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Silent Kill
Police must follow a labyrinth, leading into the darkest tunnel of a twisted mind. A mind that carries no value for human life… Minneapolis police officer Louise Miller has attitude. Not only does she have to deal with the good old boy mentality of the department, but she's also a gay police officer who has to deal with harassment on a higher level. When one of her few friends on the force goes missing Miller investigates, despite her captain's order to leave it to the detectives. As Miller scours the precinct for any sign of the missing officer, Elias Boughton is on a psychopathic rampage. Kidnapping and murder are games he plays, blindly obeying a voice from his past. As the body count rises, Miller is convinced the detectives are heading in the wrong direction. Trying to fit the puzzle together, each clue revolves around a particular Rottweiler. As the mystery unravels so does her life, and the case becomes more personal than she ever dared imagine.
- GenresMystery
308 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2010
1 person is currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
David Fingerman
9 books23 followersDavid has had over twenty short stories published in magazines and anthologies. "Edging Past Reality" is his first book, a collection speculative fiction and horror stories. He has also published three novels ~ "Spyder," "Silent Kill," and "Playing the Hand She's Dealt"
David presently lives with his wife in Minneapolis."
David presently lives with his wife in Minneapolis."
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 18, 2015
Bottom line:
A tightly woven thriller that will keep you up way too late.
David Fingerman has a talent for weaving together believable, complex characters with a gritty plot that grabs hold and will not let a reader go. Silent Kill features a lesbian cop, a psychopath murderer who only loves his dog, and a plot that will keep you guessing at every turn. I enjoyed how Fingerman brings you into the mind of the killer as well as following the cop who wants to bring him down.
This isn't for fans of cozy mysteries, but I'd recommend this to fans of mysteries who enjoy realistic and sometimes graphic violence.
A tightly woven thriller that will keep you up way too late.
David Fingerman has a talent for weaving together believable, complex characters with a gritty plot that grabs hold and will not let a reader go. Silent Kill features a lesbian cop, a psychopath murderer who only loves his dog, and a plot that will keep you guessing at every turn. I enjoyed how Fingerman brings you into the mind of the killer as well as following the cop who wants to bring him down.
This isn't for fans of cozy mysteries, but I'd recommend this to fans of mysteries who enjoy realistic and sometimes graphic violence.
September 16, 2015
Excellent, Mr. Fingerman! I highly recommend this book. I'm moving on to the next one right now.
October 22, 2010
I review lots of suspense/mystery books being a reviewer for Suspense Magazine, and I thought that David Fingerman’s Silent Kill stood up well against most I read. It kept me reading, engaged by the story. It is one of those stories where the reader gets to know things the main characters don’t, but Fingerman never gave it all away.
Written in multiple points of view, sometimes depth of character can be sacrificed. But, I found myself rooting for Louise, Andrew and Elias’s captives just the same, and in many different, torn sort of ways. I think the success of the characters was in the vast connections that the author made between them.
Elias was a tragic bad guy, and his character was where I really wanted to know more, more of his past which lead him to think the thoughts he did. Of course, us readers always want more. That has to be a compliment right there. Louise and Andrew on the other hand seemed to be built up together, unique characters for this type of story. Depth could be found in the layers of their lives. Gillespy, well I just never had a clear cut feeling about him, too complicated with such a jaded past, a character who struggles to be redeemed, but can they?. But, the best of all was the dog from the front cover – well I just loved him. What an amazing character he was, with a past, misdeeds, misfortunes and redemption all his own. I applaud this character! Wonderful :)
This is not a cozy mystery by any means. So if you like your murder mysteries/suspense stories with gore, a demented bad guy, violence, etc. I would say this one is for you. There is a lot going on in it as far as plot, some sub-plots that were not even resolved, but they didn’t need to be or shouldn’t be. The author kept adding in twists, and I know personally how much that takes to plan out. And, his knowledge on the subjects showed. The cop talk was all very believable.
The biggest compliment I can give here is that I checked this author out. And, I really want to read, Edging Past Reality, his collection of short stories. Plus, I look forward to finding out more about his two coming releases.
Written in multiple points of view, sometimes depth of character can be sacrificed. But, I found myself rooting for Louise, Andrew and Elias’s captives just the same, and in many different, torn sort of ways. I think the success of the characters was in the vast connections that the author made between them.
Elias was a tragic bad guy, and his character was where I really wanted to know more, more of his past which lead him to think the thoughts he did. Of course, us readers always want more. That has to be a compliment right there. Louise and Andrew on the other hand seemed to be built up together, unique characters for this type of story. Depth could be found in the layers of their lives. Gillespy, well I just never had a clear cut feeling about him, too complicated with such a jaded past, a character who struggles to be redeemed, but can they?. But, the best of all was the dog from the front cover – well I just loved him. What an amazing character he was, with a past, misdeeds, misfortunes and redemption all his own. I applaud this character! Wonderful :)
This is not a cozy mystery by any means. So if you like your murder mysteries/suspense stories with gore, a demented bad guy, violence, etc. I would say this one is for you. There is a lot going on in it as far as plot, some sub-plots that were not even resolved, but they didn’t need to be or shouldn’t be. The author kept adding in twists, and I know personally how much that takes to plan out. And, his knowledge on the subjects showed. The cop talk was all very believable.
The biggest compliment I can give here is that I checked this author out. And, I really want to read, Edging Past Reality, his collection of short stories. Plus, I look forward to finding out more about his two coming releases.
January 7, 2011
I like dogs, and Silent Kill has a protagonist who shares my fondness for them; Minneapolis police officer Louise Miller will go far out of her way, and out of her comfort zone, to help a needy dog. Author David Fingerman has created a fascinating protagonist in Louise Miller; independent, resourceful, sympathetic… who just happens to be gay. She lives with a friend who’s not quite so sanguine about adopting a lost Rottweiler. And she has a brother, Andrew, who’s just learning to be recognise his sister’s lifestyle. One of my favorite scenes in Silent Kill is delightfully underplayed, where Andrew tries to work out why there’s a beautiful woman smiling at him.
The author does a nice job of avoiding excess in his novel, crafting a complex story with violent interactions, varied characters, empathy and revulsion finely balanced. It’s not a novel for the squeamish, for those who like their side-characters to survive, or for those who prefer their scenes to go swiftly by. Action is described with careful clarity and gory detail. Animal scenes are a mix of delightful and nightmarish. There’s a cat and a dog, and memories of a dog. And there’s a storyline that eventually ties warped imagination and sad reality together, making sense of why all the characters might be linked.
David Fingerman’s Silent Kill reads like a movie waiting for a director; rough round the edges, but full of gritty detail and detailed plot. It will be interesting to see where the author takes these characters in further tales.
Disclaimer: I won a copy of this book and chose to repay blogger and author generosity by reading and reviewing.
The author does a nice job of avoiding excess in his novel, crafting a complex story with violent interactions, varied characters, empathy and revulsion finely balanced. It’s not a novel for the squeamish, for those who like their side-characters to survive, or for those who prefer their scenes to go swiftly by. Action is described with careful clarity and gory detail. Animal scenes are a mix of delightful and nightmarish. There’s a cat and a dog, and memories of a dog. And there’s a storyline that eventually ties warped imagination and sad reality together, making sense of why all the characters might be linked.
David Fingerman’s Silent Kill reads like a movie waiting for a director; rough round the edges, but full of gritty detail and detailed plot. It will be interesting to see where the author takes these characters in further tales.
Disclaimer: I won a copy of this book and chose to repay blogger and author generosity by reading and reviewing.
June 24, 2011
David Fingerman, a long-time friend of mine, sent his book to me for my birthday last year but it’s taken me this long to read it. I should have known better! When I finally picked it up, I found this book hard to put down.
A dark and occasionally violent thriller, SILENT KILL is the story of psychotherapy gone wrong and the consequences that result, years later, from that extraordinarily bad therapy. Dr. William Gillespy, the psychiatrist responsible for all that follows, has finally reached the limits even of his own tolerance for bad outcomes: a patient has killed herself as a result of his work, he’s being sued, and he only finds solace deep in a liquor bottle. Unbeknownst to him, a patient from years before, a giant of a man named Elias, seeks to protect Dr. Gillespy from those who seek to recover damages for the girl’s death.
As the bodies pile up, Louise Miller, a Minneapolis cop, and her brother Andrew, a rookie county deputy, work to solve the mystery and find the murderer before another person dies. The story also involves a mistreated Rottweiler who has been trained to kill, a Native American cop, Louise’s lover and much more. The plot is developed well, with twists that surprised and delighted me, and kept me reading long into the night. Fingerman knows both court and police procedures, so the investigation proceeds without the usual TSTL (too stupid to live) moves that both amateur and professional sleuths sometimes make.
In short, I found the book to be both satisfying and compelling. Now I’m going to have to find Fingerman’s next offering, SPYDER, to see what he’s got up his sleeve now!
A dark and occasionally violent thriller, SILENT KILL is the story of psychotherapy gone wrong and the consequences that result, years later, from that extraordinarily bad therapy. Dr. William Gillespy, the psychiatrist responsible for all that follows, has finally reached the limits even of his own tolerance for bad outcomes: a patient has killed herself as a result of his work, he’s being sued, and he only finds solace deep in a liquor bottle. Unbeknownst to him, a patient from years before, a giant of a man named Elias, seeks to protect Dr. Gillespy from those who seek to recover damages for the girl’s death.
As the bodies pile up, Louise Miller, a Minneapolis cop, and her brother Andrew, a rookie county deputy, work to solve the mystery and find the murderer before another person dies. The story also involves a mistreated Rottweiler who has been trained to kill, a Native American cop, Louise’s lover and much more. The plot is developed well, with twists that surprised and delighted me, and kept me reading long into the night. Fingerman knows both court and police procedures, so the investigation proceeds without the usual TSTL (too stupid to live) moves that both amateur and professional sleuths sometimes make.
In short, I found the book to be both satisfying and compelling. Now I’m going to have to find Fingerman’s next offering, SPYDER, to see what he’s got up his sleeve now!
October 18, 2010
Silent Kill by David Fingerman was an excellent mix of mystery and suspense. From the first page Fingerman holds nothing back.
Louise Miller is a female cop that gets a lot of hassle from her fellow officers. Her brother Andrew is a new cop in a different precinct.
When Mark Lone Bear, her friend and fellow officer turns up missing, Louise puts in all effort to find out what happened to him.
Throughout the investigation, her brother who is getting broken in as a rookie, stumbles upon a development in Louise's case, Mark Lone Bear and his car.
When two more people end up missing, Andrew and Louise work to find answers to Mark Lone Bear's murder and the kidnappings. The closer they get to finding the murderer, the more danger that befalls upon those they love and care for.
Was Mark Lone Bear mixed up in something he shouldn't have been that led to his death? When one more kidnapping hits Louise a little too close to home, will she save all three before they end up dead too? Find out in Silent Kill.
Fingerman did an excellent job in his first full length murder/mystery. Full of suspense and with an imagination that will leave you wanting more, this is one title you will want to get your hands on.
The perfect mix of crime, mystery and suspense, I couldn't put it down until I knew what happened in the end. I give Silent Kill ***** (5) Stars, BK Walker. http://bkwalkerbooks.weebly.com
Learn more about David Fingerman by clicking the book cover.
Purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Fictionwise.
Louise Miller is a female cop that gets a lot of hassle from her fellow officers. Her brother Andrew is a new cop in a different precinct.
When Mark Lone Bear, her friend and fellow officer turns up missing, Louise puts in all effort to find out what happened to him.
Throughout the investigation, her brother who is getting broken in as a rookie, stumbles upon a development in Louise's case, Mark Lone Bear and his car.
When two more people end up missing, Andrew and Louise work to find answers to Mark Lone Bear's murder and the kidnappings. The closer they get to finding the murderer, the more danger that befalls upon those they love and care for.
Was Mark Lone Bear mixed up in something he shouldn't have been that led to his death? When one more kidnapping hits Louise a little too close to home, will she save all three before they end up dead too? Find out in Silent Kill.
Fingerman did an excellent job in his first full length murder/mystery. Full of suspense and with an imagination that will leave you wanting more, this is one title you will want to get your hands on.
The perfect mix of crime, mystery and suspense, I couldn't put it down until I knew what happened in the end. I give Silent Kill ***** (5) Stars, BK Walker. http://bkwalkerbooks.weebly.com
Learn more about David Fingerman by clicking the book cover.
Purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Fictionwise.
November 3, 2010
David Fingerman’s Silent Kill is a tightly woven thriller about a female cop on the trail of a psychopath. The story was written with multiple viewpoints, perfect for the genre because it let the reader know more than the characters. The antagonist was absolutely chilling in his disregard for human suffering. He had logic all his own, which made his bizarre thought processes much more frightening. I would have liked a few flashbacks to show how he came to be that way—something more concrete than innuendo.
Police procedure as depicted in the book was believable and acted as a good contrast—one world of strict guidelines and familiar rules against a world where there was no control. The main character was just spunky enough to buck against those rules, which ultimately put her and her loved ones in danger.
The book would have benefited from a few silent kills early in the story. Again, I yearned for something more concrete than innuendo. While we all can imagine a swift and vicious attack, I believe seeing it happen in the story would have heightened suspense and increased the sense of danger off stage. Overall, Silent Kill is a solid thriller, one I recommend to readers of the genre.
Police procedure as depicted in the book was believable and acted as a good contrast—one world of strict guidelines and familiar rules against a world where there was no control. The main character was just spunky enough to buck against those rules, which ultimately put her and her loved ones in danger.
The book would have benefited from a few silent kills early in the story. Again, I yearned for something more concrete than innuendo. While we all can imagine a swift and vicious attack, I believe seeing it happen in the story would have heightened suspense and increased the sense of danger off stage. Overall, Silent Kill is a solid thriller, one I recommend to readers of the genre.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews