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Lee Campbell Mystery #3
Silent Kills
Everyone Has What He Wants
The killer picks her up in a Manhattan night club. Another trendy victim of the latest downtown scene. Young. Fresh. Healthy. Perfect. The police find her body in a Bronx park. Pale as a ghost. Peaceful in death. Her life has been drained away. Slowly. Methodically. Brilliantly. . .
No One Survives What He Takes
NYPD profiler Lee Campbell has seen the gruesome handiwork of the most deranged criminal minds. But this is something new. Something unbelievably twisted. A blood-obsessed lunatic who chooses his victims with deadly, loving care--and forces Campbell to confront the demons in his own life. No matter who wins this game, there will be blood. . .
Praise for C. E. Lawrence and Silent Screams
"Pulse-racing, first-rate. . .a wild ride down a dark road."–-John Lutz
"Lawrence delivers finely honed suspense with unique twists."--Katherine Ramsland
"A dark, intriguing thriller."-- Publishers Weekly
"Lawrence nails you to your seat."--Gayle Lynds
The killer picks her up in a Manhattan night club. Another trendy victim of the latest downtown scene. Young. Fresh. Healthy. Perfect. The police find her body in a Bronx park. Pale as a ghost. Peaceful in death. Her life has been drained away. Slowly. Methodically. Brilliantly. . .
No One Survives What He Takes
NYPD profiler Lee Campbell has seen the gruesome handiwork of the most deranged criminal minds. But this is something new. Something unbelievably twisted. A blood-obsessed lunatic who chooses his victims with deadly, loving care--and forces Campbell to confront the demons in his own life. No matter who wins this game, there will be blood. . .
Praise for C. E. Lawrence and Silent Screams
"Pulse-racing, first-rate. . .a wild ride down a dark road."–-John Lutz
"Lawrence delivers finely honed suspense with unique twists."--Katherine Ramsland
"A dark, intriguing thriller."-- Publishers Weekly
"Lawrence nails you to your seat."--Gayle Lynds
388 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
56 people are currently reading
557 people want to read
About the author
C.E. Lawrence
14 books101 followersCAROLE BUGGÉ (CAROLE LAWERENCE, C. E. LAWRENCE, ELIZABETH BLAKE) has too many pen names. She has published sixteen novels, six novellas and several dozen short stories and poems, many appearing in translation internationally. Her most recent novel, Cleopatra’s Dagger, was nominated for an Edgar Award as Best Original Paperback. She has also recently published Pride, Prejudice and Poison, under the pen name Elizabeth Blake.
Her play Strings Attached was recently produced Off Broadway on Theatre Row by The Pulse Theatre. Winner of both the Euphoria Poetry Competition and the Eve of St. Agnes Poetry Award, she is a two-time Pushcart Poetry Prize nominee and First Prize winner of the Maxim Mazumdar Playwriting Competition, the Chronogram Literary Fiction Prize, Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Award, and the Jean Paiva Memorial Fiction Award. She was a finalist in the McClaren, MSU and Henrico Playwriting Competitions, and was nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award. Her plays and musicals have been presented nationally and internationally. She was sponsored by The Paper Mill Playhouse for a TCG Playwriting Award two years in a row and was a Playwriting Fellowship finalist at Manhattan Theatre Club. Her most recent musical is Murder on Bond Street, which is based on a true story.
She was Featured Composer at the Broadway Songbook at Lincoln Center, and Featured Poet in both China Grove Literary Magazine and Quill and Parchment Poetry Magazine. She is a Fellow of Hawthornden International Writers Retreat, and was Writer in Residence at Byrdcliffe Art Colony, Lacawac Sanctuary and Karuna Colony. She teaches writing at NYU and Gotham Writers Workshop, as well as the Cape Cod and San Miguel Writers Conferences. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Authors Guild, Sisters In Crime, International Thriller Writers, and Mystery Writers of America.
In a past life, she made a living acting and doing improv comedy and is a self-described science geek. She also founded The Montclair Maulers, the first women’s rugby team in New Jersey. They did not win a single game for three seasons. She can often be found hunting mushrooms in the woods or playing Bach on the piano when no one is listening.
Her play Strings Attached was recently produced Off Broadway on Theatre Row by The Pulse Theatre. Winner of both the Euphoria Poetry Competition and the Eve of St. Agnes Poetry Award, she is a two-time Pushcart Poetry Prize nominee and First Prize winner of the Maxim Mazumdar Playwriting Competition, the Chronogram Literary Fiction Prize, Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Award, and the Jean Paiva Memorial Fiction Award. She was a finalist in the McClaren, MSU and Henrico Playwriting Competitions, and was nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award. Her plays and musicals have been presented nationally and internationally. She was sponsored by The Paper Mill Playhouse for a TCG Playwriting Award two years in a row and was a Playwriting Fellowship finalist at Manhattan Theatre Club. Her most recent musical is Murder on Bond Street, which is based on a true story.
She was Featured Composer at the Broadway Songbook at Lincoln Center, and Featured Poet in both China Grove Literary Magazine and Quill and Parchment Poetry Magazine. She is a Fellow of Hawthornden International Writers Retreat, and was Writer in Residence at Byrdcliffe Art Colony, Lacawac Sanctuary and Karuna Colony. She teaches writing at NYU and Gotham Writers Workshop, as well as the Cape Cod and San Miguel Writers Conferences. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Authors Guild, Sisters In Crime, International Thriller Writers, and Mystery Writers of America.
In a past life, she made a living acting and doing improv comedy and is a self-described science geek. She also founded The Montclair Maulers, the first women’s rugby team in New Jersey. They did not win a single game for three seasons. She can often be found hunting mushrooms in the woods or playing Bach on the piano when no one is listening.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
March 1, 2012
This crime drama was good enough that I don't regret having spent my time reading it, but there were too many loose ends. The characters were well developed, but most of their personal stories that aided the character development were left unfinished and my questions left unanswered. I found myself wondering why the author spent so much time with these subplots. The story ended very abruptly, leaving me generally unsatisfied.
September 10, 2013
I don't have any words for this book, just read it!!
March 11, 2024
Book 3 of 5. Profiler Lee Campbell and his colleagues are in a desperate search for a killer who drains the blood of his victims. They are thrust into the world of Steampunk culture looking for clues.
June 30, 2017
Interesting but not captivating
September 7, 2018
Not a very good book. The bad guy was over-rated and the author dragged the story out. Almost afraid to read the next book.
May 6, 2013
Silent Kills is a kind of procedural, but a lot more, and C.E. Lawrence is that rare item, a series writer who gets better. Her Precinct is a little grim, nuts and sometimes funny. Try a rugby-playing boss cop married to a dangerous femme fatale and a detective who’s very afraid of dogs forced into close proximity with a German Shepherd.
Most crime books are all plot, stripped and dead. Lawrence doesn’t have this problem. She can go into the perp’s mind and find interesting thoughts, then show them slipping into sick, damaged thinking. Princetonian profiler Lee Campbell was interesting from the outset of this series, living at the edge of clinical depression, exasperating and very real. Everyone knows someone like this – really cool, good-looking, but dragging through life without hope. Campbell just happens to be smart and interesting, and unlike many of this type, he just won’t quit. Not a high energy guy, but somehow he maintains an enticing exotic girlfriend along with his work and his neuroses. Lawrence puts him in a very believable New York City world that somehow co-exists with her Gothic imagination in a natural unforced way. Silent Kills moves at a pace that is hard to match, without losing depth. It’s taut and relaxed, and it never stops moving. When she goes off the genre reservation, she gets away with it, because she goes to interesting places. A meeting of the Vidocq Society for example, where Campbell’s Armenian girlfriend meets Someone New.
