Silent Scream

Anna Travis #5

by Lynda La Plante

Lynda La Plante is generally regarded as someone unique in British publishing and television. She is acclaimed as the creator of DI Jane Tennison, the tough, under-siege copper of Prime Suspect. But the writer’s reach extends considerably beyond that character, as her new book, Silent Scream, reminds us in no uncertain terms. Her almost equally celebrated alternative protagonist Anna Travis is someone we met as a young detective, assigned to her first murder case in the compelling Above Suspicion – and it couldn't have been a more shocking -- or more horrific -- set of killings that Anna had to cope with. Verisimilitude was the order of the day there – and it’s remained one of Lynda La Plante’s strong suits – very much the case in the latest outing for Anna Travis, Silent Scream.

Film actress Amanda Delany – one of Britain’s bright particular stars -- is not about to deny herself the pleasure of a series of steamy sexual affair with a slew of attractive actors – but her erotic odyssey is cut short by her murder in her Belgravia Mews. D. I. Anna Travis is handed the case, but as she peels back layers of deception, she uncovers a variety of stygian secrets just below the surface of the glittering and indulgent lifestyle. The actress’s parent, for instance, seem surprisingly unaffected by the death of their daughter, and her various lovers are quick to disavow their relationships with her. Anna comes to believe that the shiny facade concealed a solitary, vulnerable woman. But as Anna hunts for Amanda’s murderer, she has some very pressing professional problems of her own to solve – including an unexpected nemesis.

As ever, La Plante's grasp of the edgy office politics of the police force is as acute as her mastery of the suspense narrative, and there is never a sense of slackening of pace when she moves from one area to another (the besetting sin of so many police procedurals). And there's no denying that Anna Travis remains one of the strongest protagonists in current genre fiction. --Barry Forshaw

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Procedural

515 pages, Paperback

First published September 3, 2009

About the author

Lynda La Plante, CBE (born Lynda Titchmarsh) is a British author, screenwriter, and erstwhile actress (her performances in Rentaghost and other programmes were under her stage name of Lynda Marchal), best known for writing the Prime Suspect television crime series.

Her first TV series as a scriptwriter was the six part robbery series Widows, in 1983, in which the widows of four armed robbers carry out a heist planned by their deceased husbands.

In 1991 ITV released Prime Suspect which has now run to seven series and stars Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison. (In the United States Prime Suspect airs on PBS as part of the anthology program Mystery!) In 1993 La Plante won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for her work on the series. In 1992 she wrote at TV movie called Seekers, starring Brenda Fricker and Josette Simon, produced by Sarah Lawson.

She formed her own television production company, La Plante Productions, in 1994 and as La Plante Productions she wrote and produced the sequel to Widows, the equally gutsy She's Out (ITV, 1995). The name "La Plante" comes from her marriage to writer Richard La Plante, author of the book Mantis and Hog Fever. La Plante divorced Lynda in the early 1990s.

Her output continued with The Governor (ITV 1995-96), a series focusing on the female governor of a high security prison, and was followed by a string of ratings pulling miniseries: the psycho killer nightmare events of Trial & Retribution (ITV 1997-), the widows' revenge of the murders of their husbands & children Bella Mafia (1997) (starring Vanessa Redgrave), the undercover police unit operations of Supply and Demand (ITV 1998), videogame/internet murder mystery Killer Net (Channel 4 1998) and the female criminal profiler cases of Mind Games (ITV 2001).

Two additions to the Trial and Retribution miniseries were broadcast during 2006.

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 5th book in the Anna Travis series by author Lynda La Plante.
I am really enjoying this series and intend to read all the other books asap. I love the writing style and find the characters so easy to imagine and come to life in my head. If you intend to read any of these books I would strongly suggest that you read them in order as this will certainly make them far more enjoyable and all the sub plots will make a lot more sense.

