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DS Addison McCain Series #1
SILENCE
Addison McCain is signed to her first job as a DS. Her new partner DCI Robert Arrows isn't pleased to be working with a rookie, but can they put their differences aside to search for a serial killer?
- GenresCrime
278 pages, Paperback
Published July 12, 2018
15 people want to read
About the author
Sara Dalton
4 books9 followersSara Dalton was born in London, Leytonstone. She moved to Essex at a young age and grew up there. At school, Sara had a big interest in Performing Arts and she loved to perform on stage. She took Performing Arts as a GCSE and then carried on studying the subject at College, which she achieved a National Diploma Award. Her first ever show, she played Sandy in Grease. She moved to Portsmouth shortly after, to carry the study on at Portsmouth University.
Sara started a family and decided to take a break from any studying to bring up her daughter. As a hobby, Sara was writing books, but she never decided to publish any. It was only a hobby. Once her daughter started school, Sara decided to go back to university to finish of her Performing Arts course at Anglia Ruskin, Cambridge. Again, certain health issues held her back from finishing the course. But, she received a certificate of higher education for the hard work she had put into the course.
She returned to writing as a hobby, with plans to publish in the future which she achieved. Her debut novel was Evan Wood followed by her recent novel SILENCE which is part of the DS Addison Scott series. Her next working title is HANGMAN.
Sara grew up reading books, her favourite as a child was The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. She now loves a crime thriller, which has inspired her to write crime books. Her favourite crime authors are, Lynda La Plante, Karin Slaughter and Linda Fairstein. There are many more for that list, but those are the top three. They inspired Sara to write crime, which she is enjoying. HANGMAN is her second novel in the DS Addison Scott Series, which is due out in 2021.
Sara started a family and decided to take a break from any studying to bring up her daughter. As a hobby, Sara was writing books, but she never decided to publish any. It was only a hobby. Once her daughter started school, Sara decided to go back to university to finish of her Performing Arts course at Anglia Ruskin, Cambridge. Again, certain health issues held her back from finishing the course. But, she received a certificate of higher education for the hard work she had put into the course.
She returned to writing as a hobby, with plans to publish in the future which she achieved. Her debut novel was Evan Wood followed by her recent novel SILENCE which is part of the DS Addison Scott series. Her next working title is HANGMAN.
Sara grew up reading books, her favourite as a child was The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. She now loves a crime thriller, which has inspired her to write crime books. Her favourite crime authors are, Lynda La Plante, Karin Slaughter and Linda Fairstein. There are many more for that list, but those are the top three. They inspired Sara to write crime, which she is enjoying. HANGMAN is her second novel in the DS Addison Scott Series, which is due out in 2021.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 13, 2018
This novel, as the beginning of a series, has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it really wasn't ready for publishing and badly needs another round of editing.
The main characters are, at their core, compelling, with enough mystery and potential conflict set up to carry a series along really well. (There are so many avenues to explore - I hope the author will continue to mine them in future installments).
The case (and police procedural elements) was generally well handled, with sufficient twists and careful revealing of past events in order to make the plot interesting and the conclusion a surprise (at least, in some respects). I have some doubts (in terms of autopsy reports being completed that quickly, conflict of interest laws in the UK, and the handling of workplace injuries), but these are often liberties taken for the sake of telling a story so I can overlook them if the attention to detail is otherwise evident.
This book's major weakness lies in the editing: there are far too many errors that remained in the released version. This makes the book feel more like a draft than a finished product, which is unfortunate as it has so much promise. Consistent mistakes appeared in punctuation (especially plurals versus possessives and a lack of commas). There were also stray words that crept into sentences - I noticed a couple in the first sentence of chapters: e.g. "Jade and Madison Reed were both sat in the car..." Most frustrating was the bizarre mix of verb tenses (past and present tenses are often interchanged even within a sentence).
Another element that (in my personal opinion) should have been caught in editing is the inconsistent and extremely stilted dialogue - the wording used by the younger characters really doesn't match their ages (sometimes sounding far too young, and other times, far too old), and all characters use contractions until they don't, which seems unnatural.
I will not even begin to discuss continuity and factual errors.
Overall, the bones of the novel are very good and there's a lot of potential for a great series. If the execution had been improved even marginally, I would have been able to rate this higher as I did enjoy the plot.
