Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
Book

405 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Loading interface...
Loading interface...

About the author

C.E. Lawrence

14 books99 followers

C.E. Lawrence aka Carole Bugge' is the byline of a New York-based suspense writer, performer, composer and prize-winning playwright and poet whose previous books have been praised as "lively. . ." (Publishers Weekly); "constantly absorbing. . ." (starred Kirkus Review); and "superbly crafted prose" (Boston Herald). Silent Screams, Silent Victim, Silent Kills, and recently released Silent Slaughter are the first four books in her Lee Campbell thriller series along with her short novella Silent Stalker available on Kindle.

Her other works have been published under the name of Carole Buggé.

Titan Press recently reissued her first Sherlock Holmes novel, The Star of India.

She has also been a featured guest on Canned Laughter and Coffee with Renee Bernard, Comedy Concepts with Nancy Lombardo, ITW Thriller Roundtable Online Forum, WBAI FM 99.5 in NYC "In the Moment" with Ibrahim Gonzalez & Ahmad Adali, and Cafe Ali, WUSB FM 90.1.

Most recently C.E. Lawrence was selected as one of 21 authors featured in the 2012 anthology edited by Lee Child, and published by Mystery Writers of America Presents, called Vengeance.

Her story The Vly has also be chosen for the 2013 anthology titled What Lies Inside published by Mystery Writers of America and edited by Brad Meltzer schedule for release in 2013.

C.E. Lawrence also teaches classes at NYU, and holds regular writers workshops, all while writing, lecturing and writing about the craft of writing. She most recently taught a crime writing class at the San Miguel Writers Conference held in the lovely historic town of San Miguel d'Allende, Mexico and she had a cover article titled The Moral of the Story published in the July 2012 Mystery Writers of America's National Newsletter.


Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
117 (21%)
4 stars
160 (29%)
3 stars
200 (36%)
2 stars
52 (9%)
1 star
17 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
Profile Image for Daniel BlutsBücher.
130 reviews9 followers
July 25, 2014
Grandios einfach nur grandios!!! Von Anfang bis Ende durchgehend Spannend!!! Der Autor hat echt einen guten Erzählstil bei dem man einfach nicht aufhören kann zu lesen!!
Kann ich jedem Thrillerfan ans Herz legen!! :)
Monatshighligt! :)
February 9, 2015
It is hard to imagine that this author has turned out plausible, albeit gentle, cozy mysteries as Carole Bugge. I expected that this book would also be gentle and lead me softly into the night. Not so! There is a violent and religiously preoccupied serial killer in NYC. A forensic profiler, Lee Campbell is called in to help find him before anyone else dies. As the story unfolds, we learn that the profiler is undergoing therapy after having a breakdown...caused by his sister disappearing, his Dad walking out on the family, etc. His personal flaws do not detract from the story. They make him seem more real than TV versions of a profiler by far. The detectives are led by Lee's college room mate and friend, Chuck Morton. Detective Butts comes across as a hard case but the reader finds out that he is a family man and a hard worker. The author describes things well and leaves little to conjecture. I was hooked and could not stop reading until the masterful final plot twist.
Profile Image for Caroline Stewart.
279 reviews1 follower
February 22, 2012
I don't usually read murder mysteries / thrillers, but I found this enjoyable. The writing is certainly much better than Dan Brown's.
Profile Image for Elmer Foster.
594 reviews
August 24, 2023
Wow, finished the book through sheer force of will and the only Silent Scream was my own.

The positive up front. Grammatically correct, felt like a journalism major giving instruction on "How to write a serial killer book." All the safe, low hanging options were utilitized: NYC as the location, religious overtones/ ritualistic zealotry applied to the crime and villain, main character was a made up "straight from Criminal Minds school of exposition"- criminal profiler/consultant, with a degree in Psychology...not criminology or any law enforcement credentials to speak of, (and was in therapy himself, lol). With all of the safety bumpers in place, let's proceed.

Expectations were low to begin with, given the above criteria.

From the jump, Lee Campbell, our "hero", was underwritten/underdeveloped, out of his depth, had no business in the story or position of trust within the investigation, and clearly represents the reader... easily led astray. Pair him up with a couple of stereotypical "actual" police officers including the obligatory loud mouth, short and stocky, disgruntled tough guy, and a buddy cop aka friend from school, both that will bend the rules to allow access into police procedure and crime scenes. Same repetition of models for the police chief, mayor, etc. Ugh!

