Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Silent Thunder by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.
Silent Thunder by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen
Non-series
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-36799-6 (0312367996)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-36799-2 (9780312367992)
Publication Date: July 2008
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from the publisher): Brilliant marine architect Hannah Bryson has been given the job of a lifetime. A U.S. maritime museum has just acquired the decommissioned Soviet submarine Silent Thunder for public exhibition. It’s Hannah’s job to make sure that every single inch of the legendary nuclear attack sub is safe for the thousands of visitors anticipated. Enlisting the aid of her brother, Connor, they examine the enormous vessel and delve into its long---and lethal---history.
In the course of their investigation, Connor discovers a mysterious message behind one of the ship’s panels. But before he can figure out what it means, there’s a deadly assault on Silent Thunder. Though the U.S. government tries to warn Hannah away, she’ll stop at nothing to find the ruthless mastermind behind her brother’s death. Even if it means joining forces with a mysterious man who may be even more dangerous than the enemy she has sworn to bring down. As Hannah finds herself in the crossfire of an epic standoff, her only hope for survival is to unravel the sub’s explosive secret. But someone’s willing to kill to make sure Silent Thunder stays silent.
Review: Silent Thunder, the first collaboration between Iris Johansen and her son Roy Johansen, both accomplished authors in their own right, is a spine-tingling thriller that will be hard to put down once started.
Hannah Bryson, an extremely talented marine architect has been commissioned by a U. S. Maritime Museum to thoroughly examine a decommissioned Soviet submarine. Every nook and cranny of the "Silent Thunder”, at one time a nuclear attack sub, must be inspected and cleared completely of any material that might jeopardize the safety of the many visitors expected to board it for viewing. While searching, Hannah and her team (including her brother, Connor) discover metal plates with cryptic, coded messages hidden and bolted behind one of the ship’s control panels. She notifies her State Department liaison who negotiated with the Russians for the purchase of the boat for the Maritime Museum. He tells her to evacuate her team from the sub immediately. Before she can, there is the sound of gunfire coming from the area of the hidden panels. She runs back to find her brother dead. What are the meanings of the cryptic markings on the plates? Why are they important now? And who would kill to get them? Hannah realizes there was many sets of eyes following her every move as she stubbornly sets out to find out the secret behind the plates, but more importantly, who killed her brother.
Silent Thunder is a multi-layered thriller that keeps the action coming from all angles. It turns out that every covert organization from Russia to the United States seemed to know about the existence of the hidden plates that Hannah and Connor found but they did not know exactly how to find them, or if they did find them, how to decode them. After Connor is killed, Hannah is offered help by the State Department (among many other organizations) to help find her brother’s killer. She feels she can trust no one until she meets a man, a Russian no less, who seems to be more honest with her than the others. But is he? Only when she discovered her brother’s killer would she relent enough to find out if this man was really helping her in her pursuit, or if was he there simply to secure the plates and uncover their meaning.
From the intricate plot to the puzzle of the plates, and from the still simmering Cold War rivalries to the developing relationship between Hannah and her Russian associate, Silent Thunder is not only an exhilarating suspense novel from start to finish, it is a prime example of a "page-turner".
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Silent Thunder and to Meryl L. Moss Media Relations for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
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