Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Pray for Silence: A Kate Burkholder Novel
    Pray for Silence: A Kate Burkholder Novel
    Pray for Silence: A Kate Burkholder Novel
    Audiobook11 hours

    Pray for Silence: A Kate Burkholder Novel

    Written by Linda Castillo

    Narrated by Kathleen McInerney

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The New York Times bestselling author of Sworn to Silence delivers an electrifying thriller—Chief of Police Kate Burkholder must confront a dark evil to solve the mysterious murders of an entire Amish family

    In the quiet town of Painters Mill, an Amish family of seven has been found brutally murdered on their farm. Chief of Police Kate Burkholder and her small force have few clues, no motive, and no suspect. Formerly Amish herself, Kate is no stranger to secrets, but she can't get her mind around the senseless brutality of the crime.

    State agent John Tomasseti arrives on the scene to assist. He and Kate worked together on a previous case during which they began a tentative relationship, but each is wary of commitment. The disturbing details of this case will push them to their limits and force them to face demons from their own troubled pasts.

    When Kate discovers a diary, she realizes a haunting personal connection to the case. One of the teenage daughters may have been leading a lurid double life. As the case develops, Kate's list of suspects grows. Who is the attractive stranger that stole the heart of the innocent young Amish girl? Did her estranged brother—a man with a violent past who was shunned by his family and the Amish community—come back to seek out revenge? Driven by her own scarred past, Kate swears she'll 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 readers in the world of the Amish with a chilling story that is both a fast-paced thriller and compelling psychological puzzle.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJun 22, 2010
    ISBN9781427209726
    Pray for Silence: A Kate Burkholder Novel
    Author

    Linda Castillo

    Bestselling author Linda Castillo knew at a young age that she wanted to be a writer and penned her first novel when she was thirteen. In her spare time, Linda enjoys reading, showing horses and barrel racing. Her first three novels featuring Kate Burkholder are Sworn to Silence, Pray for Silence and Breaking Silence.

    More audiobooks from Linda Castillo

    Related to Pray for Silence

    Titles in the series (24)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    Police Procedural For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Emperors of Existence

      Dec 28, 2018

      The Emperors of Existence
      9 min read

    • Article

      Show Stoppers

      Sep 19, 2019

      ONE late afternoon in August I popped into the 105th Gilsland Agricultural Show with The Media Queen and Mouse, her Scottish deerhound. Nearby Gilsland was popularised by Sir Walter Scott who arrived in 1797 in search of a wife and found one. As a re

      3 min read

    • Article

      Crime Wave

      May 10, 2019

      Crime Wave
      13 min read

    • Article

      Murder Most Fowl

      Mar 12, 2023

      Murder Most Fowl
      2 min read

    • Article

      Running Away

      Feb 22, 2021

      Leaving London behind her, Millie drove faster, picturing thousands of crazed fans in pursuit, desperate for what – a lock of her hair? Or Julian; except after the last gig, somehow she knew he wouldn’t follow. She knew from bitter experience that di

      5 min read

    • Article

      Speedboat

      Mar 24, 2022

      Nobody died that year. Nobody prospered. There were no births or marriages. Seventeen reverent satires were written – disrupting a cliché and, presumably, creating a genre. That was a dream, of course, but many of the most important things, I fi nd,

      14 min read

    • Article

      Nugrybauti

      Apr 24, 2019

      Nugrybauti
      8 min read

    • Article

      A Lost Prayer

      Feb 2, 2023

      A Lost Prayer
      10 min read

    • Article

      Cherubs

      Jul 5, 2023

      Cherubs
      10 min read

    • Article

      Forever 19

      Jun 16, 2022

      Packing the car to the brim, I held my breath as the boot finally closed. ‘Let’s go on holiday!’ I shouted, as my hubby Dexter, now 53, and daughter Michelle, now 40, buckled themselves in. With my son James and grandson Liam gurgling in their baby s

      5 min read

    • Article

      Excerpts From The Works Of The 2024 Whiting Award Winners

      Apr 10, 2024

      The 2024 Whiting Award winners were announced Wednesday night. Below are excerpts from their work.

