Superficial characters, bland dialogue, and an unfocused plot characterize Silence Can Be Deadly, the third Trouble in Pleasant Valley novel. Peter Grace is an ex-Army taxi cab driver who was forced out of the military because financial fraud he’d uncovered and those in power wanted it covered up. Author Deborah Sprinkle talks about this backstory so casually and sparsely, I thought perhaps she was recapping the events of the previous book in the series. But no, Peter Grace is new to Pleasant Valley and the quick setup is the result of poor pacing and plotting. 

 

Things continue with trained assassins coming after Peter, but they are easily fooled because Peter switched the numberplate of his room with the one next door. Silence Can Be Deadly is full of things like that. Unbelievable things happen but Sprinkle never quite convinces you to believe them. The book is fiction, sure, but everything feels made up. The characters and their actions lack authenticity. There’s little depth to the plot and Sprinkle never quite explains what the financial fraud is or how it happened in any detail. Everything about this book is surface-level. The concept isn’t bad, if a bit generic, but that means that there are any number of books that have told the same story with more captivating characters, a higher level of authenticity, and less filler.