After he was gone, the only things left behind were secrets

Annie has fallen out of the habit of listening to her husband. She and Paul have been married for a long time; it’s easy to nod as he drones on, responding to his voice while completely ignoring every word he says. That becomes a problem, of course, when Paul disappears and the police have questions. Was Paul having issues at work? Is there any reason to think he might harm himself? Annie doesn’t know.

But someone does.

An unsettling photo found amongst Paul’s things turns the investigation toward his job as a middle school teacher and a troubled girl who is hiding secrets of her own. But what exactly happened to Paul on the day he left for work and never made it to the classroom? Is his disappearance related to a local heroin trafficking operation? As Eddie Mahler and the members of the Santa Rosa Violent Crime Investigations Team rush to find the teacher, they discover the members of his family have hidden lives of their own, and that Paul may not have been running away but toward something that could ruin his career and marriage–and even cost his life.

Review:

Menacing, intricate, and engrossing!

In this enthralling second instalment in the VCI Team series, The Day He Left, Detective Eddie Mahler and the VCI team find themselves immersed in a new high-stakes case involving a missing middle-school teacher who is either a victim of infidelity, slander, and misfortune or a predator who enjoys preying on his vulnerable students.

The writing is edgy and tight. The characters are multilayered, meticulous, and persistent. And the plot is a fast-paced, electrifying tale full of twists, turns, familial drama, red herrings, manipulation, secrets, deception, mayhem, danger, and murder.

Overall, The Day He Left is another sinister, addictive, thrilling addition to what is quickly becoming a must-read series for me, with its flawed, complex characters, great pace, and consistent sense of urgency that I can’t seem to get enough of.

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

Who will speak for those who no longer can?

When a young woman is found strangled to death and left on a park bench in Santa Rosa, California, Detective Eddie Mahler and his Violent Crime Investigations (VCI) Team are called to the scene. The crime immediately thrusts Mahler back to two unsolved homicides–young women who were also strangled–at this same location a couple of years earlier. His inability to find evidence against the man he knows was responsible for their deaths has haunted him since.

Now suffering from chronic migraines that affect his vision, Mahler has secretly lost faith in the investigation process, and must rely more than ever on his team. Its newest member, Eden Somers, is a former FBI analyst whose ability to completely immerse herself in the evidence of a case proves both a gift and a curse. While Eden dives deep into the cold case evidence, the rest of the team chase leads to identify the latest victim, and discover that her death might be the work of a different killer altogether. Now Mahler and his team are fighting on two fronts to discover who stole the very breath from these women, and to stop the killer before he silences another victim.

Review:

Gritty, sinister, and meticulous!

The Silenced Women is a complex, ominous police procedural that takes us to Santa Rosa, California, where Detective Eddie Mahler and the VCI team find themselves immersed in the investigation of a potential serial killer when a new case involving a murdered young woman left dumped in a park holds an eerie similarity to two unsolved cold cases.

The writing is sharp and intense. The characters are ruthless, flawed, and troubled. And the plot unfolds and unravels quickly into a suspenseful tale full of twists, turns, manipulation, deception, desperation, police politics, arrogance, violence, murder, and a sliver of the supernatural.

Overall, The Silenced Women is a complex, tense, solid first novel in this VCI Team series by Weisel with its intriguing characters, nice sense of urgency, and satisfying conclusion.

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.