Books & Spoons Review for THE LONGEST SILENCE by Debra Webb

5/3/2018

A killer stole her voice. Now she's ready to take it back. Don't miss the chilling Shades of Death series from USA TODAYbestselling author Debra Webb.

Joanna Guthrie was free. She had been for eighteen years--or so she needed everyone to believe. What really happened during the longest fourteen days of her life, when she and two other women were held captive by a dangerous serial killer, wasn't something she could talk about. Not after what they had to do to survive.

But when more women go missing in an eerily similar manner, Jo knows her prolonged silence will only seal their fates. She's finally ready to talk; she just needs someone to listen. FBI special agent Tony LeDoux can't deny he finds Jo compelling--he's just not sure he believes her story. But with the clock ticking, Jo will do anything to convince him, even if it means unearthing long-buried secrets that will land them squarely in the crosshairs of the killer...

An enthralling and eerie thriller that showed the true meaning of courage, strength, and survival while facing the most horrid, cruel, and unthinkable crimes.
I am in awe of how the story was built, with just enough light and hope on the sidelines to keep the utter evil darkness from engulfing you in.
FBI special agent Tony LeDoux had a role in the previous stories of the series yet this book is a standalone novel, starting and concluding a different type of serial killer and criminal web, and can be read without being familiar with the previous books.
And Tony is not with the FBI anymore. The things he has had to face over his career, the things he has experienced, things that were done to him, the battle between the good and right and the crimes of the evil has taken a toll on him, on his career, his marriage, and his drinking. With a wish of just one more chance to get it right, he goes on a desperate hunt for the culprits who captured his niece amongst the other young girls.
Joanna Guthrie comes to Tony's aid, the intriguing, strikingly brave woman who gets Tony's attention. For nearly two decades Joanna has been hiding, from her family, from the world, from the terrible events she went through as a young college student, and from the secrets they swore they would never share with the world while fighting for their lives.
Joanna and Tony have more in common than they could imagine. The bond between them comes tight as they try to solve the web of lies, misdirection, and deceit of the wicked and stay away from the hairs of the law.
With their flaws and imperfections, the characters are compelling, amiable, and sympathetic. Both Tony and Joanna carry a heavy burden of terrible memories, a guilt of surviving, a guilt of not doing enough while facing the impossible. While with a fierce and perilous fight they are doing everything they can to find the victims before it is too late, they have to face their own demons and start to forgive themselves, to be able to build any kind of future and move on from the grisly crimes they have witnessed.
Brilliantly put together and written story that even with its heavy topic was impossible to put down until the end. The uncertain destinies of the characters make it captivating, the battles of mind games that they have to overcome to survive are alluring, the need to see the resurrection from the evil, from the past, from the hunted mind is enticing.
Vivid images, intense scenes, sharp plot twist with keen points, and smart, twisted developments combined with excellent writing left me in awe. A piercing story not to be missed by any thrilling suspense fans.
~ Five Spoons!

DEBRA WEBB is the USA Today bestselling author of more than 140 novels, including reader favorites the Shades of Death, the Faces of Evil and the Colby Agency series. She is the recipient of the prestigious Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Romantic Suspense as well as numerous Reviewers Choice Awards. In 2012 Debra was honored as the first recipient of the esteemed L. A. Banks Warrior Woman Award for her courage, strength, and grace in the face of adversity. Recently Debra was awarded the distinguished Centennial Award for having achieved publication of her 100th novel.

With more than four million books in print in numerous languages and countries, Debra’s love of storytelling goes back to her childhood when her mother bought her an old typewriter in a tag sale. Born in Alabama, Debra grew up on a farm. She spent every available hour exploring the world around her and creating her stories. She wrote her first story at age nine and her first romance at thirteen. It wasn’t until she spent three years working for the Commanding General of the US Army in Berlin behind the Iron Curtain and a five-year stint in NASA’s Shuttle Program that she realized her true calling. A collision course between suspense and romance was set. Since then she has expanded her work into some of the darkest places the human psyche dares to go.