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Smallville #6
Silence
Lana and Chloe, along with Clark and Pete, try to figure out why Smallville has suddenly been plagued by killer zombies and what--if anything--Luthor Corp. has to do with it. Original.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 5, 2004
2 people are currently reading
194 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Holder
352 books2,407 followersNancy Holder, New York Times Bestselling author of the WICKED Series, has just published CRUSADE - the first book in a new vampire series cowritten with Debbie Viguie. The last book her her Possession series is set to release in March 2011.
Nancy was born in Los Altos, California, and her family settled for a time in Walnut Creek. Her father, who taught at Stanford, joined the navy and the family traveled throughout California and lived in Japan for three years. When she was sixteen, she dropped out of high school to become a ballet dancer in Cologne, Germany, and later relocated to Frankfurt Am Main.
Eventually she returned to California and graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at San Diego with a degree in Communications. Soon after, she began to write; her first sale was a young adult romance novel titled Teach Me to Love.
Nancy’s work has appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, amazon.com, LOCUS, and other bestseller lists. A four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, she has also received accolades from the American Library Association, the American Reading Association, the New York Public Library, and Romantic Times.
She and Debbie Viguié co-authored the New York Times bestselling series Wicked for Simon and Schuster. They have continued their collaboration with the Crusade series, also for Simon and Schuster, and the Wolf Springs Chronicles for Delacorte (2011.) She is also the author of the young adult horror series Possessions for Razorbill. She has sold many novels and book projects set in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Saving Grace, Hellboy, and Smallville universes.
She has sold approximately two hundred short stories and essays on writing and popular culture. Her anthology, Outsiders, co-edited with Nancy Kilpatrick, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award in 2005.
She teaches in the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program, offered through the University of Southern Maine. She has previously taught at UCSD and has served on the Clarion Board of Directors.
She lives in San Diego, California, with her daughter Belle, their two Corgis, Panda and Tater; and their cats, David and Kittnen Snow. She and Belle are active in Girl Scouts and dog obedience training.
Nancy was born in Los Altos, California, and her family settled for a time in Walnut Creek. Her father, who taught at Stanford, joined the navy and the family traveled throughout California and lived in Japan for three years. When she was sixteen, she dropped out of high school to become a ballet dancer in Cologne, Germany, and later relocated to Frankfurt Am Main.
Eventually she returned to California and graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at San Diego with a degree in Communications. Soon after, she began to write; her first sale was a young adult romance novel titled Teach Me to Love.
Nancy’s work has appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, amazon.com, LOCUS, and other bestseller lists. A four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, she has also received accolades from the American Library Association, the American Reading Association, the New York Public Library, and Romantic Times.
She and Debbie Viguié co-authored the New York Times bestselling series Wicked for Simon and Schuster. They have continued their collaboration with the Crusade series, also for Simon and Schuster, and the Wolf Springs Chronicles for Delacorte (2011.) She is also the author of the young adult horror series Possessions for Razorbill. She has sold many novels and book projects set in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Saving Grace, Hellboy, and Smallville universes.
She has sold approximately two hundred short stories and essays on writing and popular culture. Her anthology, Outsiders, co-edited with Nancy Kilpatrick, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award in 2005.
She teaches in the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program, offered through the University of Southern Maine. She has previously taught at UCSD and has served on the Clarion Board of Directors.
She lives in San Diego, California, with her daughter Belle, their two Corgis, Panda and Tater; and their cats, David and Kittnen Snow. She and Belle are active in Girl Scouts and dog obedience training.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 7, 2025
Originally, Lionel considered letting Lex in on the Project, but decided against it. Lex had a strange moral streak. Sometimes it operated, sometimes it didn’t. — From Smallville: Silence
Nancy Holder can be either hit or slight miss for me when it comes to her book series entries based on popular television shows, but unlike Hauntings, where it seemed to me as though any group of teenagers could have been plugged in, this one very much feels like a huge Smallville story, perhaps a double-episode, and it’s fabulous. Holder hits this one out of the park.
This one is big by Smallville book standards, at just over 300 pages, but it’s big in every other way as well. It’s a rich tapestry with intersecting tentacles. Holder has the reins firmly in hand this time out, keeping each thread connected to Smallville and the characters we love. Silence really feels like Smallville, and despite the zombies, which are not a favorite of mine, it’s not only entertaining but rings true, both in characterization and tone.
Silence opens on a genuinely eerie note, with an exciting scene of young Marica Lopez’s humanitarian efforts in Haiti becoming a nightmare of peril as she races for her life from the undead. It reminded me of scenes from Woolrich’s Black Alibi in some ways — though it doesn’t quite reach the literary terror that Woolrich could so inspire. But just reminding me of it tells you how well it’s done — and in a young adult novelization based on a television show to boot.
