This review is written with thanks to HQ Digital for my copy of Broken Silence via Netgalley.

Blurb:

When Detective Felicity Springer is reported missing, the countdown to find her begins…

On her way home from a police training conference, Felicity notices something odd about the white van in front of her. A hand has punched through the car’s rear light and is frantically waving, trying to catch her attention.

Felicity dials 999 and calls it in. But whilst on the phone, she loses control of the car on the icy road, crashing straight into the vehicle ahead.

Pinned in the seat and unable to move, cold air suddenly hits her face. Someone has opened the passenger door… and they have a gun.

With Felicity missing and no knowledge of whether she is dead or alive, DS Nikki Parekh and DC Sajid Malik race to find their friend and colleague.

But Felicity was harbouring a terrible secret, and with her life now hanging in the balance, Nikki can only hope that someone will come forward and break the silence…

The next gripping crime thriller in the D.S. Nikki Parekh series, for fans of Angela Marsons and L.J. Ross.

Review:

There has been a long gap for me between reading Last Request and Broken Silence, and I really regret that now because Detective Sergeant Nikki Parekh and her police partner, Sajid, are absolutely brilliant characters. Nikki is incredibly feisty and doesn’t like doing what she’s told, which means that there are some very tense scenes as she puts herself on the line to catch the killer. In turn, though, this makes her vulnerable and I loved seeing her human side as it helped me to root for her as the investigation took hold. Through Sajid, Mistry explores some interesting issues around sexuality and culture, but he is much more than a plot vehicle. His relationship with Nikki is brilliant and I love the way he is able to calm her down.

Throughout Broken Silence, Mistry’s sense of place is wonderful. Her depiction of the Bradford area is so clear that it is really easy to picture the locations she uses and get a strong feel for what is happening. I am familiar with the area, and I think this helped, but someone who is not local would also find it impossible not to become engaged in the setting. I’d also like to give a shout out to Cake’Ole Bradford, the scene of a few police meetings in Broken Silence. It is my favourite eating place ever, and reading this novel made me even more sad that I can’t go there at the moment.

There are some difficult themes in Broken Silence, but I feel that Mistry approaches them in a way that makes them easy to understand, without shying away from the atrocity of the crimes the perpetrators have committed.

As Broken Silence comes to an end, the tension and sense of danger increases massively and it put me right on the edge of my seat! I was desperate to see how Nikki and her team would handle the situation, hoping it would work out well.

Broken Silence is available from Amazon.