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 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, a wealth of experience later, Kate has been asked to return to Painters Mill as Chief of Police. Her Amish roots and big city law enforcement background make her the perfect candidate. She s certain she s come to terms with her past until the first body is discovered in a snowy field. Kate vows to stop the killer before he strikes again. But to do so, she must betray both her family and her Amish past and expose a dark secret that could destroy her.
I certainly wouldn't make as good a detective as Kate Burkholder,`cause even though I saw the picture of this book, with the discs showing, I thought I was getting a book you had to read and not one you had to listen to. When I got it and opened the package, I thought, "My goodness they sent me a "Big Little Book". Have you ever heard of a "Big Little Book"? Now, if you admit that you have, you are going to be telling your age somewhat, because they have not been around for 50-60 years. See, I told you MY age. Only, I'm a bit older than 50-60 years. They were sold at the "Dime" store, and were about 3 inches by 4 inches and quite thick because they told fairly long stories aimed at us "Kids". Well, yeah I was a kid once.
The narrator on this audio book is Kathleen McInerney, and she has more different voices than you can believe. She can't speak in the male lower registers but she does a good job of sounding mannish, imitating the gruffness of a Clint Eastwood. There is a Clint Eastwood type character in this story, who has been sent from a state agency to help the Chief of Police, Kate Burkholder, our heroine. She was born to an Amish family, but because of a traumatic sexual experience she left the Amish Church and learned to live outside that sect, with the "English" as all non Amish are called. She works her way through college and becomes a police woman. The City of Painters Mill asks her to take the job of police and she accepts.
There is a deep dark secret in her Amish past, however, and in the process of trying to solve some gruesome murders in and around the Painters Mill area she is very close to having the past exposed. It's quite exciting and intriguing the way author Linda Castillo works through the story. It's a bit on the gruesome side and I wonder how a nice girl like Linda can come up with her ideas, but she does, and it is very entertaining.
I think you will get a kick out of this Audio Book......Richard.
"Sworn to Silence" is not a great book by any means. You've read this story a million times before: brutal murder, cops in small town trying to solve it, a dark secret, yadda-yadda-yadda. The author sticks to the conventions of the genre pretty closely.
On the negative side, I thought the descriptions of violence/torture were excessive. "Her naked body lay in a pool of her own urine" kind of stuff.
Yuck.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of long, detailed passages about how someone was sexually and physically abused. But, that's just me.
The one redeeming thing about this story is the fact that the murder is connected to an Amish community and the lead detective was, herself, once a member of that community. Those parts were interesting. Frankly, I would have liked more insights into the Amish community and less blood.
The reader, Kathleen McInerney, does a wonderful job. She doesn't over-act, as so many readers do. The voices are distinct but not exaggerated. Frankly, I was more impressed with the reader than with the story being told.
Overall, this may be a good audio-book to get from the library, but not to buy, and not if you are at all sensitive to gratuitous torture scenes.
If you like the "Jesse Stone" novels/movies (starring Tom Selleck), then you will like this book. It is relatively well written with just a few minor flaws. The narration in the CD version is very good making you feel and see what the main character is experiencing. The story is about a Chief of Police, in a small quiet town, with murders to solve and dealing her own past to help her solve them. Overall I would recommend reading/listening to this book, just do it for the entertainment value, not literary perfection.
