Starting Silent Scream, I have to say I was probably somewhat pre-disposed to liking it (and I did) once I realised it was set in the Black Country, my adopted home. I love living here and the people and always enjoy seeing them in print – even if, as in this case, it was through a dark tale of the murder of three young girls.

The girls were all living in a children’s home and all thought to have runaway. Instead, they had never left. They had been murdered and left in the ground. Now, almost ten years after they went missing, their bodies have been found. D.I. Kim Stone is determined to find out what happened to them and why, a decade on, those who were in charge of the children’s home are turning up dead.

Kim’s passion to find them justice comes not just from her being a good detective but her own childhood – she can relate to the missing girls. It’s a childhood that makes her hard to like (though Marsons does a good job getting you to). It also makes her tough and dogged and more than a bit unpredictable.

This unpredictability was a good thing for the story because it meant I didn’t quite know what was coming next. There were some great twists and turns and a clever ending. It all kept me turning the pages. If I had any complaint it would be there were a lot of pages to turn – for me, the book was just a little too long. This is minor though and didn’t stop me enjoying the book. I liked it a lot and would recommend it.

Emma