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Sworn to Silence (Kate Burkholder #1)

by Linda Castillo (Goodreads Author)

3.90 · rating details · 2,923 ratings · 808 reviews

A killer is preying on sacred ground....

In the sleepy rural town of Painters Mill, Ohio, the Amish and “English” residents have lived side by side for two centuries. But sixteen years ago, a series of brutal murders shattered the peaceful farming community. In the aftermath of the violence, the town was left with a sense of fragility, a loss of innocence. Kate Burkho

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Hardcover, 321 pages

Published June 23rd 2009 by St. Martin's Minotaur (first published January 1st 2009)

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Sworn to Silence
by Linda Castillo (Goodreads Author)
In celebration of the upcoming paperback release of the of the 3rd book in Linda Castillo’s “gripping” (People magazine) and “compelling” (USA Today) …more

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Jan 11, 2010

Kelly rated it

Shelves: 2010, favorites

Sworn to Silence is a snow-filled thriller that will chill you to the bone... perfect for crawling under a blanket with on a cold winter day. Kate Burkholder grew up within the Amish community of a small Ohio town, but left that life behind when she turned 18. Now many years later, she has returned to Painters Mill to accept the position of Police Chief of the town. At 30 years old, Kate is only peripherally involved with the people of the Amish community, and serves as a go-between of sorts ...more

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Apr 03, 2009

Jackie rated it

Recommends it for: thriller mystery fans

Shelves: work-review-related-reading

She's a new name in the thriller category, but she fits right in with the heavy hitting veterans who have read a praised her amazing debut. The lead character is unforgettable--Kate Burkholder is the chief of police in the small Ohio town where she grew up, though Kate the child and Kate the woman are vastly different. Violence and trauma took away Kate's young Amish innocence and made her the tough "English" (the term
the Amish use for the non-Amish) cop she is today. But is ...more

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Feb 08, 2012

Dorothy rated it

Recommends it for: Readers who like their thrillers with lots of blood and guts

Recommended to Dorothy by: My Mystery Book Club leader

Shelves: police-procedurals

Reading the excruciating details of the serial rapes, torture, and murders of a number of young girls and women is not something that I would willingly inflict upon myself, but this book was the selection of my local Mystery Book Club for February. Sigh. And so, read I must.

The events take place in a small town in Ohio, a place that has a strong presence of Amish. Kate Burkholder grew up in the area in the Amish community, but she chose a different path in life. She went away to coll...more

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Jan 19, 2012

Themistokeles rated it

· review of another edition

Inhalt: In der amisch-englischen Gemeinde Painter Mill wird auf der Weide eines amischen Farmers die Leiche einer Frau gefunden. Vor ihrem Tod wurde die Frau nicht nur vergewaltigt und gefoltert, ihr wurde zudem auch noch die römische Ziffer XIII in den Bauch geritzt. Ermordet wurde sie durch einen gezielten Schnitt durch die Hauptschlagader, wie beim Schlachten von Vieh. Für Chief Kate Burkholder und ihr Team beginnt die Suche nach dem Mörder, dessen Vorgehen der gesamten Gemeinde nur zu bekann...moreInhalt: In der amisch-englischen Gemeinde Painter Mill wird auf der Weide eines amischen Farmers die Leiche einer Frau gefunden. Vor ihrem Tod wurde die Frau nicht nur vergewaltigt und gefoltert, ihr wurde zudem auch noch die römische Ziffer XIII in den Bauch geritzt. Ermordet wurde sie durch einen gezielten Schnitt durch die Hauptschlagader, wie beim Schlachten von Vieh. Für Chief Kate Burkholder und ihr Team beginnt die Suche nach dem Mörder, dessen Vorgehen der gesamten Gemeinde nur zu bekannt vor kommt. Sechzehn Jahre zuvor fand eine Mordserie in Painters Mill statt, der vier Frauen zum Opfer vielen, diese wurden auf die identische Art und Weise ermordet und auch ihnen wurde eine römische Ziffer in den Bauch geritzt. Viele vermuten, dass es sich um den selben Mörder handelt. Nur Chief Burkholder kann daran nicht glauben und aufgrund eines Geheimnisses ihrer Vergangenheit will sie zunächst keine weiteren Stellen einschalten. Nachdem jedoch eine weiter Leiche gefunden wird, taucht nicht nur John Tomasetti vom BCI sondern auch der Sherrif eines umliegenden County und nicht nur wird das Eis für den Mörder immer dünner auch Kates Geheimnis gerät in Gefahr aufgedeckt zu werden.

