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Stillwater Trilogy #3
Dead Right
Twenty years ago Madeline Barker's father
disappeared. Despite what everyone else thinks,
Madeline's convinced her stepfamily had nothing
to do with it. But the recent discovery of his car
finally proves he didn't just drive away. Worse,
the police find something in the trunk that says
there's more to this case than murder.
With no other recourse, Madeline decides to hire
a private investigator--even if the cops don't like
it. Even if her family doesn't like it. But when P.I.
Hunter Solozano begins to uncover some shocking
evidence, someone in Stillwater is determined to
put a stop to Madeline's search for the truth.
And that means putting a stop to her. Permanently.
disappeared. Despite what everyone else thinks,
Madeline's convinced her stepfamily had nothing
to do with it. But the recent discovery of his car
finally proves he didn't just drive away. Worse,
the police find something in the trunk that says
there's more to this case than murder.
With no other recourse, Madeline decides to hire
a private investigator--even if the cops don't like
it. Even if her family doesn't like it. But when P.I.
Hunter Solozano begins to uncover some shocking
evidence, someone in Stillwater is determined to
put a stop to Madeline's search for the truth.
And that means putting a stop to her. Permanently.
448 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 24, 2007
421 people are currently reading
1369 people want to read
About the author
Brenda Novak
238 books6,962 followersIt was a shocking experience that jump-started Brenda Novak’s bestselling author career.
“I caught my day-care provider drugging my children with cough syrup and Tylenol to get them to sleep while I was away,” Brenda says. “It was then that I decided that I needed to do something from home.”
However, writing was the last profession she expected to undertake. In fact, Brenda swears she didn’t have a creative bone in her body. In school, math and science were her best subjects, and when it came time to pick a major in college, she chose business.
Abandoning her academic scholarship to Brigham Young University at the age of 20 in order to get married and start a family, Brenda dabbled in commercial real estate, then became a loan officer.
“When I first got the idea to become a novelist, it took me five years to teach myself the craft and finish my first book,” Brenda admits. “I learned how to write by reading what others have written. The best advice for any would-be author: read, read, read….”
Brenda sold her first book, and the rest is history. Now a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, she continues to publish two or three novels a year, in a variety of genres.
Brenda and her husband, Ted, live in Sacramento and are the proud parents of five children—three girls and two boys. Now that they are empty-nesters, she spends her free time babysitting her two grandchildren.
When she’s not with her family or writing, Brenda is usually raising money for diabetes research. To date, she's raised almost $2.6 million. Her youngest son, Thad, has diabetes, and Brenda is determined to help him and others like him. She also enjoys traveling, watching sporting events and biking--she rides an amazing 20 miles every day!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-...
“I caught my day-care provider drugging my children with cough syrup and Tylenol to get them to sleep while I was away,” Brenda says. “It was then that I decided that I needed to do something from home.”
However, writing was the last profession she expected to undertake. In fact, Brenda swears she didn’t have a creative bone in her body. In school, math and science were her best subjects, and when it came time to pick a major in college, she chose business.
Abandoning her academic scholarship to Brigham Young University at the age of 20 in order to get married and start a family, Brenda dabbled in commercial real estate, then became a loan officer.
“When I first got the idea to become a novelist, it took me five years to teach myself the craft and finish my first book,” Brenda admits. “I learned how to write by reading what others have written. The best advice for any would-be author: read, read, read….”
Brenda sold her first book, and the rest is history. Now a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, she continues to publish two or three novels a year, in a variety of genres.
Brenda and her husband, Ted, live in Sacramento and are the proud parents of five children—three girls and two boys. Now that they are empty-nesters, she spends her free time babysitting her two grandchildren.
When she’s not with her family or writing, Brenda is usually raising money for diabetes research. To date, she's raised almost $2.6 million. Her youngest son, Thad, has diabetes, and Brenda is determined to help him and others like him. She also enjoys traveling, watching sporting events and biking--she rides an amazing 20 miles every day!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 162 reviews
March 24, 2013
I've read some of the other reviews, and most people thought this book was too detailed about the sexual abuse, it made them uncomfortable, or it just was unthinkable. Well, unfortunately, however uncomfortable it may make you to read it, sexual abuse happens all the time in the real world. There were two books leading up to this one, you should have seen this coming. The only way Maddy was going to find out what happened to her father was for the whole story to unfold...all the gory details. How else was she going to accept what her step-family did, but to know the full truth?
That being said, I thought this book was excellent. We got to see the story from another point of view, which was interesting. The story wouldn't have been as suspenseful had we not had this part of the story. All of the events leading up to the climax of this book really grabbed me; I could hardly put the book down. The fact that we had more detail about the family story made the final chapters all that more suspenseful and "omg, what's going to happen."
Madeline and Hunter make a good couple from the beginning, since she's so stuck in the past that she can't let go, and him being as damaged as he is. Some people have said it's unrealistic that Maddy would be intimate with Hunter so quickly, but 1)it's a book, they don't have a lot of time to "get to know each other" and 2)their relationship became emotionally intimate and charged very quickly, which leads to people (real and fiction characters) doing things they wouldn't normally do or feel very close to someone (or "in love").
Overall, a good closing book in the "Dead" series. I would say it's not for the weak of heart, but I don't think that the details that Brenda Novak gives are too intense. It's just enough to let us know how bad Lee Barker was, how bad Grace really had it since we never heard actual incidents before, and for us to know what's in store for Maddy. Definitely read if you've read the other two books in the series.
That being said, I thought this book was excellent. We got to see the story from another point of view, which was interesting. The story wouldn't have been as suspenseful had we not had this part of the story. All of the events leading up to the climax of this book really grabbed me; I could hardly put the book down. The fact that we had more detail about the family story made the final chapters all that more suspenseful and "omg, what's going to happen."
Madeline and Hunter make a good couple from the beginning, since she's so stuck in the past that she can't let go, and him being as damaged as he is. Some people have said it's unrealistic that Maddy would be intimate with Hunter so quickly, but 1)it's a book, they don't have a lot of time to "get to know each other" and 2)their relationship became emotionally intimate and charged very quickly, which leads to people (real and fiction characters) doing things they wouldn't normally do or feel very close to someone (or "in love").
Overall, a good closing book in the "Dead" series. I would say it's not for the weak of heart, but I don't think that the details that Brenda Novak gives are too intense. It's just enough to let us know how bad Lee Barker was, how bad Grace really had it since we never heard actual incidents before, and for us to know what's in store for Maddy. Definitely read if you've read the other two books in the series.
January 7, 2016
The third and final book in the Stillwater Trilogy by Brenda Novak. Madeline Barker desperately wants to know what happened to her father 19 years ago and now that his car has been found in the lake she thinks its time to find someone who will try to find him. She hires a P.I. from California, Hunter Solozano. Hunter has a great reputation for being able to find people but is hesitate to go all the way to Mississippi for a case. But he does and he uncovers more than Madeline could imagine.
