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Broken Silence: A Heart-Pounding Young Adult Thriller
A stranger just put Kelsey’s boyfriend in a coma. The worst part? She asked him to do it.
Seventeen-year-old Kelsey is dealing with a lot – an abusive boyfriend, a gravely ill mother, an absent father, and a confusing new love interest. After her boyfriend attacks her in public, a stranger on the end of the phone line offers to help. Kelsey pays little attention to his words, but the caller is deadly serious. Suddenly the people Kelsey loves are in danger, and only Kelsey knows it. Will Kelsey discover the identity of the caller before it’s too late?
Broken Silence is the first young adult thriller from award-winning playwright Helen Vivienne Fletcher.
Seventeen-year-old Kelsey is dealing with a lot – an abusive boyfriend, a gravely ill mother, an absent father, and a confusing new love interest. After her boyfriend attacks her in public, a stranger on the end of the phone line offers to help. Kelsey pays little attention to his words, but the caller is deadly serious. Suddenly the people Kelsey loves are in danger, and only Kelsey knows it. Will Kelsey discover the identity of the caller before it’s too late?
Broken Silence is the first young adult thriller from award-winning playwright Helen Vivienne Fletcher.
370 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 15, 2017
1 person is currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Helen Vivienne Fletcher
30 books31 followersHelen Vivienne Fletcher wrote her first novel between the ages of thirteen and sixteen. It is, by several accounts, one of the funniest novels ever written. It’s just a shame it was supposed to be a psychological thriller.
Helen has worked in many jobs, doing everything from theatre stage management to phone counselling. She discovered her passion for writing for children and young people while working as a youth support worker, and now helps children find their own passion for storytelling through her business Brain Bunny Workshops, which runs creative writing holiday programmes and afterschool classes.
She has written an impressive collection of books for everyone from preschoolers to adult readers. Her work has been both traditionally and independently published, and she has won and been shortlisted for numerous awards.
She lives in Wellington, New Zealand, with her disability assistance dog, Bindi.
Overall Helen just loves telling stories, and is always excited when people want to hear or read them.
Helen has worked in many jobs, doing everything from theatre stage management to phone counselling. She discovered her passion for writing for children and young people while working as a youth support worker, and now helps children find their own passion for storytelling through her business Brain Bunny Workshops, which runs creative writing holiday programmes and afterschool classes.
She has written an impressive collection of books for everyone from preschoolers to adult readers. Her work has been both traditionally and independently published, and she has won and been shortlisted for numerous awards.
She lives in Wellington, New Zealand, with her disability assistance dog, Bindi.
Overall Helen just loves telling stories, and is always excited when people want to hear or read them.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 29, 2017
For a gripping YA thriller, I don't think you can go past this one right now! A definite page turner and a plot twist at the end. Kelsey is a great character - dealing with a seriously ill mother, an absent father and an abusive boyfriend. Her confusion and vulnerability make her easy to empathise with.
So when a stranger prevents Kelsey from serious injury by putting her boyfriend in hospital, the reader is right there along side her wondering what on earth is going on and who is responsible. Highly recommended for secondary school libraries.
So when a stranger prevents Kelsey from serious injury by putting her boyfriend in hospital, the reader is right there along side her wondering what on earth is going on and who is responsible. Highly recommended for secondary school libraries.
July 8, 2017
Fantastic
I love a book that makes me cry. It means that I actually care about the characters. This one did that for me. It definitely kept me guessing as well. I kept jumping around blaming different characters as time went on. I was also quite hooked and read the whole thing basically in two sittings.
I love a book that makes me cry. It means that I actually care about the characters. This one did that for me. It definitely kept me guessing as well. I kept jumping around blaming different characters as time went on. I was also quite hooked and read the whole thing basically in two sittings.
October 14, 2017
I had no idea what Broken Silence would be like, I hadn't read a review but bought it anyway. I like a bit of YA. I'm a slack reader at times with several started and unfinished novels beside my bed.
But this one I read in two sittings. The book you take with you in your bag because it's a book that keeps you consumed.
HVF's pace and dialogue is spot on, the sense of menace real throughout. Warning- not for the faint hearted, but if you like a suspenseful thriller, then you won't be disappointed.
Also, as a side note, the physical book feels good to hold- it's a quality print with a great cover and has been well edited.
All in all, a satisfying, moving and gripping read.
But this one I read in two sittings. The book you take with you in your bag because it's a book that keeps you consumed.
HVF's pace and dialogue is spot on, the sense of menace real throughout. Warning- not for the faint hearted, but if you like a suspenseful thriller, then you won't be disappointed.
Also, as a side note, the physical book feels good to hold- it's a quality print with a great cover and has been well edited.
All in all, a satisfying, moving and gripping read.
June 20, 2017
I received an advanced copy of this story and I am freely giving an honest review of this story. I loved it so much, I purchased it from Amazon!
I am not going to give away any of this story. It is too good with so many twists and turns and an ending that will blow you away! This story is near and dear to my heart with some experience in the heart of the matter of the story. The emotions I felt - anger, frustration, sympathy, and memories of my own experience that moved me to tears. It's not a sad story as much as a sad situation.
I hope many people will discover this story and open your eyes and heart to what is really happening out there. And enjoy a really good story that keeps you guessing!
I am not going to give away any of this story. It is too good with so many twists and turns and an ending that will blow you away! This story is near and dear to my heart with some experience in the heart of the matter of the story. The emotions I felt - anger, frustration, sympathy, and memories of my own experience that moved me to tears. It's not a sad story as much as a sad situation.
I hope many people will discover this story and open your eyes and heart to what is really happening out there. And enjoy a really good story that keeps you guessing!
August 8, 2018
Broken Silence opens with a heart-rending chapter and lays bare the emotional turmoil that is Kelsey's life. Living in her brother Pete's flat with his two friends the misery of her situation is told via the peeling wallpaper, damp patches and the rejection by her father and most tellingly the bruises she is trying to hide.
With her mum now in a care home and her father long disappeared seventeen-year-old Kelsey has had to move into her brother's flat along with his flatmates Ben and Aiden. She feels unwanted and unloved and is increasingly confused by her boyfriend, Mike's behaviour. The author does a fantastic job of showing and not telling as we quickly pick up clues that he's not the most caring of partners and when we meet him this view is soon justified. She has created a wonderfully authentic character in Kelsey. The vulnerability, confusion and teenage angst all shine out of her. The relationship between her and her brother is fraught with tension as each of them resent the position they have found themselves in. At times I wanted to shake Kelsey and make her tell someone but then I remember she is only 17 and has been through so much trauma in her life. It was impossible not to feel for her.
When the prank calls in the flat start nobody pays much attention but when it is clear that Kelsey is being targeted by the caller and that they are ready to seek revenge on those who hurt her things start to take a more sinister turn. An undercurrent of malevolence runs throughout the novel with the tension ramping up each time the phone rings.
Broken Silence is a hard-hitting and dark read with an exploration of domestic abuse running throughout. At times it was a difficult read but it was a well written and authentic portrayal of a young girl caught up in the midst of it all. The issue of peer bullying and sexual intimidation and harassment were also covered, never ever gratuitously but authentically in the portrayal of how someone Kelsey's age would deal with it. The finger of suspicion points to a number of characters in the novel leaving a trail of hints and red herrings leading the reader astray.
I could easily see this transfer onto the big screen; it has all the right elements to make a fabulous psychological thriller movie to keep audiences glued to their seats. It certainly kept me glued to the pages, I read it in one sitting with a short sleep break!
With her mum now in a care home and her father long disappeared seventeen-year-old Kelsey has had to move into her brother's flat along with his flatmates Ben and Aiden. She feels unwanted and unloved and is increasingly confused by her boyfriend, Mike's behaviour. The author does a fantastic job of showing and not telling as we quickly pick up clues that he's not the most caring of partners and when we meet him this view is soon justified. She has created a wonderfully authentic character in Kelsey. The vulnerability, confusion and teenage angst all shine out of her. The relationship between her and her brother is fraught with tension as each of them resent the position they have found themselves in. At times I wanted to shake Kelsey and make her tell someone but then I remember she is only 17 and has been through so much trauma in her life. It was impossible not to feel for her.
When the prank calls in the flat start nobody pays much attention but when it is clear that Kelsey is being targeted by the caller and that they are ready to seek revenge on those who hurt her things start to take a more sinister turn. An undercurrent of malevolence runs throughout the novel with the tension ramping up each time the phone rings.
Broken Silence is a hard-hitting and dark read with an exploration of domestic abuse running throughout. At times it was a difficult read but it was a well written and authentic portrayal of a young girl caught up in the midst of it all. The issue of peer bullying and sexual intimidation and harassment were also covered, never ever gratuitously but authentically in the portrayal of how someone Kelsey's age would deal with it. The finger of suspicion points to a number of characters in the novel leaving a trail of hints and red herrings leading the reader astray.
