Book Review: Deadly Silence by Rebecca Zanetti

***May contain spoilers***

***Scroll to the end for my rating***

Deadly Silence by Rebecca Zanetti is the first book in the Blood Brothers series, an interconnected spin-off of her more widely known Sin Brothers series. This book is categorized as romantic suspense, but in my eyes, it spans a variety of additional genres. With mystery, intense action, intrigue, scientific influence, and spicy scenes all mixed together, Deadly Silence is a cacophony of plot. 

This was my first time reading a Rebecca Zanetti book, and I was a bit underwhelmed. She has published over 80 books, so my expectations were a little high. The book mentioned that this could be read without having read the Sin Brothers series, yet I felt I was missing some very key details throughout. Once elements and bigger plot points came together, it was jarring. It was glaringly obvious that, had I read the other series first, I likely would have felt more connected to the story and its characters, and understood better how this dangerous world truly worked. 

I chose to read this book with my book club, and we decided to meet halfway through to discuss what we thought of the book so far, our hopes for the plot, and inferences about what may happen next. Although some elements were guessed correctly among the group of us, I don’t think any of us could have truly guessed all that came next as we continued with the story. 

Zanetti wrote an entertaining, albeit disjointed, novel. While reading, there was so much I wanted to learn about not only Ryker and Zara, but also Heath, Denver, and Greg. Although the plot of this book focused heavily on Ryker and Zara, the secondary and tertiary characters were equally important. They played heavily into the plot and development of the story because of the relationships they had with one another. However, I felt we were missing key details in a few of those connections. Especially between Zara and Ryker.

Aside from their intimacy in the bedroom and Ryker’s protectiveness over Zara, I didn’t understand how they truly fell in love. So, for a key element in a romance, it was hard to get attached to that part of the story. It even got to the point where I felt the spicy scenes were just there as attention-grabbers and were completely unnecessary to forward the plot.

At one point in the novel, there were 4-5 major plot lines being addressed, and all I kept thinking was, how on earth is this going to wrap up in 360 pages? Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. Which, considering this is a series, I find to be totally reasonable; however, certain points that seemed to reach their end weren’t given the proper closure to leave me feeling like that element or experience was truly over. 

As more information was introduced, it felt like a flashbang of details to digest as quickly as possible, as you raced to the end, especially within the last 100 pages. There was so much happening at the end of the book, and sooo much I wish had been given more detail. The last 100 pages were probably the ones I enjoyed the most from the story, and it all felt so rushed. But, I guess that’s what the next book is for. 

In an attempt to avoid any more spoilers and to keep you from reading more of what is already developing into a long review, I won’t get into the various plot points. But I will say this is a book that will 100% keep you guessing and wondering, wanting to know more, while also scratching your head, going, “What?”

I have such mixed feelings about this book, and I look forward to meeting back up with my book club to discuss the ending. I may read the next book in the future to find out what happens next, but I don’t feel the need to do so right away. It was engaging yet disappointing. It was kind of sexy yet not romantic. It was interesting to say the least. And I truly believe that if I’d started with the other series first, I’d have some different opinions than I do now. So, with all that being said, I am rating Deadly Silence 4.5 out of 10 stars with a 1.5 for spice. 

As always, thanks for reading! ❤️

P.S. If you read this whole thing, I appreciate you extra! 

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Spice: 🌶️.5