"The Texas Gatekeepers series continues with the sweet and thrilling Sounds of Silence."

The Texas Gatekeepers series continues with the sweet and thrilling Sounds of Silence.

Eli Carmichael is dealing with the fallout from discovering his father was a "dirty cop." While down in Mexico assisting at an orphanage as a mission from his church, he comes across a young deaf girl who clearly has been through the wringer. The poor girl doesn't speak, is missing one shoe and carrying a bloody knife. She obviously saw something terrible and is afraid to reveal her secret.

So Eli decides to go to his neighbor, the widow Isabel Valenzuela, for help. Her husband was killed as a direct result of Eli's father so a sense of obligation and duty has kept Eli close by to help Isabel when he could. He knows Isabel is exactly what the little girl needs to open up about what she saw and it also gives him an excuse to spend even more time with Isabel. Just as something seems to be sparking between Isabel and Eli danger beckons when the killer discovers where they are. Now Eli's job is to protect Isabel and her little family at any cost. But can Isabel come to terms with the fact he's in the same line of work that got her beloved husband killed? Can their faith and love overcome the odds stacked against them?

Elizabeth White tells another wonderful story of faith in God and love for one another with Sounds of Silence. Isabel and Eli are defined by their beliefs and that colors everything they think and do. This comes across on every page of the book, and in the relationships between the characters. The author shows that trust in God is more important than anything and that same faith can overcome anything and bring about little miracles every day.

Eli's sense of duty is what initially brings him closer to Isabel, but he comes to realize she is a brave, beautiful woman with a kind soul and he will do almost anything to make her happy. Isabel has struggled since her husband died, but her inner strength sees her through it all, and brings her to care for Eli more than she expected. But she needs to come to terms with his career and learns that if she gives her fears over to God, He'll see her through everything, even her fears about Eli's safety.

Danilo, Isabel's son and Mercedes, the deaf witness, are delightful children and are bound to steal the show whenever they make an appearance. It is often through them that readers will fully understand how much of an impact faith has on every day life. Mercedes has been through so much in her young life, but she is resilient and blossoms under Isabel and Eli's care. Readers of the first book in the miniseries will be happy to get to visit again with at least one character from that novel.

Suspense is well done and Ms. White is brilliant in how she increases this element through the eyes of little Mercedes. Readers really get in to the child's mind and see the unfolding of events through her perspective, understanding how things can be so much more frightening when she can't hear a thing. The events leading up to the final confrontation are taut with emotion and bound to carry readers along for the ride.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, December 2005. All rights reserved.

Reviewed by Kelley Hartsell
Courtesy Love Romances
Posted July 9, 2006

Summary

Border Patrol agent Eli Carmichael knew the deaf child he'd found outside a Mexican orphanage was harboring a dark secret -- she was carrying a bloodstained knife and was clearly traumatized. To keep her safe, he turned to trusted neighbor Isabel Valenzuela. A sense of duty had kept Eli close to his fellow agent's widow and her young son over the past year, and now Eli was spending more time with Isabel and the kids, trying to determine exactly what the girl had seen. Under Isabel's gentle care, the child began to open up. But the killers were close by, and determined to silence the girl forever . . .