Dying Breath is book 14 in the Silence Jones series, and somehow, Erik Carter keeps finding ways to surprise me. What starts off feeling like a low-stakes escort mission quickly spirals into a far more tangled, emotionally charged mess. One dead man, one blabbermouth passenger, and one absolutely relentless Silence trying to do the right thing even when the path forward is soaked in shadows. And tugging at every emotion he has left.
I appreciated how this story wasn’t just about bodies hitting the floor (though there’s plenty of that). There’s a tender undercurrent woven in through therapy and reflection. A trickle of Silence confronting the life he left behind, and how much of it he might never reclaim. That added depth hit me harder than expected, and I love how the series continues to evolve emotionally alongside the action.
Gary Bennett delivers another solid performance, especially with Silence’s dry, sardonic edge. And let’s be honest, Silence does a lot more talking in this one, so I hope Bennett has a stash of throat lozenges on standby. I feel like I owe him a box of Throat Coat! The banter, the tension, the intensity… It’s all executed flawlessly.
This was a different kind of Silence Jones book, and that’s what made it stand out. Still brutal, still sharp, but with more heart than I anticipated. Fourteen books deep and I’m still all in.