      19 min read

    • Article

      Woooooo! Reed

      Mar 10, 2022

      MOST OF US think nothing of going to our garden shed, whether it’s to get the lawn mower, to store some tins of paint, or sit and read a few magazines away from the wife. But for Tipton man Jeremy Binlid, every visit is a ‘walk on the wild side’ beca

      2 min read

    • Article

      Too BAD

      Aug 30, 2022

      Too BAD
      6 min read

    • Article

      Let’s Say

      Oct 7, 2022

      I magine a sticky, early August morning, around three o’clock. It is dark, the moon blocked by clouds, no streetlights, a siren in the distance, medics running to a heart attack. Imagine a man out on a bike or walking a sick dog, or maybe a woman who

      10 min read

    • Article

      THE DUKE OF Edinbrough Hotel

      Nov 13, 2019

      THE DUKE OF Edinbrough Hotel
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Barn Door

      Sep 2, 2021

      Dusk looms over a small meadow in middle-of-nowhere Cheshire. It’s a still summer evening, silent except for the occasional car trundling up the road that borders the farm. These fields haven’t seen livestock for years, and docks and buttercup stems

      2 min read

    • Article

      They Got Their Show

      Aug 10, 2021

      It is midnight in Ponderosa and Nick Velasquez can’t sleep. The public doesn’t want him to sleep. It’s been like this ever since it hit all the big streaming platforms. The viewers stay up bingeing and he… well, he has been bingeing in his own way. W

      14 min read

    • Article

      Sirens

      Jul 27, 2020

      Sirens
      19 min read

    • Article

      Epithalamium

      Jun 1, 2023

      Epithalamium
      16 min read

    • Article

      Stonehenge

      Jul 11, 2023

      Stonehenge
      7 min read

    • Article

      Gone In 13 Seconds

      Sep 15, 2022

      Gone In 13 Seconds
      5 min read

    • Article

      Last Saturday Night

      Dec 7, 2023

      Last Saturday Night
      6 min read

    • Article

      “Really?”

      Jun 2, 2022

      “Really?”
      6 min read

    • Article

      Royal Hotel, Mt Hope

      Nov 14, 2018

      Royal Hotel, Mt Hope
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Pray for Silence

    4/5

    487 ratings67 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      3.5Interesting cultural profiles but buyer beware...quite violent.Extremely traumatic contrast between the simplicity and violence.I will try another Kate Burkholder.
    • 4/5
      Book Description
      One family. One horrific murder. An entire town under suspicion…

      The Planks moved from Lancaster County Pennsylvania to the small Amish community of Painters Mill, hoping to resume the comforts of the Plain Life in Ohio. Less than one year later, the family of seven is found dead—slaughtered on their own farm.

      “Shades of In Cold Blood . . . Another chilling thriller.”—People magazine

      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 their “English” neighbors—and each other. When the diary belonging to the rebellious teenager Mary Plank turns up, Kate is surprised to find not only a kindred spirit but a murder suspect: the charismatic stranger who stole Mary’s heart.

      “Violent and earthy, and completely impossible to put down.”—BookPage

      Then there’s Mary’s brother, Aaron. Shunned by his family and the rest of the Amish community, could he have returned to seek revenge? Now it’s up to Kate to search for some dark truths about the Planks—and confront long-buried secrets of her own. As Kate’s obsession with the case grows so does her resolve to bring the killer to justice—even if it means putting herself into the line of fire .

