Monday, October 26, 2009

165 - Sworn to Silence; Linda Castillo



Sworn to Silence is a chilling new series debut by Linda Castillo. The audio book is read by Kathleen McInerney. She does a fabulous job with different voices in this thriller.  The reader should be warned up front the the book can been pretty gory and there is a lot of violence toward women described.

Kate Burkholder grew up in the quaint town of Painters Mill, Ohio where many Amish residents still drive buggies, shun electricity, and distance themselves from the complications of modern life.  A serial killer, dubbed The Slaughterhouse Killer, shatters the peace of this little town and leaves the residents terrified and on guard. During this time, young Kate’s life takes a fateful turn when she was just 14. She was sexually assaulted by an Amish man named Daniel Lapp. She shoots the man and seeing him lifeless on the floor, she is certain he is dead. Her father drags away the body, and the family never speaks of the incident again, and it is never reported to the police. She and her family are "Sworn to Silence". The area murders cease around the time that Lapp is killed, and the residents begin to live somewhat normal lives once again.

Some 16 years later, Kate now 30, is the police chief in Painters Mill.  She must deal with a series of brutal crimes in which the female victims are tortured and raped, and Roman numerals carved onto their stomach. These crimes are very similar to those that occurred when she was a young girl. Is this a copy-cat? Kate begins to asks herself if Daniel Lapp is really dead. She is determined to track down this killer before he strike again.

My Thoughts:  This is one thriller that I thought I had figured out early on, but I was wrong.  It wasn't until the last third of the book that my second guess was correct. (I like when this happens in a thriller).  I thought this book was very good. There was a part where some romance was woven into the story, and my personal feeling was that this aspect, took away from the story instead of enhancing it. Despite this I would still recommend this novel I you enjoy a good thriller.

10 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed this review. I didn't realize it was first in a series. I've added it to my list!

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  2. I read this Saturday and I thought I had it figured out too. Boy was I wrong! I love it when you can't figure out who did it early on!

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  3. I hate it when authors throw in a romantic angle for no good reason! This sounds like a good book, though!

    -Amy
    Life by Candlelight

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  4. I really enjoyed this book and will be looking forward to the next one. Castillo does a great job ramping up the suspense, that's for sure.

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  5. I really want to read this, but I think I would be better with the book, not the audio. I've discovered that I can read gory but watching it or listening to it really bothers me.

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  6. Thanks for the review. My library has this one on audio so I may have to check it out.

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  7. I'm not into thriller too much, but I'd like to give this one a try. I've seen quite a few good reviews for it.

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  8. Sounds creepy but good. I don't think I'd like to listen to it on an audiobook though ... might give me nightmares.

    And I almost NEVER figure out the killer in a thriller!

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  9. I liked this one a lot and I'm looking forward the next one in the series. Like you I was completely wrong about who the killer was.

    I'm with Bermudaonion on the not wanting to listen to gruesome stuff. I think I'll stick with the printed version for these.

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  10. I really liked this too and look forward to the next book in the series. It had some gruesome parts, but a good read nonetheless.

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