What’s turning people into zombies may be an experiment gone wrong, and it could have something to do with a crop fertilizer produced by — you guessed it — Luthorcorp. If you’re even remotely familiar with Smallville, you can just about guess one of the ingredients in the fertilizer. When Lex is confronted with evidence of such, it will pit him against his father, even as he finds himself romantically attracted to the person doing the confronting.
Meanwhile, Chloe’s nose for news and passion for a story has tragic consequences that throw her into a tailspin of regret. The story, involving a family and a father keeping a secret, and a son filled with anger over the events leading to a tragedy from which his family might never recover is as weighty and riveting as the main story, which turns out to have tentacles of its own.
Then there is the new girl at Smallville High, Rebecca. She’s sweet and endearing, but hiding a secret concerning her father. Struggling to find a home and stability with her widowed father, it rings true of the age and struggles of teenagers, especially in her interactions and growing friendships with Clark, Chloe, Pete and Clark. She begins to wonder about her father’s strange disappearances.
Robberies, zombies, intrigue and thefts, corporate/military collusion, Clark doing Clark things while taking measures to make sure no one who doesn’t already know of his abilities finds out, and the spot-on characterization of the cast, including Lex, make this a fabulous time for any Smallville fan. Even Clark’s parents have a few nice moments here, as Martha falls strangely ill at one point and has to be hospitalized.
Holder has done a wonderful job here of making Silence an exciting page turner while at the same time keeping it grounded in the Smallville atmosphere beloved by fans. Silence is an immensely readable and enjoyable visit to Smallville, with some atmospheric side trips to Haiti. The entire cast is wonderfully rendered, with each having nice moments that make them feel true to character.
This one was fabulous, but definitely feels like it’s part of the second series, for older young adults. The story-line of teenager Rebecca trying to fit in but fearful of her new friends discovering her father was in prison is sweet and tender; it becomes more relevant to the main plot as we reach a thrilling conclusion which involves a fire at the Luthor mansion, and Clark going to Haiti and witnessing some very creepy things before returning to a Smallville graveyard overrun by zombies. What’s in the fertilizer has a terrible effect on Clark of course, but Lana and Chloe are there to help. Pete has his own problems, and it’s one of the reasons for Clark’s trip to Haiti near the end.
Nancy Holder deftly ties up all the many tentacles and side stories in Silence — and there’s a lot — leaving the reader feeling like they’ve just watched a big two-part-episode of the show that for some reason never aired. No fan can ask for more than that from a novelization of a television franchise.
A big five-star recommendation for Silence, which should please any true Smallville fan. Up next for me is the much slimmer and no doubt lighter toned Sparks, a hard to find one I just picked up.
Nancy Holder can be either hit or slight miss for me when it comes to her book series entries based on popular television shows, but unlike Hauntings, where it seemed to me as though any group of teenagers could have been plugged in, this one very much feels like a huge Smallville story, perhaps a double-episode, and it’s fabulous. Holder hits this one out of the park.
This one is big by Smallville book standards, at just over 300 pages, but it’s big in every other way as well. It’s a rich tapestry with intersecting tentacles. Holder has the reins firmly in hand this time out, keeping each thread connected to Smallville and the characters we love. Silence really feels like Smallville, and despite the zombies, which are not a favorite of mine, it’s not only entertaining but rings true, both in characterization and tone.
Silence opens on a genuinely eerie note, with an exciting scene of young Marica Lopez’s humanitarian efforts in Haiti becoming a nightmare of peril as she races for her life from the undead. It reminded me of scenes from Woolrich’s Black Alibi in some ways — though it doesn’t quite reach the literary terror that Woolrich could so inspire. But just reminding me of it tells you how well it’s done — and in a young adult novelization based on a television show to boot.
What’s turning people into zombies may be an experiment gone wrong, and it could have something to do with a crop fertilizer produced by — you guessed it — Luthorcorp. If you’re even remotely familiar with Smallville, you can just about guess one of the ingredients in the fertilizer. When Lex is confronted with evidence of such, it will pit him against his father, even as he finds himself romantically attracted to the person doing the confronting.
Meanwhile, Chloe’s nose for news and passion for a story has tragic consequences that throw her into a tailspin of regret. The story, involving a family and a father keeping a secret, and a son filled with anger over the events leading to a tragedy from which his family might never recover is as weighty and riveting as the main story, which turns out to have tentacles of its own.
Then there is the new girl at Smallville High, Rebecca. She’s sweet and endearing, but hiding a secret concerning her father. Struggling to find a home and stability with her widowed father, it rings true of the age and struggles of teenagers, especially in her interactions and growing friendships with Clark, Chloe, Pete and Clark. She begins to wonder about her father’s strange disappearances.
