Dead Silence by Kimberly Derting

So, it’s kind of impossible for me to hold on to any book by this author for any extended period of time without reading it. I just got it, and had to read it immediately. There’s something about intense romance mixed with serial killers that is just so positively addicting…Granted, my favorite tv shows are Gilmore Girls and Dexter…Weird mixture, right? But apparently not because this book seems to exist for fans like me.

My favorite part of all of these books are the sizzling scenes with Violet and Jay. Things have gotten a little more complicated with Rafe in the picture. And in this book, Rafe now attends Violet’s school, along with the rest of her supernatural team. Violet has to go to mandatory therapy sessions that she tolerates because of the sleeping pills she is awarded at them. Apparently sleep is only something for people without non-stop echoes in their heads. Violet had to kill someone in the previous book, and she has to live with the aftermath. The aftermath for her is a lot more than guilt; it’s the living with the incessant noise of the echo of the kill.

On top of the not sleeping thing, Violet also has headaches and a constant music box type song stuck in her head for forever. She still gets the impulse to find other bodies. And the book begins with her finding the bodies of a whole family who were brutally murdered. The weird thing about this family is that the kid has no echo. He’s clearly been murdered and Violet has never not felt an echo for someone killed before.

Violet’s mother has given her a box full of her grandmother’s things and in that box are journals. Violet learns a lot about her grandmother’s romantic life. She also learns a lot about her own mother as a child. And best of all is what she learns about her grandmother’s abilities and the team she was recruited for that reminds Violet a lot of her own murder-solving team. Violet’s team is not all that it seems, and she slowly comes to realize who she can most trust.

Violet shares her secret with someone else in this book. She finds more bodies. She goes to metal concerts. She fights with Jay, and makes up with Jay. There’s some love triangle-type moments. There are some great best friend moments. And then of course there are all the points of view moments of the serial killer. This serial killer is a control freak who abducts girls, administers serious drugs, and wishes he was part of a particular metal band.

I always find these scenes to be so interesting! At first I’m always sad to deter from the teen drama, but then I get so into the story of the killer too. These books are the perfect mixtures of teen drama, supernatural suspense, and thriller. Everything all comes down to Violet needing to be honest, honest with Jay, honest with her parents, honest with her teammates, honest with herself. It’s hard for Violet to learn to control her impulses to go after killers, but she’s really working on it in this one.

I love how real Jay and Violet’s relationship is. They have their ups and downs like any couple would. They have a lot of that common YA soul mate type stuff, but it’s believable because nothing is ever too easy in regards to them. And I love how realistic this stuff is. I also love all the suspense with Violet’s team. I super loved her grandmother’s journals and learning about how her grandmother dealt with the same abilities. Though, learning about those killed with no echoes was a little too easy with these journals. I mean the timing was a little too spot-on. It’s nice getting a little more details/history about everything because I’ve almost become accustomed to just not having any answers.

I liked all the scenes at the music clubs. I wish there were more moments with the girls dressed as metal fans. And then of course things get more personal when the killer goes after Violet’s friend. And I love how strongly determined Violet always is to protect those who are close to her. She genuinely seems to be embracing her abilities lately, and wanting to use what she has to help people.

This one is not my favorite book in the series, but it’s not my least favorite. My favorite ones are probably the more romance heavy ones. But, still, this one is not lacking in that department. I hope Derting keeps writing these. I want to know what will happen with Violet’s team. I want to know what happens with a couple of other things too. I give this books a 9/10.