Release-Day Review: Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson #10)

Silence Fallen (Mercy Thompson #10)
Patricia Briggs
Published: Mar. 7, 2017 (Ace)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Margaret

Rating (out of 5): 4 stars

Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books. If you haven’t started this series yet, check out VBC’s review of book 1, Moon Called.

How many times does Mercy Thompson have to get kidnapped? I mean seriously, do her business cards say “Mercedes Thompson, Professional Hostage?” Silence Fallen finds Mercy once again in the hands of her enemies when a quick trip to the store goes horribly wrong. Not only is she a hostage, but also while she was unconscious, her captors took her all the way to Italy where her bonds with Adam and the pack aren’t strong enough for him to find her.

Being a tricksy coyote, Mercy doesn’t stay captive for long, but still finds herself on the run in a strange city with no money or clothes, much less a phone. She turns to the local werewolf pack for help, only to find herself in the middle of a European vampire power struggle.

Not only does the change of scenery allow Briggs to introduce the European vampires and werewolves, she also brings in some really interesting bits of history and folklore, including the Beast of Gevaudan and the Golem of Prague. It also gave Mercy a new perspective on her power over ghosts, which I enjoyed. I’m curious about how she might use what she learned in the future.

Silence Fallen is the first book in the series told entirely in dual POV, though we’ve seen a single chapter from Adam’s point of view in the past. (I would argue, however, that Mercy is still really the narrator throughout since Adam’s story is told in third person as though she’s recounting it later.) What’s odd about it is that Adam and Mercy’s timelines are out of synch. I’m not sure that it was strictly necessary to tell the story that way. It would have meant switching to Adam’s POV much sooner, but I feel like ten books in we know him well enough for that not to cause a problem. That said, I trust that Patricia Briggs knows better than I do. I think the only reason I spent so much time thinking about the discrepancy is that Mercy keeps pointing it out.

What I missed most were the other members of the pack. There are little snippets of Ben which I loved—he’s one of my favorites. And we do learn more about two members who turn out to have ties to the European supes. But even Stefan isn’t as much fun as usual, maybe because he spends the whole book with Adam when his chemistry is really with Mercy. However I did love Matt Smith, a new, temporary addition to the team. There are a few scenes from his perspective and I would have been happy to read more.

I’m always happy to be back in Mercy Thompson’s world, even though Silence Fallen is probably not my favorite book in the series. I feel like it digresses a bit from the series plot. But it also has a great reveal that had me rereading to see if I had missed the clues earlier in the book. And I loved that it has a truly happy ending—I was smiling through the last few pages. (It helped that Mercy was not half dead for once.)

Sexual content: sex