Review: Sworn to Silence

St. Martin's Minotaur Books published a genuine gem with Linda Castillo's Sworn to Silence. Castillo has an impressive resume, having published over two dozen books and winning numerous awards, including the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence, the Holt Medallion and a nomination for the Rita.

Painters Mill, Ohio is the Amish community that serves as the backdrop for a mystery that intertwines the lives of the Amish and the English, the past and the present, and the simple and the unfathomable. Kate Burkholder, current Chief of Police and former resident of Painters Mill, returns to the town she escaped from sixteen years earlier. The idyllic community has a past riddled with secrets. Those secrets return with Kate, to haunt and taunt the entire community. Women disappear, the town is in chaos, all while Kate is struggling with her own skeletons. Small town politics, personal demons and a sadistic killer explode in a captivating thriller with more twists and turns than old country road.

Sworn to Silence is one of the best mysteries I have read in long time. All too often, I find that authors give away far too many clues far too early, rendering the reveal anti-climatic. Castillo perfectly advances the story line so that the resolution is both stunning and unexpected. Each character is flawlessly developed, as is the relationships and interactions between them. Fans of Stephanie Plum and Regan Reilly will relate to Kate Burkholder.

Read an except at the author's website, www.LindaCastillo.com

Sworn to Silence
Linda Castillo
Fiction-Mystery & Thriller
St. Martin's Minotaur
ISBN-10: 0312374976
ISBN-13: 978-0312374976
336 pages
$24.95
Hardcover-Available June 23, 2009
Rating: Unforgettable