Title: Web of Silence
Author: Kathleen Dutton
Publisher: BookSide Press
ISBN: 978-1778830150
Pages: 344
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Reviewed by: Jake Bishop
Hollywood Book Reviews
Kathleen Dutton’s mystery, Web of Silence, brings to mind French philosopher Voltaire’s quote; “Flies are born to be eaten by spiders, and man devoured by sorrow.” Metaphorically, there are evil spiders spinning webs and people being gnawed on by sorrow in Dutton’s contemporary look at a particularly heinous event and its aftermath in small town Michigan. Her story explores the efficacy of running away from something awful, hiding to stop it going from bad to worse, and existing with the fear, pain, and sadness it keeps ever present. Fortunately for readers, answers to the three-pronged exploration are: running away is not good, hiding permanently is not possible, and living with continuous sorrow is perhaps worst of all.
Moving from the philosophical questions the story raises, to the intricacies of the story’s plot, one finds Beth, now called Alisa, teaching school in a country village. She’s loved by her students and liked by those acquainted with her, but pretty much keeps her distance from everyone. Then she gets word that her mother has died and she’s being called upon to come back to the town she abandoned two years ago to sort out the legal and familial issues which death leaves in its wake. Once back, readers find she basically left the town and vanished completely. Virtually no one knows why she took off, where she went, or where she’s living now. And she’s in no hurry to provide answers to anyone. Which includes Sam, the man she loved, the man who has tried hard but has never been able to stop loving her. Her cloak of mystery however, begins to start peeling away, and as it does, worse things start to happen. To go too deeply into the plot would reveal a lot of secrets and surprises the author skillfully keeps under wraps for maximum interest. Suffice to say that mayhem, murder, and more, wind up charting a path to Beth’s locked door.
Dutton writes with ease and seemingly expert knowledge about the give-and-take of small town life. Her characters come across as the kind of people you might actually meet or live alongside in a Midwestern hamlet. Her prose is unpretentious and always in service to the narrative. While evil lurks and grievous things happen, one never gets the sense that she’s going to let the malevolence get out of hand, certainly not for keeps anyway. In addition to the ongoing dread and rising danger her protagonist is put through, there’s even an engaging courtroom drama near the denouement to dial the suspense level up a notch or two. If you like your mysteries charming as well as chilling, you’ll likely get quite caught up in Web of Silence.