Robberies, zombies, intrigue and thefts, corporate/military collusion, Clark doing Clark things while taking measures to make sure no one who doesn’t already know of his abilities finds out, and the spot-on characterization of the cast, including Lex, make this a fabulous time for any Smallville fan. Even Clark’s parents have a few nice moments here, as Martha falls strangely ill at one point and has to be hospitalized.
Holder has done a wonderful job here of making Silence an exciting page turner while at the same time keeping it grounded in the Smallville atmosphere beloved by fans. Silence is an immensely readable and enjoyable visit to Smallville, with some atmospheric side trips to Haiti. The entire cast is wonderfully rendered, with each having nice moments that make them feel true to character.
This one was fabulous, but definitely feels like it’s part of the second series, for older young adults. The story-line of teenager Rebecca trying to fit in but fearful of her new friends discovering her father was in prison is sweet and tender; it becomes more relevant to the main plot as we reach a thrilling conclusion which involves a fire at the Luthor mansion, and Clark going to Haiti and witnessing some very creepy things before returning to a Smallville graveyard overrun by zombies. What’s in the fertilizer has a terrible effect on Clark of course, but Lana and Chloe are there to help. Pete has his own problems, and it’s one of the reasons for Clark’s trip to Haiti near the end.
Nancy Holder deftly ties up all the many tentacles and side stories in Silence — and there’s a lot — leaving the reader feeling like they’ve just watched a big two-part-episode of the show that for some reason never aired. No fan can ask for more than that from a novelization of a television franchise.
A big five-star recommendation for Silence, which should please any true Smallville fan. Up next for me is the much slimmer and no doubt lighter toned Sparks, a hard to find one I just picked up.
June 22, 2018
The last few Smallville books I read were a little lackluster, but I really liked this one!
I especially liked that Clark stopped and thought about what explanation he could give for using his super speed, and if there wasn't a logical one he drove instead. It always drove me crazy on the show that no one ever seriously wondered how Clark arrived at places so fast, and how convenient it was that everyone always passed out so he could save them without them knowing. There were several times in this book where he wished the person would become unconscious so he wouldn't have to pretend to struggle. The show never touched upon this, so I definitely appreciated this new angle.
I especially liked that Clark stopped and thought about what explanation he could give for using his super speed, and if there wasn't a logical one he drove instead. It always drove me crazy on the show that no one ever seriously wondered how Clark arrived at places so fast, and how convenient it was that everyone always passed out so he could save them without them knowing. There were several times in this book where he wished the person would become unconscious so he wouldn't have to pretend to struggle. The show never touched upon this, so I definitely appreciated this new angle.
June 9, 2013
Cool. Smallville meets zombies. I really liked this one, very engaging. B+.
June 9, 2023
This was very much only fine.
It could have been a decent episode (or a double episode, considering the length) of the series, which I assume is a good bar to aim for. It did also add helpful details to the world/characters, such as Clark planning his rescues as to not raise suspicion, and some inner dialogue considering secrets.
But a big issue is that I'm not a big fan of zombies. Personal preference. There's very few stories with them that has intrigued me. This one did not. That may very well cloud my perspective somewhat. I'm also not an expert on anything related to Haiti, but I did get a feeling that the Haitian parts waren't that respectfully. It's just a feeling though, and perhaps it's more of an expectation on popular culture adapting cultures other than North American or European. My own ignorance could be the problem here. I do appreciate that they took such an popular icon like the zombie and returned it to (one of) its roots, though.
There were also so many perspectives, many which we didn't need at all, and sometimes the perspectives shifted in the same paragraph. It was sometimes very jarring.
I'm also not too sold on the stakes, which feels like they're too high to be resolved so easily and in a standalone book. But at the same time, I guess that's faithfully adding to the TV series, as I sometimes had the same issue with the "Monster of the week" format in the beginning.
It could have been a decent episode (or a double episode, considering the length) of the series, which I assume is a good bar to aim for. It did also add helpful details to the world/characters, such as Clark planning his rescues as to not raise suspicion, and some inner dialogue considering secrets.
But a big issue is that I'm not a big fan of zombies. Personal preference. There's very few stories with them that has intrigued me. This one did not. That may very well cloud my perspective somewhat. I'm also not an expert on anything related to Haiti, but I did get a feeling that the Haitian parts waren't that respectfully. It's just a feeling though, and perhaps it's more of an expectation on popular culture adapting cultures other than North American or European. My own ignorance could be the problem here. I do appreciate that they took such an popular icon like the zombie and returned it to (one of) its roots, though.
There were also so many perspectives, many which we didn't need at all, and sometimes the perspectives shifted in the same paragraph. It was sometimes very jarring.
I'm also not too sold on the stakes, which feels like they're too high to be resolved so easily and in a standalone book. But at the same time, I guess that's faithfully adding to the TV series, as I sometimes had the same issue with the "Monster of the week" format in the beginning.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews