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Shocked Silent
It is an interesting time. There are riots in the streets. Boss Daley is holding court at the Democratic Presidential Convention. The mob is in bed with politicians. It is the beginning of a movement to close State Psychiatric Hospitals. It's Chicago in 1968.
Susan, a psychiatric social worker, breaks up with Dr. Mark Denning, the love of her life. Lonely and vulnerable she meets Elliott Mason, a lawyer, at a friend's party. Unknown to Susan, this handsome
and charming man was sent to law school by a mob boss and recently was told to find a wife who would enhance his political career.
Through Susan's eyes we witness the vivid experiences of working on the wards of a state psychiatric hospital and a community mental health center.
Through the reader's eyes we see Susan slowly losing her self-confidence and beginning to make excuses for Elliott's lies, secrecy and "accidental"
rough behavior.
She should know better; or should she? When Susan learns too much about Elliott's business everything unravels and the "perfect" wife now becomes a liability. Elliott has to solve this problem in a way that will continue to keep his future political career on track. And that starts the beginning of Susan's terror.
Susan, a psychiatric social worker, breaks up with Dr. Mark Denning, the love of her life. Lonely and vulnerable she meets Elliott Mason, a lawyer, at a friend's party. Unknown to Susan, this handsome
and charming man was sent to law school by a mob boss and recently was told to find a wife who would enhance his political career.
Through Susan's eyes we witness the vivid experiences of working on the wards of a state psychiatric hospital and a community mental health center.
Through the reader's eyes we see Susan slowly losing her self-confidence and beginning to make excuses for Elliott's lies, secrecy and "accidental"
rough behavior.
She should know better; or should she? When Susan learns too much about Elliott's business everything unravels and the "perfect" wife now becomes a liability. Elliott has to solve this problem in a way that will continue to keep his future political career on track. And that starts the beginning of Susan's terror.
336 pages, Paperback
Published August 17, 2018
17 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 26, 2020
The dialogue was a bit over dramatic. There was something about the pacing that didn't allow me to really connect with the characters. Elliot seemed almost cartoonish. And the ending was abrupt. It did remind me how horrible women's rights were in the late 1960's.
October 8, 2018
Though it might not have been her primary motive in writing Shocked Silent, Author, Judith Driscoll addresses an important issue in the lives of many young women who think they have fallen in love with, and marry “Mr. Right” when they don't really know enough about him.
That’s what happens to the protagonist, Susan, in Shocked Silent. After she breaks up a two year relationship with Dr.Mark Denning, Susan, a social worker, is charmed & wooed by a handsome, narcissistic lawyer, Elliott Mason. He rushes her into marriage, but not because he loves her so much. His motivations are both dark, dangerous and fuelled by greed. By the time Susan realizes this, it's too late. She finds herself committed to a mental institution with no way out as other lawyers and judges are involved in his criminal money-making scheme. When Susan is only a day away from receiving the electric shock therapy treatments that Mason needs her to undergo to erase her memory of what she knows about him now, can anyone save her?
The author takes her time leading readers to the intense, suddenly rapid, heart-pounding race toward the climax, but along the way she treats us to some fascinating vignettes of what it's like to work with the mentally ill. It's certainly a challenging occupation and even life-threatening at times. But as Driscoll shares these vignettes, together with the characters, readers experience heartache, fear, anger and occasionally joy.
Through Shocked Silent, Judith Driscoll offers an emotional and realistic look at people of all kinds. Don’t be surprised if you close the book hoping you never cross paths with some of them.
©Viga Boland, author and book reviewer
http://www.vigaboland.com
That’s what happens to the protagonist, Susan, in Shocked Silent. After she breaks up a two year relationship with Dr.Mark Denning, Susan, a social worker, is charmed & wooed by a handsome, narcissistic lawyer, Elliott Mason. He rushes her into marriage, but not because he loves her so much. His motivations are both dark, dangerous and fuelled by greed. By the time Susan realizes this, it's too late. She finds herself committed to a mental institution with no way out as other lawyers and judges are involved in his criminal money-making scheme. When Susan is only a day away from receiving the electric shock therapy treatments that Mason needs her to undergo to erase her memory of what she knows about him now, can anyone save her?
