Pray for Silence: A Thriller (Kate Burkholder) [Hardcover]

Linda Castillo (Author)

Book Description

Series: Kate Burkholder | Publication Date: June 22, 2010

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 found slaughtered on their farm.  Police Chief Kate Burkholder and her small force have few clues, no motive, and no suspect.  Formerly Amish herself, Kate is no stranger to the secrets the Amish keep from the English—and each other—but this crime is horribly out of the ordinary.

            State agent John Tomasetti arrives on the scene to assist.  He and Kate worked together on a previous case during which they began a volatile relationship.  They soon realize the disturbing details of this case will test their emotional limits and force them to face demons from their own troubled pasts—and for Kate, a personal connection that is particularly hard to bear.

            When she discovers a diary that belonged to one of the teenaged daughters, Kate is shocked to learn the girl kept some very dark secrets and may have been living a lurid double life.  Who is the charismatic stranger who stole the young Amish girl’s heart? Could the brother—a man with a violent past, rejected and shunned by his family and the Amish community, have come to seek out revenge?  As Kate’s outrage grows so does her resolve to find the killer and bring him to justice—even if it means putting herself in the line of fire.

            Topping her own bestselling debut, Linda Castillo once again immerses us in the world of the Amish with a chilling story that is both a fast-paced thriller and intriguing psychological puzzle.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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. (June)
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From Booklist

Painters Mill is an idyllic small town in Ohio’s Amish country. But even the most peaceful of landscapes is not immune to violent crime. The second installment in Castillo’s strong series (after Sworn to Silence, 2009) finds Police Chief Kate Burkholder once again face-to-face with pure evil. This time around it’s 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. --Allison Block

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1 edition (June 22, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312374984
• ISBN-13: 978-0312374983
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (115 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Linda Castillo lives in Texas with her husband and is currently at work on her next thriller set in Amish Country and featuring Chief of Police Kate Burkholder. Her first novel in the series, Sworn to Silence, was a New York Times bestseller.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pray for Silence, April 24, 2010

By 

Amy Y. "Tell me, what is it you plan to do wi... (FREMONT, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Pray for Silence: A Thriller (Kate Burkholder) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

A family is discovered murdered in their home. This isn't just any brutal murder, either- a family of seven, Amish, bound and slaughtered. Sound pretty gruesome? It is. Kate Burkholder is the chief of police in the small town of Painters Mill. Formerly Amish, Burkholder finds the crime shocking and is immediately thrust into the center of a tornado of questions. Trying to find answers, Burkholder must confront her own past and penetrate the tightly-knit Amish community who distrust the 'English', as they call outsiders in a town uneasily divided along the lines of faith and culture.

For me, this was a terrific and entertaining read. I wish I had known that Castillo had written a previous book before reading this but so it goes. The depiction of the crime scene is very graphic- so take note, if that sort of thing is disturbing, you may not enjoy this book so much. I did not, however, feel like the violence portrayed was gratuitous. The author is portraying a horrific crime and the degree of violence and horror of the initial crime scene are necessary to set up the ensuing tension of the thriller.

I'm not generally a big murder mystery reader but I really enjoyed this. I loved the interesting perspective the Amish community brings to the story. The suspense is good and there is a romantic element to the story, as well.

Castillo does a great job with her characterization. She really breathes life into her supporting cast, not just the protagonist. I'm a little divided on the fact that she writes from a first-person perspective in some chapters and in third-person for others. I find it a little distracting in how the book flows.

The writing is decent and doesn't get in the way of the story. I was reading in the living room while my kids and hubby watched t.v.. I can't always do that- if a book doesn't have a firm hold on me, I will eventually be distracted by the tv-- not so with this book!

If you like a good thriller, a quick read and think you will enjoy the small-town-cop/Amish perspective- you will really like this book. Again, some pretty violent descriptions surrounding the crime scene which might ruin the book for some.

Castillo is def. going on my list of authors to follow as I really enjoyed this book, I will look forward to reading more of her work.