Don't forget the affable older mentor to provide the expository back story and wherewithal for the hero's motivations No worries, the mentor gains unfettered access to the investigation along side Campbell, and into the task force "to prevent the federales from taking it over, blah blah, blah.) Internal law enforcement animosity trope, check.

While the murders are gruesome in theory and application, C.E doesn't provide any literary style or grasp of the depravity necessary to make this story jump off the page. There is whole cloth theft/adoption of Robert Bloch's Norman Bates into Samuel Hughes as this story's patsy, um, Slasher as we switch POV multiple times during the story to get "inside the mind of a killer", kinda. However, Hughes, and his Master, both die unceremoniously providing no real satisfaction to the reader, more like punctuation that the "threat" is over.

At no time did the story feel threatening or provide any tension. It comes across as a "color-by-numbers" scenario, using the Lord's Prayer as a Karaoke pattern of sorts. Burrough by burrough, verse by verse, young, straight-haired, Catholic girls are being murdered "for their own good" and left posed in nearby churches, leaving no clues to follow, yet somehow our hero continues to "profile" his way into a solution, based on the random premises necessary for the story to proceed. Campbell falls into the answer(s) with help from additional characters and the Master but what's the point if this hero hasn't got the charisma, or the smarts, of a turnip?

C.E. goes out of her way to build a specific malaise over NYC, and our hero, following the terrorist attacks of 9/11 but never connects the dots or relevance to this story. Nor does the effort to paint him as a dutiful uncle provide any credibility to his existence as a profiler, similar suffering victim of trauma, or uncle for that matter. Uninteresting editorial take on the average man going through stuff. Even the call backs to the missing sister plot line (missing, presumed dead after 5 years) felt contrived and underwhelming. More than anything, these asides just pointed the finger at the few people (person) who actually knew anything- and who would weaponize the information.

This book is well packaged to promote a better story than delivered. I should have taken a closer notice of those who contributed the blurbs of praise. Gayle Lynds, John Lutz, Gregg McCrary, etc., all adequate writers who fall into that lower tier of fiction writers that fill the shelf space "void" when the higher caliber writers/books are sold out. Even Dr. Louis B. Schlesinger from John Jay College-CUNY (probably the key inspiration for the mentor, Nelson) is miscredited as "Lewis" in the acknowledgments. Geez.

Thanks for the offering but I will not be pursuing the further adventures of Lee Campbell.
Can't recommend this one.

Thanks for reading.
Profile Image for Nita.
49 reviews43 followers
January 9, 2018
Ambiguous about this book and the characters. 3 stars is probably a little harsh but 4 would have been too generous. I loved Edinburgh Twilight, written by the same author so this was a huge let-down. I guessed who the perpetrator was pretty early on and it made me wonder that an insightful (more than usual) criminal profiler was unable to figure it out. Of course, it is never easy when you are involved and in the middle of these things. Still....

I have book #2 in the series and since it wasn't a dismal offering, I am willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt. Let's hope #2 turns out to be a better endeavor.
Profile Image for Sheila Myers.
Author 16 books17 followers
March 11, 2021
A good idea for a plot that was poorly written. CE Lawrence focuses more on the sub-plots rather than the main plot. Most of the characters are more stereotypes for their roles than unique characters.
600 reviews
March 8, 2024
First time reading this author in a genre I enjoy. Set in post 9/11 New York, a criminal profiler, the only one assigned to the NYPD, assists on a serial killer case while still dealing with his own mental health challenges since his sister’s disappearance five years prior. Book 1 of 5.
Profile Image for Guy.
98 reviews2 followers
July 6, 2017
Face paced thriller/mystery. Love the plot, story line and most of all a great lead character. Look forward to reading more Kim Stone.
8 reviews
March 31, 2022
It was okay, bit of a twist at the end. Reasonably well written, but did skip a lot of the descriptive stuff.
Profile Image for Mary Garrison.
7 reviews
Read
July 16, 2022
First time reading this author. Now I am hooked. Suspenseful and well written. Keeps you guessing until the end.
August 31, 2022
Beautifully written thriller. A complex plot. Believable, likable characters. A page turner. Read it in two days.
Profile Image for Erth.
3,868 reviews
October 17, 2018
now i am hooked. This was such a great, easy and creative book. i was hooked after the first page.