In this offering a British film star Amanda Delany is found dead in her home, brutally murdered with multiple stabbings. Amanda Delaney was not one for a quiet life and when Anna Travis discovers the truth behind the public image of this successful actress she is shocked. There is a trail of lovers and potential murder suspects who have their own secrets to hide which makes life harder for Anna.
Anna's ex lover DCI James Langton is a hard task master and with Anna having promotion to Chief Inspector within her grasp she is eager to succeed.

Lynda La Plante's writing in this series is not rushed and allows the reader to fully understand the emotions and difficulties facing Anna Travis. This makes the characters stronger and more realistic, but I can see how other readers may feel the books need a good editing. In my case I am happy to read 500 page novels and with every book I read in this series I feel a better understanding and get fully emerged in the characters. Great books and wonderful characters.

[Arie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utterly awful. Review to come. In fact, the only reason I finished this was so that I could write the scathing review this deserves.

Clearly I never got around to a review, but have just found out that this pile of crap has been made into a tv series that actually doesn't look awful - maybe when the writing is taken out of the equation this book would be decent?

[Raquel Costa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry to say this but Silent Scream was a big disappointment to me. I am really into crime at the moment and Lynda la Plante is very famous and even described as having "invented the thriller" - needless to say when I picked this book up I had considerably high expectations.
The first chapter follows the victim Amanda Delaney and shows us what happened just before she died. During this chapter all my thoughts were that Amanda Delaney was extremely annoying, I knew she was going to die but I just couldn't feel sorry for her at all.
The rest of the characters (the ones that lived) in the book were not exactly great either. The book was written in third person which in this genre I can understand - the characters' emotions are not as generally important as the plotline. And so what does Ms. Lynda La Plante do? SHE MAKES CHARACTERS THAT BARELY HAVE EMOTIONS AT ALL!!
The book is supposed to be following the murder investigation through Detective Anna Travis' point of view but the reader doesn't feel attached to Anna at all. Anna's only displays of emotion and character are towards Langton and even then, they aren't detailed.

Langton is annoying (well I guess he's supposed to be) but you get to see a bit more of his character towards the end in his reactions to Anna.
Simon completely disappeared with a grudge which I didn't appreciate (not to mention it was a poor excuse for a plot twist).
I liked Gordon though I really wished that his affair with Anna had been a bit more exciting and detailed - it was way too contained and all the time Anna was still worrying about Langton which really annoyed me.

I thought there were way too many pointless interviews that could have been either shorter or more interesting. Also, a bit more physical description of people being interviewed would have been nice.

The outcome was not near as exciting as I hoped. YOU DON'T EVEN MEET THE KILLER UNTIL MORE THAN HALFWAY THROUGH THE BOOK!

I think Silent Scream was a lot more realistic than many books on how policemen's lives really are - the tiring process of solving a case. But I guess that made the book quite slow and therefore stopped me from enjoying it as much as I wish I had.

Overall, a disappointment.

[Leonie Hinch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Utterly disappointed with this one. I've read several books by this author before and always thought she was an exceptionally good writer, always found the storylines gripping but this one just didn't do it for me.

I felt that the story dragged itself out chasing itself round in circles, it became boring and several times I was tempted to put it down and leave it it was only the fact I'm so anal about these things that I couldn't just put it down. It didn't grip me though for the first 300 pages it was just like every chapter repeated itself, I found the characters extremely annoying the way nobody was cooperating with the police even to the point of manhandling them seemed extremely unrealistic and I couldn't connect with or even like any of the main characters.

I won't say either that the murderer was a surprise once they'd established the connection it was pretty obvious (to me at least) when the murderer was caught.

It was admittedly a little bit more gripping after the first 300 pages but surely it shouldn't take that long to get into a book!

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

The mystery story itself is quite good in this series. Unfortunately, Anna Travis is such a twit that it makes it difficult to read. Anna has been warned several times in previous books about keeping key information to herself and not working as a team member as well as disclosing confidential police information to her boyfriends. Here she is yet again, book 5 doing the same thing! This time she is disclosing information to the chiropractor she just met "not thinking about the ethical issues..." Really?! Oddly, she is also applying for a promotion. Too frustrating with this character to continue the series.

