Sworn to Silence (Kate Burkholder #1) by Linda Castillo (Author), Kathleen McInerney (Narrator)Police chief, Kate Burkholder, has a big secret and it's coming back to haunt her. Sixteen years ago, she thought her actions had stopped a serial killer but now there are killings that mimic those of the serial killer of her past. Kate was just fourteen years old her her parents led the family down the path of not telling anyone what had happened. That silence hurt Kate but to open up now could ruin h...

This is a Amish Thriller, and this is the first book in the Kate Burkholder series. This thriller is fast pace and beautifully written. This is not like a normal Amish book, but I love it so much. In this series we follow Kate who grow up Amish, but she never became part of the Amish church when she became an adult. She now lives in the English world, and she is the police Chief where she grow up. She deals with the Amish and the English world. The Thriller/Mystery parts of this book is so great...

This was such a good read. Lately I have been struggling to find a good crime thriller book that keeps me guessing and really in suspense. I'm really glad I stumbled across this one. The pace is fast and there is a lot of suspense. I found the book very difficult to put down. I really liked the main character, Chief Kate Burkholder. She is a strong, independent woman with an Amish background. I enjoyed learning a little bit about the Amish way of life and thought it clever how the author worked

Book 1 in the Kate Burkholder series published 2009.Why, I ask myself, has it taken me so long to get to Linda Castillo’s work.What a bottler of a story. ‘Page turner’ is a well worn cliché but this truly is one. The two main protagonists ‘Kate Burkholder and John Tomasetti’ are police officers with secrets, not just your run of the mill secrets but life changing secrets, secrets so deeply hidden that even they have trouble believing them. Kate is the chief of police in a small rural town of Pai...

This is the first book in the Kate Burkholder Series and Ijust loved it. One of the many reasons that I loved it so much is that I live in the Columbus, Ohio area where some of the setting is taken place. Kate is an eight year veteran for the Columbus, Ohio Police Force, who returns to her home where she grew up in Painters Mill,Ohio, where I have visited several times. She becomes Police Chiefthere. She knows the Amish town and residents very well. Since she left the Amish way of life, she is n...

I really was just being generous here with the three stars because I really had to drag myself through this book. It wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. The writing was mediocre and I couldn't bring myself to like any of the characters. I literally figured out the plot line in the beginning and the view point changes were annoying and unnecessary. I know it's a genre books but it was just so derivative of every other mystery book I've read, there was nothing original or good about it. You can'...

4 Stars When a Serial Killer reappears in the quiet town of Painters Mill, Ohio - it’s Chief of Police Kate Burkholder who is determined to find him and bring him to justice. After all, for Kate, this is personal. This is not the first time a Serial Killer materialized in this sleepy town. Sixteen years ago, The Slaughterhouse Killer took the lives of several women and almost killed another one, before she got free. That experience has stayed with her forever. Kate Burkholder, was once of the A...

A solid 4 starsThis is book 1 in the series about a small town Ohio police chief in Amish country. Kate Burkholder was raised Amish, but left the community and became a police officer in Columbus, Ohio. She has returned as chief, hired because of her Amish background. The book opens with a gruesome torture/murder scene. It reminded me of the opening scene in the tv show Criminal Minds. When the body is discovered, there is a Roman numeral carved on the body, the same as a series of serial murder...

“I think most sociopaths are born, not made. Very few are created by life events.” – Kate Burkholder, Chief of PoliceIt’s a dark, quiet morning, the kind I usually relish while drinking a hot cup of coffee at my kitchen table with warm puppies at my feet. Today, I shiver in my onesie while I wait for my pot of coffee to brew. I’m facing the kitchen window that looks onto the otherwise idyllic, peaceful neighborhood, and thinking about the book I finished reading the day before. I wonder if someo...

New author to me and I enjoyed it very much! The main character, Kate Burkholder, was interesting and likeable. She made mistakes but persevered and eventually got her man. The story was excellent, lots of really gross murders, lots of police work and then a great twist at the end. I was just beginning to wonder if it could be a certain person when it turned out to be so. I also very much enjoyed the Amish angle to the plot. It added an extra something to the whole and I learned a little about t...

Painters Mill, Ohio Police Chief Kate Burkholder is suddenly faced with what looks like the re-emergence of a serial killer who hadn't struck in the last 16 years. The killer's signature is to leave Roman numerals carved on the murdered victim. Kate's conflicted as she's harboring a secret that relates directly to the case. Painters Mill is a town where the Amish and "English" have coexisted for years. Kate straddles both cultures as she was raised Amish but left when she was a teenager. I've ha...

What would I do without the thrillers my aunt borrows me to read? XDI guess this was just an okay read for me and I liked it enough to continue to read it until the end.I think it's safe to say that my time on goodreads made me picky when it comes to books and in earlier days I probably would have given this four stars. Now? Not so much. >_<I just don't understand why the tough, solitary heroine always has to have a love interest. And then it's always so insta-lovey that I can't help but rol...

A great crime thriller.I started with book 8, Among the Wicked, and have to start from the beginning. My new favorite series.

This book hooked me in the prologue and did not let go until the very last page. Whew!!!!! Easily a 5 star rating from me and tied for first place (with S.J. Bolton's Now You See Me) as my favorite read (of 45 books) in the last 12 months. Honestly, I cannot recall the last time a book pulled me in so deep that there was not a single break in my attention. Cover to cover immersion. Ms. Castillo has a number of romances/romantic suspense novels under her belt. Sworn to Silence, I believe, is her

Solid first book in a new-to-me mystery series. I’ve always found the Amish community fascinating— although I’ve never personally met anyone Amish. As someone who ended up settling in Ohio, I’ve driven thru countless Amish areas. I’ve visited my share of Amish tourist traps and love an occasional Amish baked delight or recipe!Not only did I like the former Amish Chief Kate Burkholder but I think she did a great job of mixing an evil crime with a pastoral and bucolic fictional town in Ohio. Looki...

Posted to The Literary Lawyer.ca A Chilling Tale in a Beautiful Place - 4.5 Stars I am going to start this review with a confession. For reasons now lost to the ravages of time, I long had a prejudice against female authors. My impression was that books by female authors would be sappy, romantic, emotional or uninteresting. I went to university, got married and had two girls. Once the I got the aforementioned out of the way, I got back into reading and asked myself why it was I didn't read b...

When you go to work and can't concentrate because a book you left at home keeps calling your name-shows a great book! That's exactly what happened to me with this book.

"Sworn to Silence" by Linda Castillo is the first book in the Kate Burkholder series. After reading two recent novels in the series that I won through Goodreads Giveaway, I was so impressed with the writing , I went and ordered all her other books in the series. This is the review of her first novel, a gripping,tense story of a sexual serial killer in Painters Mill in Ohio, home of the Amish community. I am now hooked on the series.After sixteen years, it appears that a serial murderer is back,