Splinter the Silence by Val McDermid
Splinter the Silence is the ninth Tony Hill and Carol Jordan thriller by Val McDermid. Published in 2015, it is the sequel to Cross and Burn.
Former DCI Carol Jordan gets an offer she can’t refuse to get an elite team of officers together. But a moment of madness threatens to undo it all before it even begins.
And she’s rebuilding her friendship with Dr Tony Hill, who has noticed a pattern of female suicides. Successful women who have been trolled online have killed themselves, even though they appeared to have been coping with the bullying. Their families and friends were shocked, but nobody thought the deaths could be anything other than suicide. Until Tony sees a connection everyone else has missed.
Before she gets landed with a live case, Carol gets her colleagues DS Paula McIntyre and DC Stacey Chen on board to see if they can find out more about the unusual suicides…
Splinter the Silence is a return to a sort of normality for Tony and Carol after the uncertainty of the previous books. The Retribution and Cross and Burn saw their friendship and Carol’s career at breaking point. Will it all stay as settled as it can for the final two books in the series?
I love the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series, but I think Splinter the Silence is my least favourite. That’s not to say it’s a bad book, because Val McDermid sets the bar very high. Her thrillers blow nearly any other thrillers out the water. I’m looking forward to reading Insiduous Intent and How the Dead Speak, although I will be sorry to see the back of Tony and Carol.
Can you read Splinter the Silence as a standalone novel? Maybe… If you don’t want to go right back to the start, it works well if you read Fever of the Bone, The Retribution and Cross and Burn first. Or you could start from here as it is a fresh start for the team and just read the final two novels after this one.