Meinung: Das Buch hat mir ziemlich gut gefallen, denn es war nicht nur von Anfang an spannend sondern zudem sind die Charakter auf ihre nicht grade perfekte Art und Weise irgendwann durchaus sympathisch. Grade da Kate und John Geheimnisse haben und nicht perfekt sind, empfand ich die beiden als ziemlich gute Charaktere. Ebenfalls war es ziemlich interessant mal in die Lebenswelt der Amish ein wenig einzutauchen, da man meist zwar oberflächlich ein bisschen über das Leben, das sich die Amish ausgesucht haben weiß, aber man durchaus noch einiges neues durch das Buch lernen kann. Die Auflösung des Falls war nach gewissen Informationen leider etwas schnell klar, aber trotzdem war der Roman kriminalistisch nicht schlecht aufgebaut, so dass man wenigstens bis zu dem betreffenden Punkt, wo es einfach deutlich wurde, wer der Mörder ist, selbst im Dunklen tappte.
Besonder interessant fand ich die den Wechsel der Erzähler, die eingebaut waren, so dass alle Passagen, die von Kate erzählt werden immer von einem Ich-Erzähler sind, sobald aber aus dem Blickwinkel eines anderen Charakters weitererzählt wird, wechselt der Erzähler in die Perpektive eines personalen Erzählers, was den Chrakter Kate noch deutlicher herausstellte, da man bei ihr immer ganz direkt mitfühlen konnte. Außerdem wir Kate durch dieses Vorgehen noch deutlicher in den Mittelpunkt gestellt.
Alles in allem ein ziemlich guter Roman, den ich jedem empfehlen würde der nicht nur Thrillern etwas abgewinnen kann, sondern auch gut geschriebenen Kriminalfällen, denn auch wenn er etwas blutig ist, ist er nicht zu blutig um auch ein guter Krimi zu sein.(less)

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Jul 24, 2011

Liz Talley rated it

Heartbreaking and fast-paced, this book is not a comfort read, but you'll be glad you picked it up. I'd categorize it as a thriller, rather than romantic suspense which is what I expected it to be for some reason. I thought the setting was in juxtaposition to the normally seedy, urban area where one often finds serial murders occurring. The weather seemed as much a character, and the world created by the author was a positive element in the book.

I thought Kate a bit rough around the ...more

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Jul 19, 2011

Lise rated it

· review of another edition

I spotted Castillo's current hardcover but wanted to start with the beginning of the series. Romance author turned thriller writer, Castillo's rich series opener is stark, brutal, and haunting. Mesmerizing in the best way possible, it kept me reading despite the heat. Her grasp of the nuances of Amish life flesh out the locale and the characters, adding a powerful level of conflict beyond the serial killer who stalks and butchers young woman. "Kick ass heroines" are all the rage, and C...more

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Jul 08, 2011

Dianne Socci-Tetro rated it

Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo

16 years ago a serial murderer/rapist was killed by one of his victims...or was he?

In present day Painter's Mill Ohio; a community of approximately 6000 people and a third of them Amish, on one bitterly cold January night Officer T J Bank, while answering a call about cows that have escaped, finds a body of a young woman. Chief of Police Kate Burkholder ( formerly Amish now, not so much) sits in on the autopsy of this victim and fin...moreSworn to Silence by Linda Castillo

16 years ago a serial murderer/rapist was killed by one of his victims...or was he?

In present day Painter's Mill Ohio; a community of approximately 6000 people and a third of them Amish, on one bitterly cold January night Officer T J Bank, while answering a call about cows that have escaped, finds a body of a young woman. Chief of Police Kate Burkholder ( formerly Amish now, not so much) sits in on the autopsy of this victim and finds the one piece of evidence to prove that they must have a copycat killer in their midst.

Or do they? Is it possible that the first killer didn't die from his wounds? As the killer escalates, the Mayor and several of his cronies call in different law enforcement agencies, which for her own personal reasons Kate was praying wouldn't happen. Among the agencies called out, John Tomasetti, a has been cop, with a drinking and drug problem and his own ghosts from his past clinging like leeches and who is now with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation comes calling. And just to make Kate's life even more difficult she calls for and gets `help' in the form of a County Sheriff Nathan Detrick.

