The Speak of Silence

From mystery author J. Hale Jr. comes a new masterpiece of (psychological) suspense thriller...with a little bit of comedy and romance mixed in. SynopsisMartin Bornstein is a solitary man who lives in a sparse apartment in San Francisco. However, despite his lifestyle, he unknowingly pens prose that has very harsh consequences when spoken. While this phenomenon remains a mystery for some time, chance and circumstance allow a thief in Marty’s apartment to solve the mystery and weaponize Marty’s words. With this power, the thief, Stevin McDonald, ignites the city of San Francisco in an inferno of mayhem. While Stevin’s weapon is silent, he himself does not go unnoticed; San Francisco’s finest, Officers Cesmat and Bradley, are hell-bent on apprehending him. Together they dodge the jurisdiction of the detectives and the fury of the Chief of Police and silently track the killer. Despite blowing up buildings, killing scores of people, and being the most wanted man in the country, Stevin is focused on cash flow and capturing the hearts of the women he meets. His romantic heart, coupled with budding empathy, eventually sparks a foundational change in his moral character. However, this change is stunted when Stevin missteps and is captured. Incarcerated in San Quentin Prison, he faces the consequences of his choices, meets old friends, and finds opportunities to further develop his silent craft.THE SPEAK OF SILENCE is a dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense that will leave you turning pages late into the night. A masterpiece of thriller, mystery and real-life fiction! The intelligent plot is a breath of fresh air in a genre of cookie-cutter predictability. Full of twists, the book will repel sleep until the turn of the last page. THE SPEAK OF SILENCE demonstrates what great mystery books are all about: suspense, love, irony, fate, vengeance, all wrapped up in an explosive ride that refuses to stop.

J. Hale Jr. used writing as a hobby in college to pay the bills, but quickly realized that the real money was in real estate investing, so writing again never crossed his mind...until one day, it did. Mr. Hale is the guy next door who had an idea and wrote a novel around it. He’s not widely published, so no list of accolades here other than he still wears size 36 pants, which is saying something at middle age. He enjoys traveling, snow skiing, windsurfing, shopping, chocolate, air, and hot running water, and is a bit of a gearhead. Most days you can find him crushing the 25’s at the gym or wrangling his four boys with his ever-so-beautiful and talented and smart and loving and adorable wife of many, many, many years, who knew nothing of any of this.