When a trio of skeletons are unearthed at the construction site of a shopping mall, NYC medical examiner Jake Rosen is called to the scene in hopes that he'll label the remains as too ancient for legal action. Of course that doesn't happen, despite specific threats from the developers. When the bodies are found to be former mental patients at a nearby mental hospital, Jake calls attorney Manny Manfreda to help relatives decide if a lawsuit is in order. Jake and Manny are soon swept into an investigation that will reveal secret medical experiments, a vast cover-up by the U.S. government, and several attempts on their own lives.Remains Silent is a fast-paced crime mystery in which each new discovery leads to yet another mystery, some of which have direct impact on Jake, Manny, and their friends and colleagues. There's nothing deep or psychological here, just a fun story with some likeable characters, and dashes o humor, forensic detail, and romance sandwiched in.
This extremely thin book is disappointing in that it degenerates into the old “blame the mean old U.S. government for running cruel and illegal experiments on human beings” plot gimmick. There was a decent plot twist at the end in that Jake’s (Baden’s) best friend Pete was involved in the experiments, and that Pete’s daughter Elizabeth was, too, and actually killed (by poison) her father. The dialogue was pedestrian, and the female protagonist (Manny) was given to italicized thoughts interjected into that dialogue. These thoughts were somewhat puerile, and detracted from the narrative flow. The autopsy scenes were authentic. I give this book a rather weak “3.”
Do You like book Remains Silent (2006)?
This book had a lot of potential, and I read it mainly because it sounded like it could really be along the lines of the Kay Scarpetta books. I guess the word that could really describe this would be 'unsophisticated'. It was almost as if you were reading the pitch for this book and not the actual book. The rough outline. The character development was pretty lazy, and there was no real build-up...the portions that were supposed to leave you breathless barely registered a change in heart-rate.I had the second one out of the library, but after reading the first chapter, I realized that my hopes that the editors would have taken a more heavy hand with this one were going to be dashed, so I returned it. What a disappointment! I was really hoping to find the next great medical drama/thriller series.No cigar on this one.
—SallyHP
