Amy Hill Hearth

June 12, 2024

Hello, All -

I'm happy to share with you that my eleventh book, Silent Came the Monster, is an Amazon # 1 Best Seller in Historical Thrillers. This is my first thriller and I scared myself half to death writing it. (I'm half-joking.) I believe it's important to challenge myself as a writer by trying new genres, and I'm a little surprised and more than a bit relieved that I landed on my feet. 

The novel, based on real events, is set at the Jersey Shore in the summer of 1916 when a bizarre series of shark attacks causes terror, confusion, denial, defiance, and even some rather peculiar conspiracy theories. It was widely believed that so-called man-eating sharks didn't swim in the waters off New York or New Jersey.

Written during the pandemic lockdown, the novel is an artistic examination of the flawed ways in which humans assess risk, react to a deadly and unforeseen threat, and grapple with the unexplainable. I was inspired to write the novel when I recognized parallels between the way people had responded to the 1916 rogue shark and, a century later, the reaction to the Covid pandemic.

The book is available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia. Published in hardcover last year, it's now available in paperback as well. (And ebook, large print, and audio formats, too. The audio won an AudioFile Earphones Award last year.)

If you're not in the mood for a thriller, don't forget that Having Our Say is available in new ebook and audio editions, the latter narrated by the legendary Robin Miles. The Delany Sisters Reach High, my chiildren's illustrated book about the Delany Sisters' childhood in the 1890s, is newly-republished and available at all online retailers including the University of North Carolina Press. 

Happy reading!

Best wishes from Amy Hill Hearth

For reviews, shopping links, and more, please visit Amy's website.