Silence for the Dead

“Portis House emerged from the fog as we approached, showing itself slowly as a long, low shadow....”

In 1919, Kitty Weekes, pretty, resourceful, and on the run, falsifies her background to obtain a nursing position at Portis House, a remote hospital for soldiers left shell-shocked by the horrors of the Great War. Hiding the shame of their mental instability in what was once a magnificent private estate, the patients suffer from nervous attacks and tormenting dreams. But something more is going on at Portis House—its plaster is crumbling, its plumbing makes eerie noises, and strange breaths of cold waft through the empty rooms. It’s known that the former occupants left abruptly, but where did they go? And why do the patients all seem to share the same nightmare, one so horrific that they dare not speak of it?

Kitty finds a dangerous ally in Jack Yates, an inmate who may be a war hero, a madman… or maybe both. But even as Kitty and Jack create a secret, intimate alliance to uncover the truth, disturbing revelations suggest the presence of powerful spectral forces. And when a medical catastrophe leaves them even more isolated, they must battle the menace on their own, caught in the heart of a mystery that could destroy them both.

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384 pages

Average rating: 6

23 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Pavlinas
Mar 30, 2024
8/10 stars
It was a bit bizarre story, but I really enjoyed it! It had the typical creepy environment with some mysterious happenings. It's what you expect from Simone! It was happening in early 1919s and it was well written.
melbeesue
Oct 16, 2023
8/10 stars
An excellent read that had me engrossed right from the beginning. I liked the fun quirky characters and use of humor and sarcasm. And the setting (a WWI soldier's institution) was something new for me. It was the Downton Abbey era. Only this wasn't the aristocratic abbey. This was an insane asylum for soldiers who came back from the war without all of their mental faculties. And there was something else in the shadows living with them...

I liked this story and will be checking out more books by Simone St. James.
Gill Reads
Jul 20, 2023
6/10 stars
I liked where things were going in the first and second part of the book but things went downhill for me in the third. I knew there was going to be a romance angle but I rolled my eyes a few too many times and felt myself skimming. Things got a little too Breakfast Club for me and at one point I thought they were gonna break out into the dance montage. This was my first St. James book and I hope it isn’t a trend since I already have 3 waiting on a bookshelf. Crossing my fingers for the next one.

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