Silent

Publisher Marketing: From bestselling author D. M. Mitchell, 'SILENT', a psychological thriller to chill the blood. Join the many fans of D. M. Mitchell and discover for yourself why he is regarded as one of the UK's most imaginative new writers of thriller fiction. Hollywood, 1927, at the height of silent-movie production. Down-on-his-luck movie actor Rick Mason meets Betsy Bellamy, a young actress struggling to make it in Hollywood. She is accompanied by her older brother Davey, a sullen, insular man fiercely protective of his sister. But Betsy and Davey share a dark past which they're hoping to escape by making a new life in California. A past that will have tragic, murderous consequences. But for now Rick Mason's life is about to change beyond his wildest imaginings. He lands a lucrative contract with Metropolitan Studios, who want to cast him as the lead in their new horror movie. And out of the blue a Hungarian lawyer lands the bombshell that Rick Mason isn't who he thinks he is. Mason discovers he's inherited an estate and huge fortune from his late father Baron Jozsef Dragutin and has to travel to Slavonia in Europe to sort out legalities. Here he is told the disturbing truth about his murdered mother and feared father - a corrupt and vile sadist hiding his horribly deformed face behind a white porcelain mask. A man, legend has it, who sold his soul to the devil. A man and a family line cursed by Satan for all eternity. Back in Hollywood, reviving his father's evil character for Metropolitan Studios, Rick Mason finally gets the movie success he desires and the fame and fortune that go with it. But when elements of his on-screen monster persona begins to affect his real life, Mason begins to fear that the role he was 'born to play' is slowly taking over him. That the curse of Baron Dragutin lives on in him. Rick Mason is drawn inexorably into a world of corrupt desires, superstition, corporate greed, unbridled ambition and murder, where the past refuses to die. It's a world where monsters and horror don't only appear on the big screen. "This is classic Mitchell, full of larger-than-life characters, a dark tale full of twists and turns, edge-of-your-seat drama and an unexpected, shocking conclusion..." Beware! A curse can take many forms...