      My Review
      This series continues to be very interesting. Enjoyed learning more about Kate's secrets and her relationship with Tomaselli. The murders were gruesome but bearable to read as long as you don't dwell on what happened. There are good twists and turns and holds your interest right to the end! Great series and I will read on!
    • 3/5
      Crime - 5 stars (horrific, detailed, sad, but definitely needed that for the story)
      Police Procedural - 2 (many things they did was not accurate)
      Writing - 1 (too repetitive)
    • 4/5
      If you haven't read the first Kate Burkholder book yet, STOP right now and read it (Sworn to Silence) before you read Pray for Silence. There's just too much background on Kate and her liason/lover, Tomasetti, that you need to know before you read this one. That would be a complaint for readers just stepping into the series: though it's critical to the first book and explored in detail there, a trauma from Kate's past is often alluded to but never really spelled out in this second book. It would leave first-time readers scratching their heads at several points in the book, wondering just what it was that they'd missed. I *highly* recommend reading these books in order.That said: This is a follow-up to an explosive debut that featured a ruthless serial killer, which was a tough act to follow. Castillo goes about it by throwing us right into the scene of the slaughter of an Amish family of seven in the tiny town of Painters Mill, the partly-Amish and partly-"English" town where Kate Burkholder, formerly Amish herself, is chief of police. This is a high-on-suspense novel, but it's not the forensic-CSI fare you get a lot of these days. It's still very much a police procedural, though. Kate enlists the help of her small crew of officers-- who don't get fleshed out quite as much in this novel as they did in the previous one, which is too bad, because they're a likeable crew, especially Glock and night-shift dispatcher Mona-- and BCI agent and part-time lover (another thing you need to have read the previous novel to have a handle on) John Tomasetti (whose background and self-destructive habits are explained, yet again, in the first novel). There's much more of the Amish element to this novel than to the previous one, because all the victims were Amish (Kate's family, however, doesn't make an appearance this time). Pennsylvania Dutch dialect is sprinkled through the text at such a rate that you feel that Castillo was able to afford a translator this time around and took full advantage of it; it adds authenticity, but it can also come off feeling forced and unneccessary (there's one whole prayer spoken in the dialect, which comes off as being show-offy).You really do get close to the main victim, the teenaged Mary Plank. Her journal entries are well-written and come off as candid, naive teenage confessions. Her voice is authentic. All the small personal details you learn about her, a person who never appears "live" in the book, make for an excellent little portrait of the victim, well-rendered. Castillo makes use of the girl's voice and of small details about her to create a victim who is very real, whose suffering you become emotionally invested in.A little complaint about narrative voice, which a previous reviewer has noted as well: the book shifts between first and third person perspective. Perhaps this would not be quite so jarring if the tense didn't change as well, but all the first-person dialoge is in present tense and the third-person dialoge is in past tense. Maybe it sounds like I'm quibbling, but it is distracting to make the jump between the two. The transitions just aren't smooth.So: I think we could have used at least some paragraphs of overview of Kate's past trauma, because it's integral to why she connects on a personal level with the victim. Plus, it would be confusing for first-time readers. And I wish there had been more interaction with the other cops. Sure, the relationship with Tomasetti is the key one, but I don't want to overlook the whole crew of supporting characters; you need a full cast to get the most out of a novel. And the mystery here is perhaps not so mysterious as it could be; it's not too hard to figure out who's responsible (though we're left with plenty of unanswered questions). Still, Castillo's debut set the bar high, and it was a tough act to follow; she did so overall respectably. Amish country is an intriguing place to be, Kate Burkholder is an interesting and sympathetic character (no pushover, certainly), and I'm always up for a police procedural. And it's nice to have a change of pace from the CSI, all-forensics novels that litter the landscape these days in favor of something more character-driven.In conclusion, a spoiler that's a complaint: WHY did Kate put herself in the helpless-female position at the end of the novel? Why use the contrived device of setting up a trap like that? It was just asking for Kate to be rendered helpless and to be rescued by Tomasetti. Predictable!
    • 4/5
      From the book jacket: 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.My reactionsThis is book two in the Kate Burkholder series, set in an Ohio county with significant Amish population. The differences between the Amish and the “English” make it difficult for the police, though Kate’s background does at least give her fluency in the particular German dialect spoken by the Amish. She’s assisted in this case by state agent John Tomasetti. There’s a complicated relationship between these two, and both are suffering from past trauma and loss. This case brings many of their worst nightmares into the forefront and tests both their professional and personal relationships. Kate also has several good, experienced, and highly competent cops on her team. I particularly loved the description of Officer Roland “Pickles” Shumaker: Wearing his trademark trench coat and pointy-toed cowboy boots, he looks like he’s just stepped off the set of some nuevo spaghetti western. He’s seventy-four years old, acts like he’s twenty-tow, and doesn’t look a day over eighty.I love murder mysteries that feature strong female leads, and I look forward to reading more of this series. But I feel I should offer a bit of a trigger warning: I enjoy reading about the investigation, including the gruesome details of the murders and the forensic clues that help lead to solving the crime. Castillo does a great job of giving fans of the genre such as me what we like about murder mysteries. But … this is a very violent crime with some very disturbing discoveries about the victims and the perpetrators. Descriptions of the crimes include torture, sex trafficking, mutilation of the corpse, child pornography, and “snuff” films.
    • 5/5
      I skipped the first book in this series and jumped in here, wondering how much violence could happen to an Amish community that warrants so many books in this series, but time will tell. In terms of this book, a really strong police procedural and thriller, though I think I had a strong sense of the killer before the police did. Even with that, there were some interesting twists and turns and definitely a good read. Already have the 3rd book on my hold list and may eventually go back and read that first one -- which many labled as overly violent.
    • 3/5
      Perfectly acceptable thriller. However, Kate Burkholder is not growing on me -- from her tendency to police with her fists, to her complete lack of regard for chain of evidence, to her constant, grating neediness and alcoholic self-medication, to her stupid, stupid plans, I begin to find her deeply irritating. I suppose I might pick one of these up in the future, when I'm in the mood for mindless violence and helpless protagonists, but it won't be soon.
    • 4/5
      Kate Burkholder is Chief of Police in Painters Mill, in Ohio’s Amish Country. Kate herself left the order at 17 and later began a career in law enforcement. She is uniquely suited to her position, since she is (mostly) able to bridge the cultural divide between Amish and English. But when an entire Amish family is brutally murdered, Kate can barely hold herself together let alone investigate the crime.This was a really good second book in the series. Linda Castillo’s portrayal of the Amish community is sensitive and well researched. The crime investigation and personal story were balanced just right, and I enjoyed the development of Kate’s character and her relationship with John Thomasetti from the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation. I’ll be back for more soon ...
    • 4/5
      Chief Kate Burkholder is called to the Plank farm where she finds the entire Amish family of seven murdered. Who would commit such an act in small Painters Mill and why? Kate has little to go on. So is this an act of a serial killer from the outside this small community or has some town member done the unthinkable? Kate enlists the help of her friend John Tomasetti from the Ohio BCI but will that be enough help to solve the case? One drawback for me is the graphic description of the killing & torture of the two murdered girls. This is still a good read.
    • 5/5
      The is the second book in the series. After the first book, I wondered if the author could create a murder worst than the first book. I feel that she did. The murder was bad, the scenario had some heinous acts.

