Review: Silent Child by Sarah A Denzil.

My 4* review:

I have to say that I was very intrigued by the blurb of this book. The idea that your six year old son goes missing, assumed drowned, but then returns from the dead ten years later only a few miles from home, his body telling a horrific story of what he had been through during the last ten years, but his voice appears to have gone, he does not utter a single word, he cannot tell you where he has been or who had taken him.

Emma is the mother of Aiden, the boy who went missing, during the last ten years she has been to hell and back. Her life fell apart but she managed to put herself back together with the help of Jake, her new husband and father to the baby that is growing in her belly. While Emma is overjoyed that Aiden has been found and is back home she is wracked with guilt and suspicion, as Aiden was found so close to home she suspects almost everyone she knows in the small village that she lives in, did they take Aiden?

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Silent Child, it’s a great book and will no doubt keep you guessing right to the end. I did feel that the book lost its way a bit in the middle, there was a good chunk where the book pretty much went round in circles, but once it got going again the book did not disappoint.

I read a lot of books, it is easy for me to finish a book and move on to the next one, but this book has stayed with me. I have spent a fair amount of time thinking about Emma, but mainly about Aiden, somehow he got under my skin and a little bit of him has stayed there. He feels very real somehow.

Thank you to TBC for a copy of Silent Child by Sarah A Denzil.

Blurb:

In the summer of 2006, Emma Price watched helplessly as her six-year-old son’s red coat was fished out of the River Ouse. It was the tragic story of the year – a little boy, Aiden, wandered away from school during a terrible flood, fell into the river, and drowned.

His body was never recovered.

Ten years later, Emma has finally rediscovered the joy in life. She’s married, pregnant, and in control again…

… until Aiden returns.

Too traumatized to speak, he raises endless questions and answers none. Only his body tells the story of his decade-long disappearance. The historic broken bones and injuries cast a mere glimpse into the horrors Aiden has experienced. Aiden never drowned. Aiden was taken.

As Emma attempts to reconnect with her now teenage son, she must unmask the monster who took him away from her. But who, in their tiny village, could be capable of such a crime?

It’s Aiden who has the answers, but he cannot tell the unspeakable.

This dark and disturbing psychological novel will appeal to fans of The Widow and The Butterfly Garden.

Silent Child by Sarah A Denzil is out now and available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.