From Publishers Weekly
In her seventh novel, best-selling Goudge (One Last Dance) delivers every modern cliche required to satisfy readers who like their fiction titillating and predictable. Recovering alcoholic Noelle Van Doren informs her domineering, philandering husband, Robert, that she wants a divorce. Robert is an unscrupulous real estate developer whose deals routinely destroy historical buildings and damage the environment, and he doesn't like rejection. He avenges himself on Noelle by inviting her to dinner at a popular restaurant where he slips a drug into her soda that makes her appear to be drunk. He then snatches their five-year-old daughter, Emma, and embarks on a campaign to discredit Noelle and gain sole custody. Meanwhile, Goudge interweaves the story of Mary and Charlie, Noelle's long-divorced parents. Mary conceived Noelle while still in high school. Though she and Charlie attempted to make a go of their marriage, they were thwarted by family interference. The pair are reunited in the quest to exonerate Noelle of Robert's unfair accusation that she is an unfit mother. The novel's central issues are noble but executed without imagination: power-hungry Robert is the perfect villain; Noelle the passive wife and mother finding the strength to take control of her life; and Mary and Charlie's reignited romance proves that first love is best. Peripheral characters include Noelle's teenage sister, Bronwyn, who is deflowered with care and sensitivity by wrong-side-of-the-tracks Dante, a misunderstood fellow with "a bad-boy smile and bedroom eyes" who's caught up in Robert's evil plan. The narrator's voice alternates between folksy and New Age therapy speak, yielding few surprises in this glorified Harlequin romance. 4-city author tour. (June) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Fans will be elated to see the seventh novel in 11 years by Goudge (Thorns of Truth). In a small New York town, Noelle Van Doren struggles to separate from her powerful husband, Robert, and regain custody of the young daughter he's taken from her. Her parents, former schoolmates of Robert who divorced as teenagers, unite in their efforts to help her, as do other family members. New and old loves emerge from the deadly shadow cast by "Mr. Perfect" (i.e., Robert). Goudge delivers romance, a variety of relationships, and suspense in one appealing package. Public libraries of all sizes will need to get this title.-DRebecca Sturm Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Another grip-the-reader from the popular Goudge (One Last Dance, 1999, etc.), whose melodramas explore contemporary family crises: this time, the plight of three women who must confront the past when a child is seized by her estranged father.The father, Robert Van Doren, is (no surprise) a monster with no redeeming features. The three women are more shaded, and, along with defeating Robert, are capable of change or of admitting error. The story, set in upstate New York, is narrated by Nana Quinn, her daughter Mary Catherine Quinn, and her granddaughter Noelle, whose five-year-old Emma has been snatched by Robert. Far back, Mary married fellow high school senior Charlie Jeffers when she fell pregnant, and while she loved him, couldn't cope with the baby and so went home to mother Nana, who never did approve of Charlie. Nana effectively raised Noelle after Mary divorced Charlie and went to work in New York. Now, a grown-up Noelle, timid and alienated from Mary, by this point a successful business woman, marries the seemingly glamorous Robert, but soon he reveals himself to be manipulative and cruel. Noelle takes up the bottle, is hospitalized, then recovers to bear Emma. When she wants a divorce, though, Robert dopes her drink, accuses her of still being an alcoholic, and, claiming sole custody, seizes Emma. As a newly strong and determined Noelle fights to get her daughter back, Mary comes home to help and finds herself still drawn to Charlie, now a widower and editor of the local paper. Meanwhile, Robert, who has half the county in his pocket, is on a vicious campaign to keep Emma--setting fires, vandalizing Charlie's offices, etc. And when the women begin to suspect his role in a long-ago death and suicide, Robert turns positively murderous. A fast-churning suspenser for Goudge's legion of fans. -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Mary Jeffers knows that everything Robert Van Doren touches turns to gold for him — and to dust for everyone else. Years ago, her best friend committed suicide (or so the police said) when she was dating him, and somehow, in the aftermath, 17-year-old Mary's marriage fell apart. She and Noelle, her baby, went home to her folks. Twenty-one years later, when Robert swept Noelle off her feet and into marriage, Mary was devastated. But it wasn't until Noelle asked for a divorce, and Robert snatched their five-year-old daughter, Emma, that Mary realized how bad things could become.

Mary's estranged husband, Charlie, helps Mary and Noelle to uncover the truth buried under years of deception — the bitter secrets and cruel betrayals. What they discover about Robert is shattering. Yet, amid that darkness are the first glimmers of hope — hope that Noelle and Emma will be reunited, that Noelle will find love again, even hope that Mary and Charlie might rediscover the love that once bound them so tightly together. Bestselling author Eileen Goudge has crafted a haunting and convincing tale of love and suspense.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Noelle Van Doren's world fell apart the day her estranged husband snatched her five-year-old daughter away from her. During the ensuing custody battle, Noelle-along with her divorced, distant mother and her aging, ailing grandmother-discovers just how far a mother will go for love of her child....

The Second Silence is another grip-the-reader from the popular Eileen Goudge...a fast-churning suspenser for her legion of fans. (Kirkus Reviews)

Goudge keeps you cheering. (People)\

FROM THE CRITICS

Barnes & Noble Guide to New Fiction

A mother's worst nightmare is brought to life in this intricately plotted, "engrossing and suspenseful" novel by best-selling author Eileen Goudge. "Fast-paced and well-written." "No Pulitzer Prize winner, but the legions of lonely hearted yet hopeful women out there will love this book. Ahhh, l'amore." "I've added Eileen Goudge to my authors-to-read list."

Publishers Weekly

In her seventh novel, best-selling Goudge (One Last Dance) delivers every modern cliche required to satisfy readers who like their fiction titillating and predictable. Recovering alcoholic Noelle Van Doren informs her domineering, philandering husband, Robert, that she wants a divorce. Robert is an unscrupulous real estate developer whose deals routinely destroy historical buildings and damage the environment, and he doesn't like rejection. He avenges himself on Noelle by inviting her to dinner at a popular restaurant where he slips a drug into her soda that makes her appear to be drunk. He then snatches their five-year-old daughter, Emma, and embarks on a campaign to discredit Noelle and gain sole custody. Meanwhile, Goudge interweaves the story of Mary and Charlie, Noelle's long-divorced parents. Mary conceived Noelle while still in high school. Though she and Charlie attempted to make a go of their marriage, they were thwarted by family interference. The pair are reunited in the quest to exonerate Noelle of Robert's unfair accusation that she is an unfit mother. The novel's central issues are noble but executed without imagination: power-hungry Robert is the perfect villain; Noelle the passive wife and mother finding the strength to take control of her life; and Mary and Charlie's reignited romance proves that first love is best. Peripheral characters include Noelle's teenage sister, Bronwyn, who is deflowered with care and sensitivity by wrong-side-of-the-tracks Dante, a misunderstood fellow with "a bad-boy smile and bedroom eyes" who's caught up in Robert's evil plan. The narrator's voice alternates between folksy and New Age therapy speak, yielding few surprises in this glorified Harlequin romance. 4-city author tour. (June) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

Fans will be elated to see the seventh novel in 11 years by Goudge (Thorns of Truth). In a small New York town, Noelle Van Doren struggles to separate from her powerful husband, Robert, and regain custody of the young daughter he's taken from her. Her parents, former schoolmates of Robert who divorced as teenagers, unite in their efforts to help her, as do other family members. New and old loves emerge from the deadly shadow cast by "Mr. Perfect" (i.e., Robert). Goudge delivers romance, a variety of relationships, and suspense in one appealing package. Public libraries of all sizes will need to get this title. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/00.]--Rebecca Sturm Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Kirkus Reviews

Another grip-the-reader from the popular Goudge (One Last Dance, 1999, etc.), whose melodramas explore contemporary family crises: this time, the plight of three women who must confront the past when a child is seized by her estranged father. The father, Robert Van Doren, is (no surprise) a monster with no redeeming features. The three women are more shaded, and, along with defeating Robert, are capable of change or of admitting error. The story, set in upstate New York, is narrated by Nana Quinn, her daughter Mary Catherine Quinn, and her granddaughter Noelle, whose five-year-old Emma has been snatched by Robert. Far back, Mary married fellow high school senior Charlie Jeffers when she fell pregnant, and while she loved him, couldn't cope with the baby and so went home to mother Nana, who never did approve of Charlie. Nana effectively raised Noelle after Mary divorced Charlie and went to work in New York. Now, a grown-up Noelle, timid and alienated from Mary, by this point a successful business woman, marries the seemingly glamorous Robert, but soon he reveals himself to be manipulative and cruel. Noelle takes up the bottle, is hospitalized, then recovers to bear Emma. When she wants a divorce, though, Robert dopes her drink, accuses her of still being an alcoholic, and, claiming sole custody, seizes Emma. As a newly strong and determined Noelle fights to get her daughter back, Mary comes home to help and finds herself still drawn to Charlie, now a widower and editor of the local paper. Meanwhile, Robert, who has half the county in his pocket, is on a vicious campaign to keep Emma—setting fires, vandalizing Charlie's offices, etc. And when the women begin to suspecthisrole in a long-ago death and suicide, Robert turns positively murderous. A fast-churning suspenser for Goudge's legion of fans.