A great finish for the series. I wasn't too fond of Madeline but I loved Hunter. Madeline just bugged me for some reason. I guess I should give her a break because of the tragedy in her life. Anyway, I still loved the story and highly recommend this series.
A great finish for the series. I wasn't too fond of Madeline but I loved Hunter. Madeline just bugged me for some reason. I guess I should give her a break because of the tragedy in her life. Anyway, I still loved the story and highly recommend this series.
February 13, 2019
That was a hard one to listen to. This series as a whole was.
So what do we have? A clueless Maddy, insta love, a twist to help Maddy finally except the truth and a backwater small town set on hate instead of the truth.
I had a problem that Joe wasn’t wrapped up. He assaulted and battery against Grace was let go. How did Barker’s family handle when the truth came out after they covered it up at the end of book 2? What did Kirk think?
How did finding Ray set the town away from thinking the Montgomery’s killed Barker or not?
Maddy claimed Hunter was too young but then that was never mentioned again.
So many loose threads. Too many actually.
I didn’t like the narrator on this one. She made every female sound 80 years old.
Although the story was okay, I have to rate down because of the lose ends.
So what do we have? A clueless Maddy, insta love, a twist to help Maddy finally except the truth and a backwater small town set on hate instead of the truth.
I had a problem that Joe wasn’t wrapped up. He assaulted and battery against Grace was let go. How did Barker’s family handle when the truth came out after they covered it up at the end of book 2? What did Kirk think?
How did finding Ray set the town away from thinking the Montgomery’s killed Barker or not?
Maddy claimed Hunter was too young but then that was never mentioned again.
So many loose threads. Too many actually.
I didn’t like the narrator on this one. She made every female sound 80 years old.
Although the story was okay, I have to rate down because of the lose ends.
February 21, 2016
Me ha gustado, sí, el desarrollo de la trama de suspense es muy bueno y tiene el final que tenía que tener. Lo que no ha terminado de convencerme es la historia romántica que me ha resultado un poco forzada y no los terminaba de ver juntos.... aún así mereció la pena leerlo.
Mi puntuación 7,5
Mi puntuación 7,5
June 25, 2024
Honestly I skim read this book, it was dreadful.
Bought at a charity fair, didn't realise it was third in a trilogy.
The characters are unnatural, took an almost instant dislike to the main couple. Their meeting via phone and in person is awful. Assumptions, attitudes, appearance the vital issue. Nothing about it suited the context.
Hunter, the name made me laugh at least. The backstory was unnecessary except he's a detective so needed one :eyeroll::eyeroll::eyeroll:
Madeline is supposedly a journalist. Ignores the mounting obvious facts, deep denial is possible but to this extent she's protected like she's still a bratty child. Supposedly these are her family under suspicion but there's no feel of that beyond Clay who is big and strong and stoic and heavy on the murder vibes - as we're told every utterance of his name (he was 16yr when the crime hes suspected if took place). There's leading the reader and then there's hammering the reader's head until it caves. I thought he'd be the love interest not step-brother, but I guess he's one of the other books.
Professionalism what of it? Hey can the chief suspects wife aid the case? She's got a police background.
And interrogating a suspected victim of child abuse with her holy-holy-dad=saint step-sister, her husband and then her brother present? Think the out of state detective was there too. Let's call it a party, invite the town while you tell us your trauma! Leave the door open.
The romance was very ill-timed.
The mystery was poor, worse the subject of child-abuse felt very badly handled, giving a nasty feel. It's gratuitous. That's not a mindset I want to read. More attention was given the abusers and their sick fantasies than care spared the victims.
Madeline, too the end, secrets being revealed STILL dad=saint, no thought spared for any victims beyond possibly anger.
Solution. Convenient in many ways but how things are then dealt with....
Big no. I'll be avoiding this author.
In fact I feel grimey after reading
Bought at a charity fair, didn't realise it was third in a trilogy.
The characters are unnatural, took an almost instant dislike to the main couple. Their meeting via phone and in person is awful. Assumptions, attitudes, appearance the vital issue. Nothing about it suited the context.
Hunter, the name made me laugh at least. The backstory was unnecessary except he's a detective so needed one :eyeroll::eyeroll::eyeroll:
Madeline is supposedly a journalist. Ignores the mounting obvious facts, deep denial is possible but to this extent she's protected like she's still a bratty child. Supposedly these are her family under suspicion but there's no feel of that beyond Clay who is big and strong and stoic and heavy on the murder vibes - as we're told every utterance of his name (he was 16yr when the crime hes suspected if took place). There's leading the reader and then there's hammering the reader's head until it caves. I thought he'd be the love interest not step-brother, but I guess he's one of the other books.
Professionalism what of it? Hey can the chief suspects wife aid the case? She's got a police background.
And interrogating a suspected victim of child abuse with her holy-holy-dad=saint step-sister, her husband and then her brother present? Think the out of state detective was there too. Let's call it a party, invite the town while you tell us your trauma! Leave the door open.
The romance was very ill-timed.
The mystery was poor, worse the subject of child-abuse felt very badly handled, giving a nasty feel. It's gratuitous. That's not a mindset I want to read. More attention was given the abusers and their sick fantasies than care spared the victims.
Madeline, too the end, secrets being revealed STILL dad=saint, no thought spared for any victims beyond possibly anger.
Solution. Convenient in many ways but how things are then dealt with....
Big no. I'll be avoiding this author.
In fact I feel grimey after reading
November 15, 2015
Gripping, Heartbreaking, Emotional & Captivating! An Excellent/Exciting Read! I Loved It!
December 31, 2019
3.5 stars
This is the final book in a 3 book series and readers will finally get the cold case resolution that is teased about in the first two books. Each book has a separate romance but in some ways I would almost recommend skipping the first two books and just reading this one. I wasn't into any of the romances and there is barely any real mystery resolution in the first two. All three books push small minded townspeople and lack of law enforcement skills.
The romance in this one is insta-lust...way too soon and at really weird times. After just discovering that her father may be a pedophile, Maddy decides roadside sex with a stranger is a good idea. Didn't work for me. The back story for Hunter seemed to be pointless if there's instant resolution with no development towards the resolution.
With some tweaking, this could have been a good solo book if it wasn't stretched into 3 books.
This is the final book in a 3 book series and readers will finally get the cold case resolution that is teased about in the first two books. Each book has a separate romance but in some ways I would almost recommend skipping the first two books and just reading this one. I wasn't into any of the romances and there is barely any real mystery resolution in the first two. All three books push small minded townspeople and lack of law enforcement skills.
