Satan's Silence: The Second Cassidy McCabe Mystery

This is the second in the series and the second that I've read. I have thoroughly enjoyed both. The characters are believable and fun. The mystery is enticing and keeps one's attention. "Starshine" is a real world cat. She does not talk or help solve mysteries, but definetly adds interest to the story. . .especially if one is a cat lover.

Genre: Mystery/Suspense For lovers of occult mysteries, Cassidy McCabe once again comes through a powerful heroine bent on solving the mystery of a missing baby before she becomes a sacrifice on Satan's alter. The unstoppable Cassidy is pulled far beyond her professional duties, resorting to peanut butter cups and the comfort of her cat, Starshine, to lending her strength to do what must be done. And she does it with her own style that will leave the reader chuckling over Cassidy's antics all the while sitting on the edge of the chair as the tension of the plot builds. Picking up the timeline shortly after the first novel leaves off, Cassidy's romance with the sexy Zach Moran is definitely not purring along. Zach has begun to emotionally distance himself from Cassidy, and she figures there's got to be another woman in the picture. Meanwhile, Cassidy's patient, Dana Voss, unexpectedly regress during therapy, becoming child like and recounting a satanic ritual sacrifice of a playmate. But given Dana's psychiatric history, Cassidy doesn't know if the memory is real or a delusion. When Cassidy mentions a few details to Zach, his crime report instinct immediately lands them in a graveyard, determined to learn the secrets of the past. The past has way of quickly catching up to the future. Break-ins with nothing missing, flower deliveries with dangerous contents, and the kidnapping of Dana's baby makes it clear they are all in danger. As Dana's memories continue to surface, Cassidy must find the answers to the missing child before the police arrest Dana for murder, and before the missing child is sacrificed in secret midnight rituals. Tempered with concern over Starshine, the infamous cat of the first mystery, and trouble with her romance, Satan's Silence will delight, entertain, and leave the reader questioning their own philosophical beliefs regarding good and evil. I can hardly wait to read the next book of this series. 304 pagesCindy Penn, Reviewer

Satan's Silence by Alex Matthews is a literary work of the first order. It is impossible to put it down as one becomes immersed in the evil of satanism. It is a suspense, mystery novel where the action never stops. The plot is tightly woven, with appropriate clues which invite the reader to guess "who done it." However, Ms. Matthews stays one step ahead and delivers a smashing, surprise ending. A very slight drawback is that the heroine, Cassidy, does a lot of self-talk in the second person, in italics, which can be distracting. But after a few chapters, the self-talk seems natural and doesn't detract at all from the excellent story.

Chicago psychotherapist Cassidy McCabe is trying to help her patient Dana Voss, who suffers nightmares from allegedly witnessing a murder ritual when she was a child. Cassidy wonders if Dana's descriptive memories of an alleged deadly event over a decade ago is caused by being an eye witness to a brutal reality or a leftover from her brain being fried by drugs. Cassidy, defying Psychology 101 rules on confidentiality, tells her boy friend reporter Zach Moran what her client has related to her. Zach and Cassidy argue the case. She feels that her first loyalty must be to her client. He feels that satanic murders, no matter how much time has passed, cannot be ignored. Soon they begin to investigate satanic rituals in the present and in the past. As they get closer to the truth behind Dana's assertion, danger mounts to the eye witness and the intrepid amateur detectives. No one breaks the code of SATAN'S SILENCE and lives. Cassidy is a great character even if her "italic" thinking sometimes interferes with the flow of the plot. She is thirty-seven, divorced, loses her cat, regains her now pregnant cat, and doubts her relationship with Zach. Her professional life is struggling as she seeks a client base. With all that in addition to an interesting mystery, the second entry in the McCabe series turns into a fun read. Hopefully, the premise that a psychotherapist divulges information to her pillow mate is grounded in fantasy and not wide spread reality. Still Alex Matthews delivers a good tale because of Cassidy's flaws and the author's superior writing ability. Harriet Klausner ----