Bond of Silence is a 2010 Lifetime television movie starring Kim Raver, as her character Katy tries to uncover the mysteries surrounding the death of her husband Bob after he went to break up a teenage party that got too rowdy on New Year's Eve. The kids know who killed her husband, however none of them will talk. The movie follows Katy in the aftermath of his murder.
Bond of Silence provides examples of:
- Accidental Murder: The teens obviously didn't set out to murder Bob from the start, they just wanted to beat him up for interrupting their fun.
- Adults Are Useless: Many of the parents either don't care about the activities their children are getting into-such as under-age drinking, or worse-make excuses for them. As Katy begins to dig deeper into what happened they get even more forceful, outright demanding that she 'leave their poor kids alone' even though they are responsible for the death of her husband. Much of the town stands with them, though a few residents outside of Katy's circle of friends express support for her.
- Alpha Bitch: Angie is the closest to this trope. She constantly accuses Daisy, and later Jordan of being snitches. When it comes to Jordan, she turned out being right.
- Basedon A True Story: Based off of a murder in a small town in 1997.
- Cassandra Truth: Somewhat. Angie was right about there being a snitch. However, she was going after the wrong person.
- Coming of Age Story: A darker one. Even though the main character is Katy, the kids get focus as well.
- Disproportionate Retribution: In responsible to Bob politely (albeit a little impatiently) asking them to leave the master bedroom, some of the teens decide to beat him up.
- It's All About Me: Some of the teens involved in Bob's death have this attitude, caring more about their futures potentially being ruined than about the fact that a man is dead because of their actions. Aaron and Angie are the worst examples of this.
- Jerk Jock: James.
- Karma Houdini: While Ryan is ultimately arrested for killing Bob and Keith faces charges for his role in assaulting Bob, none of the other teens face the legal consequences for their roles in Bob's assault or (in Aaron and Angie's case) the actions they take in trying to cover up their perceived roles in his death.
- Manipulative Bastard: Aaron qualifies.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: What kicks off the plot. Bob goes to quiet down the New Year's Eve party happening at his friend's house across the street after the noise wakes his daughter and later asks the teen group to leave the master bedroom (presumably to protect said friend's valuables). In return, he gets assaulted by the teens, with one of them kicking his head hard enough to kill him.
- Police Are Useless: Katy sees the detectives investigating Bob's murder like this. She is constantly hounding them because she believes they aren't doing their job properly, and eventually begins to take things into her own hands.
- Shrinking Violet: Daisy is a shy freshman with a crush on Aaron. After Bob's death, she's easily coerced/intimidated by Aaron into keeping quiet about what happened at the party.
- Smitten Teenage Girl: Daisy is this to Aaron. He is at first disgusted by her, but later uses her crush on him to his advantage to keep her from spilling any secrets.
- Sympathetic Murderer: The film clearly tries to make Ryan one at the end.
- Teens Are Monsters: One or more of them is a murderer, and the rest of them are covering it up to save their own skins. Somewhat subverted since most of them were shown to be stressed and frightened over what they had done.
- Token Good Teammate: Jordan. She's eventually the one that breaks her silence and gives Katy information.
- Town with a Dark Secret: The setting starts to take on this trope the longer the murder investigation drags on. The residents are angry that it is hurting their tourism industry.
- The Stoner: Ryan is the biggest offender. At first, he can't even remember what happened the night of the party.
- Villainous Breakdown: Ryan has one of these as he begins to place together what happened at the party and remembers that he is the one who landed the killing blow to Bob.
- Villain with Good Publicity: The town and media defends the kids even though they are obviously responsible for a murder and the subsequent cover-up.
- Wild Teen Party: It's what sets the whole plot in motion.