The romance in this one is insta-lust...way too soon and at really weird times. After just discovering that her father may be a pedophile, Maddy decides roadside sex with a stranger is a good idea. Didn't work for me. The back story for Hunter seemed to be pointless if there's instant resolution with no development towards the resolution.
With some tweaking, this could have been a good solo book if it wasn't stretched into 3 books.
October 7, 2018
Excelente libro, al principio me costo avanzar pero una vez superado ese momento conseguí una buena trama, a veces hay crímenes que deben permanecer ocultos por el bien común y este es uno, un reverendo pederasta que viola a niñas de su congregación incluyendo a su hijastra, una hija que busca la verdad sobre la muerte de su padre el reverendo, decide contratar al detective californiano del cual la llevara a la verdad para enamorándose de el perdidamente. recomendado
June 23, 2014
Good suspense, a sexy leading man, and a satisfying resolution to the Stillwater trilogy. The audiobook narrator is good too. I first read/listened to this series quite a few years ago. Looking back, I was less enthusiastic about Novak's work than I might have been, if I hadn't been heavily into erotic romance at the time and hoping for more explicit sex scenes than this series offers. This time around, the relative lack of throbbing euphemisms didn't bother me. (Once you've read enough of that, you get pretty good at filling in the blanks for yourself.) This is a well crafted series drenched in Southern Gothic goings-on: smarmy evangelical preachers, incest, murder, vividly drawn characters, and in Book One especially (Dead Silence) a heartbreakingly realistic look at the effects of high-school snobbery and bullying on kids from the wrong side of the tracks (aka "white trash" in the parlance of rural Mississippi). The series' three love stories are compelling in varying degrees (# 2 is the weakest as far as h/ h chemistry goes but is essential in advancing the story). Characters that I didn't much like early on (Maddie in particular) become more sympathetic and believable as the focus of the series shifts to them. The series premise: More than twenty years ago, a town's beloved preacher, widowed by his wife's suicide, married a beautiful but socially despised mother of three, Irene Montgomery. The Rev's daughter Maddie and Irene's three children became close. One night when Maddie was away at a slumber party, her father went missing; the step-family claimed that he never arrived home from a church meeting that night, but the police and most of the town believed that Irene and/or her then-teenaged son murdered the Reverend so they could take ownership of his farm.... Because, hey, free farm. Who wouldn't risk lethal injection for a farm? The series begins when all four siblings are adults, and the return of one of them to Stillwater after years away sets off a chain of events that reignite old suspicions. Book One is still my favorite; it's the story of Grace, who as a traumatized teenager tried to use sex to buy acceptance, and the town's golden boy, Kennedy Archer, now a widower and drawn to the young woman he treated with casual contempt when they were kids. The dark secret behind Grace's teenaged promiscuity still haunts her family, two decades after Grace's stepfather went missing. Book Two is the story of Grace's protective and stoic older brother Clay, who has borne the brunt of the town's condemnation as the likely killer of their stepfather, and Allie, a cold-case detective whose investigation reopens old wounds. In Book Three, the missing Reverend's car has been found in an abandoned quarry, and his biological daughter Maddie - the only one of the siblings who is completely in the dark about the man her daddy really was - flies in a big-league private investigator from California to find out what happened twenty years ago. His surf-bum blonde good looks and Left Coast attitude don't endear P.I. Hunter to the town of Stillwater, but he's not crazy about them either... In the first two books, and for the first few chapters of this one, I disliked Maddie and wished somebody would shake some sense into her. Could anybody, even as an adolescent girl, be that blind to something horrific that was happening in her family? Her naïveté got on my nerves. But in this third book of the trilogy, it becomes easier to understand why Maddie was in denial and has remained so for decades, and why her step-family went to such lengths to protect her from the truth. In the end, she shows admirable and unexpected toughness. I wound up liking her, and respecting the choice she made once she knew what was what.
September 18, 2008
Wonderful conclusion to this series! Answers all of the questions, although some of the answers will turn your stomach. It definitely goes into much more detail about what happened (which the reader already knows what happened from the first two books). I loved the entire Montgomery family, as well as Madeline (and their respective partners). I'm really going to miss reading about them!
August 9, 2018
This is the last installment of the Sweetwater trilogy and I’m completely belly-rubbing satisfied. The car has been found and people are again demanding a closure to a mystery that has hung a cloud over the town for nineteen years. All the major and minor characters are present with the addition of P. I. Hunter Solozano who has been hired by Madeline. She started out being annoying and flighty in the first and second book but Novak unfolded her personality like a child’s paper fortune teller, under each fold was another peek at the real Madeline. The action was cohesive, the mystery was captivating, the romance was not overdone. I couldn’t figure out how Novak would settle Madeline and Hunter and I was very pleased the way she did it.
January 30, 2020
Wow - this was a tough read. Emotional as all get out, and a very difficult subject matter, but handled very well. I liked the characters and found the plot compelling.
May 24, 2021
Very Good, could not put it down. Great Series for sure!
July 7, 2023
I actually really enjoyed the trilogy. The reason I’m giving this one a 3 star, is because I listened to this one instead of reading and the voices threw me off, giving me a different perspective of what I imagined the characters looked and sounded like in my head.
I would definitely recommend the trilogy! But beware, mentions of sex toys and pedophilia. I didn’t appreciate that so much but I’m ok with how it turned out.
I would definitely recommend the trilogy! But beware, mentions of sex toys and pedophilia. I didn’t appreciate that so much but I’m ok with how it turned out.
February 7, 2008
I started this book with a great deal of anxiety and expectations. I knew Madeline wants to discover what happened to her father but I really didn't want her to do that. I wanted her to forget about the whole thing because her family has already suffered so much and she doesn't even realise that.
The people of Stillwater, Mississippi, are asking questions about murder. Again.
Twenty years ago, Madeline Barker’s father disappeared. Despite what everyone else thinks, she’s convinced her stepfamily had nothing to do with it. But the discovery of his car proves he didn’t just drive away. Worse, the police find something in his trunk that says there’s more to this case than murder.
With no other recourse, Madeline decides to hire a private investigator—even if the cops don’t like it. Even if her family doesn’t like it. But when PI Hunter Solozano begins to uncover some shocking evidence, someone in Stillwater is determined to put a stop to Madeline’s search for the truth. And that means putting a stop to her. Permanently.
Well I thought it started to be a bit unbelievable the way that Madeline behaved. With every strange reaction her family members have had, even her aunt - who in previous books was set against her stepbrother - tells her to drop it and she never finds any of that weird? I could understand the need she had to know what happened in the past but with all the suspicions and the suspicious behaviour that had been happening for years I think she should have sat her family down and have an honest talk. She never even read her mother's diaries or the police report on Clay's arrest that night...
