What can I say this is the fifth book in the series and Katherine Howell just keeps on getting better. Silent Fear drew me in from the first page and did not let me go until I had finished. It was unputdownable! It opens on a stinking hot December day in Sydney, paramedic Holly and her partner are sent to a suspected heart attack victim in a park, when they arrive they discover the victim has been shot in the head. Detective Ella Marconi returns to take part in the investigation, but this is more Holly’s story this time, a woman with a hidden past who has to find the strength to bring the past into the present and become a stronger person for it. Katherine worked as a Sydney paramedic herself so she knows her stuff, Silent Fear is a fast paced thriller with several sub-plots going on complete with twists and turns as the stories intersect briefly and then part again. Thank GOODNESS she is already working on the next book! ( )

I love these books. Katherine Howell was a paramedic and writes about this type of life. They also have a woman detective in them Ella Marconi. Great stories and easy to read.
This particular one is quite involved and a tiny bit sad. ( )

Katherine Howell has really cemented herself as an Australian crime fiction author of international note.

SILENT FEAR follows the pattern set in earlier novels: the main plot involves a paramedic working in the ambulance service in Sydney. In this case a young man collapses in the parklands and is then discovered to have been shot. The investigating officer is Detective Ella Marconi. Ella is the thread that connects the series.

As in the other novels, there is also a thread that connects the paramedic Holly Garland and Detective Ella Marconi. In this case there is something in Holly's past that gives a colleague a hold over her, while a new detective is making Ella's life a little unpleasant.

Howell strikes a nice balance between descriptive detail, and an authoritative view of both paramedic and police procedures. In the five novels in the series so far she has established an interesting character for Detective Ella Marconi, and yet it doesn't feel like the reader can't break into the series at any point. The result is a tightly constructed, fast paced thriller. ( )

It's odd, the things that can occur to you when you're reading books. In the case of SILENT FEAR I just could not stop thinking how glad I was to be a reader and not a writer. Honestly, how do these people come up with such consistently good characters and excellent plots? Howell makes her life that little bit more difficult by always bringing in a Paramedic thread, mostly with new characters each book, weaving what happens to them on the job into the plot of an excellent crime fiction / police procedural book. Even allowing for a background as a paramedic, I've no idea how she consistently builds these plots, creates these characters and writes these tremendous books!

In SILENT FEAR the connection between paramedic Holly and the police investigation into the shooting death of Paul Fowler is multi-faceted. She's one of the crew called when he collapses in a park, only to discover a bullet wound. Another connection is her estranged brother Seth, best friend of Paul, on the scene in the park when the shooting occurred. Things get even more complicated once her background starts to reveal, and her fiancé gets involved.

In Holly, Howell has again created a very interesting, fleshed out and realistic character. Her story is cleverly woven into the ongoing police investigation, ensuring that the reader gets a real chance to connect with her, whilst never feeling that the book is wandering off the point. Readers have had the earlier books in the series to really get to know Detective Ella Marconi, the lead voice in the detective group investigating Fowler's death. Marconi does seem to be getting an easier time in SILENT FEAR than she has in the earlier books. Aside from a bit of grief from a slimy new colleague, which she's handling, and her partner's worry and lack of communication, her ongoing relationship with her parents is considerably simpler (in this book they are cruising around New Zealand making lots of ship to shore calls to keep in touch), so everything's pretty smooth on the Marconi front. There is, however, a great cast of supporting police - male and female - with a good, solid combination of angst and normality in the entire group, leading to more than a sneaking hope that there could be an ensemble building.

One of the things that Howell does particularly well is to balance the personal and the professional, the paramedic and the cop lines. At no point do you feel the action wandering, or stalling, or wading around in uninteresting waters. There's no misdirection or padding in any of these books, and markedly so in SILENT FEAR. The story clipped along at a good pace, the author's not been afraid to cause her characters some serious angst, and it's possible for a reader to get a strong feeling of connection. The only downside, and a very very minor one at that, seemed to be the drawing together of a couple of plot lines that didn't quite work - perhaps because it seemed to be a unnecessary?

But seriously, the only real downside to SILENT FEAR is that you're going to have to be prepared before you start. It's flagged as "A Book You Can't Put Down", and they mean that. Emphatically. ( )

Silent Fear is the fifth novel by Australian crime fiction writer Katherine Howell featuring Detective Ella Marconi and, as with the other installments in the series, it is a page turning blend of police procedural, action and suspense.

Paramedic Holly Garland is shocked to find her estranged brother, Seth, standing over the body on a routine call out for a collapse, while two bystanders perform clumsy CPR on the man. When she discovers that her patient has been shot, she is certain her brother is somehow involved and is determined to keep her distance, wary of the secrets he keeps.
Detective Ella Marconi finds Seth suspicious as well, there is something the dead man's friends are hiding and she is determined to find out what it is, especially when an innocent man is brutally executed and the ring of conspirators begins to weaken.

Howell's Detective Ella Marconi series is distinguished by the inclusion of a paramedic as a major character in each book. In this instance, paramedic Holly Garland's own secrets become tangled in mystery surrounding her deceased patient, with devastating consequences. Howell skillfully weaves Holly's personal and professional story into the main plot, both which are potentially at risk from the past that has come back to haunt her. Her brother, Seth, becomes an omen of doom when a close friend comes under investigation for overtime rorts, a colleague is harassing her and she is fighting with her partner.

Solving the mystery of Paul Fowler's death is the priority for Detective Ella Marconi but as in any investigation there are uncooperative witnesses, false starts and leads that go nowhere. Trying to trace the shooters movements after the fact, there is a car lurking on a suburban street, another that screams out of a parking lot, bystanders who supply false names and addresses and objects dropped from a bridge. I really appreciate the level of realism Howell uses within her books. Her officers wade through paperwork, follow up on tips, interview people and piece together their case methodically rather than relying on improbable coincidence or lucky guesses. Marconi suspects a conspiracy but is surprised when their investigation leads them from the suburbs of Sydney to the seedy city streets of drugs, prostitution and vicious turf wars. The plot is layered and well paced with the author parceling out information judiciously, maintaining mystery and tension. The conclusion is tense and exciting though, realistically, not as neatly tied up in the way crime authors often seem compelled to do.
Howell's police officers are not just cops, while things for Ella are relatively calm in this installment, aside from a sleazy and smug colleague getting on her nerves, she does invest herself in this case. Ella doesn't like being made a fool of and makes one of the suspects a personal enemy. Her partner on the case is concerned for his father who is recovering from a stabbing. His distraction affects the case somewhat though as it ends up the two cases are tangentially linked. This is probably the only aspect of the plot I thought was entirely too convenient.

Exciting, authentic and a great read I enjoyed Silent Fear and read it in one sitting, unwilling to put it down. Silent Fear is a page turner, and just as the sticker warns on the cover,(as one of the 50 books highlighted in Australia's National Year of Reading program), it's "A book You Can't Put Down". ( )