32 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Why does Kate Burkholder still have a job?, July 5, 2010

By 

A. Grace (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Pray for Silence: A Thriller (Kate Burkholder) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

In Ohio's Amish country, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder encounters the grisly murder of an entire Amish family. Her investigation is aided by sort-of-love-interest BCI agent John Tomasetti. Was Amish teenager Mary Plank living a double life, and did her secrets get her family killed? The discovery of the victim's diary might provide the answers. This novel's plot and unusual (though not fully accurate) setting held my interest, but repetitious prose and two over-emotional protagonists undermined a story I might have otherwise enjoyed.

The repetition became most irritating in regard to Kate's emotions. Over and over, she tells the reader that this case is "the kind of scene that affects even the most hard-nosed of cops" (p. 34), that "some crimes are simply too terrible for the eyes to behold" (p. 36), that she "can't imagine the horrors these girls must have endured" (p. 37). On and on the melodramatic inner monologue continues--throughout the entire book. Often, Kate expounds in full paragraphs that the horrible awfulness of working this crime is harder on her than anyone else, due to her past as a formerly Amish teenager and as a crime victim herself. By 100 pages into the book, I could hardly ask "whodunit" anymore, because I was asking other, more irritated questions: did the author think her readers would forget that Kate used to be Amish, even after reminding us (for the twentieth time) less than ten pages ago? Did the author think the best way to elicit my sympathy for her character was for Kate to *tell* me her angst instead of the author *showing* me? Did no one edit this book?

Still, let's say the book had been edited to about 75% of its current length. That wouldn't fix the two protagonists, who can't seem to behave objectively even at the risk of their case. First, we have Kate's overreaction to just about everything. A belligerent suspect calls her a dirty name, so she hits him with her nightstick. A suspect flees through a cornfield, so she chases him blindly and without backup. And what was she doing at the crime scene alone in the first place? She's had a long day, so she goes to the bar *in uniform* and gets "alcohol-fuzzed." Bait is required, so she sets herself up to be utterly alone when the suspect takes said bait. Not to mention she gets choked up and/or just breaks down crying often enough during the book that when she breaks down in the final scene, there's nothing left for the reader to feel.

Then there's Tomasetti. I wanted to feel for him, the Controlled Cop Brooding Over Dark Past. But come on. The guy's on mandatory leave pending psych evaluation for failing a drug test, yet he shows up in Kate's town to assist her investigation, because he "needs to work." Worse, he doesn't tell her at first that he's there unofficially. Worst, when Kate finds out, there's no confrontation. No, "What is wrong with you, my case could be completely screwed!" Nope. They keep working together. She "understands" his need to be in the field. Well, how nice, but every interview he's been on and every piece of evidence he's touched are inadmissible, so good luck stopping your bad guy. And of course, they also spend a night together, because nothing says "focused on the case" like sleeping with your colleague. Most annoyingly, none of these lapses in judgment have any consequences.

I won't be coming back for more from Linda Castillo. Her prose repeats itself like a first draft. Her characters' behavior and therefore her plot ignore realism in favor of drama. Ultimately, the only thing I felt while reading PRAY FOR SILENCE was frustration.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent Follow Up Novel, May 14, 2010

By 

Graboidz (Westminster, Maryland) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Pray for Silence: A Thriller (Kate Burkholder) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

I loved Linda Castillo's "Sworn to Silence" and the way she introduced Police Cheif Kate Burkholder, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on the follow up novel "Pray for Silence".

The good news is that if you liked the first novel, you'll most likely enjoy this second offering too. All of the elements found in the first book make a return appearance, the sleepy little town of Painters Mill pops off the pages, and the population of that small town come alive with Castillo's writing. The dynamic between the Amish and the "English" is once again the backbone of this story, and once again the reader gets drawn into the fascinating world of Amish farm life. And once again, Cheif Burkholder must confront the demons of her past when trying to solve the brutal murder of an entire Amish family.

I really do like Linda Castillo's writing style, and the brutal crimes in "Pray for Silence" will make even the most avid genre reader flinch while reading. This is definately not a book for the squeamish as Castillo visits some pretty nasty corners of Painters Mill.

While I don't think "Pray for Silence" was as nailbiting as "Sworn..." it's still a great read, and Cheif Burkholder is one of the best new characters to hit crime fiction in years. If you haven't discovered this series...do yourself a favor and pick up both Burkholder books.