I received a copy of this novel through Voracious Readers Only.
The main characters are, at their core, compelling, with enough mystery and potential conflict set up to carry a series along really well. (There are so many avenues to explore - I hope the author will continue to mine them in future installments).
The case (and police procedural elements) was generally well handled, with sufficient twists and careful revealing of past events in order to make the plot interesting and the conclusion a surprise (at least, in some respects). I have some doubts (in terms of autopsy reports being completed that quickly, conflict of interest laws in the UK, and the handling of workplace injuries), but these are often liberties taken for the sake of telling a story so I can overlook them if the attention to detail is otherwise evident.
This book's major weakness lies in the editing: there are far too many errors that remained in the released version. This makes the book feel more like a draft than a finished product, which is unfortunate as it has so much promise. Consistent mistakes appeared in punctuation (especially plurals versus possessives and a lack of commas). There were also stray words that crept into sentences - I noticed a couple in the first sentence of chapters: e.g. "Jade and Madison Reed were both sat in the car..." Most frustrating was the bizarre mix of verb tenses (past and present tenses are often interchanged even within a sentence).
Another element that (in my personal opinion) should have been caught in editing is the inconsistent and extremely stilted dialogue - the wording used by the younger characters really doesn't match their ages (sometimes sounding far too young, and other times, far too old), and all characters use contractions until they don't, which seems unnatural.
I will not even begin to discuss continuity and factual errors.
Overall, the bones of the novel are very good and there's a lot of potential for a great series. If the execution had been improved even marginally, I would have been able to rate this higher as I did enjoy the plot.
I received a copy of this novel through Voracious Readers Only.
September 8, 2018
Silence
I don’t think the author has had much experience with teenagers and children. At the beginning of the story she has a six year old in bed at 6 pm, which would be supper time. The 15 year old, older sister to the 6 year old talks like a much younger child. I found all the younger people in this book seemed much younger than the age they were supposed to be.
The book needs another edit. There were sentences that didn’t make sense and some that were awkward with different uses of tense in the same sentence. Also fact checking. If the Silent Killer file was 30 years old and Addison was a teenager she would be in her forties, but the character is portrayed as younger. It later stated that her mother was killed 20 years ago, but the first kill was the night of her birth, which would have made the time line 35 years ago until he was caught 20 years ago.
The author notes that in 1981 Alan, a college student checked the time on his cell phone. Although the cell phone had been invented, it’s unlikely he’d have one.
All that aside, the concept and story idea was unique and creative. The author needs to keep writing to practise the craft and hire professional edits to catch glaring errors in sentence structure and have beta readers check for continuity.
I received a free copy of this book from Voracious Readers for my unbiased review.
I don’t think the author has had much experience with teenagers and children. At the beginning of the story she has a six year old in bed at 6 pm, which would be supper time. The 15 year old, older sister to the 6 year old talks like a much younger child. I found all the younger people in this book seemed much younger than the age they were supposed to be.
The book needs another edit. There were sentences that didn’t make sense and some that were awkward with different uses of tense in the same sentence. Also fact checking. If the Silent Killer file was 30 years old and Addison was a teenager she would be in her forties, but the character is portrayed as younger. It later stated that her mother was killed 20 years ago, but the first kill was the night of her birth, which would have made the time line 35 years ago until he was caught 20 years ago.
The author notes that in 1981 Alan, a college student checked the time on his cell phone. Although the cell phone had been invented, it’s unlikely he’d have one.
All that aside, the concept and story idea was unique and creative. The author needs to keep writing to practise the craft and hire professional edits to catch glaring errors in sentence structure and have beta readers check for continuity.
I received a free copy of this book from Voracious Readers for my unbiased review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2019
I received this books for free in exchange for an honest review....
This book captured my attention right away. Addison a female cop is partnered with Robert who seems to treat her as a kid and passing her off to work with others like Fletcher.
Addison's first case of this book, is a single mother who was murdered, and the young children survive even when confronted by the killer. The killer seems familiar to the little girl, Anna. He sliced up her arm while she protected her brother. The killer said she needed to keep silent or he would come back and kill them both.
Then a second murder, Anna's best friend in school, Rebecca's mom is killed and Rebecca witnessed and was l left worse off.
Addison cant help see the similarities to an old case that she was a victim in...which she is hiding from her partners.
Her dad murdered so many single women, leaving the children alive. Addie's own mother was killed. The killer was her dad, Alan Reed. So who is doing these copycat murders?
I wont spoil anymore..read it. You will get background, etc, as to who and why. The author wove a tale that will keep you guessing and interested until the very end.
This book captured my attention right away. Addison a female cop is partnered with Robert who seems to treat her as a kid and passing her off to work with others like Fletcher.
Addison's first case of this book, is a single mother who was murdered, and the young children survive even when confronted by the killer. The killer seems familiar to the little girl, Anna. He sliced up her arm while she protected her brother. The killer said she needed to keep silent or he would come back and kill them both.
Then a second murder, Anna's best friend in school, Rebecca's mom is killed and Rebecca witnessed and was l left worse off.
Addison cant help see the similarities to an old case that she was a victim in...which she is hiding from her partners.
Her dad murdered so many single women, leaving the children alive. Addie's own mother was killed. The killer was her dad, Alan Reed. So who is doing these copycat murders?
I wont spoil anymore..read it. You will get background, etc, as to who and why. The author wove a tale that will keep you guessing and interested until the very end.
September 23, 2018
Received a copy of this novel through Voracious Readers Only in exchange for honest review.
This is one of my favourite genres and so I eagerly downloaded this novel, however the plot line left me very disappointed. It wasn’t so much as a skilful game of cat and mouse with the police chasing the serial killer but one strong female character who single handed cracked the case. Was a slow plodder rather than a rapid page turner.
That saying, the female lead was a very strong, deep character with a sad childhood and experiences relatable to the story.
This is one of my favourite genres and so I eagerly downloaded this novel, however the plot line left me very disappointed. It wasn’t so much as a skilful game of cat and mouse with the police chasing the serial killer but one strong female character who single handed cracked the case. Was a slow plodder rather than a rapid page turner.
That saying, the female lead was a very strong, deep character with a sad childhood and experiences relatable to the story.
September 14, 2018
I love a fast paced psychological thriller and this first instalment in the Addison MCcain series is off to good start. The characters are created well enough that you can connect to them and want to ‘pull off the band aids’ which I’m sure will come in the following books. A few minor editing errors but they don’t detract from the story or the race to the end. Thanks to Sarah Dalton and Voracious Readers for the chance to read and review. I really enjoyed Silence.
November 24, 2018
I am so happy I read this book! AND that there will be sequels!
The many editing, grammar syntax and random words showing up DID NOT distract me from this awesome read! It was fast and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
I will definitely be reading Hangman, the next installment..
I received a free copy from the author through Voracious Readers only in exchange for an unbiased review.
The many editing, grammar syntax and random words showing up DID NOT distract me from this awesome read! It was fast and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
I will definitely be reading Hangman, the next installment..
I received a free copy from the author through Voracious Readers only in exchange for an unbiased review.
September 19, 2018
This book was most definitely not ready to be published.
There are continuity errors, grammatical errors, terrible dialogue and one dimensional characters with no substance at all.
As a first draft that needs some major reworking, this has potential.
I received a complimentary copy from VRO in return for an honest review.
There are continuity errors, grammatical errors, terrible dialogue and one dimensional characters with no substance at all.
As a first draft that needs some major reworking, this has potential.
I received a complimentary copy from VRO in return for an honest review.
October 15, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was quick paced and the killer wasn't obvious at all, it took me a few guesses. I love Addison McCain, she was quirky and hot headed. She wanted her to prove herself so much to her team, I'm hoping for a little romance between Fletcher and Addison. I recommend this book and I can't wait for the second one to come out. Great Job to Sara Dalton.
December 3, 2018
On DS McCains first day as a detective it sees her called out to a murder scene. The killing of a mother, but what did her children see if anything. This first case seems to be turning into a copycat serial killer investigation.
Unfortunately I just didn't like McCain from the start of the story and my opinion of her didn't improve.
Unfortunately I just didn't like McCain from the start of the story and my opinion of her didn't improve.
October 5, 2018
Excellent writing. Love the female lead character. Great storyline, it kept me wanting kore every page. Highly recommend.
November 2, 2018
Thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. A very intriguing twist
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews