Title: Dead Men’s Silence (Chris Black Adventures #3)
Author: James Lindholm
Published on: 13 October 2020
Genre: Mystery and Thrillers
Dead Men’s Silence is the third book in James Lindholm’s Chris Black Adventure series.
The story starts with Chris and his team encountering a group of Eco-terrorists while at work in the sea. Chris and his buddy Mac are asked to join a deep-sea-expedition research team in the Galapagos. Chris’s ex Abby is also on the research vessel along with her new flame Oliver. Along with them are twenty college-going students.
One evening, Chris and Mac leave for their friend Hendrix’s vessel for dinner. They are attacked by a group of pirates. They somehow manage to kill the bad guys and make their way to the research vessel… but the research vessel is nowhere to be seen. Two of the students are found on a float and one of them has a ransom note in their pocket.
Chris must save the rest of the team members before the pirates start to kill the hostages.
Though a third book in the series, Dead Men’s Silence can be read as a standalone. Scuba and deep-sea diving technicalities are explained in detail and though it might seem like TMI at times, this feature is what makes the story engrossing and interesting.
A marine biologist turned savior, Chris Black is the next Jack Reacher of deep sea adventures. 😀 With the help of Mac and Dana, he comes up with one heck of a plan to save the hostages.
The kidnapping of the researchers by pirates does not happen until halfway through the story. the first half alternates between Chris and a family captured by pirates. Be warned, the ladies of the captured family are sexually abused by the pirates – the details get a tad violent.
Towards the end of the story, there is a twist – an unexpected one. I certainly did not see this coming. The twist has something to do with the bad guys. As the kidnapping and ransom note happens halfway through the story, the second half is on a fast-forward mode. I felt the slow start in the first half of the book could be cut down a tad so that we readers could have more of mystery and nail-biting adventure to enjoy throughout the story.
Nevertheless, Dead Men’s Silence by James Lindholm was an engrossing read for me. The story ends with Chris and Mac being invited to join on an another expedition and I am certainly eager to know what’s next for the duo.
I received an ARC from CamCat Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
The Book Decoder 
Interesting… Action thriller? Great review