Pray for Silence

April 12, 2010
In this overwrought thriller from Castillo, her second after Sworn to Silence
, someone slaughters all seven members of the Amish Plank family at their home in Painters Mill, Ohio. The bodies of the two teenage daughters show signs of torture. At first, it appears the father, Amos, killed his wife and five children, then shot himself. When clues point to a killer outside the family, Kate Burkholder, the local police chief who left the Amish community decades before, zeroes in on 15-year-old Mary, who may have flirted with the idea of living in the “English” world. Lending a hand is Kate’s on-again/off-again boyfriend, John Tomasetti, an agent suspended from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Identification for failing a recent drug test in the wake of his own family’s murder about two years earlier. Castillo excels at detailing gory crime scenes, but she leaves Kate and John as little more than cookies cut from the same “troubled cop” mold. Author tour.

March 15, 2010
In her second mystery (after "Sworn to Silence"), Castillo brings back Police Chief Kate Burkholder in the town of Painters Mill, OH. Barely recovered from the serial killings of the previous year, the town and its small police department are once again rocked by the unthinkable. Someone has killed an entire Amish family of seven. Horrible as the crime is, what scares Kate is the lack of motive. With the help of her small but capable team and her on again/off again love interest, John Tomasetti, Kate works by trial and error until she finds a key piece of evidence that opens new possibilities. VERDICT Though the violence level is high, the brutality is offset by Kate's and her team's very capable police procedure and investigation. Another solid effort that will appeal to fans of Karin Slaughter and Tami Hoag. [See Prepub Mystery, "LJ" 2/1/09; library marketing; 150,000-copy first printing.]Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L, WI

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2010
Painters Mill is an idyllic small town in Ohios Amish country. But even the most peaceful of landscapes is not immune to violent crime. The second installment in Castillos strong series (after Sworn to Silence, 2009) finds Police Chief Kate Burkholder once again face-to-face with pure evil. This time around its the murder of the Planks, an Amish family who invited trouble when pretty 15-year-old daughter Mary became enamored with a non-Amish man, who seduced her and documented their sexual episodes on tape. The case rattles Burkholder, who left the Amish faith as a teenager after she was raped by an Amish man. Helping her through the stressful investigation is John Tomasetti, a big-city cop battling his own demons (his wife and young daughters were murdered a few years before). The two had a brief affair, but time has passed and both have hesitations about rekindling the romance. They have plenty to distract them as they search for a killer who may have more sinister acts in store. Though the plot fizzles a bit at the end, a unique setting and a very human heroine make this a good recommendation for readers seeking an alternative to the urban whodunit.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

August 30, 2010
The horrific murder of an Amish family rocks the small town of Painters Mill, Ohio, in Castillo’s second thriller featuring Chief of Police Kate Burkholder. A lapsed member of the community herself, Burkholder confronts the life she abandoned many years ago—and its very dark secrets. Castillo builds a fascinating story that delves into a little known universe and populates it with authentic situations and characters. Kathleen McInerney does an excellent job of portraying this diverse cast, especially the Amish, who she instills with a shy, quiet dignity, and she handles the Pennsylvania Dutch language with the ease of a native. Although the brutality in the story can be quite disturbing in places, McInerney’s grounded reading keeps it from feeling gratuitous. A compelling listen, well-written and expertly narrated. A Minotaur hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 12).