen to come to a head when Anna returns?

I did like the setting, the descriptions of the town and the climate made me feel COLD. Couldn't understand why Anna never seemed to eat or bathe or take her medication. It seemed at complete odds to her supposed level of education. I guess there was something within the pages that made me at least finish it, but I can't say that I found much to recommend this. That being said, I realize this is a first novel, I understand this is a man writing about a real hot spot of an issue of paramount importance to women, and I get that there's probably some sort of takeaway meant to be there. I think I missed it. I just never could buy into how Anna got herself so involved in the mess, her antipathy to the police, and her behavior.

That doesn't mean, however, that I won't read another book by this author. I do thank NetGalley and Bloodhound Books for an e-book ARC of this to read and review. I'm sorry I didn't find it a gripping crime thriller. And lastly, I wish someone would explain that Prologue to me.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.