I had mixed feelings about the PI she hired. He had his own parcel of problems but he feels immediately attracted to Madeline and he immediately smells something fishy. He seemed too good to be true in the way that he immediately reaches all the right conclusions and even makes Clay trust him with the secret. It was odd also that Madeline only having been involved in a relationship with Kirk rushes to one with a total stranger.
Another thing that really bothered me was that in this book she totally explores the sexual abuse angle. Much more than in the previous books, it upset me and I don't think it was really necessary. Besides it had never been mentioned that someone else was involved in Barker's actions, it seemed a bit artificial. Just to create an antagonist. I think I would have prefered if the suspense continued in a more rational way and with less graphic details. And the way it ended I felt there was really no closure for them. I think I needed a final scene with some cronfontation between them and their ghosts but Clay was the only one who addressed what really happened that night... since Grace was the true victim it seemed more right to me to have talk to Madeline about it.
Grade: I considered giving it a C+ but since I enjoyed the other 2 books so much I'm going for a B- instead.
The people of Stillwater, Mississippi, are asking questions about murder. Again.
Twenty years ago, Madeline Barker’s father disappeared. Despite what everyone else thinks, she’s convinced her stepfamily had nothing to do with it. But the discovery of his car proves he didn’t just drive away. Worse, the police find something in his trunk that says there’s more to this case than murder.
With no other recourse, Madeline decides to hire a private investigator—even if the cops don’t like it. Even if her family doesn’t like it. But when PI Hunter Solozano begins to uncover some shocking evidence, someone in Stillwater is determined to put a stop to Madeline’s search for the truth. And that means putting a stop to her. Permanently.
Well I thought it started to be a bit unbelievable the way that Madeline behaved. With every strange reaction her family members have had, even her aunt - who in previous books was set against her stepbrother - tells her to drop it and she never finds any of that weird? I could understand the need she had to know what happened in the past but with all the suspicions and the suspicious behaviour that had been happening for years I think she should have sat her family down and have an honest talk. She never even read her mother's diaries or the police report on Clay's arrest that night...
I had mixed feelings about the PI she hired. He had his own parcel of problems but he feels immediately attracted to Madeline and he immediately smells something fishy. He seemed too good to be true in the way that he immediately reaches all the right conclusions and even makes Clay trust him with the secret. It was odd also that Madeline only having been involved in a relationship with Kirk rushes to one with a total stranger.
Another thing that really bothered me was that in this book she totally explores the sexual abuse angle. Much more than in the previous books, it upset me and I don't think it was really necessary. Besides it had never been mentioned that someone else was involved in Barker's actions, it seemed a bit artificial. Just to create an antagonist. I think I would have prefered if the suspense continued in a more rational way and with less graphic details. And the way it ended I felt there was really no closure for them. I think I needed a final scene with some cronfontation between them and their ghosts but Clay was the only one who addressed what really happened that night... since Grace was the true victim it seemed more right to me to have talk to Madeline about it.
Grade: I considered giving it a C+ but since I enjoyed the other 2 books so much I'm going for a B- instead.
February 23, 2017
Another good read by Brenda Novak. This is the third book in the Stillwater Trilogy. I must say, out of the three books, this was my least favorite. Which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 like I did the other two. I mainly did that because I didn't feel the connection the two main characters, Madeline and Hunter had, as strongly as I did like Grace and Kennedy and Clay and Allie.
I still very much enjoyed the story line and it was nice to finally get resolution for Madeline. I did like the romantic aspect between Madeline and Hunter. The only downside that I didn't like was it seemed forced in the beginning. It felt a little too much like insta-love which I am not a fan of. But it all worked out in the end.
I must say, it speaks volumes that Brenda Novak is a wonderful writer when she can write a series about a murder/disappearance where the readers pretty much know what happened and she still makes you want to read about the characters in the story. Even though we basically find out what happened to Lee Barker in the first book, Novak still hooks us into the story for two more main characters and how it affected them. That is good story telling.
I still very much enjoyed the story line and it was nice to finally get resolution for Madeline. I did like the romantic aspect between Madeline and Hunter. The only downside that I didn't like was it seemed forced in the beginning. It felt a little too much like insta-love which I am not a fan of. But it all worked out in the end.
I must say, it speaks volumes that Brenda Novak is a wonderful writer when she can write a series about a murder/disappearance where the readers pretty much know what happened and she still makes you want to read about the characters in the story. Even though we basically find out what happened to Lee Barker in the first book, Novak still hooks us into the story for two more main characters and how it affected them. That is good story telling.
July 27, 2017
So we finally find out who killed the Reverend. This last book in the trilogy keeps you on your toes especially when Madeline brings in her own PI to look into the disappearance of her father 20 years ago. With a little romance and lots of mystery - one person who popped up, I didnt expect to be involved - this book was read in 3 days.
Love Novak books and will continue to read them especially since I cant put them down. The whole Montgomery family is amazing and powerful. Great writing again!
Love Novak books and will continue to read them especially since I cant put them down. The whole Montgomery family is amazing and powerful. Great writing again!
February 14, 2011
So far so good.....
Finally finished the book. But the 3rd book is quite gory for my liking. Still, the book is very good.
Finally finished the book. But the 3rd book is quite gory for my liking. Still, the book is very good.
October 25, 2016
Este ultimo libro tambien ha estado genial, engancha desde el principio... pero esperaba mas de el al ser el ultimo
9/10
9/10
January 22, 2017
Great book I read the series in order. Brenda is a great Author I couldn't put this book down
June 6, 2016
In this conclusion to the Stillwater trilogy, the truth comes out into the open and Madeline has to face it head on, whether she likes it or not. Dead Right brings the story line and suspense up a notch when Madeline decides to outsource a private investigator to help her solve the mystery behind her father’s disappearance.
To be totally honest, a case like this SHOULD be left in the hands of an outsider, if only because too many people are too biased about the rest of the people in this small town. You would never get a fair investigation or a fair trial--things would turn out to be like ye olden days of “Burn that witch! She’s the one that did it!” just because someone looked at you wrong.
While, we, as the readers know the entire situation--it has been explained twice before in the first two books of the trilogy--Madeline, as well as the rest of the small town of Stillwater has still been kept in the dark. The gossips and rumors and accusations are still being flung around, but due to the fact that there is no body nor any substantial evidence, no arrests have ever been made and the public can only continue to gossip and speculate.
The book starts out with the discovery of Reverend Lee Barker’s missing Cadillac found in the quarry. And along with the vehicle, new evidence comes to light that finally has Madeline questioning everything she’s ever believed in about her entire life after her father had gone missing.
Bringing in Hunter Solozano, a private detective from California, it seems that a good investigator outside of the entire Stillwater drama stage is able to determine something that others with secrets or biases would never be able to do: find the truth and bring it to attention.