The characters were easy to fall in love with and follow, along with the story. the author made the mental visions so easy and vivid of the surroundings and the characters actions felt so real.

i would highly recommend this author and this book.
Profile Image for Misty.
313 reviews243 followers
November 12, 2018
POSSIBLE SPOILERS--OK, REAL SPOILERS!!

Where to begin.... I purchased this based on the initial reviews--all rather glowing. Yeah, I should have seen through them, but it was late, and I wanted something new to read. First, I have to say that the author just took on too much. There's the depression and breakdown suffered by the main character, Lee, before the book began. The reader is never allowed to forget that for even a second, as its existence is wound through every thread (and yet adds nothing TO those threads). Next, there's Lee's missing sister. We're never given many specifics, she's never found, and, again, including her story added NOTHING to the story as a whole. There's the relationship (or lack thereof) of Lee and his mother, although why we're privy to this I haven't a clue; the just "weird" relationship between Chuck and Lee (Chuck's wife is only with him to see Lee?? Again, what does this have to do with the storyline?); the pseudo father/son relationship; and the list goes on. The one I really got a kick out of was the relationship between Kathy and Lee. They meet in the hallway outside of the courtroom, Lee asks her to identify a body that is potentially his sister, and Kathy just...AGREES?? REALLY?? Any ONE of these would have provided it's own storyline, but together they result in a tangled web of, well, of tangled webbing. There are inconsistencies as well. Look at the description the young boy gives of Pam's necklace. Compare it to the description given by Pam's mother. Those are mistakes that are simply not acceptable! Every character is painfully described in excruciating physical detail as well, and each is a raging stereotype. Perhaps if the author had spent as much time inside the head of Samuel or Nelson as he did provided nonsensical details, the outcome would have been more emotionally engaging. As it was, I just really didn't care and had to struggle to finish. So who beat up Lee? Who ran him off the road? How did Samuel and Nelson meet? Those question were but a few that flitted through my thoughts. In the end, however, as I've already stated, I just don't care enough to watch for a sequel. Read at your own risk!!

Profile Image for Fictional Bookshelf.
66 reviews33 followers
June 20, 2011
In Silent Screams, we meet a troubled criminal profiler Lee Campbell. It’s through him and a deranged serial killer that we go on a terrifying journey. The plot is dark with captivating details that makes me feel like I’m actually in the book. C.E. Lawrence did an amazing job and kept me in suspense until the end.

This book is not for the weak. The bodies of the mutilated girls were well described to the point your skin crawls as if you felt the fictional character’s pain in the last moments of their lives. That’s a good thing. I like it when I can feel the emotions of the characters.

Silent Screams has a whole cast of secondary characters that add more depth to the twisted plot. The actual physical characteristics of these characters were amazing. The author vividly described each person to the point I felt like I was looking at photographs. The scenes, the atmosphere, and everything in between were described just as well as the characters.

Would I recommend this book? Yes.
Would I reread this book? Yes
Did the plot flow smoothly? Yes in a haunting way. Couldn’t put the book down until the end.
Profile Image for Jlsimon.
286 reviews9 followers
May 17, 2015
This book had no original material. It was written as if it were intended to be a script for Criminal Minds or SVU but didn't quite make the cut. Our hero repeatedly gets beat up, which I find interesting that a profiler that works for the police (an interesting combination of the two television series) doesn't actually learn something in the way of self defense. Said hero's mentor is a disappointing bad guy, and everyone else in the story falls prey. It's pretty poorly constructed and I seriously doubt I will purchase any more from this author.

I usually try to end a review with who I would recommend this book to, so here goes... I would recommend this story to individuals who find comfort in the predictable. I would recommend this book to individuals who do not indulge in true crime. I would recommend this book to those who have not yet ever watched Criminal Minds, SVU, or indulged in quite a few mystery thriller novels. This last recommendation is based on the idea that if you have no idea what petechiae or lividity are then you wouldn't mind the digressions of this author, or the repetition of ideas of those series.

Good luck, and happy reading.
Profile Image for Jan.
867 reviews43 followers
April 12, 2010
Psychologist, Lee Campbell, is fighting demons of his own and working as a profiler for the NYPD. His first case after returning from a medical absence is an ugly one. A killer called The Slasher is strangling young girls and then slashing parts of a prayer into their nude bodies after placing them on the alters of churches in the city. Lee calls in help from other cops and profilers, as well as some not so traditional sources to hunt down the killer.