      With that being said, I loved this book. Everything flowed wonderfully and she expanded more on Kate's back story. I still love the main character and all the surrounding characters.

      The romance is moving at a good pace with Kate and Tomasetti. I like that, it feels naturally and not rushed. I can't wait to see the continuing buildup between them.

      Overall I loved the book and was able to get through it fast. I would recommend this series to people.

      Now I'm on to read the third book in the series.
    • 3/5
      I really enjoyed the characters and setting of the first book of this series, Sworn to Silence, so I quickly picked up the second book. Painter’s Mill, Ohio is the home to both Amish and “English”. Kate Burkholder straddles both communities. She grew up Amish, but refused to commit to their way of life. She returned to her hometown as the Chief of Police and, though not welcomed by the Amish, she has their trust in a way that an English police officer wouldn’t. When a horrifying murder happens to a local Amish family, Kate is determined to find the killer.

      I listened to this book and in many places I wished there was a way I could skim some of the gruesome descriptions of the murder scene. As much as I enjoyed the first book I was so annoyed at Kate in this one. I can't believe her actions would result in anything other than her being fired or possibly even jailed. It was also very repetitive and the killer and his motives were easy to guess, unlike the killer in Sworn to Silence.

      That being said, I still enjoyed the book and most of the characters. I'll definitely read the third book in the series, Breaking Silence, and hope the Kate character doesn't irritate me so much.

