Not a Sound

Good ending

Amelia Winn lost her hearing when severely injured by a hit-and-run driver. Her deafness, and all she goes through to cope with it, is what I liked most about this book. Her service dog Stitch is a charmer. He helps her “hear,” but he has a streak of irresponsibility. He doesn’t always come when called! It’s fun that she has to give her commands in Czech, because Stitch’s trainer was Czech. The trainer tells Amelia that she and Stitch were made for each other. True, as it turns out.Amelia was a trauma nurse before her hearing loss. One day while kayaking, she finds the dead body of a nurse she once worked with. Gwen was her friend. Amelia becomes obsessed with finding her murderer. She does so much intrusive snooping that it made me uncomfortable. But of course it’s necessary to the plot. I also found the terror of the denouement a bit hard to take.But this is a well-crafted suspense novel for readers who can bear the high-tension level of the plot. Dog lovers should find it especially enjoyable.

At first I thought I would suggest in this review that "Not a Sound" (NS) was really two books, one a mystery, and the other a "what it's like to be totally deaf" first person account. But that would be rather lame. It's one book, of course, and its main appeal is that it's a mystery - but with a very original hook.Our protagonist is Amelia Winn, 40, separated from her husband David and his 8 year old daughter Nora. Amelia was a well regarded nurse until the night she and a patient were struck in a hit and run, leaving Amelia completely deaf. Adjustment was difficult and she took her consolation from booze, lots of it. David gave her the boot and she moved to a rather spartan cabin in the woods. She has a companion though, 3 year old Stitch, a Slovakian rough-haired pointer, trained to assist the deaf. How? He gives Amelia nudges when the phone rings, or there's a knock at the door, or a prowler in the woods. Stitch and Amelia are on the river one day and discover a body, someone Amelia knows - another nurse.The plot is fairly straight-forward. The characters are OK; I liked Amelia, and the dog was interesting. After those two though, the rest of the cast was not too exciting. The main thread of the mystery felt like something I had read before or saw on a Hallmark TV movie. Not too thrilling. No earth-shaking twists, a climax that was good but not great. Good prose, good descriptions of Iowa or wherever it was. So two or three stars for the mystery elements.Before starting the book I had wondered how the author would handle dialog. Very well as it turns out. There was somewhat less conversation than most books but it was not a problem. What was there in terms of getting inside a deaf person's skin for 300 pages was excellent. 5 stars for that work. The frustrations that must be dealt with, the problems of people with accents, people who turn their head while speaking, the difficulties of lip-reading and trying to grasp a message when only every second or third word is understood. The sadness of not being able to hear the joy in a child's voice. The need to continue speech therapy constantly and not being able to gauge volume appropriately. Interestingly, I heard no whining from Amelie about missing music.I am very pleased that I read this book, despite what I thought were its flaws compared to much of the crime fiction I read. I learned an awful lot about the deaf, and I hope that it has made me more understanding. While I may not read another of Heather Gudenkauf's books, I will recommend this one. My total rating, a 4. At this point in time (June 2017) 33 Amazon readers score it an average of 4.4

I was excited about reading this mystery when I read in the synopsis that the protagonist is deaf. I have been partially deaf since my mid-30s and was interested in seeing how the author handled this in a murder mystery with a nurse protagonist.Amelia Winn was a successful ER nurse in Iowa for 18+ years specializing in sexual assault cases until one night she walks a patient to her vehicle and both are hit by a hit and run driver. The other woman is killed and Amelia wakes up totally deaf.She was happily married before the accident with a step-daughter she loves and she ends up losing her job, her marriage and visiting rights to her step-daughter when she self-medicates with booze.Two years later she's finally getting her life back on track when she finds the body of a nursing friend of hers that has been murdered in the river where she's been paddle boarding with her Slovak short-haired pointer service dog, Stitch.I loved the way the author developed Amelia's character and I loved Stitch. I do wish she had developed some of the other characters more because, by not doing so, it made the ending feel rushed.I liked the storyline and it kept me guessing right up to the very end. There were lots of interesting tidbits about lip reading, American Sign Language, service dogs, and nursing that I enjoyed reading about.The only thing that kept me from giving this a five star rating was the last chapter, which arrived at a lot of conclusions that weren't well developed throughout the whole story.I still recommend this to anyone looking for a mystery with a different spin - or those interested in books with deaf protagonists, dogs, or nurses.

What I liked about this book - the main character is deaf which offered a very interesting perspective on how they interact in the world.What I disliked:-The book starts with an intense flashback which you think will set the scene for the story. But ultimately, this flashback doesn't add anything to the main plot and overall seemed irrelevant-I don't think I figured out the main character's name until the last few chapters-After finishing the story, I'm still not sure where it takes place. There are a few state and location references but nothing concrete.I'm not mad I read this book; although, I won't be recommending it to a friend.

Lots of suspense. Very good book!

I ordered Not a Sound immediately after I finished The Overnight Guest. This is another page turning book! Not predictable and never a dull point in the book. I just ordered The Weight of Silence. After reading the first 3 chapters in the back of Not A Sound, I cannot wait for my book to arrive!Highly recommend!

Didn’t want this book to end. Heather Gudenkauf has away of involving you in her stories. I am so glad I found her and have introduced her to others to marvel over too. Only have one more of her novels to read, hope there are more on the way, soon.

Easy to read & suspense kept me reading

Such an intriguing idea to have the protagonist be deaf, and by an author who is a complete master! Amelia Winn has suffered a traumatic accident that made her go deaf, causing her to become an alcoholic and lose her husband and step-daughter. As she's trying to sort her life out and get her husband and step-daughter back, she stumbles across the body of a woman who's been viciously murdered, somebody she used to know.Tough yet vulnerable, resilient yet terrified of returning to her past, Amelia is a very sympathetic character who I readily enjoyed reading about. Gudenkauf has done a fantastic job of showing us how difficult it would be to have one of your main senses unexpectedly taken from you in a thriller that gripped me to the very end.

It seems such a long time since Heathers' last book and I have been waiting with baited breath for this one. It has definitely been worth the wait. I love every one of Heather's books and Not a Sound is as well thought out and written as all the rest. Heather has written very sensitively about deafness and cancer treatment, and she made it easy to understand the medical terms. I do have one small criticism though, it seemed to jump a little at the end when Amelia and Jake met up, I'm not sure if I missed something but when you read it you will hopefully see what I mean. It still deserves the 5 stars. Highly recommended. I look forward to the next one.

Where shall I start on this dreadful book. I better say that I only managed to get to 27% on my kindle before I deleted it. What a load of boring drivel, we even know how the main character brushes her dog!!!