The Woman Who Couldn't Scream by Christina Dodd

Author: Christina Dodd
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Date of publication: September 2017

From the New York Times bestselling author comes the fourth novel of suspense taking place in Virtue Falls, Washington.

Beautiful Merida is married to a wealthy older man who takes her around the world as his trophy. Merida is everything a man could want. But a traumatic accident years before left her without the ability to speak. When her husband dies, she knows it's her chance to exact revenge on those responsible for her accident—and that vengeance begins in Virtue Falls. Reinventing herself, she slips into village life, biding her time. But someone knows exactly who she is and will use this chance to finish what was started years ago. And this time an accident for Merida will mean silencing her forever.

The Woman Who Couldn't Scream is the fourth book in the Virtue Falls series.  It picks up pretty much right after the ending of the third book.  However, it can still be read as a stand alone.  There are a few plot lines going in the book, so you really have to bear with it to see how they all fit together.  I have really enjoyed this series so far and was looking forward to Kateri getting her own story.  While I liked this one, it wasn't my favorite.

My biggest issue with the book was that it wasn't as focused on Kateri and her story as I wanted it to be.  She does feature in the book a lot, but I wanted more of her and Stag.  Just more of her in general.  I also thought there was kind of a bit too much going on at once with the multiple plot lines. The alternating view points made it a bit muddled at times. Not only is there Kateri trying to catch the man who shot her and her friend, she is trying to catch a serial killer and help her mute friend from when she was younger.  A friend who now looks like someone else and has a new name.  The stories all converge in the end, but it took a while to get there.  I was also left a bit unsatisfied with Merida's ending.  I would have liked to see the aftermath of her revenge.

What I did like about the book was Kateri.  She is a great female character that really comes into her own as sheriff in this book.  I have like her from the beginning of the series.  Her native american heritage plays a big part in who she is and in her beliefs.  I was definitely rooting for her with or without Stag.    There was also a twist int he end that was surprising.

Ms. Dodd's next book, Dead Girl Running, is a spin-off from this series.  It comes out in April.  I'm not sure if this is the last book for Virtue Falls or not.  I guess we will have to wait and see.