Not A Sound

When we meet former trauma nurse Amelia Winn at the beginning of this book, she is just starting to get her life back on track after the accident that took her hearing two years earlier. Unable to cope with her disability, Amelia sought refuge in drinking, and her alcoholism eventually resulted in the loss of her career and her family life (as her husband David left her taking his seven-year-old daughter Nora with him).

Amelia is now in rehabilitation. She has her own place as well as a faithful companion in her service dog Stitch. She has taken to paddle-boarding, getting a thrill from the adrenalin whenever the urge for a drink overcomes her. She is also rebuilding her relationship with Nora, and has secured an interview for a clerical job with a doctor she knows through David. She is slowly getting her life back together with the path to gainful employment, even if she can’t currently work as a nurse.

It is while Amelia is out paddle-boarding with Stitch, trying to focus her mind on the forthcoming job interview when she comes across a dead body. The victim is a former colleague and friend of Amelia, Gwen Locke. Feeling guilty that she did not respond when Gwen tried to contact her some weeks earlier, Amelia starts to do her own investigating and it soon becomes apparent that what she discovers could put her own life in danger.

Not A Sound is an engrossing and suspenseful novel that will keep you turning the pages. Amelia is a likeable heroine, who comes across as being very human as she struggles to come to terms with her disability and rebuild her life, with the help of Stitch, a character in his own right. There’s a touch of romance too as Amelia explores her own tentative feelings for Jake, the police officer who leads the investigation (of  Gwen Locke)  and who has been a loyal friend since the accident that caused Amelia’s hearing loss. The author also gives the reader a good understanding into the life of a hearing impaired person, and the challenge that this disability presents.

Amelia makes an admirable amateur sleuth, relying on her keen powers of observation to make up for her lack of hearing, and I really hope the author is planning to write more books about this strong and resilient heroine.