I bought”White Silence” as soon as it came out last month because it has a beautiful cover, is written by Jodi Taylor, whose “St. Mary’s” series has given me a great deal of pleasure and is described by the publisher as:

The first instalment in the new, gripping supernatural thriller series
and as:
“a twisty supernatural thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat”

Well, I’m twelve chapters and four hours into this ten-hour audiobook and I have yet to experience anything like tension. I’m having difficulty maintaining more than mild curiosity so I’m giving up and reluctantly adding “White Silence” to my Did Not Finish pile.

The premise of “White Silence” is intriguing. It tells the story of Elizabeth Cage, an adopted child with the ability to see people so clearly that she knows their character, intent and inclinations on sight. Trained from childhood to hide her powers, she seeks out a quiet life with a quiet man, only to be manoeuvred into the hands of unscrupulous people who want to use her powers for evil.

Sounds like stirring stuff in a sort of Superman meets Sixth Sense meets Medium kind of way. Except it isn’t. The pace is agonisingly slow. Elizabeth Cage has so little personality that I struggled to care what happened to her and the England of the story seems to be trapped somewhere in an idealised 1950s.

Maybe all the good stuff happens in the last 60% of the book and I’m missing out by walking away but life is short and other books are calling to me, so I’ll take that chance.