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The Dead Don't Speak

a completely gripping crime thriller guaranteed to keep you up all night

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About this listen

 The brilliant new novel from award-winning writer and rising star Claire Askew.

DI Helen Birch is recovering from major surgery, housebound and exceptionally bored. Her boss, DCI McLeod, has made it crystal clear: she is not to take on any work until her recuperation is over.

In her absence, Amy Kato is promoted to sergeant and is given a maddening case to work on: Edinburgh is being plagued by an anonymous vigilante. He started small, meting out punishment to obnoxious boy racers and other antisocial folk, but his behaviour is escalating. Amy can tell from the anonymous online paper trail he leaves. His writings are increasingly confident, and increasingly threatening. And yet he also seems to be invisible: her team can find no clue as to his identity, and no trace of his whereabouts.

At first, McLeod doesn't see the case as a huge deal. Concerned, Amy comes to Birch in secret to ask for help, and Birch finds it impossible to resist taking action: placing her directly in the path of immense danger ...

A gripping crime thriller for fans of Susie Steiner, Elly Griffiths and Val McDermid - guaranteed to keep you up all night...

PRAISE FOR CLAIRE ASKEW:
'Meticulous and compelling' Ian Rankin
'Stunning' Sunday Times
'Thought-provoking' Mail on Sunday
'A crackerjack' Val McDermid
'Thoughtful and well-written' Guardian
'Compellingly written' Daily Mail
'Stunning' Erin Kelly
'Absorbing and thought-provoking' The Times

(P) 2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited©2023 Claire Askew Crime Crime Thrillers Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths

Critic reviews

Praise for Claire Askew:
A breathless, real-time, 24-style thriller that combines nail-biting tension with boundless compassion
Tell Jack Bauer he's been supplanted . . . taut
Askew has delivered a peak-page turner and fans of crime-fiction will be left with a cliffhanger ending and a pronounced desire to learn where DI Birch turns up next...
Compelling
Claire Askew is proving to be a master of the suspenseful police procedural
Utterly captivating
All stars
Most relevant
Absolutely loved this .. seeing other reviews saying not as good as the others in the series , I have to disagree , it was just as fantastic , but in a different way and I cannot wait till the next book in the series is out . Brilliant narration , storyline and writing highly recommend

Wow once again

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Fantastically rich characters, and a very clever story with some twists and surprises. Great narration, really enjoyed it.

Excellent on every level

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A book with lots of twists, particularly the ending. Great characterisation and plot which is at times quite dark.

suspenseful

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I had this book recommended to me. It gives you food for thoughts. But for my liking the storyline progressed very slowly with lots of navel gazing and the end fell into place much too obviously.

Enjoyable, but….

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Not the best by far, the first three books are great, the fourth was getting a little slow and irritating but this one was, as another reviewer has pointed out, rather too focused on Birch's feelings on inadequacy and how irritated she feels with people trying to help her, she comes across as a most irritating woman.
I do not recommend this one but definitely recommend the first 3 in this series.

Not the best in the series

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