And Lawrence’s characters lock in. You never ask yourself who someone is, even if they’ve been out of the narrative for a while. Her subliminal branding-iron identifies them indelibly – steampunk kid, sloppy cop, atheist Muslim street-vendor, crazy-beauty wife, whomever. You don’t forget the well-named Detective Butts and his appetite or a horny Valkyerie like Elena Krieger, or the smell of lamb as the street-vendor’s wife get him hot.
Lawrence is right on top of what’s going on in this century. As the narcissist-escapees of steampunk fake their way along through the anniversary of 9/11, you get the dark side of American Exceptionalism. It’s a perfect world for Davey, her well-bred good-looking steam-punk killer, who needs fresh blood to really be himself. Davey is sharp, he has style, and he’s convincing, and his evolution is artfully traced. None of your generic vampire teeth-to-the-throat – this isn’t Anne Rice warmed over. Davey is very professional, and he works hard. It takes a lot out of him finding appropriate victims, but it comes back in the cocktail that follows, or a transfusion. But he needs more and more blood, and even the most careful serial killer gets caught up in a rising tempo.
Likewise the reader. When cops, profiler, killer, and victim's brother drive upstate and converge on a steampunk gathering in Troy, Lawrence gives you the same frantic madness that capped Silent Victim. If you’re on the subway, you probably miss your stop.
Most crime books are all plot, stripped and dead. Lawrence doesn’t have this problem. She can go into the perp’s mind and find interesting thoughts, then show them slipping into sick, damaged thinking. Princetonian profiler Lee Campbell was interesting from the outset of this series, living at the edge of clinical depression, exasperating and very real. Everyone knows someone like this – really cool, good-looking, but dragging through life without hope. Campbell just happens to be smart and interesting, and unlike many of this type, he just won’t quit. Not a high energy guy, but somehow he maintains an enticing exotic girlfriend along with his work and his neuroses. Lawrence puts him in a very believable New York City world that somehow co-exists with her Gothic imagination in a natural unforced way. Silent Kills moves at a pace that is hard to match, without losing depth. It’s taut and relaxed, and it never stops moving. When she goes off the genre reservation, she gets away with it, because she goes to interesting places. A meeting of the Vidocq Society for example, where Campbell’s Armenian girlfriend meets Someone New.
And Lawrence’s characters lock in. You never ask yourself who someone is, even if they’ve been out of the narrative for a while. Her subliminal branding-iron identifies them indelibly – steampunk kid, sloppy cop, atheist Muslim street-vendor, crazy-beauty wife, whomever. You don’t forget the well-named Detective Butts and his appetite or a horny Valkyerie like Elena Krieger, or the smell of lamb as the street-vendor’s wife get him hot.
Lawrence is right on top of what’s going on in this century. As the narcissist-escapees of steampunk fake their way along through the anniversary of 9/11, you get the dark side of American Exceptionalism. It’s a perfect world for Davey, her well-bred good-looking steam-punk killer, who needs fresh blood to really be himself. Davey is sharp, he has style, and he’s convincing, and his evolution is artfully traced. None of your generic vampire teeth-to-the-throat – this isn’t Anne Rice warmed over. Davey is very professional, and he works hard. It takes a lot out of him finding appropriate victims, but it comes back in the cocktail that follows, or a transfusion. But he needs more and more blood, and even the most careful serial killer gets caught up in a rising tempo.
Likewise the reader. When cops, profiler, killer, and victim's brother drive upstate and converge on a steampunk gathering in Troy, Lawrence gives you the same frantic madness that capped Silent Victim. If you’re on the subway, you probably miss your stop.
January 19, 2012
Lawrence throws us headlong into a lot of complex relationships and one really deranged serial killer. Lee Campbell is NYPD's only full-time profiler and he has been asked to help on a case being dubbed the "Van Cortlandt Vampire." The serial killer drugs his victims and then drains them completely of blood. Campbell knows that the killings will only escalate. After interviewing the brother of one of the victims, Francois, Campbell instantly feels a bond and wants to help him. Campbell too has been through tragedy with the fall out of the disappearance of his sister which to this day has not been solved. Knowing that Francois will want to do whatever he can, Campbell decides to keep a close eye on him.
One thing that they know they have to do is immerse themselves in the steampunk world that this killer seems to gravitate towards. With the help of Campbell's girlfriend, Kathy, he starts to create a profile of the killer and what the significance is of the draining of blood.
Psychologically this page turner will leave you breathless. The added vulnerability of Campbell and his inner struggles day in and day out will have you fully vested in him and all the supporting characters. Each one has their own flaw but what makes them even more interesting is that the flaw they have do not hinder them for very long. Another aspect that adds to the story is that Lawrence sets her story one year after 9/11. These wounds are still fresh and every character in some way was impacted by the event. The switching view points gives the reader a look into each character and when Lawrence writes from the killer's perspective you literally see inside a mad man.
Great read for anyone that loves a good thriller.
(Book was provided by publisher for an honest review)
One thing that they know they have to do is immerse themselves in the steampunk world that this killer seems to gravitate towards. With the help of Campbell's girlfriend, Kathy, he starts to create a profile of the killer and what the significance is of the draining of blood.
Psychologically this page turner will leave you breathless. The added vulnerability of Campbell and his inner struggles day in and day out will have you fully vested in him and all the supporting characters. Each one has their own flaw but what makes them even more interesting is that the flaw they have do not hinder them for very long. Another aspect that adds to the story is that Lawrence sets her story one year after 9/11. These wounds are still fresh and every character in some way was impacted by the event. The switching view points gives the reader a look into each character and when Lawrence writes from the killer's perspective you literally see inside a mad man.
Great read for anyone that loves a good thriller.
(Book was provided by publisher for an honest review)
February 20, 2015
C. E. Lawrence continues to provide a great suspenseful thriller. It is part police procedural, part profiling, and part characters trying to move on with their lives at the 1st year anniversary of 09/01/01. While this is the 3rd book in the "Silent series," the author writes in such a way that you can pick these books up in any order. In talking with other readers, I have found that we appreciate her use of separate chapters to explain the history and rationale of the killer(s) and the murders he commits. Lee Campbell is a profiler but he also serves as a lecturer (providing more insight into the work he does) and battles his own anxiety and depression. All of that is well-described by the author. In this novel we got a taste of "Steampunk" and the author helped me to have a better understanding of that movement and what the "draw" to it may be. Did I adore the ending? No. Too much happened and got pulled together too fast to be really satisfying for me. I found that I was left with a few more questions that I was guessing at...but will I stop reading her work? Not a chance.
January 10, 2015
Es herrscht tatsächlich Ruhe
Lee Campel ist einer der erfolgreichsten Profiler in New York und als die blutleere Leiche einer jungen Frau gefunden wird, ist all sein Können gefragt…
Leider hat mir dieser Thriller überhaupt nicht gefallen. Der Mordfall fristet ein Schattendasein, während die Kollegen vom NYPD im Rampenlicht stehen. Wer verzehrt sich nach wem? Wer kann wen nicht ausstehen? Und die Probleme und Ängste des Protagonisten und Helden, Lee Campel werden natürlich auch sehr ausführlich beschrieben. Aber da war doch noch was oder?!
Die Entwicklung der Geschichte ist sehr voraussehbar und der Verlauf der Ermittlung war sehr nebensächlich. Das NYPD stolpert über wichtiges Beweismaterial und irgendwann finden sie den Mörder.
Leider passiert dazwischen rein gar nichts – und dafür braucht der Autor 400 Seiten.
Lee Campel ist einer der erfolgreichsten Profiler in New York und als die blutleere Leiche einer jungen Frau gefunden wird, ist all sein Können gefragt…
Leider hat mir dieser Thriller überhaupt nicht gefallen. Der Mordfall fristet ein Schattendasein, während die Kollegen vom NYPD im Rampenlicht stehen. Wer verzehrt sich nach wem? Wer kann wen nicht ausstehen? Und die Probleme und Ängste des Protagonisten und Helden, Lee Campel werden natürlich auch sehr ausführlich beschrieben. Aber da war doch noch was oder?!
Die Entwicklung der Geschichte ist sehr voraussehbar und der Verlauf der Ermittlung war sehr nebensächlich. Das NYPD stolpert über wichtiges Beweismaterial und irgendwann finden sie den Mörder.
Leider passiert dazwischen rein gar nichts – und dafür braucht der Autor 400 Seiten.
January 15, 2012
I have read all 3 CE Lawrence books. They just keep getting better and better. Lee Campbell is not only fighting to have his expertise recognized by the members of the NYPD but also wages a battle with depression caused by his sister's unsolved disappearance and the 9/11 attacks. In this one the group is trying to apprehend a killer who is also a member of the steampunk scene.
I love her characterizations. Even a minor character lights up the page from time to time, such as the Vietnam Vet who has schizophrenia and found one of thr victims. The main characters have their off duty personalities shown in small doses reminiscent of Law & Order.
I love her characterizations. Even a minor character lights up the page from time to time, such as the Vietnam Vet who has schizophrenia and found one of thr victims. The main characters have their off duty personalities shown in small doses reminiscent of Law & Order.
December 2, 2011
Having never read any of the other in this series, I was expecting the run of the mill thriller, filled with who dun its and chases especially given that the murderer was a serial killer. I found that, but a whole lot more as well. This is very much a psychological book about grief, loss and death. I found it havinga quality of introspection, making me (the reader) look at my own feelings about death. To me this book felt very "deep" and for that I was both surprised and delighted. It is so much more than it appears.
May 27, 2016
First off, I have to say this is the first C.E. Lawrence book I've read. Silent Kill captivated me and I had a hard time putting it down. At first I was a bit confused by the story structure But, as I continued reading, I found the way the story was told made sense. I identified a lot with Lee Campbell. I noticed one or two typos here and there, but not nearly enough stop reading. All in all, I'm glad I got introduced to C.E. Lawrence. This definitely won't be the last book of his I read.
March 20, 2012
Just finished this book. I really enjoyed the book and the author. The story took place in NYC right after 911. The author did a great job with the story line and characters. I stayed interested, however the book takes a dark side by adding some paranormal activity. Not my usual style of book but I do look forward to reading other bookd by C.E. Lawerence.
December 21, 2011
Here’s to a wonderfully campy thriller that introduces you to Manhattans steampunk culture while your favorite detective tracks down a living vampire that is silently killing his victims one by one.
April 16, 2012
Not the greatest suspense type book I've ever read, but definitely not the worst. I liked it overall even though the cops made some incredibly accurate guesses based on absolutely nothing. I kind of shook my head in some places, but I did keep reading it.
August 23, 2015
I really enjoy the main character in this series. Dr. Lee Campbell, NYPD profiler, is helping to find a killer who drains the blood from of his victims. Campbell is a damaged individual who cannot get past his own personal tragedy, which makes him a fantastic profiler.
March 15, 2012
great plot
April 30, 2012
Pretty good mystery.
July 28, 2012
New writer I started reading and I thought they were good.
August 14, 2012
Just started today, will reserve judgement. I will say it's slow to start.
February 6, 2013
Did not realize until I had finished that it was the third book of a series. Purchased the other books in the series and hope they will also be an enjoyable read.
February 21, 2014
Nice story but a little bit wordy.
March 1, 2014
A quick read. Intense at times but overall entertaining.
November 1, 2015
Loved this book! Kept my interest from beginning to end. Would recommend it to anyone who likes these types of books. Can't wait to read the rest of the series!
May 2, 2016
Better than the other one of these that I read, but not by much...too much time given to the depression that the main character has and not enough to the mystery/suspense.
October 21, 2016
Lovely writing style, well developed characters and a gripping plot.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews