Till Human Voices Wake Us

Rebecca Roque, Blackstone Publishing (FEB 27) Hardcover $19.99 (408pp) 979-821234008-3, THRILLER

Rebecca Roque’s Till Human Voices Wake Us is an engrossing thriller about a girl looking for her friend’s murderer.

When Silencia’s friend Alice drowned, everyone believed it was suicide. There was a note, and Alice was reeling from her ex-boyfriend Noah’s disappearance. But Cia doesn’t believe it. With the help of their friend Will, she starts following the dangerous path Alice walked in pursuit of Noah. This brings her in contact with Noah’s brother, Judah, whom she doesn’t know if she can trust— regardless of how drawn to him she is.

Cia’s wry humor balances out the seriousness of the story, as do conversations that are revealing and witty. Strong personalities abound: Judah is straightforward; Will is funny; an acquaintance, Santi, maintains an air of mystery. Throughout the book, people’s inner lives are best glimpsed through their words.

The plot is complex and twisting, though the identity of Alice’s murderer is made clear early in the book, extrapolated from hints that Cia herself doesn’t pick up on. Still, a measure of intrigue is preserved throughout. The investigation into Alice’s death leads Cia to question her own past. And at all times, her emotions are palpable, as when she describes shock in terms of white noise roaring in her ears and her inability to breathe. Such poetic, metaphorical forays into her distinctive mind are frequent; indeed, she preferences ornate terms even when her life is in danger.

In the lyrical thriller Till Human Voices Wake Us, a girl chases down her friend’s murderer. The question of what she will do with all that she’s learned—and of who will she tell—is a tantalizing, open-ended one.