I really enjoyed this book. The crimes are grusome but the descriptions are brief. This book is really well written for the genre. It spends more time on the people and I found Lee and many of the other characters quite engaging, if haunted. I hope to see more of them.
Profile Image for Joe Scholes.
Author 2 books12 followers
January 18, 2011
This is the first book by C. E. Lawrence I've read. It was a fairly decent mystery, although the main character, Lee, was a bit self-absorbed throughout the story. The author's writing style slipped into overly melodramatic descriptions for various, rather plain, scenes. For example:

"He didn't want to suggest or even hint to Butts how deeply he had drunk from the well of despair."

"...listening to the wind whistling through the house's ancient eaves, he imagined he was hearing the howls of the damned."

Those are just a couple of examples. These flights into fanciful descriptions are out of place with the tone of the story and style of writing surrounding it.
63 reviews
October 19, 2015
For me it was a boring book with too many typos and errors. I thought all the characters were unlikeable and flat. Some of the profiling seemed thin and far-reaching, and sometimes it was so disjointed that I couldn't figure out how he got from point to point. They kept bringing up the missing sister, but nothing was resolved on that front--I'm not sure if this book is part of a series, and I won't read anything else by him to find out. Who the killer ended up being just didn't do it for me. There wasn't much of a build up to it, no real suspense. When I did find out who the killer was I felt ambivalent and unfulfilled.
Profile Image for Jean Christofferson.
52 reviews2 followers
January 31, 2011
This is the first time I've read a book by C.E. Lawrence, and I found the experience mediocre. The plot was far too predictable, but at least the writing is clear, concise and easy to follow. I always enjoy characters that are brooding and self-absorbed as is the main character in Silent Screams. It's just too bad the rest of the characters were so one dimensional. Perhaps the author will learn to develop her characters in her future books. That's likely the only way I read more C.E. Lawrence.
Profile Image for Tealo.
319 reviews
July 21, 2019
Nervenkitzel bis zum Ende, mehrere Erzählperspektiven - mit einer überraschenden Wendung.
Profile Image for Lesli.
1,858 reviews8 followers
July 10, 2014
Meh. The convenience fairy hit one too many times. Some of the scenes felt awkward and forced. Not to mention I'm not a huge fan of the perpetually, emotionally totured hero. Oh, and there was absolutely NO reason for this novel to be set just after 9/11. That feels slimey to me. There was no connection between the story and the attacks, the devastation, or the after effects.
Profile Image for Angela.
9 reviews1 follower
October 4, 2012


It could have been good, but fell apart with a predictable and overly convenient ending. There were points where our hero couldn't believe he missed what was right in front of him. Yeah me either....because it wasn't believable. And he is an over the top macho guy who just checks himself out of the hospital when he has a brain infection, with absolutely no mention of it again. Really?
1 review
Read
February 25, 2013
I read Silent Screams figuratively curled up in a chair, turning pages as fast as I could. Lawrence's character development is masterful, creating well defined personalities that stand on their own merit, never muddled by their interactions. Twist and turns abound so much that no matter how convinced I was about the "whodunnit", I was inevitably wrong.
Profile Image for VLynch.
257 reviews5 followers
January 27, 2011
Interesting storyline, and characters. I really enjoyed reading the book and getting to know the profiler in this book. It was a good thriller with a surprise ending. C. E. Lawrence, I will be looking for more of your books! Thanks so much!
Profile Image for Janet.
352 reviews
June 27, 2011
Despite a number of unfinished threads and being interspersed with incongruous facts and/or scenes, I found Silent Screams to be a decent serial killer mystery that kept me engaged enough to read straight through.
1 review
April 15, 2012
I couldn't put the book down. The suspense built slowly, and gave you a surprise at the end. Couldn't help feeling sorry for the profiler and the killer, though. I plan to read more by C.E. Lawrence.
KymLaw
102 reviews4 followers
November 27, 2013
I love the story lines and characters in all her books, I could wax lyrical about them but just do yourself a favour and read all of her books, you will not be disappointed. She is one of my favourite authors.
Profile Image for Randy.
720 reviews2 followers
October 27, 2014
This book was a page turner! Whenever I'd find time to read it, I'd look at the click and be like damn an hour has gone by. Good, believable crime thriller about profilers. Did care for the plot twist ending, or I'd of given it the full 5 stars.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.