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Satan's Silence by Alex Matthews — book cover

Satan's Silence

by Alex Matthews
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Overview

One of psychotherapist Cassidy McCabe client's undergoes a flashback to a childhood experience in which she witnessed a Satanic ritual in a forest preserve outside Chicago on the day McCabe's cat turns up missing.

Cassidy McCabe—thirty seven, divorced, struggling to establish a private practice—is uncertain whether to take the suddenly recovered memory as reality or delusion. But when, in an unguarded moment, she tells the story to her partner in crime solving, investigative reporter Zach Moran, he recognizes the place Dana described and insists on searching for evidence.

While Cassidy is reluctant to go digging into her client's past, Zach argues that Satanism and old murders cannot be ignored. Dana becomes increasingly disturbed, a strange new client add to Cassidy's unease, and Zach develops a pattern of disappearing on Saturday nights. As her cat returns to start a blissful pregnancy, the evil that emerged deep in the forest moves closer, Cassidy begins to fear, not only for her client's life, but for Zach's and her own as well.

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Editorials

Snoop Sisters Mystery

"Matthews description of Oak Park and the inhabitants of that Chicago suburb are right on the mark." (4-Star Review)-- Snoop Sisters Mystery Newsletter

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The second tale to feature Chicago-area psychotherapist Cassidy McCabe (Secret's Shadow) loses credibility right at the beginning as Cassidy tosses patient confidentiality aside to discuss a troubling case with her boyfriend, a reporter. Cassidy is treating Dana, a single mother who was institutionalized as a teen for drug use and sexual promiscuity. Dana, who lives with her daughter, Cypress, and a boyfriend, is plagued by memories that suggest she witnessed a ritual murder as a child. Cassidy's lover, Zach, connects details of the memory to a cemetery where the two discover a child's skull in a covered well. As Zach sniffs a story on Satanic cults, Cassidy takes Dana to a psychiatrist specializing in cults. Then, as Halloween approaches, Cypress is kidnapped, spurring Cassidy and Zach into further action-and danger. Matthews goes out of her way to create flaws in her heroine, whose interior observations are revealed in italics, but that effort seriously interrupts the action and ill-serves the overall impression made by this uncompelling tale. (Mar.)

Library Journal

Oak Park therapist Cassidy McCabe violates client privilege when she confides a wild tale of child abuse and murder to her reporter boyfriend. At her boyfriend's instigation, however, the pair attempts to verify the story and embarks on a chilling adventure involving a satanic cult. The focus shifts back to Cassidy's client, a single mother struggling to overcome drug addiction and parental rejection, and then to Cassidy's own insecurity, her unstable neighborhood, and her cat. With all these lengthy distractions, the plot line inevitably gets bogged down. Flawed, but probably of interest to fans of Matthews's Secret's Shadow (Intrigue, 1996).

Chicago Books in Review

Bound to keep you guessing.

Mystery News

Good enjoyable reading.

Book Details

Published
April 1, 1998
Publisher
Intrigue Press
Pages
368
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9781890768041

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