The father, the third person protagonist, doesn't turn out to be an alcoholic or child abuser or adulterer - almost as if the author realises that these things aren't actually interesting. The thing that took me by surprise in a good way is that most of the characters are nice! The first person protagonist, a deaf schoolgirl, really loves her family, even her annoying kid brother - and even he bothered to learn sign language. What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting? If you could sum up The Silence in three words, what would they be? but in the meantime this book is well worth a try. The story cries out for a sequel, I do hope the author is thinking about one. So, although there are many themes common with the rest of the genre there are enough inventive twists to whisper about originality with this one. The isolation imposed by the developing world of silence and what it means to the surviving human population as reflected both by the characters and global social media is interwoven well into the story. In all the characters are engaging, the scenario believable enough for a story of this type and the tension that builds as the problem spreads across Europe is palpable. Mark Meadows is a well-established narrator and delivers both the young girl’s point of you and her father’s convincingly with deft changes of tone, intonation and pace. It also quite bravely uses the joint point of view of a young deaf girl and her protective father to deliver the story which, as it turns out, works incredibly well.

Of course it has similarities with many of the post-apocalyptic genre including hints of Wyndham books but its mechanism for getting there is somewhat different to your average zombie / deadly disease story. The Silence is an intelligent and genuinely entertaining book.

The silence book tim lebbon