I could easily see this transfer onto the big screen; it has all the right elements to make a fabulous psychological thriller movie to keep audiences glued to their seats. It certainly kept me glued to the pages, I read it in one sitting with a short sleep break!
March 28, 2019
BROKEN SILENCE is the story of seventeen-year-old Kelsey, a kid who has had a lot to deal with in life. Confused and very vulnerable, she cared for her gravely ill mother until she had to go into care. Her remarried father has disappeared from her life, and Kelsey finds herself living in a scruffy flat with her brother Pete and a couple of his mates. She feels rejected by her father, in her brother's road, and she's hiding the physical signs of abuse that her boyfriend regularly doles out. Her life is a mess, and she's hurting, physically and emotionally.
The character of Kelsey really is heart-breakingly real, and very cleverly constructed. She's vulnerable and confused, and up to the brim with teenage angst. She's sympathetic, sad, annoying, conflicted, unreliable and often borderline unlikeable. She and her brother resent the positions that they've been placed in and they rub each other up the wrong way. Sometimes the reader will need to remind themselves that this is a characterisation that comes from the impact of so much trauma at such a young age.
Then there's the matter of the stranger at the end of the phone. The stranger that comes to her aid after her boyfriend attacks her in public. The stranger that puts her boyfriend in hospital, comatose. The stranger that Kelsey may have asked to do exactly that. The quiet ramping up of tension that comes with those phone calls, as they start to increase the pressure on Kelsey, moving from offering a way out and possible salvation, to being part of the problem is elegantly done, shifting perceptions and expectations ever so slightly, undermining Kelsey's position as put upon, creating questions around unreliability and potential motives.
Issues based YA fiction like BROKEN SILENCE is a tricky undertaking. There are messages aplenty in this novel, carefully constructed to not be preachy, overly dramatic or even apparent as "messages". It tackles a lot of difficult subjects such as bullying, domestic violence, sexual harrassment and gaslighting. The messaging never takes away from a solid plot that keeps the reader guessing and working at likely resolutions.
All in all, BROKEN SILENCE is a gripping, page turner of a thriller, with a clever take on the unreliable and frequently unlikeable narrator that would work for adult readers as well as its target audience of older YA.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
The character of Kelsey really is heart-breakingly real, and very cleverly constructed. She's vulnerable and confused, and up to the brim with teenage angst. She's sympathetic, sad, annoying, conflicted, unreliable and often borderline unlikeable. She and her brother resent the positions that they've been placed in and they rub each other up the wrong way. Sometimes the reader will need to remind themselves that this is a characterisation that comes from the impact of so much trauma at such a young age.
Then there's the matter of the stranger at the end of the phone. The stranger that comes to her aid after her boyfriend attacks her in public. The stranger that puts her boyfriend in hospital, comatose. The stranger that Kelsey may have asked to do exactly that. The quiet ramping up of tension that comes with those phone calls, as they start to increase the pressure on Kelsey, moving from offering a way out and possible salvation, to being part of the problem is elegantly done, shifting perceptions and expectations ever so slightly, undermining Kelsey's position as put upon, creating questions around unreliability and potential motives.
Issues based YA fiction like BROKEN SILENCE is a tricky undertaking. There are messages aplenty in this novel, carefully constructed to not be preachy, overly dramatic or even apparent as "messages". It tackles a lot of difficult subjects such as bullying, domestic violence, sexual harrassment and gaslighting. The messaging never takes away from a solid plot that keeps the reader guessing and working at likely resolutions.
All in all, BROKEN SILENCE is a gripping, page turner of a thriller, with a clever take on the unreliable and frequently unlikeable narrator that would work for adult readers as well as its target audience of older YA.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
November 8, 2017
This review was originally posted on my blog - On A Crafty Adventure
I won this book at her online Book Launch on Facebook, I don't know how I ended up there but I am glad I did!
This is a YA novel about seventeen-year-old Kelsey who is having a rough time, her mum is very sick, and her dad doesn't want anything to do with her. She ends up staying with her older brother at his flat and on top of all these issues she has an abusive boyfriend. It makes for a big downward sprial in Kelseys life. She begins getting stalker-esque prank calls which have a dark undertone to them. Soon Kelsey is fearing for her life and those of her friends and family too. Who is it on the phone and what do they want?
I must admit, this book sat on my drawers for a good long time before I picked it up. Life got busy, but I wish I had read this as soon as it arrived. Although I do not personally relate to Kelsey on most of these issues, they are very present in society and having a front seat to the train wreck was confronting yet compelling. Helen has managed to craft a character that I really cared about by the end, despite her whingy 'tantrums' throughout the book.
I love that it was set in Wellington but apart from the odd reference here and there such as Manners Street, it could have been set anywhere. I had some great images in my head of the setting of this book.
There were some very good twists and turns as we try to identify the caller, I thought I had it a few times before being proven wrong again and again. The ending works well and everything felt resolved, although it got darker than I expected towards the end.
I would definitely recommend this book to those who like a good psychological thriller and don't mind themes of violence and abuse. As I said before, they are more common than we think and having an inside perspective shines a light on some of the mental health issues that many suffer.
I won this book at her online Book Launch on Facebook, I don't know how I ended up there but I am glad I did!
This is a YA novel about seventeen-year-old Kelsey who is having a rough time, her mum is very sick, and her dad doesn't want anything to do with her. She ends up staying with her older brother at his flat and on top of all these issues she has an abusive boyfriend. It makes for a big downward sprial in Kelseys life. She begins getting stalker-esque prank calls which have a dark undertone to them. Soon Kelsey is fearing for her life and those of her friends and family too. Who is it on the phone and what do they want?
I must admit, this book sat on my drawers for a good long time before I picked it up. Life got busy, but I wish I had read this as soon as it arrived. Although I do not personally relate to Kelsey on most of these issues, they are very present in society and having a front seat to the train wreck was confronting yet compelling. Helen has managed to craft a character that I really cared about by the end, despite her whingy 'tantrums' throughout the book.
I love that it was set in Wellington but apart from the odd reference here and there such as Manners Street, it could have been set anywhere. I had some great images in my head of the setting of this book.
There were some very good twists and turns as we try to identify the caller, I thought I had it a few times before being proven wrong again and again. The ending works well and everything felt resolved, although it got darker than I expected towards the end.
I would definitely recommend this book to those who like a good psychological thriller and don't mind themes of violence and abuse. As I said before, they are more common than we think and having an inside perspective shines a light on some of the mental health issues that many suffer.
September 13, 2021
I stole this off my daughter's TBR pile and as soon as I started reading, I was hooked - so much so that she demanded I hurry up so she could start - I was happy to oblige.
To dive so spectacularly into the the psyche of a teenage girl is a skill in itself, but to craft such a rich and believable character who is actively experiencing the trauma of parental abandonment, a very ill mother, emotionally distant brother, abusive boyfriend, a mystery caller and a very real threat to her loved ones' lives is something special.
I'm not going anywhere near describing the plot, other than to say, once you're in - you will enjoy the ride, this is one twisted tale which is both captivating and relatable. I highly recommend this read to Young Adults and more mature readers.
To dive so spectacularly into the the psyche of a teenage girl is a skill in itself, but to craft such a rich and believable character who is actively experiencing the trauma of parental abandonment, a very ill mother, emotionally distant brother, abusive boyfriend, a mystery caller and a very real threat to her loved ones' lives is something special.
I'm not going anywhere near describing the plot, other than to say, once you're in - you will enjoy the ride, this is one twisted tale which is both captivating and relatable. I highly recommend this read to Young Adults and more mature readers.
January 25, 2019
Broken silence has many twists and turns from the start up to the end. It’s written full of emotion. One can feel and relate to all Kelsey had to experience until the last page. Personally, I don’t know if anyone can survive the emotional attacks made on Kelsey. Well written and drama on nearly every page!
October 10, 2017
This book far surpassed my expectations. The characters were believable and well rounded. The book had a very unusual story line and proved to be a taut and tense thriller. I can't wait to read more offerings from this author.
March 30, 2018
Gripping, heart-pounding read. I finished it in one sitting - I just had to know who was on the other end of the line!
November 11, 2019
An addictive read. Dark and suspenseful with characters that feel real and lots of twists.
(Love the cover, too.)
(Love the cover, too.)
October 19, 2021
Figured this out in the first six chapters.
February 12, 2022
A most unexpected read - kept me guessing until the end. Great characters and felt like I was there through all the twists and turns. Perfect book for older teens and up!
December 23, 2017
Heavy but good. didn't know the genre til I was about a quarter of the way through and I am always in two minds about technothrillers. I don't know if you'd class this book as one but I dunno. anyway good book. grade: Solid A-
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews