Author: Linda Castillo
Genre: Thriller, Series #2
Published: 2010
Personal Rating: 4/5 (very good)
Yearly Count: 52
Kate Burkholder, Chief of Police in an Ohio Amish community, is faced with the annihilation of an Amish family. The case brings Kate's personal experiences (ex-Amish and ex-victim) to the surface and fuels her determination to bring the perpetrator to justice.
I would love to feel contentment and satisfaction since closing this book, but I don't. I feel confusion with the many thoughts going through my mind. In general, it was a great - at times I didn't want to put it down, until the last quarter/eighth of the book. Here are some of my mixed up thoughts:
The Good: The Amish community setting/integration, the difficult of the mystery to solve, the police procedural component, style of writing (word choice, length of paragraphs/chapters, etc.), building scenes, suspense, etc.
The Bad (not too bad, though): Kate and John (sporadic boyfriend?) - foolish characterization at times, over-the-top/ridiculous climax, formulaic ending. I was very disappointed in the change of writing towards the end. To me it ruined a lot of what was built.
And The Ugly: Anything to do with the crime and s*x scenes! Castillo is a very descriptive writer, so visualizing is not a problem. And, I'm telling you - it's not pretty. Also, there was some repetitive scenes that frankly were gratuitous.
I have discovered that Castillo has written many books under the publication of Harlequin and Silhouette. Blech, I won't be going back to read any of those. But, I will be seeking out the next in the Kate Burkholder series, because despite my disappointments, it was still very good.
I enjoyed reading your thoughts about PRAY FOR SILENCE, Joy. I agree that the crime scenes were quite graphic, perhaps unneccesarily so. I like the characters here, but I'm wondering whether the author can sustain a series in this small of a venue. Time will tell I guess.
ReplyDeleteI can read graphic scenes, but I can't watch them or listen to them. This one sounds good.
ReplyDeleteKay ~ Your thoughts remind me of The Three Pines series by Louise Penny. She has managed to keep it going thus far, so we'll see if Linda Castillo can do it, too. I'm not so sure about the characters anymore. There is something off-putting about them.
ReplyDeleteI did a zip-by your blog when I did a search on this book. I didn't read your review because I knew I was heading your way in a bit. See you soon. :)
Bermudaonion ~ No watching for me either! That's just wrong. Yuck!
I have the first book in this series and really want to read it!! I'm so happy to see that this one, even with the bad, still received a 4/5 from you!!
ReplyDeleteI've read good things about the two books in this series and have added the first to my wish list. Glad you liked it.
ReplyDeletejust did a quick skim because I'm next on the library waiting list for this. Good to see you rated it a 4 and will be back to read the rest of your review after I write mine
ReplyDelete;-)
Staci ~ Yeah, I still enjoyed it. :)
ReplyDeleteStacybuckeye ~ They are gory, so be prepared!
Suzi ~ We've been relatively close in our ratings, so I'm anticipating a good read for you.
I plan to read this one of these days, but I'm not in a huge rush. While I liked the first in the series, I thought some of the violent scenes we're a bit gratuitous. Sounds like this one has the same problem. That said, I do enjoy a good mystery so I will make time for it sooner than later. Still need to read the recent P.J. Tracy book!!
ReplyDeleteLes ~ Yep, unfortunately, an overabundance of unnecessary violence lies in this book as well.
ReplyDeleteHappy reading Shoot to Thrill!
Have you read The Beekeeper's Apprentice? I'm listening to it now (no time to fit in the book), anyway - I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. I'm at the beginning of disc 3 of 12.
I read The Beekeeper's Apprentice several years ago. As I recall, I enjoyed the first half better than the second. You'll have to let me know what you think when you finish.
ReplyDeleteLes ~ I'm past the half way mark and am experiencing the same thing. It's still good though.
ReplyDeleteI've been waiting to get my hands on this one. I really liked the first book. I agree that she's descriptive but I like the books that way. Hope this one doesn't change my mind!
ReplyDeleteGood review!
While it was good, I didn't like it quite as much as the first one.
ReplyDeleteI pretty much agreed with all of your "goods" and "bads". The end kind of fell flat for me.
Becky W. ~ Did you read it yet? What'd you think?
ReplyDeleteSuzi ~ I still really liked this one, but hope she makes some adjustments with the main characters next time around.