Reivew: The Silent Woman by Minka Kent

Print Length: 285 pages

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (September 27, 2022)

From Goodreads.com: Newlywed Jade Westmore has finally found her forever in husband Wells, a charming, successful, and recently divorced architect—only there’s one caveat. Behind the gates of their elysian estate, hidden from street view in the caretaker’s cottage … lives Wells’ first wife, Sylvie.

Three years ago, the original Mrs. Westmore suffered an unfortunate accident—and hasn’t uttered a sound since. Not a physician, psychologist, or world-renown specialist has been able to elicit so much as a word from the silent woman … until now.

On an ordinary Tuesday while Wells was away—despite instructions to never disturb the fragile woman—Jade visited her isolated predecessor bearing a peace offering: a bouquet of white lilies. Only she wasn’t expecting Sylvie to have something for her as well: a slip of torn notebook paper with a single word scrawled in shaky black ink.

That word? Run.

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My Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

After seeing all the high reviews on this one (and all of the praise I have seen for this author and their books in general), I had really high hopes for this book when I first downloaded it on Kindle Unlimited. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for things to start going downhill for me. 

To begin with, there were some editing errors throughout the book that immediately pulled me from the story. To begin with, at one point Jade is en route to someone's house. Then the next, it is said she is en route to the hospital (which honestly this would have made more sense), then she's back to heading to the person's house again. There was also one instance where the wrong name was used when Jade was speaking (she was called by Wells' ex-wife's name). There were a few other little errors here and there, things that I definitely feel like should have been picked up during edits. 

I feel as though those errors would have been more easily overlooked if the characters and the plot itself weren't so shallow. What's funny is there were so many details paid to things that didn't matter (like the color of paper being like undriven snow), but not enough details paid to things that matter. Why would someone hide journals inside the home if they knew what they contained? Why wouldn't they dispose of them so that those secrets could never come to life? Especially if they knew someone was going to be coming in to write a book based on the life of the owner of said journals? What was the purpose of the mysterious SUV following Jade if nothing was going to come of it (not even a sense of impending danger)? 

Then you have the characters Wells, who on the outside is a loving and devoting husband. Although he may have a bit of a savior complex especially when it comes to his ex-wife who he has living in the caretakers cottage on his property and cared for by a bevvy of round the clock nurses instead of moving her to a care facility. His new wife Jade makes a living writing biographies on famous people (her current project is a story about Wells' grandmother who was a golden age Hollywood actress). Jade was an interesting sort as she went from trusting her husband, to suddenly letting the opinions of others (her neighbor Portia especially) sway her. It seemed like she went from a devoted wife to a suspicious one almost overnight when she had no way of knowing if the stories Portia was telling her were even true.  

All of these things came together in a very anti-climatic ending. The truth comes out, good triumphs over evil, and everyone moves on. I was at least expecting a more dramatic showdown between the culprit and Jade as she was the one who finally pieced everything together. And honestly, the who did it and why was so over the top it boarded on unbelievable. It would have made much more sense if there had been a deeper conspiracy happening and someone else involved to cover for their misdeeds. 

Overall, it was fast paced enough to keep me reading (and I finished in about a day and a half), and I've seen other reviews of other books by this author that seem to be better received, so I may check those out in the future.