If it’s one thing that Brenda Novak seems to do well (and this is from simply reading this particular trilogy alone), it’s suspense. As I have mentioned in previous reviews of the first two Stillwater books, I continuously had an urgent sense of “How does this all conclude?” and “I need to know what happens!” going on. And no matter what was going on in my head, I just couldn’t seem to put the book down for anything. So once again, I have managed to finish a book within one fairly long reading session with few pauses to to attend to nature.
I might have already known the truth behind the circumstances, and the author takes no pains to hide any information; but just the mere suspense of watching Madeline uncover each truth, and watching the rest of the Montgomery’s hold their breaths in constant nervous anticipation for the truth to be brought into the open was enough anxiousness to my nerves to make me want to keep reading.
I continue to be conflicted about Madeline, as a character. I never really cared much for her in the first two books, and while the third book brings a lot more of her feelings and her anxieties into the forefront, I still found it hard to relate with her. I feel like I should be more understanding about her losses and more sympathetic to everything she’s gone through (her mother’s suicide, her father’s disappearance, being stuck in the middle between a town of lynch mob and her beloved, singled-out step-family). But I just couldn’t seem to give a rat’s care about her problems.
And I wonder if it isn’t because I already know the entire backstory behind what happened.
I know it can’t be easy to live your life losing all the people you love and not knowing the reasons why. Which is why I don’t begrudge Madeline her constant need to ask questions and to find out the truth.
But I also can’t seem to put myself in her shoes; and instead I keep seeing the situation from an outsider’s point of view who is more biased towards the Montgomery family (even though they did break several laws). The Montgomery’s have spent their lives being looked down on and never truly accepted on top of the tragedy that occurred so many years ago. When Reverend Barker disappears, the whole town of Stillwater descends upon the family with two very different reactions towards the stepfamily and towards Madeline.
Towards the Montgomery family, everything they do is suspect and wrong and unforgivable. It doesn’t matter that the whole incident was an accident brought on by the reverend himself, the town would have wanted blood and would have burned all the Montgomerys alive given the go ahead. It probably wouldn’t have even mattered to the town that the reverend was a disgusting waste of space child molester; they probably would have blamed the Montgomerys for that as well.
Madeline, however, has been coddled her entire life by the town who has already accepted her with no questions. She is “Poor Madeline who lost her mother and father at a young age and is being duped by the nasty, vile Montgomery’s who don’t deserve the life they were given in Stillwater.” The entire town has always been sympathetic towards her; and judging from a particular scene from the first book, Dead Silence, are ready to forgive her for any and all mistakes she has made. When she and Grace both break into Jed’s auto shop office and Madeline gets caught, she’s simply given a slap on the hand and told not to do it again. If Grace hadn’t gotten away or had been discovered as well, the town would have lynched her.
In the second book, Dead Giveaway, if the town didn’t hold Madeline at a double standard from others just because she’s the reverend’s daughter, she wouldn’t have gotten away so easily with hiring someone to threaten another and almost costing Clay his life. No one held her accountable for any wrong doings she committed, even if she felt guilty about it herself.
And so despite seeing more into the mind of Madeline Barker, I still found it relatively conflicting to determine how much I care about her. There were a lot of moments when she recounts childhood memories and where she does her monologuing that gave me the impression that, either she’s subconsciously selfish and egocentric and doesn’t realize it, or she just doesn’t look at the big picture very well.
For instance, flashbacks clearly show how her mother was going through a terrible depression; Madeline remembers a childhood where she would listen to her father speak disappointedly about how her mother wasn’t good enough because she was being weak. And Madeline would agree with him; even now as an adult, thinking back on the situation, she still agrees with him that her mother was weak and undeserving. It pained me to wonder why Madeline never questioned the fact that, rather than berating her mother for being depressed and weak, maybe someone should have been trying to help her mother get through her depression. It struck me as highly selfish and saddening that, despite how much it showed that her mother really loved her, Madeline continuously took her father’s side and refused to see that he could have been wrong.
Other things struck me as Madeline being highly selfish. Despite knowing that continued attention on the case of her father’s disappearance would continue to bring trouble and stress to her step-family (of whom she claimed to love fiercely), she still manages to put them on the spot, over and over again. And any blind person can see that her siblings are forever putting her needs ahead of theirs, even while trying to hide that big, ugly secret that could ruin their relationship.
And so it was hard for me to sympathize with Madeline a good 50% of the time.
Enter Hunter Solozano.
I liked him almost immediately. The moment he arrives in Stillwater and starts challenging Madeline, I liked him. He’s an outsider and therefore doesn’t know the recent history of Stillwater and its people. He’s got an unbiased and more open-minded opinion about investigation. He doesn’t immediately revere people on pedestals, nor does he immediately sentence a likely suspect. And he’s got a clear vision of what’s really going on around the small town.
I’d like to think that because of Hunter, the storyline following Madeline as the main female protagonist was easier to follow because Hunter doesn’t coddle Madeline (at least not at first).
He tells her the truths as he sees them, picks up on facts about the people of Stillwater that Stillwater’s own people cannot see past their biases, and pushes Madeline to understand and accept the truth.
In a way, he was good for Madeline. She needed to step outside of her rose-colored world. She continuously pushed to find the truth all these years, but when the truth turned out uglier and less ideal than she had hoped, she immediately started throwing a tantrum about it like a child. So she needed someone in her life who could tell her to harden up her emotions and take the world like a grown-up.
The overall storyline for the entire Stillwater trilogy wasn’t entirely fascinating nor the most story-worthy. But the execution of the entire series was written fabulously. Even though I still had conflicting feelings about Madeline, it didn’t deter me from enjoying the book. Even though I already knew what the outcome was for the story, it didn’t make the journey any less exciting. Even though the characters weren’t completely unique or outstanding, they were good people and they stood out in their own ways.
Overall, I really DID enjoy the entire series, even if it really wasn’t much to write home about. Sometimes there are books that you just happen to enjoy despite all its faults and this particular trilogy just happened to work for me.
To be totally honest, a case like this SHOULD be left in the hands of an outsider, if only because too many people are too biased about the rest of the people in this small town. You would never get a fair investigation or a fair trial--things would turn out to be like ye olden days of “Burn that witch! She’s the one that did it!” just because someone looked at you wrong.
While, we, as the readers know the entire situation--it has been explained twice before in the first two books of the trilogy--Madeline, as well as the rest of the small town of Stillwater has still been kept in the dark. The gossips and rumors and accusations are still being flung around, but due to the fact that there is no body nor any substantial evidence, no arrests have ever been made and the public can only continue to gossip and speculate.
The book starts out with the discovery of Reverend Lee Barker’s missing Cadillac found in the quarry. And along with the vehicle, new evidence comes to light that finally has Madeline questioning everything she’s ever believed in about her entire life after her father had gone missing.
