The Silent Bride by Shalini Boland
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 3rd June 2023
Published: 1st June 2023
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
In this chilling story from the bestselling author of The Secret Mother, it’s the wedding day of Alice’s dreams. Until it becomes a nightmare…
Alice and Seth are a perfect love story: the handsome doctor and his beautiful fiancée. They’re wealthy, well liked and made for each other—the envy of all their friends. Alice can’t wait for the day of their dream wedding. But when she arrives at the altar, she doesn’t recognise the man waiting to marry her.
When this stranger insists he’s Seth, her husband-to-be, the entire congregation seems to agree. Even her parents try to persuade Alice to go through with the wedding.
As panic sets in, Alice’s world comes apart. Where is the real Seth, and why have all traces of him disappeared from her life? Fearing she’s losing her mind, she sets out to uncover the truth and escape the nightmare she’s living in. But with everyone around her convinced by the fake Seth, how can she ever hope to find the man she loves?
MY THOUGHTS:
It's the wedding day of Alice's dreams...until it becomes a nightmare...
There's been a real wedding theme in books lately - thrillers and historical fiction - it seems. Some with happy endings...others, not so much. THE SILENT BRIDE begins as the perfect love story but ends in anything but.
It's a beautiful summer's day with uncharacteristically stunning weather and Alice Porter is about to marry the man of her dreams. Her beaded bodice and flowing organza silk skirt radiates the bride's beauty as the sun beams its rays upon her as she steps inside the beautiful historic church on her father's arm. She's waited her entire life for this moment. She's ready. With a smile and a nod to her father she steps into the church behind her bridesmaids and looks down the aisle to her groom awaiting her at the altar. Seth Evans. Dr Seth Evans, endocrinologist at a busy London hospital who upped sticks and took a job at the local Southampton hospital to be nearer Alice's family and friends. He did that for her. And now she is to marry him at last. As she lets her gaze wander down the aisle to meet his, he turns to watch her procession with love and a smile.
But wait...stop. Alice freezes. She cannot take another step. She cannot speak. She cannot move. She can do nothing but stare. Stare at the place where her groom stands - where Seth should be. Because the man standing at the altar awaiting her is not Seth. And if he's not Seth, then where is he? And who is the man standing in his place?
Soon everyone is wondering what's the hold up. Alice's father is especially impatient and his brusque words to basically "snap out of it" are far from helpful. Imagine if you woke one morning to find the person you were married to was a complete stranger and you had never seen them before in your life? Personally, it would be terrifying. Hence Alice's shock and apprehension. Of course she couldn't go through with the wedding...not if she didn't recognise the groom, regardless of the reasons why. And yet, the stranger insists he is Seth, her family insists he is Seth and even his family, who she had met and now do not recognise either, insist he is Seth! Everyone is insisting that the man at the altar is indeed Seth...so why is she so intent on him NOT being Seth?
OK, everyone back up a minute, I say. Alice has obviously had a shock and regardless of what has happened she now no longer recognises the man she has been in a relationship with for the past year and was about to marry. She was literally minutes away from becoming his wife. So...something has happened to make her think, or more importantly believe, that "this Seth" is not "her Seth". So why is everyone being impatient with her rather than consoling her? Whether she marries Seth is neither here nor there, but the fact is she had such a terrifying shock that has changed her perception of everything she thought she knew and she begins to question her sanity. Shouldn't her loved ones be more concerned about that than saving face or, as her father seems intent on doing, shoving her and Seth together to fix things so that they can move forward together. But how can they when she doesn't even know him? Has no memory of this man? She has memories of her Seth but this is not him...not in her mind, he isn't. So where is her Seth?
This book is seriously messed up. The premise was so intriguing - a bride not recognising her husband-to-be as she walks down the aisle. Definitely a clever and unique concept and one that will keep you guessing throughout as to what really happened on that June day. The plot is such a ball of confusion that has you question who to believe and who not to believe. It's not entirely complex but it is a definite guessing game as to what is really going on. OK, so you may have to suspend belief a little but who cares? This is fiction. It's meant to entertaining and fun and thrilling...which it is all those things.
Now I have to say Shalini, you have finally done it and hoodwinked me as to the who. But as to the how...I had a inkling of a suspicion along the way when backstories were mentioned in passing. It really was the only thing that made sense in my mind. So I wasn't completely bamboozled. But that final twist had me blinking in disbelief and going "Say what?"
I really can't say much more without accidentally revealing anything but expect the unexpected...as only Shalini can deliver.
I would like to thank #ShaliniBoland, #Netgalley and #AmazonPub for an ARC of #TheSilentBride in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Her debut psychological thriller "The Girl from the Sea" published in June 2016 reached Number 1 in the US Audible charts. Her second thriller "The Best Friend" published in October 2016 reached a high of number 10 in Amazon's UK Kindle charts. It also achieved number 1 in all its categories and was a Kindle All Star title for several months in a row.
Shalini has recently signed with Thomas and Mercer publishers with her first publication with them being "The Silent Bride".
She is also not a morning person.
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10 Things My Readers Might Not Know About Me
My dreams (nightmares) nearly always involve the characters and settings that I’m currently writing about. For example, last night I dreamt that I’d abducted a baby and tried to hide him in my husband’s car, but I couldn’t get the doors to lock. It was awful! Maybe I’d have a better night’s sleep if I wrote rom coms.
I love all fruit except bananas. The smell, texture, taste – ugh. No. Just no. Keep that evil fruit away from me.
I write for a living, and so does my husband, but neither of our children are particularly avid readers. My eldest is dyslexic and has never enjoyed reading or writing. My youngest quite enjoys it, but has to be pretty much forced into trying a new book. How did this happen? I have no idea. We always read to them when they were younger. We have a houseful of all kinds of books. Ah, well, I’ll keep trying.
When I was nineteen, I hitchhiked at night in Israel and ended up in the middle of nowhere convinced I was going to die. Turns out I only needed to walk another two minutes to find myself back at the kibbutz where I was staying. I’ve never hitchhiked since.
My writing companion is a little Poodle/Lhasa Apso/Terrier cross called Jess who sits at my feet while I type. Sometimes she sneaks up onto the sofa and rests her chin on my keyboard. I’m not sure I could write without her nearby.
When we were in our twenties, my husband and I set up VW car shows. Our events were all jinxed. Over the course of six shows we had four instances of major theft, a forest fire, the worst storm on record, someone set up illegal rave, an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, and an actual bomb scare with police cordoning off the area and evacuating everyone. Plus, we only made a profit during our first show, the other times we just about broke even. Not a huge success.
Nearly all my novels are set in and around the area of Dorset where I live. I moved here when I was eighteen, but I feel like this is my true home. I love it – the towns, beaches and countryside are beautiful.
Good coffee and chocolate are my weaknesses.
I used to be a singer songwriter and once sang on stage at The Brixton Academy in front of four thousand people. I don’t know how I did it. I’m such an introvert these days.
I feel very lucky to write for a living. Every day, I’m truly thankful and appreciate that I’ve finally discovered what it is I love to do – it only took me forty years to work it out! It isn’t always easy and some days I need a kick up the backside to stop procrastinating and get working. Other days are overwhelming and I do get anxious about what my readers will think of each book. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. I only hope people will continue to enjoy my books and allow me to keep doing what I love.
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