I Love The Villain - Vow of Silence by Chris Patchell @chris_patchell

MY REVIEW

I love that Vow of Silence by Chris Patchell gets right to the action. We have multiple storylines, threats, and danger. Drug cartels, politics, domestic abuse, kidnapping, lies, secrets, and the past…All have their place in the complex mysteries of the characters lives, filling them with danger and betrayal.

I didn’t realize this was Book II of the series, but I don’t feel it harmed my reading in any way, though I do recommend beginning at the beginning. It just made me work harder to try and solve the mystery myself. I read a lot of books like that. Funny thing, I was able to pick up the first book, Deadly Sins, for free from Amazon. YAY!

Joe Gaines, a reporter for the Arizona Republic, was ready to party without the pregnant wife he left at home. He had some blow, which he did a couple lines while waiting for the hot woman he expected to knock on his casino room door any minute. BUT….she was there for more than a private party.

Phoenix Police Detective, David Shaw, was excited to be working such a high profile case. It would be good for his career advancement.

Jill Shannon, our main character, has money and connections, soon to be married to a prosecutor and the only son of the former governor. She had left behind a dead husband in Seattle, a police officer shot right in front of her in their own home. I feel there is so much more to her story and I aim to learn about it. Jill is super smart, a whiz with technology.

I don’t know why I am so drawn to villains. I love when the villain is so likeable I want to root for them and do, but I am still waiting to ‘hear’ the full story.

The characters have many personal, as well as, professional problems. The sad thing is, the kids seem to pay a heavy price, even as their parents struggle to protect them. How many lives will be lost as the the mysteries are solved? I keep trying to anticipate who will live and who will end up dead or locked up as the time to pay the piper comes due. Will ANYONE be happy in the end?

I love complex, multiple plots, and characters that sometimes make it hard to distinguish good from bad. After all, let he who is without sin cast the first stone and I don’t see any of these characters able to do so, except the children and we won’t ask that of them.

Chris Patchell has a way of piling stories on top of stories, intermingling them in such a way that by adding the bits and pieces the complete the picture is exposed in a spellbinding way. The mystery compounds, the suspense keeps building and I am so happy to know this is not the end of Jill Shannon’s story.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Vows of Silence by Chris Patchell.

4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Vows made in silence will scream the truth.

Five years after the brutal slaying of her husband, software executive Jill Shannon is ready to take the next step in her life. But with her wedding to prosecuting attorney Conner Manning just eight weeks away, her future father-in-law’s political ambitions for her fiancé threaten all her hopes. Jill’s past holds dark secrets. Secrets she can’t afford to have exposed under the relentless lights of a political campaign.

When Phoenix Detective David Shaw turns up at Jill’s door asking questions about a reporter’s murder, he has no idea what a lethal Pandora’s Box he’s just opened. Was the womanizing reporter killed by a jealous husband, or was it related to his drug use? Or did it have something to do with the secret expose the reporter was working on? Jill Shannon looks like a dead-end lead but Shaw can’t shake the feeling the beautiful widow has secrets she’s not sharing.

Jill is caught between the sins of her past and the shattered hopes for her future. Shaw finds himself drawn deeper into a twisted labyrinth of lies and danger. One thing is clear: some vows are made out loud in front of witnesses. But some vows are made in silence, and witnesses can’t be left alive.

ABOUT CHRIS PATCHELL

Chris Patchell is the bestselling author of In the Dark and the Indie Reader Discovery Award winning novel Deadly Lies. Having recently left her long-time career in tech to pursue her passion for writing full-time, Chris pens gritty suspense novels set in the Pacific Northwest, where she lives with her family and two neurotic dogs.