Mystery Book Reviews

Book Review: Pray for Silence

By Sandy Amazeen Jul 27, 2010, 21:12 GMT

New York Times bestselling author Linda Castillo delivers an electrifying thriller in which Chief of Police Kate Burkholder must confront a dark evil to solve the mysterious murders of an entire Amish family.The Plank family moved from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to join the small Amish community of Painters Mill less than a year ago and seemed the model of the Plain Life—until on a cold October night, the entire family of seven was ...more

In the small Ohio town of Painters Mill police chief, Kate Burkholder never dreamt she would be faced with investigating the brutal murder of an Amish family. The parents and their five children were found bound, some of them bearing signs of torture and despite initial suspicions pointing to the father; it appears an outsider might be responsible. As Kate, assisted by sometime boyfriend John Tomasetti, an agent suspended for failure to pass a drug test, begin digging deeper into the tight knit Amish community, they must confront their personal demons as well as those presented by a cunning killer.

Although long on graphic crime scene description and suspense, several of the situations and dialog have something of a canned feel to them as Castillo falls into using old clichés. Still, the look inside the Amish community and plot twists are interesting so if you are looking for a quick, albeit gruesome summer mystery read, this is worth a look.