– A psychological thriller novella guaranteed to keep you gripped until the finish line! -What if the perfect revenge was built on a lie?After years of searching, Nora has finally tracked down the woman who destroyed her life. She rents the house next door under an assumed identity, but before she can put her plan for retribution into motion, the woman’s mysterious young lodger goes missing. As … motion, the woman’s mysterious young lodger goes missing. As evidence of foul play mounts, a web of lies begins to unravel, and a shocked community is ripped apart. When the trail to the abductor leads to where no one imagined, Nora discovers that everyone is harboring secrets, and no one can be trusted.
With an innocent life at stake, and hopes for revenge fading fast, Nora faces a harrowing decision that will awaken the dark past she desperately wishes could be undone.
But will the truth she uncovers prove more shocking than the lies she has believed?
Will you enjoy The Silent Surrogate? I f you read any of my favorite psychological and domestic suspense thriller authors including K. L. Slater, Shalini Boland, Adam Croft, Kathryn Croft, Lisa Gardner, Louise Jensen, or Rachel Caine, the answer is a resounding yes! (This is a novella-length read designed to introduce you to my psychological thrillers.)
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The Silent Surrogate: A Psychological Suspense Thriller, my sixth amazing read from author N.L. Hinkens. I enjoyed the outstanding suspense story-line with its intricately woven twists and turns, I never saw the end coming! Norma (N.L.) Hinkens is on my radar of great authors! I was given an Audible copy of this book and am voluntarily reading & reviewing it. Narrator Mitzi Pirkey’s narration adds to the book’s enjoyment. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 – July 24, 2018).
Fast paced. Suspenseful. Great twists and turns. Manipulation. The alternating POVs were well written so I had no problem with the shifts. I was really enjoying it until the ending. The VERY abrupt ending. I knew it was a novella versus a novel, but it still felt…off? It felt like being in a speeding car that suddenly slams into a brick wall. I am not sure a novella can properly carry off a psychological thriller. The limited page count prevented the story from completely playing out.
This is the first book I have read by Ms. Hinkens. I think I need to read one of her novels, as I suspect I would enjoy them.
This is a terrific psychological thriller loaded with lots of suspense and action. It’s fast paced, well written and does justice to the opioid crisis in the USA, which is a disturbing, disgusting and disheartening phenomenon. I’ve worked with people who were abusing/addicted to opioid drugs and they will tell outrageous lies and go to any means to get what they need.
Nora is a mother who moves next door to the social worker who testified in court that the father should get full custody of their little son, Christopher, during divorce proceedings. The father got custody and their son died shortly afterwards in a traffic accident.
Nora hears the young woman, living with the social worker, arguing with her outside and gets involved with the younger pregnant woman, even becoming her birth coach. She has plans for the baby, even calling him Christopher, and plots against the social worker and her husband continually. They also want the baby. Oh what a tangled web! There’s also a twist of a surprise ending.
I’m on the advanced readers team and received a free advanced readers copy of the book. This is my voluntary review.
Nora has spent a lot of time perfecting her revenge. Plotting, painstakingly planning every detail to exact the perfect agony on her enemy- all the while watching every moment of tortuous pain as her plan plays out. The losses she suffered will never be paid back in full but at least she’ll be able to do what nobody else had the guts to do. Not her spineless husband, who caused her the loss of her children. Not the courts, who deemed her to be unfit to parent anymore. No, if anyone had to pay, it had to be the social worker Lynn West – she had it in for Nora from the get go and she took everything that Nora loved, leaving her bare and bereft. Now Nora has found out where Lynn lives and she has hatched a plan to move in next door and make sure that Lynn feels some of the pain she caused Nora when she took her family from her. Revenge is a dish served best cold and this dish is going to be ice cold before Nora lets it loose. But are things all they seem to be?
I found this psychological drama to be full of delicious twists and turns. The characters all played well against a solid plot and it all worked to make a creepy, all-to-realistic read worth staying up a few extra minutes to read.
I enjoyed this book. It was easy to read. The plot was great. I enjoyed the main characters and was so surprised by the twist in the story. It will keep your attention throughout the book. It is a great example of revenge. I want to read more from this author.
The ending was totally unexpected, the mark of great psychological suspense. It left me looking at my Kindle and muttering “huh?” Nora Munroe (assumed name we are told at the beginning) moves next door to her enemy Rick and Lynn West. Why are they her enemies? The book is told from 2 perspectives, the present and 2008. We hear the story of how Nora’s husband was an addicted and killed their son Jonathan. Nora plots to ruin Lynn’s life and buy the surrogate’s baby that was supposed to be theirs. The book is a quick read and kept me seeking the ending. Like others have said, the book was rather short and there were previews of other books for the last 30% on Kindle. The ending seemed a little abrupt, but I don’t really see how it could have played out longer. When a book is done, there is no need to drag it out just for page count. I enjoyed it and I highly recommend N. L. Hinkens’ psychological thrillers.
I had high hopes for this, however it seemed to fall short. I did not see the ending coming, everything leading up to it was predictable though. This is the first time I have read anything by this author, and I would be willing to give her other work a try.
With The Silent Surrogate, N. L. Hinkens has written a psychological suspense that keeps you trying to sort out the truth from the lies. Nothing is ever quite as it seems. It is an enjoyable read with surprising twists and turns.
I don’t read a lot of thrillers, but this one intrigued me. It was gripping from the get-go and had me flipping pages to figure out what was going to happen. I liked that it involved a few twists that I didn’t expect. I would read more books like this from the author!
I voluntarily received and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.
Final Rating: 5 Stars
Nora has a plan to get revenge. Her plans get a bit delayed by an unexpected complication. Things seem to be going smoothly, even though it took longer than she wanted. The twist at the end was interesting.