Review: Silence the Dead by Simone St. James

Silence the Dead

by Simone St. James

Publisher: NAL Trade

Pages: 384

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  In 1919, Kitty Weekes, pretty, resourceful, and on the run, falsifies her background to obtain a nursing position at Portis House, a remote hospital for soldiers left shell-shocked by the horrors of the Great War. Hiding the shame of their mental instability in what was once a magnificent private estate, the patients suffer from nervous attacks and tormenting dreams. But something more is going on at Portis House—its plaster is crumbling, its plumbing makes eerie noises, and strange breaths of cold waft through the empty rooms. It’s known that the former occupants left abruptly, but where did they go? And why do the patients all seem to share the same nightmare, one so horrific that they dare not speak of it?

Kitty finds a dangerous ally in Jack Yates, an inmate who may be a war hero, a madman… or maybe both. But even as Kitty and Jack create a secret, intimate alliance to uncover the truth, disturbing revelations suggest the presence of powerful spectral forces. And when a medical catastrophe leaves them even more isolated, they must battle the menace on their own, caught in the heart of a mystery that could destroy them both.


Kritters Thoughts:  Historical fiction with ghosts, crazy PTSD soldiers and all in a home that is completely isolated from the world.  Kitty is a woman who has been running from a past for a very long time and she ends up in this historical home that has been converted into a mental hospital working as a nurse without the proper qualifications.  She learns that the past doesn't always stay in the past both the past of the occupants of the home and those in her personal past.  

I am a historical fiction fan and I liked this one, but I wish there was a little more to the story of the previous inhabitants of the house.  Once their part of the story started to unfold it was then done; I think it could have been woven a little more throughout the entire story.  I completely enjoyed that the house was almost a full character on its own - the author described this house to such detail that I felt I was there.  

If you like historical fiction with a dash of ghosts then you would love this one.

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Penguin.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.