Secrets that had been kept for 16 years, betrayals of those secrets, families torn apart by secrets, injustices corrected, and justice meted out in the way of the vigilante are just some of the things you will find in Sworn to Silence.

Sworn to Silence is not Ms Castillo's first novel, she has written a number of romantic suspense novels for Berkley Sensation and I can state for a fact that this novel is nothing like what you'd find at that publisher! There is no sentimental triteness, no impossible trysts in between the action. There is just plane action, mystery, suspense (and a whole lot of that!) with a touch of police procedural thrown in.

If you love action suspense you are gong to love this book. It's sure to be a winner with mystery and police procedural fans too. I started and finished in the same day because I just couldn't put it down. I had to see if I could match wits with the author and sadly I found myself somewhat lacking because I never saw the ending come out of left field. Although in retrospect clues had been sprinkled about, albeit thinly!

A highly satisfying nail biting roller-coaster of a read. I can't wait to see more like this come from Ms Castillos pen.

If you like books like Night Sins and Guilty as Sin by Tami Hoag but with less romance, then you really must try this book. Night Sins/Guilty as Sin (less)

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Feb 16, 2011

Paul Pessolano rated it

Kate Burkholderis the Chief of Police in Painters Mill, Ohio. Painters Mill is a quiet rural community that has a large Amish presence. The only taint on the community is that sixteen years ago a serial killer terrorized the town and was never caught.

This peaceful community will soon find itself again terrorized by a serial killer. The questions are: is it the same kille, where has he been for sixteen years, or is this the work of a copycat killer?

The mystery becomes ...more

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Oct 01, 2010

Kathleen Hagen added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-audio-books, 2010-mysteries

Sworn to Silence, by Linda Castillo, narrated by Kathleen McNinerney, produced by Macmillan Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

Painters Mill Ohio is a sleepy little town with an Amish community that has lived peaceably alongside the general community for two centuries. Kate Burkholder has been the police chief for two years and her department works well with her. But Kate has a secret from the past. She grew up in this town and was Amish. But 16 years ago, while a serial murderer...more

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Sep 10, 2010

Monica rated it

Shelves: er-arc, own

When I had seen this book offered on Library Thing Early Reviewers I was very interested in the book. I didn't win the book but a fellow LTER finished with it and offered it to others. I am thrilled to have requested the book and to have had the privilege of reading Sworn To Silence.

The main character of Sworn to Silence is Kate Burkholder who grew up Amish and decided to leave the Amish way of life. She is now the Chief of Police in Painters Mill, Ohio, her former hometown. She has ...more

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Jun 09, 2010

Denise rated it

4.0 out of 5 stars Great debut thriller and hopefully the start to a new series..., April 24, 2009

This review is from: Sworn to Silence (Kate Burkholder) (Hardcover)

I'll be the first to admit that the thriller genre is my favorite. I'm a bit cynical, however, about new authors and new series characters -- I read every thriller author published and at least the first in every new series that comes out. So, my evaluation: this one is good! It's very good.

I lo...more

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May 25, 2010

Kaye rated it

Recommended to Kaye by: goodreads

Shelves: legal-or-thriller

Won on a goodreads giveaway. Thank Goodreads!!! The book follows Kate Burkholder who is the chief of police in rural Painters Mill, Ohio. It is Amish country which doesn't play as big of part as the story as it could. A serial murderer is on the loose and Kate is working hard at catching the killer. The descriptioins of the bodies are graphic and the language was a little stronger than I expected (like James Patterson). I thought the mystery was fine, I wanted to know who the killer was. ...more

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Dec 27, 2009

Carol rated it

Just recently I was talking about violent acts against women in books and how sometimes, if gratuitous, it can turn me off. There's a fine line for me in what moves the plot forward and what is over the top and just plain too much. I got turned off on James Patterson for just this reason. Right or wrong this bothers me even more when women write violent scenes, as is the case in Linda Castillo's Sworn to Silence. I have to weigh the merits of the violence to the overall story. Would the story ha...more

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Dec 01, 2009

Sarah rated it

Shelves: 2009-read, 2009-dec-read

Kate Burkholder is the police chief of a small town, Painters Mill, Ohio. She is an unusual police chief, the first female chief in the town, and in addition, she was formerly Amish.

