The Silence That Speaks is another perplexing mystery in Andrea Kane's delightfully unique Forensic Instincts series. In this latest installment, the team is hired by a woman from FI member Marc Devereaux's past following an attempt on her life.

Madeline Westfield has no idea who would want her dead and equally baffling is why she is being targeted. Knowing the police are not taking her suspicions seriously, Madeline turns to the FI team for help in unraveling the mystery. Their investigation begins at a local hospital where she and her ex-husband Conrad are both employed. The hospital is in the midst of merger while at the same time mourning the recent and unexpected death of the hospital administrator Ronald Lexington following heart surgery performed by Conrad.

The team immediately zeros in on Ronald's death as a possible motive for the attempt on Madeline's life and the clues certainly seem to support their theory. They soon find out some rather unsavory information about Ronald's past but their efforts to fully examine the data they uncover are quickly thwarted. In the midst of trying to break the heavily encrypted files, Ronald's widow falls under suspicion when it becomes obvious that she blames both Madeline and Conrad for Ronald's death. While it does not appear that her claims have merit, has her grief driven her to try to exact revenge on Madeline and Conrad?

Once again, FI leader Casey Woods depends on her crack team of investigators to dig into the case. Ryan McKay's cyber skills are immediately put to use and when he runs into a brick wall, he turns to his equally skilled brother, Aidan, for assistance. Claire Hedgleigh's psychic abilities once again prove invaluable and her intuition helps the team narrow down the focus of the investigation. Newcomer Emma Stirling's street smarts and youth add another dimension to the team and this provides them with the edge they need to infiltrate the hospital to gain access to the information they need to crack the case.

The Silence That Speaks is a fantastic addition to the Forensic Instincts series. Andrea Kane offers a viable pool of suspects and many plausible motives for the attacks on Madeline, but she does an excellent job keep readers guessing the truth right up until the novel's conclusion. An overall entertaining whodunit that mystery lovers are sure to enjoy. ( )

From Amazon:

WHO WANTS MADELINE WESTFIELD DEAD? AND WHY? Forensic Instincts' first order of business is to find out who's targeting their client. Under the leadership of Casey Woods, the investigative team has the resources to do just that, working inside the law—and outside it. FI's strength is its members, among them Casey's associate Marc Devereaux, former navy SEAL and a man who's equal to any situation. Except maybe this one… Madeline's case hits too close to home for Marc. She's the only woman he ever loved, and she's his only weakness. Now a nurse at Manhattan Memorial, she's terrified because someone is trying to kill her. So she turns, reluctantly, to Marc and FI for help and protection. Meanwhile, Manhattan Memorial is in turmoil. With a merger in the works, the staff is still haunted by their hospital administrator's sudden death—during heart surgery performed by Madeline's ex-husband, Conrad. A surgery at which Madeline was present. The killer seems to blame both Madeline and Conrad…

My Thoughts:

I've eagerly read all the books in this series and have absolutely loved the characters and the storylines...except for this one. I can't give it 5 stars like it predecessors because I felt it was rather "blah". I felt more emotion for the killer than anybody else in the book....well, except for Hero, the big beautiful, talented bloodhound. The character of Madeline hired this group to protect her and then just waltzed off to put herself in more danger and ignored them completely. It also lacked the investigative aspects by this great team that all the others had in spades. The majority of the book took place in a big intercity hospital with the team only doing bodyguard services. Andre Kane has done better. As I said Hero was the most appealing character in the entire book and he earned it another half star...so 3.5 stars. ( )

From my blog

The Forensic Instincts team is my favourite to read about, Andrea Kane always makes me want to join them and during the reading journey you feel like you are. The team consists of a Behaviorist, a former Navy Seal, a technowizard, an intuitive, retired FBI agent, human scent-evidence dog and the computer intelligence system, Yoda, all led by the leader Casey. In this story we meet a new young lady interviewing to be part of the team as an assistant and she is put to work as her assessment immediately.

The story takes place in a hospital setting which was interesting as I work at a hospital and could imagine the dynamics of the characters. High strung, mysterious, God-like attitudes, the staff that has been there forever is liked by everyone and knows all too. Very interesting concept on the team using their skills to find out confidential information to break their case. Forensic Instincts always get what they want but technology is holding them back this time, manipulating friendships becomes the new strategy.

A Chief passed during operation and now the Surgeon and wife are being threatened and sued. Madeline ask for FI protection and to confirm that the surgery was not murder. So much emotion and passion around healthcare but sometimes emotions take over integrity but for who is the question.

Madeline had history with Mark, a team member on FI and this history becomes a conflict of interest putting both of them in harms way. Once we figure out who the killer is you have a moment of feeling sorry for them vs integrity of healthcare workers vs emotion, technology and medicine.

I love Andrea Kane's writing and the Forensic Instincts team and for this it gets a 4 but it was the least favourite in the series so far. Seemed like it took longer than necessary, missed the intensity it usually has but I am still a fan.

The series does not have to be read in order but the building of characters of the team is a nice continuous touch. She gives you enough to remember the characters without it feeling repetitive. ( )

In The Silence That Speaks, a NYC hospital is rocked by the untimely death of its popular administrator while on the surgical table of the hospital's best surgeon. Worst still, the patient and the surgeon were close friends, but currently on opposite sides regarding a possible merger with another NYC hospital. Suspicions abound. The story picks up 3 months after that terrible day. The surgeon has checked himself into a mental health facility for treatment of crippling depression. His recently divorced ex-wife has just had her apartment ransacked, and is about to be deliberately run-down by a large black sedan... and she doesn't know why.

Enter the F.I. Team. It just so happens Madeline (the ex-wife) is aware that an old flame is a member of this team, and she trusts him implicitly to help find out why someone is doing these things, even though their love affair ended 10 years earlier.

This story moves quickly from start to finish. I've read 2 earlier books in this series, but Ms. Kane writes well enough to allow this one to stand on its own. I enjoyed the story but found its plot a bit too simple, and some of the team members to be a little slow in drawing conclusions. Early on, a couple team members tease a third member about his sex life with yet a fourth team member. I didn't feel most people who work together and are close friends outside of work, would say what was said. Oh, well. I still really liked the story, and plan to read the book I missed. ( )

5 stars

I like this series of books. This is book 4 in the Forensic Instincts. It is a detective mystery. The characters are good and I look forward to learning more about them.

The mystery is good and keeps you guessing. I like to see the team work together.

We get to see more of Marc's personal life in this book. His personal life has always been a secret. I liked seeing him that way.
The setting in New York city, NY

The pacing is steady and shows the case step by step as they learn about it.

The drama was good, the ending was good and it was a pretty clean read one short love scene, some violence and some creeps.

Personally I will read more Andrea Kane books, I hope there will be more Forensic Instincts in the future. I got this book today and had to start reading it right away.

I was given this ebook to read by Net Galley and Harlequin Mira. In return I agreed to give The Silence That Speaks a honest review.
first published on readalot blog ( )