I first read about Linda Castillo’s novel Sworn to Silence in USA Today. According to the review: “Lovers of suspense will find no better novel to read this summer . . . a teeth-chattering debut thriller.” How could I resist reading it?
Kate Burkholder is the chief of police in small Painters Mill, Ohio. When Kate was a 14-year-old Amish girl, a serial killer terrorized the town. Now, sixteen years later, the killer appears to have returned, and Kate is called on to solve the crime.
I’ve never been a hardcore thriller fan (Iris Johansen and Catherine Coulter are as far as I go), so I wasn’t prepared for the graphic details of the murders. If you are a fan of the cozy mystery, this may not be the book for you.
The story alternates between a first-person narrative (Kate’s perspective) and third-person. I’ve seen this tactic employed to show the killer’s perspective, but that is not the case in this novel. As such, the shift seems unnecessary and distracting. Nevertheless, the story is engrossing and a definite pageturner.
Kate isn’t my ideal heroine. For a chief of police, she seems weak and not always intelligent. Perhaps she is meant to be more human, but I like my popular fiction females strong, smart, and superhuman.
Sworn to Silence is a fun read. But if you are looking for anything beyond the typical popular thriller, you are in for a disappointment.
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