    • 5/5
      In the quiet Amish community, the violent murders of an entire family is the last thing you would expect. But when the bodies of seven members of an Amish family are found, Kate and her entire force will not rest until the perpetrator or perpetrators are found and brought to justice. Because of the peculiar circumstances, this case hits Kate hard. She also is concerned about the effect working on this case will have on her detective friend Tomasseti when she asks for his help. Painstaking police work and Kate’s intuition are not always in agreement, and when others believe the case is solved, she is not so sure. Though quite graphic in content, the well-written characters and intricate plot make this fast-paced story a great read.
    • 3/5
      When a mass murderer kills an entire family in horrendous fashion, Police Chief Kate Burkholder finds herself identifying with daughter Mary. As the investigation progresses, Kate uncovers a motive with ties to pornographic films. Tomasetti who failed a drug test some months ago is finally placed on leave with therapy required. Still he finds a way to help in the investigation. The characters in Kate's small force develop more in this installment. Kate's relationship with Tomasetti seemed a bit forced in this installment. The crimes, recorded in gruesome detail, the direction the investigation takes, and the action's climax require a reader who can stomach the graphic descriptions. While it was beyond my comfort level, I still enjoyed some of the novel. The series verdict remains in question. I'm not sure I will continue to read the series if all installments are as violent and graphic as this one. I listened to the audio version. The narrator did a good job.
    • 4/5
      Police Chief Kate Burkholder and her small force investigate the grisly murders of a seven member Amish farm family in the small town of Painters Mill, Pa. Kate had grown up in the Amish community herself and when she finds the diary of a rebellious teenage daughter she is reminded of her own troubled youth. In the girl's hidden diary there are secrets that indicate a stunning level of evil in Painters Mill. This is the second of the Kate Burkholder series and although I liked the first (Pray for Silence) I thought the relationship between Kate and her love interest was rather juvenile. In Silence, the relationship is more mature and believable. While there is some repetition and the murder scene is unnecessarily detailed, the setting in the Amish community and Kate's knowledge of it gives the plot strength and interest.
    • 5/5
      Pray for Silence
      5 Stars

      Painter’s Mill Chief of Police, Kate Burkholder, is called to a horrific crime scene at the Plank farm where the entire family has been brutally murdered. As the Planks secrets slowly come to light, Kate uncovers a depraved web of evil that threatens the peace and tranquility of her supposedly innocent small town.

      Intense from the very first with a crime that is both heartbreaking and sickening.
      ***Warning:*** The descriptions of the crimes are dark, disturbing and even stomach churning.

      The villain is an exceedingly cold-blooded and twisted sociopath. The suspect pool is varied, and even though some are obviously red herrings, it is still difficult to narrow down the focus despite the obvious motive and clues that lean in a particular direction. In this respect, Castillo’s writing and plotting is excellent as she keeps you guessing right up until the end. Nevertheless, I did manage to figure out most of it - I had the right suspects but the wrong hierarchy.

      Kate’s relationship with state agent John Tomasetti is very complex. Although they are open and honest with one another about their personal issues and conflicted feelings, they are wary of taking things to the next, emotional level. It will be interesting to see where this goes as they both desperately deserve to be happy.