One cold winter night, a body of a young woman was discovered. Disturbingly, it appears to follow a series of brutal murders that occurred over 16 years ago. However, Kate knows that this murder cannot have been done by the same man as...she killed the murderer 16 years ago as self-defence after he raped...more

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Nov 19, 2009

Bernadette rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, america, read-2009

One night in the middle of winter a body is discovered in the snow in a small town of Painters Mill, Ohio. The woman appears to have been brutally murdered in a way that reminds everyone of a series of murders which took place in the area 16 years previously. The one person who doesn’t believe the same killer, named the Slaughterhouse Killer at the time, is active again is the town’s Police Chief Kate Burkholder. She shares a secret with two other people about that previous string of murders whi...moreOne night in the middle of winter a body is discovered in the snow in a small town of Painters Mill, Ohio. The woman appears to have been brutally murdered in a way that reminds everyone of a series of murders which took place in the area 16 years previously. The one person who doesn’t believe the same killer, named the Slaughterhouse Killer at the time, is active again is the town’s Police Chief Kate Burkholder. She shares a secret with two other people about that previous string of murders which makes her almost positive it’s a different killer. Accordingly she points the current investigation in other directions but the town’s other officials bring in outside help to ensure that the investigation focuses on any links to the Slaughterhouse Killer case.

The most engaging aspect of this book for me is the character of Kate Burkholder and the aspects of town life that are depicted through her. The area is home to an Amish community, of which Kate was a member until she was 18, and there is some unrest between the other townspeople and the Amish. Although Kate is no longer Amish her brother and sister are still in the community and overall she respects the Amish community even though she chose not to join it. She is a focal point for relationships between the town’s two divergent cultures and I am a sucker for stories which feature religions different to the one I was brought up with. Kate also struggles for much of the book with the knowledge that her secret may be forcing her to take actions which are not in the best interests of solving the case and I thought this complex issue was portrayed very realistically.

Overall the story was well paced: not screaming along at thriller pace but nor did it plod. There were several minor climax points before the ending and I didn’t lose my attention once. As well as being intrigued by Kate, my interest was held by an array of minor characters, mainly working in the police station. The seeds of a series were most obvious with this introduction of an engaging cast although I can’t envisage endless storylines in this setting.

I did struggle with other parts of the book. I found the burgeoning relationship between Kate and one of the external investigators brought in to help, John Tomasetti, too predictable and a bit soppy. However this probably won’t bother most readers who can’t be as unromantic as me. There were also a few plot points I found stretching my credibility metre. At one point for example someone is framed as the perpetrator of the murders and I just could not buy that everyone but Kate was so gullible as to accept the most unlikely killer. However my real issue was with the overly graphic depictions of the violence visited upon the victims of the killer (because of course one body is never enough). It really didn’t add anything to the story to have several paragraphs of bodily mutilations described for each victim and, rarely for me, I wished I was reading rather than listening so I could skip those bits.

Sworn to Silence offers a really solid story, some engaging characters and an interesting setting (although perhaps I got extra enjoyment because each mention of the wintry snow made me forget, momentarily, our unseasonal heatwave). However I’d like to see the next book avoid the overly gruesome violence.

The book is very well narrated by Katherine McInerney and the audible version that I bought has a nice bonus in the form of an interview with the author. It’s an interview by the publisher so it’s not exactly hard-hitting but does provide an opportunity for Castillo to talk about her research methodologies (she has completed two lots of civilian police training among many other activities) and she gives some good background to the book. Unfortunately she wasn’t asked about the value of the detailed and gruesome depictions of the violent mutilations of the victims and whether or not she thought the book could have been just as good without them.(less)

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Oct 28, 2009

Diane rated it

· review of another edition

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 complica...more

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.(less)

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Sep 02, 2009

Kaye rated it

When horror comes to the small Ohio town of Painters Mill, police chief Kate Burkhold is thunderstruck. The MO of the latest killing is exactly the same as murders committed 16 years ago. The mindboggling detail is Kate thought she had shot the killer in self defense. Could he still be alive or is there a copy cat killer out there?

Kate, a young former Amish woman, along with her two siblings has kept this secret for years. The Amish prefer to keep these things to themselves and handl...more

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Aug 26, 2009

Sarai rated it

Shelves: general-fiction, suspense

Wow. I just finished this today and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Let's see... Kate is the chief of police for a small town in Ohio. She grew up Amish but at the age of 14 was raped and killed her attacker, and her family hid the crime. Now the man she believed she killed may be back and torturing and murdering other young women, and Kate is tasked with stopping him.