Bringing in Hunter Solozano, a private detective from California, it seems that a good investigator outside of the entire Stillwater drama stage is able to determine something that others with secrets or biases would never be able to do: find the truth and bring it to attention.
If it’s one thing that Brenda Novak seems to do well (and this is from simply reading this particular trilogy alone), it’s suspense. As I have mentioned in previous reviews of the first two Stillwater books, I continuously had an urgent sense of “How does this all conclude?” and “I need to know what happens!” going on. And no matter what was going on in my head, I just couldn’t seem to put the book down for anything. So once again, I have managed to finish a book within one fairly long reading session with few pauses to to attend to nature.
I might have already known the truth behind the circumstances, and the author takes no pains to hide any information; but just the mere suspense of watching Madeline uncover each truth, and watching the rest of the Montgomery’s hold their breaths in constant nervous anticipation for the truth to be brought into the open was enough anxiousness to my nerves to make me want to keep reading.
I continue to be conflicted about Madeline, as a character. I never really cared much for her in the first two books, and while the third book brings a lot more of her feelings and her anxieties into the forefront, I still found it hard to relate with her. I feel like I should be more understanding about her losses and more sympathetic to everything she’s gone through (her mother’s suicide, her father’s disappearance, being stuck in the middle between a town of lynch mob and her beloved, singled-out step-family). But I just couldn’t seem to give a rat’s care about her problems.
And I wonder if it isn’t because I already know the entire backstory behind what happened.
I know it can’t be easy to live your life losing all the people you love and not knowing the reasons why. Which is why I don’t begrudge Madeline her constant need to ask questions and to find out the truth.
But I also can’t seem to put myself in her shoes; and instead I keep seeing the situation from an outsider’s point of view who is more biased towards the Montgomery family (even though they did break several laws). The Montgomery’s have spent their lives being looked down on and never truly accepted on top of the tragedy that occurred so many years ago. When Reverend Barker disappears, the whole town of Stillwater descends upon the family with two very different reactions towards the stepfamily and towards Madeline.
Towards the Montgomery family, everything they do is suspect and wrong and unforgivable. It doesn’t matter that the whole incident was an accident brought on by the reverend himself, the town would have wanted blood and would have burned all the Montgomerys alive given the go ahead. It probably wouldn’t have even mattered to the town that the reverend was a disgusting waste of space child molester; they probably would have blamed the Montgomerys for that as well.
Madeline, however, has been coddled her entire life by the town who has already accepted her with no questions. She is “Poor Madeline who lost her mother and father at a young age and is being duped by the nasty, vile Montgomery’s who don’t deserve the life they were given in Stillwater.” The entire town has always been sympathetic towards her; and judging from a particular scene from the first book, Dead Silence, are ready to forgive her for any and all mistakes she has made. When she and Grace both break into Jed’s auto shop office and Madeline gets caught, she’s simply given a slap on the hand and told not to do it again. If Grace hadn’t gotten away or had been discovered as well, the town would have lynched her.
In the second book, Dead Giveaway, if the town didn’t hold Madeline at a double standard from others just because she’s the reverend’s daughter, she wouldn’t have gotten away so easily with hiring someone to threaten another and almost costing Clay his life. No one held her accountable for any wrong doings she committed, even if she felt guilty about it herself.
And so despite seeing more into the mind of Madeline Barker, I still found it relatively conflicting to determine how much I care about her. There were a lot of moments when she recounts childhood memories and where she does her monologuing that gave me the impression that, either she’s subconsciously selfish and egocentric and doesn’t realize it, or she just doesn’t look at the big picture very well.
For instance, flashbacks clearly show how her mother was going through a terrible depression; Madeline remembers a childhood where she would listen to her father speak disappointedly about how her mother wasn’t good enough because she was being weak. And Madeline would agree with him; even now as an adult, thinking back on the situation, she still agrees with him that her mother was weak and undeserving. It pained me to wonder why Madeline never questioned the fact that, rather than berating her mother for being depressed and weak, maybe someone should have been trying to help her mother get through her depression. It struck me as highly selfish and saddening that, despite how much it showed that her mother really loved her, Madeline continuously took her father’s side and refused to see that he could have been wrong.
Other things struck me as Madeline being highly selfish. Despite knowing that continued attention on the case of her father’s disappearance would continue to bring trouble and stress to her step-family (of whom she claimed to love fiercely), she still manages to put them on the spot, over and over again. And any blind person can see that her siblings are forever putting her needs ahead of theirs, even while trying to hide that big, ugly secret that could ruin their relationship.
And so it was hard for me to sympathize with Madeline a good 50% of the time.
Enter Hunter Solozano.
I liked him almost immediately. The moment he arrives in Stillwater and starts challenging Madeline, I liked him. He’s an outsider and therefore doesn’t know the recent history of Stillwater and its people. He’s got an unbiased and more open-minded opinion about investigation. He doesn’t immediately revere people on pedestals, nor does he immediately sentence a likely suspect. And he’s got a clear vision of what’s really going on around the small town.
I’d like to think that because of Hunter, the storyline following Madeline as the main female protagonist was easier to follow because Hunter doesn’t coddle Madeline (at least not at first).
He tells her the truths as he sees them, picks up on facts about the people of Stillwater that Stillwater’s own people cannot see past their biases, and pushes Madeline to understand and accept the truth.
In a way, he was good for Madeline. She needed to step outside of her rose-colored world. She continuously pushed to find the truth all these years, but when the truth turned out uglier and less ideal than she had hoped, she immediately started throwing a tantrum about it like a child. So she needed someone in her life who could tell her to harden up her emotions and take the world like a grown-up.
The overall storyline for the entire Stillwater trilogy wasn’t entirely fascinating nor the most story-worthy. But the execution of the entire series was written fabulously. Even though I still had conflicting feelings about Madeline, it didn’t deter me from enjoying the book. Even though I already knew what the outcome was for the story, it didn’t make the journey any less exciting. Even though the characters weren’t completely unique or outstanding, they were good people and they stood out in their own ways.
Overall, I really DID enjoy the entire series, even if it really wasn’t much to write home about. Sometimes there are books that you just happen to enjoy despite all its faults and this particular trilogy just happened to work for me.
January 19, 2018
RECENSIONE DI “ IL SILENZIO DELL’ACQUA” DI BRENDA NOVAK
Stillwater, piccola comunità del Mississippi. In un giorno uguale a tanti altri, dalle acque di una cava abbandonata viene recuperata l’auto del Reverendo Barker. L’uomo, pilastro della comunità locale, figura ammirata e rispettata, è scomparso vent’anni prima senza lasciare traccia. Dietro di sé, però, ha lasciato una lunga scia di misteri, una figlia naturale, Madeleine, che non sa farsi una ragione della scomparsa del padre e tre figliastri ed una seconda moglie che sembrano sapere molto più di quello che dicono.
Madeleine non ha mai perso la speranza di ritrovare vivo il padre. Ben lontana dall’arrendersi all’evidenza dei fatti, decide di assumere un investigatore privato, Hunter Solozano, per cercare di far luce sulla sparizione del genitore. Sarà un viaggio a ritroso nel tempo, che aprirà ferite dolorose; diseppellirà verità scomode e spaventose a lungo taciute; metterà a rischio la vita della stessa Madeleine e soprattutto rivelerà una storia sconcertante ed inaccettabile.
“Il silenzio dell’acqua” di Brenda Novak, eLit edizioni, è un giallo piacevole e scorrevole anche se con qualche pecca.
Quella che Brenda Novak ci racconta è una storia spaventosa, difficile da accettare per quanto orribile è, dove spesso le apparenze ingannano e quello che sembra perfetto, puro, rispettoso delle regole sociale e timorato di Dio, nasconde in realtà un mondo di perversione ed orrori bestiali.
È una storia sicuramente ben scritta, capace di tenere sempre desta l’attenzione del lettore sebbene tutta la verità sia rivelata quasi subito. Il lettore, infatti, fin quasi dall’inizio è consapevole del vero colpevole e sa come si sono svolti i fatti ma l’autrice è stata bravissima nell’analisi psicologica dei personaggi, nel ben rappresentare di volta in volta le loro reazioni davanti ai crudi fatti, in un crescendo di adrenalina che ci accompagna fino alla fine.
Un appunto, tuttavia, mi viene da fare.
Perché, in un libro la cui trama si regge perfettamente da sola, si ha bisogno di fare leva sempre sullo spicciolo sentimentalismo? Perché porre l’attenzione, per me pure troppa, sull’attrazione fisica tra il figo investigatore californiano (certo non potrebbe essere brutto!) e la timorata ragazza di paese?
“Era evidente che era appena scesa dal letto, il che spiegava perché fosse così poco vestita. Il suo corpo risentiva gli effetti del freddo e, suo malgrado, anche il corpo di Hunter lo notò”.
Ecco, questa imbarazzante descrizione da romanzetto rosa, nulla aggiunge ad una storia che d’amore non è. L’insistere spesso sull’attrazione fisica tra i due protagonisti mi ha dato quasi la sensazione che l’autrice avesse bisogno di “accalappiare” in qualche modo il lettore.
Niente di più inutile in una storia, ripeto, che è ben costruita e ben scritta.
Se thriller deve essere, che thriller sia!
Stillwater, piccola comunità del Mississippi. In un giorno uguale a tanti altri, dalle acque di una cava abbandonata viene recuperata l’auto del Reverendo Barker. L’uomo, pilastro della comunità locale, figura ammirata e rispettata, è scomparso vent’anni prima senza lasciare traccia. Dietro di sé, però, ha lasciato una lunga scia di misteri, una figlia naturale, Madeleine, che non sa farsi una ragione della scomparsa del padre e tre figliastri ed una seconda moglie che sembrano sapere molto più di quello che dicono.
Madeleine non ha mai perso la speranza di ritrovare vivo il padre. Ben lontana dall’arrendersi all’evidenza dei fatti, decide di assumere un investigatore privato, Hunter Solozano, per cercare di far luce sulla sparizione del genitore. Sarà un viaggio a ritroso nel tempo, che aprirà ferite dolorose; diseppellirà verità scomode e spaventose a lungo taciute; metterà a rischio la vita della stessa Madeleine e soprattutto rivelerà una storia sconcertante ed inaccettabile.
“Il silenzio dell’acqua” di Brenda Novak, eLit edizioni, è un giallo piacevole e scorrevole anche se con qualche pecca.
Quella che Brenda Novak ci racconta è una storia spaventosa, difficile da accettare per quanto orribile è, dove spesso le apparenze ingannano e quello che sembra perfetto, puro, rispettoso delle regole sociale e timorato di Dio, nasconde in realtà un mondo di perversione ed orrori bestiali.
È una storia sicuramente ben scritta, capace di tenere sempre desta l’attenzione del lettore sebbene tutta la verità sia rivelata quasi subito. Il lettore, infatti, fin quasi dall’inizio è consapevole del vero colpevole e sa come si sono svolti i fatti ma l’autrice è stata bravissima nell’analisi psicologica dei personaggi, nel ben rappresentare di volta in volta le loro reazioni davanti ai crudi fatti, in un crescendo di adrenalina che ci accompagna fino alla fine.
Un appunto, tuttavia, mi viene da fare.
Perché, in un libro la cui trama si regge perfettamente da sola, si ha bisogno di fare leva sempre sullo spicciolo sentimentalismo? Perché porre l’attenzione, per me pure troppa, sull’attrazione fisica tra il figo investigatore californiano (certo non potrebbe essere brutto!) e la timorata ragazza di paese?
“Era evidente che era appena scesa dal letto, il che spiegava perché fosse così poco vestita. Il suo corpo risentiva gli effetti del freddo e, suo malgrado, anche il corpo di Hunter lo notò”.
Ecco, questa imbarazzante descrizione da romanzetto rosa, nulla aggiunge ad una storia che d’amore non è. L’insistere spesso sull’attrazione fisica tra i due protagonisti mi ha dato quasi la sensazione che l’autrice avesse bisogno di “accalappiare” in qualche modo il lettore.
Niente di più inutile in una storia, ripeto, che è ben costruita e ben scritta.
Se thriller deve essere, che thriller sia!
November 6, 2016
Madeline Barker's father disappeared without a trace 19 years ago. When she starts to feel that the local police force of Stillwater has lost the drive to find her father, or to solve his murder, she hires a private detective from California. Little did she know her father's Cadillac was about to be discovered, and secrets that had long been hidden inside it brought to light.
Hunter Solozano is trying to make amends with his daughter for the damage his ex wife has done to their relationship, but when his daughter tells him to stop calling and leave her alone he backs off in the hopes she will one day come around. He struggles with what to do next, until a call from a small town girl looking to find her father gives him the getaway he was looking for, that is until he finds out the horrid truth of what the Reverend had done, and that the crime involved children.
Will Hunter help Madeline discover the truth behind the items found in her father's car? Or will he walk away before he gets in too deep?
Hunter Solozano is trying to make amends with his daughter for the damage his ex wife has done to their relationship, but when his daughter tells him to stop calling and leave her alone he backs off in the hopes she will one day come around. He struggles with what to do next, until a call from a small town girl looking to find her father gives him the getaway he was looking for, that is until he finds out the horrid truth of what the Reverend had done, and that the crime involved children.
Will Hunter help Madeline discover the truth behind the items found in her father's car? Or will he walk away before he gets in too deep?