The author takes her time leading readers to the intense, suddenly rapid, heart-pounding race toward the climax, but along the way she treats us to some fascinating vignettes of what it's like to work with the mentally ill. It's certainly a challenging occupation and even life-threatening at times. But as Driscoll shares these vignettes, together with the characters, readers experience heartache, fear, anger and occasionally joy.
Through Shocked Silent, Judith Driscoll offers an emotional and realistic look at people of all kinds. Don’t be surprised if you close the book hoping you never cross paths with some of them.
©Viga Boland, author and book reviewer
http://www.vigaboland.com
October 3, 2018
“This morning we broke in and got her chart, and it turned out that Susan is her therapist. Patients tell their therapist everything; it’s like going to confession.”
Set in Chicago in the late 1960's, Shocked Silent by Judith Driscoll is a psychological thriller that follows main character Susan Carey, a social worker at a social worker at a psychiatric hospital run by the state, and a community mental health center. When Susan sees that her relationship with Dr. Mark Denning is going nowhere fast, she ends it and attempts to rebuild her life and repair her heart. When, a captivating lawyer and aspiring politician named Elliott Mason offers Susan everything she's dreamed of on a gold-rimmed platter, she unknowingly enters into a union with a man who has a deadly affiliation with the mob, of which Susan has now become a disposable pawn.
Shocked Silent by Judith Driscoll offers an intriguing story that is wrapped up in a series of well developed backdrops. Driscoll has an impressively skilled hand in the sketching of settings and action sequences, bringing Chicago to life while, at the same time, staging scenes that are thoroughly depicted. A violent assault between Susan and Elliot as the story hits its climax is spine-tingling in the accuracy of its portrayal, prefaced beforehand with collection of woven acts of violence – both physical and emotional – threading Elliot's gaslighting into the plot. There are some moments where the suspension of disbelief requires commitment from the reader, but overall this book is a good and fast-paced story that can be gobbled up in a short space of time.
Review written for Readers' Favorite.
Set in Chicago in the late 1960's, Shocked Silent by Judith Driscoll is a psychological thriller that follows main character Susan Carey, a social worker at a social worker at a psychiatric hospital run by the state, and a community mental health center. When Susan sees that her relationship with Dr. Mark Denning is going nowhere fast, she ends it and attempts to rebuild her life and repair her heart. When, a captivating lawyer and aspiring politician named Elliott Mason offers Susan everything she's dreamed of on a gold-rimmed platter, she unknowingly enters into a union with a man who has a deadly affiliation with the mob, of which Susan has now become a disposable pawn.
Shocked Silent by Judith Driscoll offers an intriguing story that is wrapped up in a series of well developed backdrops. Driscoll has an impressively skilled hand in the sketching of settings and action sequences, bringing Chicago to life while, at the same time, staging scenes that are thoroughly depicted. A violent assault between Susan and Elliot as the story hits its climax is spine-tingling in the accuracy of its portrayal, prefaced beforehand with collection of woven acts of violence – both physical and emotional – threading Elliot's gaslighting into the plot. There are some moments where the suspension of disbelief requires commitment from the reader, but overall this book is a good and fast-paced story that can be gobbled up in a short space of time.
Review written for Readers' Favorite.
September 10, 2019
In the first chapter you will experience a book that holds your attention to continue on to the next chapter. The author crafts a compelling mystery that slowly unravels like a spool of frazzled yard leaving both the characters and readers on edge.
I am looking forward to the sequel.
I am looking forward to the sequel.
October 29, 2019
You’ll be shocked with suspense. Moves like wild fire.
November 10, 2019
Excellent read. Keeps you on the edge of your seat page after page. Can't wait for a sequel.
January 25, 2020
I’ll remain silent!
Without giving away the ending, the title says it all. Great read, couldn’t put it
down!
Without giving away the ending, the title says it all. Great read, couldn’t put it
down!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews