Silent Truth

Being True #0.5

by Samuel York

Real estate agent Charles Knight has a secret, but a murder in a house he’s showing threatens to expose his truth.

Detective Robert Ellis vows to get to the bottom of what Charles is hiding so he can solve this case.

There’s more to each of their stories, and what they find out will either drive a wedge between them or bring them closer. But will being closer put them in more danger?

Genres: Romance, M M Romance, Contemporary, Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Ebooks

161 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 3, 2023

Reviews

[Meep]

dnf 32% writing style really doesn't work for me. Too wordy, to much heavily hinted at backstory. Really poor, lazy policing. Characters that don't ring true.

[the kevin (vaguely alive)]

DNF at 12%

Ah jeez.

• Choppy abrupt background info drops

• Bizarre phrasing choices

• Acceptable places for beheadings, according to author: New York, Boston, Manhattan, Florida.

• Unacceptable places for beheadings: Charleston, a totally small and normal wee town, definitely not a city of 50k. Only "normal" crime here!

Quotes:

There was nothing in the house, no weird overhangs or strange guillotine-like objects on display like art pieces that could have caused the victim’s head to become detached. Someone had gone into that house and done the deed.

look at this excellent detecting skill by mr. detective

Just from what he’d seen, mainly the head detached from the body, someone had murdered that poor person.

oh no mr detective has a rival in observation skills from mr. realtor with A Past!

idgaf

[Dan]

I feel conflicted about this one. It had moments where it was high on tension and moments where the tension fell flat. I had a hard time liking Ellis at first because his initial reaction to Charles is intimidation. While there is a whole serial killer in the book, at times I was a lot more interested in the mystery that is Charles's past and why he ended in Charleston, which we don't get to know by the way. Like some things were made to seem important and then dropped, and other important things weren't clued in enough so when they happened they came out of nowhere.
Like, it has good bones, just needed more polish. But the lack of it is noticeable and does affect the experience

[Barbara]

I thought this book was a great start to a new series--I thought the story was good and I was shocked by who the baddie was. The one thing I noted that I didn't feel was considered important was the murderer told Charles that "he said you would be easy." No one mentioned this after. Loved the MCs. Looking forward to your next book.

[Ruin]

So I absolutely liked this story and adore the characters. Robert has good instincts to and Charles is just trying to do his best at his job and in life. Shelia is a good and supportive best friend to Charles, though Robert seems to be void of any other social interactions in his life.


I love that there isn't only trans rep but trans male rep.

That being said there are a lot of plot points thrown around and left unused. (Michael Donahue and his connection to Steel. The axe throwing competition and the knife throwing comment that Charles remembers someone making. Steel saying "He said you'd be easy" at the end with no questioning. Where Adam's injuries actually came from. The change in Steels eyecolor. As well as the comments of the bodies in the parks as well s back in Jacksonville. Not to mention a few errors such as IA would have interviewed or at least collected a statement from Charles about the shooting with Adam in their investigation of Robert.

A lot of dialogue seems to be thrown out there nd then promptly forgotten.


Make no mistake, even though I have this laundry list of thing that seem to have never been explained I still enjoyed the story and recommend Che king it out. I probably will not continue the series however because the other synopsis write ups don't interest me, not is there mention of if we could be seeing these characters again as I would like to see more of Robert and Charles. Final score is 3.5 out of 5 stars, rounded to 4

[Maureen]

I thought this was an intriguing tale, the murder mystery part was intense to read, the oh so slow growing attraction between two men was adorable, but what I did really like was that a trans-person was included in this story. I found this well written and a very enjoyable read. My one problem, and another reviewer said the same thing, near the end the bad guy said, " He said you would be easy", what was that about? It never got mentioned again afterwards. My only thought is that as this is book one in a series, this may come up again later.

[Feebeejane]

a murderer, a realestate agent and a cop

Thi sau Thor is new to me. The book is well written the story line is interesting, and there is the secret of the MC Charles whom is trans. The MC2 Robert Ellis the detective is on the case with a dopey partner who is anything but dopey and some dead bodies.
It is slow burn, with some really good shower scenes. I liked this book, love is love and well written books are always good to read. Will I read more of this author yes, I will, see how it goes.

[Robert Fontenot]

I’m torn.

On the one hand I did not like this book. At first I thought it was parody but then I realized it was just poorly written.

On the other hand I did really like how it handled trans issues. It doesn’t try to sugar coat anything or place the trans protagonist in a bubble of gleeful acceptance. The trans MC has real fears and doubts related to love and dating. It’s also one of the few romances I’ve seen where the trans MC wasn’t reduced to a fetish. I just wish the whole thing was better written.

[Gavin Stephenson-Jackman]

Charles and Robert have more than their mutual attraction in common, they both have secrets that they're reluctant to share. Robert senses that Charles has a secret when he speaks with him about the body Charles found in the house he was about to show his clients. Both men do their best to hide their attraction but love wins out. The killer is out for estate agents so Charles is in danger, and not just because he's an estate agent. A very interesting slow burn romance and an intriguing mystery.

[Gina]

This was poorly written. It's like the author did not know or understand the cardinal rule of writing novels: Show, don't tell.

Thank god I got this book for free, because even free it was a waste of money.

The trans storyline was gratifying though. Just not redeeming enough to push my review to 2 stars.

[Ryna]

I had to start skimming at around halfway through. The writing style just wasn't for me and i didn't find the romance believable at all. Also, too many "what ifs?" written out as actual questions instead of being built from the story, itself.

[Damian]

This story has a lot of twists and turns.

This book was an exciting book. It was a murder mystery with a lot of different suspects. It also a mod hidden secrets that get revealed throughout the book. A definite reread for me.

[Judith]

It takes a bit more , in my opinion, to relationship to evolve than it took in this story. Also it seemed that the author didn't do a full reserch on police behaviour or on a murder investigation. Yet, I liked the characters and was happy for them for finding each other.

[Joseph Tonlet]

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[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (3/31/2023)! 🎁

[aplace_inthesun)]

Stilted and disjointed writing
Conversations were really unnatural.
I DNF’d it at about 85% but think I did well to get that far.
Uninteresting plot

[Veronica Shields]

I’d say it’s a decent murder mystery/romance genre mash up until about halfway through, at which point it descends into total melodrama with increasingly laughable antagonists.

[Nate]

actually not bad and the killer plot was interesting

[Xavier Reads]

Trigger warnings: Transphobia, Misgendering, mc gets outed by his boyfriend, hate crime, textbook bigotry
I usually don't mind these things in a book if there are warnings beforehand. I had no way of preparing myself for this.
I don't get how you could continue to be with someone after he outed you to a bigot who then tried to kill you. The "murder mystery" was underwhelming as well. Ellis was a terrible detective. Also a creep. Charles kept saying he didn't want to see him yet he kept stalking him even after Charles was no longer a suspect. The dialogues were weird. No one talks like that in real life.