There's a lot more going on here, including local political maneuvering, a rogue cop whose bosses want to fire h...more

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Aug 15, 2009

Kellyreaderofbooks rated it

Kate Burkholder is not your typical small-town police chief: in addition to being female, she also happens to have been born Amish. After a horrible experience in her teens, she turned her back on her Amish roots and left to live in Cleveland, Ohio. Now, she has returned to her hometown of Painters Mill, a small and picturesque town where Amish and "English" live peacefully side by side.

That peace is shattered when the body of a young woman is found in an Amish farmer's fi...more

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Aug 12, 2009

Emily rated it

Shelves: first-reads

Wow, I finished Sworn to Silence, in one evening. Chief Kate Burkholder is a likable lead character who narrates the story from the beginning. Kate is the chief of police in the small town of Painters Mill, Ohio where she was raised --- Amish. A TERRIBLE event occurs when she is 14 that pushes her to rebel against the Amish way of life and head to Columbus, where she becomes a police officer which leads her back home in her current role.

The town of Painters Mill is shocked, when a...more

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Aug 05, 2009

Robyn Rost rated it

I was so jazzed to have gotten this book from the preview list. It sounded like an interesting premise--mystery plus clash of cultures. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed though I didn't really understand why until collecting my thoughts for this review. Here are my three main reasons for not liking the book as much as anticipated:
1. Changing the point of view. Half of the book is told in first person, the narrator being Kate, our fearless protagonist. First person helps draw out Ka...moreI was so jazzed to have gotten this book from the preview list. It sounded like an interesting premise--mystery plus clash of cultures. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed though I didn't really understand why until collecting my thoughts for this review. Here are my three main reasons for not liking the book as much as anticipated:
1. Changing the point of view. Half of the book is told in first person, the narrator being Kate, our fearless protagonist. First person helps draw out Kate's personal conflict about the Amish culture, which she has left behind. Okay, great. But the narrative shifts a lot into the third person point of view for all other characters. Yes, first person POV limits how much an author can share with the reader about other characters. Which makes Castillo's shifting POVs all that more puzzling b/c she uses third person omniscient, meaning that we can read the characters thoughts, feelings, etc. If you're going to get into the heads of all the characters anyway, why bother setting one character off even more using first person narrative? The troubling POVs is compounded by the fact that the POV will shift within the same chapter and that the verb tenses shift from present to past tense with each change in POV. While the shifts are easy to follow, they seem a bit pointless and too affected.
2. Wrapping up cultural twist too readily. One of the most intriguing dimensions of the plot is that the suspected murderer in the current crime was supposedly killed by Kate decades earlier. Ooo--is he back from the grave? Did he not really die after all? Interesting twist. Except that Castillo resolves that twist a little over half way through the story simply in a fairly easy fashion. It was almost as if Castillo realized she had too many little twists to maintain until the end of the novel, so she wrapped this one up early to make is easier to get to the climax. Unfortunately, this also deflates some of the book's energy.
3. The obligatory sex. Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against sex scenes in novels. But that Kate would end up with the troubled FBI agent was so cliche and predictable that it almost made me weep with pity. Too formulaic and doesn't make Castillo's work stand out from other similar mystery novels.

In light of my strong criticisms, why, you may ask, do I rate this new mystery 3 out of 5 stars? Simply for a couple basic reasons. The story kept me reading page after page, wanting to know what happens. That's always good for a novel. Also, there was too much gore and viscera. Some new murder mystery authors go overboard describing the depths of depravity involved with the murders and overwhelm the reader with unnecessarily gory details. Not so here, which is refreshing. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I didn't figure out the identity of the killer until the same time Kate did. In other words, the integrity of the mystery lasted throughout the novel.

In summary, I would say it's worth reading as a library book, but not investing in with a purchase. (less)

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Aug 04, 2009

K rated it

In the sleepy rural town of Painters Mill, Ohio, the Amish and “English” residents have lived side by side for two centuries. But sixteen years ago, a series of brutal murders shattered the peaceful farming community before suddenly ending. Kate Burkholder, a young Amish girl, survived the terror of the Slaughterhouse Killer but came away from its brutality with the realization that she no longer belonged with the Amish. Now, Kate has been asked to returned to Painters Mill as Chief of Police. ...more

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Jul 30, 2009

Leanna rated it

I first read about Linda Castillo’s novel Sworn to Silence in USA Today. According to the review: “Lovers of suspense will find no better novel to read this summer . . . a teeth-chattering debut thriller.” How could I resist reading it?