July 16, 2018
This is in the final instalment in the Stillwater Trilogy and it brings the story to a thrilling conclusion. I would recommend you read the other two books in the series to fully appreciate the tale. Each book focuses on one if the main characters but it is one continuous story about the Reverend Lee Barker, who disappeared 20 years ago.
In Dead Right, the story is about Madrid who hires P.I Hunter to find out what happened to her father all those years ago... pretty soon he starts to realise the Reverend was not the man everyone believed him to be and Madrid may well get her answers but they will not be what she hoped for.
This series is amazing and is a dark read focussing on issues of child abuse, paedophilia and pornography - but these are serious issues that sadly happen in the real world everyday and make the reader think really hard about the complexities involved in cases such as these.
Although, due to the nature of the story, you cannot say there is a happy ending... but it is a story of love, hope and survival and things are concluded in a satisfactory way.
In Dead Right, the story is about Madrid who hires P.I Hunter to find out what happened to her father all those years ago... pretty soon he starts to realise the Reverend was not the man everyone believed him to be and Madrid may well get her answers but they will not be what she hoped for.
This series is amazing and is a dark read focussing on issues of child abuse, paedophilia and pornography - but these are serious issues that sadly happen in the real world everyday and make the reader think really hard about the complexities involved in cases such as these.
Although, due to the nature of the story, you cannot say there is a happy ending... but it is a story of love, hope and survival and things are concluded in a satisfactory way.
June 10, 2019
Membaca buku 3 ini saya malah lebih bersimpati dengan Grace yang mengalami penderitaan berlipat-lipat akibat ulah ayah tirinya dibanding Maddy yang "hanya" ayahnya menghilang tanpa berita. Atau Clay yang sejak umur 16 tahun membanting tulang demi keluarga serta beban menyimpan rahasia kelam? Toh selama ayahnya menghilang hidup dia baik-baik saja kan, ibu tiri dan saudara tirinya memperlakukannya seperti anak sendiri. Tapi mengapa Maddy lebay banget dengan emosinya, nangis melulu dan tidak bisa open mind mungkin saja "something wrong with her daddy" dan menganggap ayahnya suci banget, pengen saya getok itu si Maddy. Btw, disini sih lebih detail tentang pelecehan seksual yang dilakukan ayah Maddy, yang ternyata melibatkan orang lain yaitu Ray sebagai kaki tangannya sekaligus menyerahkan anak kandungnya sendiri untuk dieksploitasi yang pada akhirnya itu anak bunuh diri. Pada akhirnya sih pembunuhan Barker tetap menjadi rahasia keluarga walau kejahatan Barker tidak dapat disembunyikan ketika Ray ditangkap dan membuat pengakuan.
3🌟
3🌟
August 29, 2023
Madeline Barker wanted to know what happened to her father especially after his car was found in the Quarry. She hired a PI from California to find her answers. Once he arrived in Stillwater he began asking questions after he read some journals from Madeline's mother. Her mother supposedly killed herself, but Hunter thought her husband might have done it. There was evidence in her writings that implied that Rev. Barker was a pedophile. If that was the case he would understand why the Montgomery's may know what happened to him. Hunter realizes that Clay did not do it but he guessed that Irene had killed him because he molested Grace. The preacher had a partner in his sick games. Ray Harper was going to pay the preacher back by raping Madeline before killing her, just like Barker did his daughter.
May 23, 2025
This is the 3rd book in the series. They should be read in order. It brings an end to the wait of what’s going to happen when Maddy finally finds out if her father is dead or not.
There is a happy ending. But the journey was not a good one. In this story the “ICK” factor is so high I just wanted it to be over.
Maddy hires a PI from California to help solve her father’s disappearance. He sees things that no one else did right from the beginning. Clay is and has been my favorite from the beginning. He is such a protector.
A new character emerges in this story. He was a partner with Maddy”s dad in the disgusting child abuse. Even to go as far as to say he was with his own daughter. This story has things that you don’t really want to think of or read.
In the end, Maddy realizes what happened and why her family has protected her from knowing the truth.
There is a happy ending. But the journey was not a good one. In this story the “ICK” factor is so high I just wanted it to be over.
Maddy hires a PI from California to help solve her father’s disappearance. He sees things that no one else did right from the beginning. Clay is and has been my favorite from the beginning. He is such a protector.
A new character emerges in this story. He was a partner with Maddy”s dad in the disgusting child abuse. Even to go as far as to say he was with his own daughter. This story has things that you don’t really want to think of or read.
In the end, Maddy realizes what happened and why her family has protected her from knowing the truth.
February 7, 2025
This has been my favourite book in this trilogy.
Brenda Novak is very talented at drawing her reader into the story.
This 3rd book deals with the difficult subject of sexual abuse.
Maddy has brought in a Private investigator in the hope of finally finding out what happened to her father 20 years ago. This throws a totally different perspective on what happened, as Hunter the PI begins to look at what was happening with everyone involved leading up to the night Lee Barker disappeared.
It is extremely well written, the atmosphere is intense, suspenseful and full of drama.
Will the truth bring Maddy peace?
I recommend that you reads books 1&2 before this book which brings the trilogy to a close.
Brenda Novak is very talented at drawing her reader into the story.
This 3rd book deals with the difficult subject of sexual abuse.
Maddy has brought in a Private investigator in the hope of finally finding out what happened to her father 20 years ago. This throws a totally different perspective on what happened, as Hunter the PI begins to look at what was happening with everyone involved leading up to the night Lee Barker disappeared.
It is extremely well written, the atmosphere is intense, suspenseful and full of drama.
Will the truth bring Maddy peace?
I recommend that you reads books 1&2 before this book which brings the trilogy to a close.
May 22, 2020
Dead Right (Stillwater #3) was another great read by Brenda Novak. Although Madeline’s father disappeared twenty years ago, she is still looking for what happened to him. Although everyone thinks that her step family was involved, she doesn’t believe that. His car was recently discovered and now there’s more questions than ever. Madeline decides to hire Hunter, a private investigator, to look into everything. I really enjoyed this conclusion to the Stillwater trilogy. I can’t wait to read more by Brenda Novak.
June 2, 2023
Dead Right
In the end, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Reading a Brenda Novak novel, I connect with all the characters so that it is sad to see a series end. The details describing people, scenery, and events are finely crafted in the storytelling. The many twists and turns keep you at the edge of your seat. The injustices that the young girls had been through is heart wrenching. In the end, all the characters gain strength they didn't know they had. A must-read series for those who like romance and mystery.
---Mary C
In the end, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Reading a Brenda Novak novel, I connect with all the characters so that it is sad to see a series end. The details describing people, scenery, and events are finely crafted in the storytelling. The many twists and turns keep you at the edge of your seat. The injustices that the young girls had been through is heart wrenching. In the end, all the characters gain strength they didn't know they had. A must-read series for those who like romance and mystery.
---Mary C
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