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Lost Causes: Silent Scream
What is happening at Lakeview? When beautiful Psychologist Casey West goes to Detective Karl Larkin with a wild story about the mental hospital where she works, he quickly dismisses it. He has worked in Springfield for twenty years and Lakeview has never had a complaint lodged against it. But when Casey's friend, a nurse named Trudy Madison, is brutally murdered and the management's story doesn't agree with the evidence, Detective Larkin begins to think Casey's story doesn't seem so far-fetched anymore. Having friends in high places, Jerry Connors, who runs Lakeview, uses his influence to stop the detective's investigation. Casey then begs Larkin to allow her to become his eyes and ears inside of the place. Will she help him crack the case, or will she wind up dead like her friend?
256 pages, Paperback
First published May 10, 2013
1 person is currently reading
311 people want to read
About the author
Donna J. Thompson
3 books8 followers Donna J. Thompson is a reader turned writer. She believes that everyone has a story and her observation of people helps her to write about complex characters, and make them come to life.
Donna is a mother and grndmother to a blended family. She has been writing since she was a child, but she never tried to have anything published until lately because she never felt she was good enough. She is a graduate of Winghill Writing School.
In grade school her favorite time of day was when her teacher got out her big book of Grimm's fairy tales and read her class a story. In high school her love of reading turned into a love for writing and she has been writing ever since.
Donna lives in a small town in Ohio, and is most comfortable writing about living in places that makes one think of Mayberry USA. She and her Veteran husband and two cats, pretty and midnight, live just outside the city limits.
Donna is a mother and grndmother to a blended family. She has been writing since she was a child, but she never tried to have anything published until lately because she never felt she was good enough. She is a graduate of Winghill Writing School.
In grade school her favorite time of day was when her teacher got out her big book of Grimm's fairy tales and read her class a story. In high school her love of reading turned into a love for writing and she has been writing ever since.
Donna lives in a small town in Ohio, and is most comfortable writing about living in places that makes one think of Mayberry USA. She and her Veteran husband and two cats, pretty and midnight, live just outside the city limits.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 25, 2013
The premise of this novel attracted me immediately when it came across my review pile. A murder in a psychiatric hospital? A conspiracy in which someone places their own life on the line to work with the police? It sounded like a winner... and it was.
The story-line immediately begins to pickup within the first few chapters of the book, and it does not let up. In fact, I found this novel to be so unpredictable and fast paced that I literally finished it in one day as I found myself unable to put it down. Would the police uncover the real murderer of Trudy Madison? How far did the hospital conspiracy reach? Was there anyone the heroine Casey West could trust? Thankfully, all of these questions (and more) were answered over the course of the novel in a way that more than left the reader satisfied.
There is little doubt in my mind that the author spent considerable time on this novel as not only were the characters well developed, each with their own flaws, their own agendas and quirks, but the descriptions of the hospital were also obviously well planned. I felt like I was there as I read this novel - that I had been transported to Lakeview and was watching events as they unfolded. I felt Casey's pain, her anger, and yes, even her fear and confusion. All of the emotions one would expect to feel when confronted with the types of situations depicted in the novel.
Overall, Lost Causes Silent Scream is a fantastic blend of murder, conspiracy and intense story-telling that I would definitely recommend!
DISCLAIMER: I received an advanced copy of Lost Causes Silent Scream in exchange for my honest review. This has not reflected on my review in any way.
The story-line immediately begins to pickup within the first few chapters of the book, and it does not let up. In fact, I found this novel to be so unpredictable and fast paced that I literally finished it in one day as I found myself unable to put it down. Would the police uncover the real murderer of Trudy Madison? How far did the hospital conspiracy reach? Was there anyone the heroine Casey West could trust? Thankfully, all of these questions (and more) were answered over the course of the novel in a way that more than left the reader satisfied.
There is little doubt in my mind that the author spent considerable time on this novel as not only were the characters well developed, each with their own flaws, their own agendas and quirks, but the descriptions of the hospital were also obviously well planned. I felt like I was there as I read this novel - that I had been transported to Lakeview and was watching events as they unfolded. I felt Casey's pain, her anger, and yes, even her fear and confusion. All of the emotions one would expect to feel when confronted with the types of situations depicted in the novel.
Overall, Lost Causes Silent Scream is a fantastic blend of murder, conspiracy and intense story-telling that I would definitely recommend!
DISCLAIMER: I received an advanced copy of Lost Causes Silent Scream in exchange for my honest review. This has not reflected on my review in any way.
January 16, 2016
REVIEW:
This is a novel about a murder that takes place in a psychiatric hospital. The first chapters set the pace and it doesn't slow down from there.. I found that I couldn't even close to guessing what was going to happen next. You just never knew. I couldn't put the book down. The pages couldn't be turned fast enough. I found myself trying to figure out who really murdered the nurse, Trudy Madison. Was there a conspiracy going on in the hospital.? The characters were real even though they were fictional. They weren't perfect, they each had little oddities and faults just like everyone in real life. Ms. Thompson did a wonderful job of describing the hospital, you could picture every detail. Lakeview was like a hospital you might go to visit someone. Yes, I know it is a psychiatric hospital, but you can still have friends and loved ones who need your support in that situation. The book is full of emotions that you can actually feel. Once you open the book you are stepping into the world of Lakeview and the murder of the nurse. Can you figure out who murdered her before Casey the Psychologist does.? This is one book you won't want to miss. I'm, glad I didn't. Pick up the book and I'm almost positive you won't put it down until you're done. I thought it was a very good job of writing by Ms. Thompson.
I would give this book 4.5 STARS.
I was given a complimentary copy of the book, LOST CAUSES, Silent Scream from the author Donna J. Thompson For my honest review.
This is a novel about a murder that takes place in a psychiatric hospital. The first chapters set the pace and it doesn't slow down from there.. I found that I couldn't even close to guessing what was going to happen next. You just never knew. I couldn't put the book down. The pages couldn't be turned fast enough. I found myself trying to figure out who really murdered the nurse, Trudy Madison. Was there a conspiracy going on in the hospital.? The characters were real even though they were fictional. They weren't perfect, they each had little oddities and faults just like everyone in real life. Ms. Thompson did a wonderful job of describing the hospital, you could picture every detail. Lakeview was like a hospital you might go to visit someone. Yes, I know it is a psychiatric hospital, but you can still have friends and loved ones who need your support in that situation. The book is full of emotions that you can actually feel. Once you open the book you are stepping into the world of Lakeview and the murder of the nurse. Can you figure out who murdered her before Casey the Psychologist does.? This is one book you won't want to miss. I'm, glad I didn't. Pick up the book and I'm almost positive you won't put it down until you're done. I thought it was a very good job of writing by Ms. Thompson.
I would give this book 4.5 STARS.
I was given a complimentary copy of the book, LOST CAUSES, Silent Scream from the author Donna J. Thompson For my honest review.
July 11, 2013
In Lost Causes: Silent Scream, Dr. Casey West is working her way through a labyrinth of characters and clues, all set inside Lakeview Hospital, where she works. She's discovered that two of the patients there are probably her relatives (she's 100% sure, although those around her aren't) and they've been left in squalid, inhumane conditions. In the case of her nephew, she feels he's being deliberately over medicated; he's in a perpetual zombie state. And the head administrator of the hospital, a family friend she's known all her life and who helped get her the job at Lakeview, is behind it all - but Casey can't believe he'd betray her and her family that way.
There's great side characters in Lost Causes, including a woman administrator who orchestrates murders on other's behalf's (I imagined her looking like nurse Ratchet!) and a no-nonsense detective who is one of the few people who believe Casey's story.
And there's plenty of suspense, including a great scene of being stalked while sneaking through the dark corridors of Lakeview, trying to find more evidence.
I was only a couple of chapters in before I wanted to keep up with Casey and see if she could unwind the secrets in Lakeview. She does, but of course I won't tell you what they are! It's got a page-turner quality that's a lot of fun. Want to curl up with a good mystery? Join Casey West as she tries to save her sister and nephew!!
There's great side characters in Lost Causes, including a woman administrator who orchestrates murders on other's behalf's (I imagined her looking like nurse Ratchet!) and a no-nonsense detective who is one of the few people who believe Casey's story.
And there's plenty of suspense, including a great scene of being stalked while sneaking through the dark corridors of Lakeview, trying to find more evidence.
I was only a couple of chapters in before I wanted to keep up with Casey and see if she could unwind the secrets in Lakeview. She does, but of course I won't tell you what they are! It's got a page-turner quality that's a lot of fun. Want to curl up with a good mystery? Join Casey West as she tries to save her sister and nephew!!
February 13, 2014
Lost Causes: Silent Scream by Donna J. Thompson is a good suspense novel about a young psychologist who finds out after her "parents" deaths that she was adopted, searches for her biological family and finds out about a sister and nephew that reside in the local mental institution. She gets a position at this institution from a friend of the family she grew up with and this is where the story begins. She believes her biological family is not as insane as she has been led to believe which leads her into trouble and a new friend is murdered in the process of trying to discover the truth. The reader is led through the story but I felt there were no real surprises, no twists and turns, nothing really left to the imagination. I didn't really have to guess about anything because there was no big mystery. Everything was explained immediately through the police's investigative unit or character actions. It was suspenseful only to see when and how the bad guys would be caught, but not that they would be. The reader will know what is coming.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews