Code of Silence

by Sally Wright

A Ben Reese Mystery - 1947. A female linguist at a high-security US decoding and decrypting facility is murdered while trying to relay vital information. Ten years later, Ben Reese is asked for his assistance in tracking a murderer guilty of breaching US security. Bens efforts to find the killer are difficult but he knows it is essential once he learns of the Venona Code, a Soviet code partially decrypted by the US and Britain . . .

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0727866796
• ISBN13: 9780727866790
• Release Date: December 2008
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers
• Length: 251 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Fun and thoughtful both

This is the 6th Ben Reese mystery, but it predates the others. Ben's wife Jessie died just 3 month earlier, and Ben is still frozen in grief, carefully prodded by faithful friend Richard West to move slowly back toward life. A killer attacking people Ben is acquainted with but not at all close to arouses him to go on the hunt, determined to right the wrong done to a kind woman and a fellow academic. I like Ben because he is motivated by the same things I am--not esoterics but simple courtesy, a sense of justice stemming from God's standards of right and wrong, friendship. But Ben is a thinker, he also has reasons, not amorphous feelings, for acting as he does. His friends are people I would like to know, too, and wouldn't mind having in my neighborhood. The narrative is choppy here and there, but I have gotten used to it, I enjoy the characters enough to put up with the mild irritation I experience at the beginning of each Ben Reese story. Once the story gets going, it either becomes less choppy or I don't notice it so much. I hope Sally Wright comes out with more in the series, I want to know more of Ben's life!

Great read

I just finished reading Code of Silence and enjoyed it immensely. The Ben Reese character is great. I have also enjoyed previous novels with this hero. In this novel the antagonist is seen early and helps balance the perspective of the story from both sides, giving the story more depth. I really enjoyed the Venona Code angle that I knew only a little about beforehand. Sally Wright weaves the technical with the action so the reader doesn't feel overwhelmed (as is the case with some tech type thrillers). The coding and espionage story adds much interest to the character driven story. I enjoyed the combination of history, characters and action. I looked forward to reading each chapter throughout the book, hence my title above as a great read. Highly recommended and I look forward to more novels by Sally Wright.

Another Brilliant Ben Reese Mystery

American author Sally Wright has done it again with her sixth Ben Reese mystery. CODE OF SILENCE combines mystery and suspense with a fast pace and more than a touch of Cold War espionage. Although CODE OF SILENCE is the latest of her six Ben Reese mysteries, it is actually a prequel to the other five novels in the series, introducing characters who will appear in later novels. CODE OF SILENCE begins shortly after World War II, with the murder of a code-breaker, and then picks up a decade later with a second murder. Unlike the other novels in the Ben Reese mystery series, however, in which the murderer is not known until near the end, this story lets the reader in on the secret of who the killer is while focusing on the suspense of a cat-and-mouse game between the killer -- a determined foreign agent who may or may not still be working for "the other side" -- and archivist Ben Reese. For those unfamiliar with the series, Ben Reese is a Midwestern academic who served as an Army Ranger, scouting behind enemy lines during the last year of WWII. Horribly wounded during the war, he later suffers the loss of his wife, an English professor, and has to rebuild his life. As with the other five novels in the series, CODE OF SILENCE is a first-rate book, displaying the "can't put it down" writing one finds so rarely these days. A "must read!"

Another fantastic Ben Reese book!!

Sally Wright has written another fantastic Ben Reese book. The suspense is there from beginning to end; nothing drags here. The characters are well developed, even to the point where the reader becomes emotionally attached to them and feels their joy and grief. It's a well-researched book and I learned a great deal about such things as decoding, Russian spies and other aspects of the clandestine field of spydom. The plot is believable and the book kept my attention throughout. Code of Silence is a great read!!