      All in all, an excellently paced story with a hard pounding climax and satisfying resolution. Kathleen McInerny’s narration is gripping and the last 2 hours had me on the edge of my seat.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as the first book. Very repetitive and tedious as she relives her past over and over again.
    • 4/5
      Well written crime thriller, although I'd forgotten how disturbing Castillo writes about the crimes. This one involved the murder of an entire Amish family (including children,so be warned). I will continue to read the series however, since I can skip over the disturbing parts. And I enjoy the lead characters and their problems and struggles.
    • 4/5
      The second book in the Kate Burkholder series by Linda Castillo, Pray for Silence opens with one of Painter’s Mills' deputies discovering multiple deaths at an Amish farm. Seven people are dead – the father (with a gun in his hand) and his 2 sons in the house, the mother clutching an infant dead in the yard and the 2 teenage daughters tortured and killed in the barn. At first, the scene looks like a case of murder-suicide – but is it? As Chief of Police Kate Burkholder and her team work the scene, many things just don’t add up.Chief of Police Kate Burkholder and her team work with scene with the help of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. With so many victims and the conflicting evidence, the local police immediately bring in the state investigators. John Tomasetti – Kate’s occasional lover - arrives along with the BCI team. Unknown to Kate, John has his own issues that he is dealing with – both personally and professionally. Kate and John travel down a dark, twisted path as they work to solve this crime.Definitely a good read and one which continues to build the reader’s confidence in Chief Burkholder and her team. The reader can understand Kate’s pain as she struggles to reconcile her Amish upbringing with her current life among “the English.” The deaths are gruesome but not overly detailed. I will be reading more in this series.Rating: 4
    • 4/5
      This was an interesting instalment, Kate Burkholder is still trying to balance her former Amish life with her modern life and being chief of police isn't helping. But she's mostly happy, except when one of her men finds a slaughtered Amish family and her investigations lead her down some deep dark places that make her very sad for the slaughtered innocents, and very angry at the people who brought her here.It's an interesting read but had in places.I'm enjoying Kate and John and this world the author has created.
    • 4/5
      Linda Castillo's books are dark and intense. I enjoy her characters and storylines.
    • 4/5
      Pray For Silence was a good mystery on the whole, but it annoyed me several times. The first wasn't the author's fault. By coincidence, I'd listened to another book with the same evil scheme not long before listening to this one, so I spent a CD or two waiting for Kate Burkholder to figure out one of the reasons for the gruesome slaughter of a family. A big revelation about the Painter Mills Chief of Police was no surprise. I do thank Ms. Castillo for not dragging it out as long as another writer once did. It would be nice if current mystery writers would watch Mythbusters. I'm sure I'm not the only mystery fan who watches the show -- and then gets irked when an author uses a technique or phrase that's been disproved.On the other hand, I did like the description of the debilitating effect an anxiety/panic attack can have on the person who suffers from them. (I was much luckier than Tomasetti when I had one while I was driving.) I also liked the unflinching way Ms. Castillo shows how Kate and John's boozing impairs their ability to do their jobs.This book came out before we got to learn so much about police brutality. I cringed when Kate lost it with a bigot, but the fact that her own capacity for violence later disturbed her helped.The villain was so smugly certain of his own superiority that it was really satisfying when Kate gets to tell him about a major mistake he made. Like Kate, I felt very sorry for the naive Amish girl whom the villain exploited. Bigotry played a large role in this mystery. It's rather ironic that bigotry saved the life of one member of the slain family.This is a mystery well worth reading. My local library's copy of the third book, Breaking Silence, is already checked out and waiting.
    • 4/5
      This was my first Castillo's book but definitely not the last one. It was a fast-paced enthralling reading. I'm overwhelmed that a thriller mustn't make one fearing but grabbing how the puzzle can be solved. All protagonists from the police have a special background history and therefore they seem so human. A brutal homicid took place at an Amish farm and a whole family lost their lives. The police inspector Kate Burkholder who has an Amish background herself had to investigate. This case wasn't an easy task for her because their were a lot of parallels to her earlier life.
    • 4/5
      This is another Amish murder mystery book in the Dectective Burkholder series. Intensely, vividly descriptive, at times I had to put the book down and take a break. When an entire family is murdered, including two daughters who are raped, tortured and brutally killed, at first there are no clues.The slaughter seems senseless, and in particular the pretty daughter Mary is the most maimed.With her lover/part-time boyfriend John Tomasetti, Kate Burkholder works with her team to slowly, methodically uncover the sad, sorid details of a young woman who strays from her Amish family rules and naively falls in love ... with the wrong person.I'll continue to read the series, with the hope that not all are as brutal.
