June 2017

Years ago, I discovered Heather Gudenkauf with her first book, THE WEIGHT OF SILENCE, and became a passionate reader of her work. In her latest, NOT A SOUND, she again delivers a sharp story with strong characters and a tightly drawn plot.

In it, her protagonist, Amelia Winn, is a nurse who is deaf following an accident years ago. After her accident, Amelia dropped into a deep depression that robbed her of her life with her husband, her job and her stepdaughter, who she adored. One afternoon while paddleboarding, she discovers the body of a fellow nurse near a river in the woods by her cabin. Who murdered this woman and why? When she finds the body, she has a hearing dog named Stitch as her steady companion and a promising job interview lined up. Things are looking brighter, but then she starts grappling with her friend’s murder.

The web of intrigue that surrounds her as she strives to find the killer is all the more chilling as the reader tries to imagine a world where you cannot hear what is coming and what is trying to get you. Heather herself is hearing-impaired in one ear, and her experience is authentically written. She recently shared a story about her son who battled cancer and spoke of her admiration for nurses. This book is another ode to her respect for them.