Kate Burkholder is the chief of police in small Painters Mill, Ohio. When Kate was a 14-year-old Amish girl, a serial killer terrorized the town. Now, sixteen years later, the killer appears to have returned, and Kate is called on to solve the crime.
...more

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Jul 04, 2009

Tattered Cover Book Store added it

Shelves: from-the-indienext-list, jackie-recommends, staff-recommends

Jackie says:

She's a new name in the thriller category, but she fits right in with the heavy hitting veterans who have read a praised her amazing debut. The lead character is unforgettable--Kate Burkholder is the chief of police in the small Ohio town where she grew up, though Kate the child and Kate the woman are vastly different. Violence and trauma took away Kate's young Amish innocence and made her the tough "English" (the term the Amish use for the non-Amish) cop she is...more

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May 29, 2009

Laura rated it

Shelves: spring-thing-2009

This was my Feb LT Early Reviewers win and it arrived in the mail on 3/13. The plot sounded interesting. I like murder mysteries and have recently been reading about the Amish, so having them combined in one plot was promising.[return][return]As I first began the book, I was a little surprised by the language. I have read books before with cursing, so I'm not sure why this caught me. Either I got used to it or it was more appropriately used later in the book because I stopped really noticing.[r...more

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May 13, 2009

Cheryl rated it

Painters Mill, Ohio is a quiet Amish town. People come for the peace and quiet. That is exactly how Chief of Police Kate Burkholder likes it. Unfortunately the quietness is about to be shattered. Deputy T.J. Banks was out trying to corral one of the local farmer's cows when he sees a bloody trail leading him to the naked body of a woman. Her throat has been slashed and she has some Roman numerals craved into her. The last time Kate saw a Roman numeral was sixteen years ago. At that time she had ...more

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Apr 25, 2009

Linda rated it

Shelves: evil, murder, mystery, romantic-suspense, suspense, serial-killers, women-police-officers, amish

Kate Burkholder is police chief in the small town of Painter's Mills, Ohio which is in the heart of Amish country. Kate is the perfect choice for police chief since she was raised Amish, but left the community in her teens to become "English". All is well, until a young woman's body is found dead, raped and horribly mutilated. The crime is reminiscent of a series of murders which took place in the community 16 years ago. The community is terrified, believing the killer is back agai...more

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Dec 19, 2010

Nancy rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

A while ago I placed this book on my Amazon Wishlist. I don't know how it was recommended to me, but probably via Amazon's recommendations.

Being interested in Amish culture and liking a murder mystery once in a while I thought it would be a good match and it was, if what I was looking for was a mindless read. Luckily, that's exactly what I was looking for.

The writing is pretty poor... Castillo latches on to certain phrases and uses them way too frequently... ie. half of the...more

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Nov 16, 2009

Catherine rated it

I thought the book was good. It definitely held my interest and was a page-turner.

Things I didn't like (I'll try to write this without giving anything away): I felt like the reveal of the killer was kind of sudden. In a way that was good because it was unexpected, but it was also a little convenient in my opinion.

I also wish there had been a little more development of Tomasetti's character. He was described early on as a complete basket case, but then for the rest of t...more

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Aug 11, 2009

LeeAnne rated it

Whoa. I started this book yesterday afternoon and finished it today. This is a book that begins with a bang and doesn't let up. The story takes place in the middle of winter in the Amish country of Ohio. The police chief of the town of Painters Mill is young, female and Amish. Or she used to be. When a mutilated body is discovered by one of her police officers, Chief Kate Burkholder must fight her own demons and secrets as she works to find the killer.

While the book is not perfect...more

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About Linda Castillo

New York Times bestselling author Linda Castillo is the recipient of numerous writing awards, including the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence, the Holt Medallion and a nomination for the Rita. She lives in Texas with her husband and is currently at work on her next thriller, also set in Amish Country and featuring Chief of Police Kate Burkholder.

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Sworn to Silence (Kate Burkholder #1)

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