    • 5/5
      A gripping and gruesomely detailed murder of an Amish Family in Painter's Mills Ohio. In the heart of Amish Country a small rural area where Kate Burkholder (former Amish) is the police chief. The Plank family is brutally murdered and it is up to Kate to figure out who and why. This is the 2nd book in the series and carries all of the living characters over from the 1st book and continues with their story line. The author does an excellent job with description of the brutality and gruesomeness of the murders. I don't recommend this one for those with a weak stomach. However if that does not bother you. This is an excellent read.
    • 4/5
      Well, I liked this one just as much as the first one. I can say that the author leaves no detail out when describing a murder scene giving the reader a very clear, morbid picture in their head of what she's talking about - there's no doubt, when she's done, just how gruesome it is. A++ for details.Definite recommend if you like murder mysteries!
    • 4/5
      PRAY FOR SILENCE is an intense, gritty mystery that has the main character - Kate Burkholder - reliving some of the trauma that she endured as a young teen. As police chief in usually quiet Painters Mill, Ohio, when Kate is called to the scene of the killing of an entire Amish family, she is plunged into a case that creates echoes of her own past.The Plank family has been killed from father Amos through baby-in-arms Amos. The father and two sons were shot in the home; the mother and infant were shot running from the house; and the two teenage daughters were tortured and killed in the barn. It is a brutal crime that, at first, looks like a murder-suicide with the father to blame. But inconsistencies have Kate looking further.Kate calls on her friend, and sometimes lover, John Tomasetti from the Ohio BCI to help her. But Tomasetti is having his own problems. He is currently on administrative leave because of a positive drug test. He turned to alcohol and prescription drug abuse after the deaths of his wife and daughters by a career criminal. Tomasetti was barely holding on and keeping suicide an option when he first met Kate. He is in a little bit better mental shape now partially because he met Kate.This was definitely a who dunnit sort of story as we watch Kate and Tomasetti investigate. The investigation takes a different turn when fifteen-year-old Mary Plank's diary is discovered and Kate learns that she had a secret English lover who introduced her to sex, drugs, and pornography. Innocent Mary was pulled into a situation she had no way to handle.I enjoyed the intensity of this story. I ached with both Kate and Tomasetti as they dealt with the psychological pain of their pasts. I recommend this one to mystery lovers.
    • 4/5
      Although I missed this book when it was first released, I'm happy that I have now had the chance to remedy that oversight.When an entire Amish family is murdered, with the young, teenage girls being tortured horrifically before their eventual death, Police Chief, Kate Burkholder, takes charge of the investigation.Kate herself was raised Amish but an incident in her early life caused her to break from her community.Considered an outsider now, Kate still relates to the young girls and is determined to find the motive and person or persons behind these deaths. Calling in her friend and sometimes lover, State Agent John Tomasetti for assistance, their investigation uncovers crimes and acts that affect them both. I liked Castillo's straight-forward writing style and her character development. A good read that will keep you turning pages.
    • 3/5
      I got the first book in this series as a review copy from Amazon and liked it, although it had flaws.

      I liked this one more, but the detective characters' angst gets really heavy duty. I'm glad the guy is starting therapy - he needs it.

      This one is Amish and the main character is an Amish woman who has left the community and is now the chief of police of the small town.

      I love her insights into the relationship of the Amish and the "English" but found the horrific crime and solution somewhat over the top. If she is going to continue with these characters she will need to come to some more stable understanding of the.
    • 4/5
      Another finished-in-less-than-48-hours book! I loved it! Absolutely devoured it! Can't believe I have to wait until this time next year for another one. The series is fabulous and Castillo's writing style has you hooked from page 1. Another gruesome crime, another gritty case and another completely addictive plot. Excellent!
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this "2nd in a series". Kate is a fascinating character with her mixture of Amish upbringing and small town cop responsibilities. When an entire Amish family is found brutally murdered, Kate and John are determined to bring the monster who did this to justice. Kate is especially drawn to the oldest daughter who reminds her so strongly of herself at that age.

      The story moves at an accelerated pace and keeps you turning the pages. There are some pretty gruesome descriptions of what happened to the victims, and to the teenage girls in particular.

      I really like her work and will keep reading it but I think I need a break. Thrillers aren't my normal reads and reading too many too close together will start to bother me. I will be back to this series, it just might be a little while.