[Stella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silent Scream was my intiation to Lynda La Plante's writing, and I have to say I became a fan. Don't let the length put you off reading Silent Scream (516 pages), the writing is flowing and Lynda La Plante's writing style is natural and enjoyable.

What I found the most amazing about Silent Scream was how even though one of the main characters was dead she was brought to life through the investigation. As the investigation progressed, the real Amanda, the person behind the glamour and fame took shape before the reader. Even though she was dead from the very first chapter of the book, she was as much present throughout the novel as if she were there in the "flesh", La Plante gave her substance and complexity. You felt sad and sorry for her because of her unhappy childhood, loneliness and want for love but then when you saw how she behaved at other times and how she didn't care about what she did to others she was downright repulsive. Amanda Delaney's presence haunted the story long after her murder.

The mystery wasn't obvious, it was well structured from the beginning and the reader couldn't guess who committed the murder, leaving you wondering and guessing until the end.

Silent Scream introduced a lot of supporting characters but I can't say the novel could have gone without any of them. They were all essential to the mystery, to give the reader a broader picture of Amanda and show business politics.

The main characters: Anna, Langton and the other detectives and colleagues at the police were well developed and varied. Anna was an especially interesting heroine: a stubborn and driven young detective who isn't well liked by her colleagues mainly for being more of a lone wolf kind of investigator than a team player, but her superiors were all in agreement that she had potential and talent to become more.

I liked the cat-mouse emotional play between Anna and Langton because it seemed credible and very realistic. Once they were an item but even though their affair is over and Langton has a family (a wife and two kids), it is clear they still have so much going on and that neither of them has completely moved on. Their pain and affection for each other makes it harder for them to move on with their lives. I'm sure there will be more about their relationship in later novels too.

Though Silent Scream is said to be 'an Anna Travis Mystery', it can be very well enjoyed as a stand alone novel. Throughout the novel you will get all the details and background info necessary to understand the history of the characters, so you won't feel lost without having read the previous novels in the series.

Verdict: Though I did not find Silent Scream a nail-biting thriller, I enjoyed discovering how a murder investigation is conducted in real life, it was interesting to get to know some professional secrets amd what is going on behind closed doors at the police station. The office politics and the process of the investigation were all very well and realistically described. Anna Travis is an interesting and sympathetic heroine and Lynda La Plante's writing is enthralling and flowing. A very enjoyable read, I’ll definitely read more of Lynda La Plante’s novels.

Plot: 7/10
Characters: 8/10
Ending: 8/10
Writing: 8/10
Cover: 9/10

[Cliff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another Lynda La Plante book which I have read, wondering how this writer can make so many egregious errors yet be so well thought of. In her introduction and acknowledgements she thanks 7 individuals at La Plante Productions which leads me to wonder whether her books are written by committee. Throughout the book DI Anna Travis is chauffered around London in a 'patrol car'. In one instance she and a CID colleague leave the driver sitting in the car. That's not how the police work. Uniformed officers are too precious to have sitting around at the pleasure of CID. Detectives will use their own cars or a CID pool car. Then throughou the book CID officers are referred to as Detective A or Dectective B etc. That is an Amercanism. Here, as I have pointed out before CID officers are usually referred to by the initials of their rank - DC Smith, DS Jones etc. Then the biggest howler of all. two suspects are 'charged' in order to keep them in custody overnight 'so they can be properly charged in the morning'. Either they were charge or they weren't. There isn't a half way house. Which leaves the story itself. I felt the ultimate perpetrator was something as a deus ex machina. His name is not even mentioned until two thirds or so of the way through the book. I don't really buy the suggestion of an extremely wealthy 24 year old movie star who is hooked on hard drugs and wasting away because of anorexia but is still 'so beautiful'. And Anna Travis is a pain in the butt.

[Margaret · Rating 1 out of 5]

This really dragged and sadly I bought another at the same time.
The author keeps explaining everything in tedious detail; the characters keep explaining the plot to one another every five minutes & when a CLUE appears all the allegedly brilliant and intuitive police officers consistently fail to notice. But these *are* police officers who appear to be surprised that film actors are good-looking and that people behave badly towards each other occasionally and even tell fibs.
The men all seem to be tall and surprisingly handsome and the women are mostly too busy bitching about each other to get a physical description - except for the chick who's been bumped off in the first chapter or two - she was beautiful.

[Michael Forman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed it. A crime novel that was easy to follow and read. It showed us the seedy side of the acting industry and the movie stars that bring it to life. Well done Lynda.

[Shaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the last two installments of this series, which I found to be a bit disappointing, I was happy to see La Plante get this series back on track. The plotting here while layered and a bit complex felt more plausible than the last two books which were simply over the top.

I also enjoyed the way La Plante handled Anna and Langton's relationship in this book. She found a way to keep the tension going without having Anna appear weak or pathetic.

Though I suppose this could be read as a stand alone, I feel as if the readers who have not read the previous books will be at a real disadvantage. To me it is the progression of the characters and their relationships that make this such a good series. Obviously some installments are stronger than others, but each one moves the characters forward.

Chugging through this series at high speed. Also recently started watching the series that it inspired (also written by La Plante). It's interesting to see the book adapted to the screen. Biggest complaint I have is the casting of Langton, which just did not fit my vision of him...not even close. And now that I've seen it, the TV Langton keeps creeping in while I'm reading. Oh well...LOL!

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The violent murder of a young film star is the next case for DI Anna Travis, but slow progress inevitably brings Detective Chief Superintendent James Langton, her former lover into the case. A long investigation begins to make progress as Travis finds some new breakthroughs, but she is accused by Langton of not being a team player. This book is a little slow moving in the first half but accelerates in the second half. Overall, longer than it needed to be.

[Petula Darling · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not convinced that Lynda La Plante has read the previous books in her series.
In this one, we're told that Anna and Langton broke up for entirely different reasons than what we read about at the time of the breakup. Also, Langton fathered a son? We were not left with that impression when the boy was first mentioned in book 3 when Langton was chatting with his ex-wife Nina/Lorna (her name changed between books).

I enjoyed the mystery, but I have no patience left for the Anna/Langton romantic intrigue.

[Riette Beling · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 5th instalment of the Anna Travis series did not disappoint. Another fast paced Crime thriller with Anna doing what she does best! @lyndalaplantecbe used her years of film experience to her advantage in this book, as the team is searching for the killer of a famous actress. In true Travis style, there has to be turmoil in her personal life, and of course, Langton is involved. I love that there is so much police procedure ( the good and the bad!) It makes for very good reading being able to follow the case in this way, you get a much better understanding of what and why something works or not.

[Melinda Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading a few Anna Travis novel I'm starting to appreciate the strict procedural writing that La Plante sticks to.

In this one, Anna Travis is up for promotion, and in the midst of her application process a famous actress is found dead in her new mews house, and there's no immediate suspect to pin the murder on.

There's plenty of characters in here that have shady pasts and interactions with the victim, and we follow Anna as she works through all the twists and turns of the investigation.

[Richard Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a mix bag to read. A famous movie star is murdered. Assigned to the case is DI Anna Travis who is shocked at the life of the actress away from the lime light. Drugs, sex, secrets and a tell all diary to kill for. More than one person has a reason to kill for the diary.

Bit if a laborious read, could have benefited from a good edit.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall good but don’t know why the part about Gordon was in there- completely irrelevant and did not add anything besides there is no way an investigator would just feel comfortable sharing ALL the details of the case with a random. I think LaPlant fell off the tracks for a moment

[Brigitte Launay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it. Easy to read & the plot moved along quite nicely!
Nothing too nasty happens, some aspects of the plot do not ring true but it didn’t spoil it for me! I just overlooked these & carried on!

[Leanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

[Brigid Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Silent Scream, the fifth book in the Anna Travis series. This is my third read in the series, which I now feel compelled to complete.

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Victim: Beautiful, young, up and coming English actress Amanda Delany

The Crime: Brutally murdered

The Place: In her London mews house, where she had recently moved into

My Thoughts:

This is a good, solid, no frills crime thriller and is the 5th book which features DI Anna Travis. I hadn't read any of the previous books, in fact this is the first time I've read anything by Lynda La Plante, but I've watched her books being made into successful TV Series such as 'Widows' and 'Prime Suspect' so I knew some of what to expect.

DI Anna Travis's back story was carefully woven into the story which made me feel as if I'd known her for some time, and didn't think I was missing some vital information.

Amanda Delany's character was very flawed and sad and seemed very real as Travis delved deeper and deeper into her personal life and the murky world she inhabited, whilst I felt sorry for her I also disliked her very much, she treated people cruelly and made quite a few enemies.

It was a wonder to Anna.......how such a delicate, confused and tortured creature could not only be phenomenally successful but very rich and......very much in charge of her finances. It felt as if she was investigating two women, instead of just one girl. With so many physical ailments, Anna wondered how on earth Amanda Delany had got herself out of bed each day to work on the film set.

While the police were investigating Amanda's murder, Travis's soon-to-be-retired boss put her up for promotion but it was felt by some of her colleagues that she didn't share enough of her information with them and they thought this made them look incompetent and there were a few conflicts with her peers which all added to the story, and made her look human, and a fascinating character.

Even thought it was over 500 pages long it didn't feel like it, La Plante's fast paced descriptive writing was easy to read featuring mostly well-defined characters and believable situations.

[Kiwiflora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who could forget DCI Jane Tennison as played by Helen Mirren in the ITV series Prime Suspect. A riveting woman playing a riveting character - flawed, ambitious, driven, trying to balance her private life with her professional life. La Plante is a very successful script writer for TV, starting in the 1970s on a children's programme, and moving onto adult drama in the early 1980s. Prime Suspect began in the 1990s, and started her on her crime/police fighting wave with strong women at the helm. It would seem like the next step, with such a successful formula, to begin writing books.

'Silent Scream' is the fifth book in the DI Anna Travis series and the first one I have read. And what a read it is. True to her Prime Suspect formula, Anna Travis is feisty, highly intelligent, likes to work alone, the lone woman operating at her level in her work place, prone to polarising those around her, and has a relationship just a bit too close with her superintendent. And it goes without saying that she is extremely attractive! I didn't feel like I had missed out on anything about Anna by not reading the first four novels. So if you are a die hard fan, this will be like meeting an old friend.

Anyway the story. Beautiful, young, rich, successful but very troubled actress Amanda Delaney is found murdered in her brand new apartment. Naturally the suspects are many and various and naturally, it falls onto the shoulders of DI Travis to solve the murder. Which, naturally, she does!

Riveting reading, plenty of red herrings, unsavoury characters, interspersed with Anna trying to live her own life. And because it is fast paced and action packed, there is no time or chance for boredom or tedium. An easy read perfect for a weekend curled up on the couch or sun lounger by the water.

[Ilze · Rating 4 out of 5]

La Plante is an amazing crime writer - Anna Travis being her main "Detective Inspector" and James Langton the one to throw her emotions into disarray. I really enjoyed this book because, contrary to many of her other books, where there are repeated descriptions of the gory details of the murder, this one (far from lame in that regard) was well-balanced. The police was getting their hands dirty looking for the murderer and the reader almost feels compelled to flip the pages to find out what happened. Having thought about it a bit, I think that anyone who hasn't followed Travis' career from the beginning, will be a bit confused. There are hardly any descriptions of her until way past the halfway mark and the same applies to Langton. If one didn't get to like him in the earlier books, you'll almost loathe his appearance here. The end was very touching, and again, if you didn't know what had happened between Langton and Travis before, the last 'scene' might well come across as a little artificial.

As to the crime and the druggies, the sex scenes predominate as far as description goes (does La Plante have a fixation or something?) and perhaps a lot is left to the reader to fathom out. One thing shines through the words on the page: La Plante did a lot of research before putting pen to paper, making the tale so much more believable.

Most enjoyable read.

[Starr Gardinier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is very fitting as it’s exactly what I did at the end. I was so sure that I had figured out who the murderer was that when I got to the end and saw how wrong I was, I let loose my own soundless shriek.

DI Anna Travis investigates the heartbreaking murder of Amanda Delany, an up-and-coming star. Addicted to drugs and sexually licentious, Delany is found to be anything but the moral innocent some would like to think she is.

Witnesses, potential suspects and even Delany’s parents are hauled in for questioning. In search of a motive for Delany’s brutal slaughter, evidence is unearthed divulging deception, fraud and cover-ups.
Amidst the investigation, Travis is recommended for promotion. But during her day long interview for the position, her ex-lover and boss reveals a shocking allegation that could keep her from attaining her dream.

This procedural story is its own evidence that one silent scream can ultimately be a whisper of death. British writer La Plante shows Travis’ impressive investigative skills and with the help of her team, unravels the mystery of a dreadfully, heartrending murder.

Reviewed by Starr Gardinier Reina, author of “One Major Mistake”

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amanda Delany is the star child, misbehaving, self-centered, amoral, and in high demand - murdered. Enter Anna Travis the detective of record and James Langton, the Detective Chief Inspector.

Tough for Anna because there are so many suspects, Amanda has not been a saint, she's made a few enemies and it seems that everyone had the motive and opportunity. And James is officiating over her investigation, much to Anna's dismay. She's up for promotion and very nervous about the process.

The really seamy side of stardom is revealed along with the danger.

I didn't love this one, it was interesting but tough to like any of the characters. That said, I'll read the next one and hope for the best.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this is the 5th in La Plante's Anna Travis series, it is only the 2nd I have read, and I liked this one much better than the other, which was 1st in the series. I will have to back-track to figure out what in the world Anna ever saw in James Langton, as he comes across as a bullying, rude, belligerent, unappreciative, and possessive ex-lover (to her) and supervisor (to her and other detectives) in this book. Would like to see Anna connected with a working partner who could match her in aptitude and drive while complementing her strengths/weaknesses -- something along the lines of the detective partnerships in Barry Maitland's or Deborah Crombie's series. Will definitely look forward to reading the rest of the series.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not as suspenseful or "on the edge of your seat" suspense like I thought by the reviews and description that it would be. It did move along steadily and was "straight mystery." No over the top violence in your face or sexual so called "Romance aspects and "potty mouth" cussing as filler. Only a small amount so the story stayed on the mystery aspect. I may read more of this series, but only if I get the book at my library. I did not get some of the main characters actions at times which were unprofessional so I may hesitate after reading some reviews to do that. Sounds like she acts silly in earlier volumes also.

[Samira Salimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Loved it heaps! Enjoyed every bit & really suggest that you give it a go. This was the second crime book I have read in recent years & am sure will save it in my mind for a lifetime. I am more than willing to try another book by same author & see how she writes other crime stories. It took me 3 weeks to finish 600 pages & sometimes I found it difficult to leave the book behind & get to daily life.

[Yvette Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't a book I'd normally choose to read but I was given it for Christmas last year and thought I should read it before Christmas this year! It was OK. Not great writing but easy to read. I'm not sure who the girl on the cover is meant to be... she's too old to be the victim and she can't be the detective protagonist because she has curly red hair.

[Peter Jochinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Movie star gets murdered, an old cliche done with a new author.
Bear through the lengthy first half to find the story eventually extricates itself from the quicksand to move along to a sound ending.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book that kept me guessing to the very end. The plot constantly twists and turns and the pace never drops. I read it in two days as I just could not put it down.