Rumspringa is the time when Amish teens are allowed to experience life without the rules. It’s an exciting time of personal discovery and growth before committing to the church. But when a young teen disappears without a trace, the carefree fun comes to an abrupt and sinister end, and fear spreads through the community like a contagion.
A missing child is a nightmare to all parents, and never more so than in the Amish community, where family ties run deep. When the search for the presumed runaway turns up a dead body, the case quickly becomes a murder investigation. And chief of Police Kate Burkholder knows that in order to solve this case she will have to call upon everything she has to give not only as a cop, but as a woman whose own Amish roots run deep.
Kate and state agent, John Tomasetti, delve into the lives of the missing teen and discover links to cold cases that may go back years. But will Kate piece together all the parts of this sinister puzzle in time to save the missing teen and the Amish community from a devastating fate? Or will she find herself locked in a fight to the death with a merciless killer?
My take on this book:
Things seem to be going slow in Painter's Mill Ohio where Kate Burkholder is Chief of Police. Her last call was breaking up a fight between teenagers and one of the teens happens to be her niece Sadie, who is a fifteen year old Amish teen in her rumspringa. When Kate gets a call from her friend State Agent John Tomasetti wanting her to come help him with a case where two Amish teens are missing she decides to do it. While out of town working on the case she gets a call from Painter's Mill telling her that Sadie is missing. Is Sadie's case connected to the others? As Kate starts connecting the clues she soon realizes that the cases may be linked to other cold cases involving missing Amish teens that have been missing for years.Can Kate figure out what is happening and save Sadie before it's to late?
I have been a fan of Linda Castillo and the Kate Burkholder series since the beginning, and each time I finish a book I always think there is no way she can top herself but then another installment comes out and I am proven wrong. With "Gone Missing" she really outdid herself, a very suspenseful mystery, and once it is revealed who-dun-it I was more than surprised. There were a few things about this novel that were different than the others in the series. First off this novel didn't seem as graphic to me as some of the other novels in the series, while there is killings, and descriptions for me they just didn't seem as gruesome. Another thing about this story is that normally the author always wraps up her story at the ending, not so this time, the ending left me feeling like we might see more from this storyline, or at least this reader hopes so.
The relationship between Kate and John seems to be slowly progressing, and I ultimately wonder how things will work out between the two. "Gone Missing" is the fourth book in the Kate Burkholder series, and while the author does give enough background on the main characters so that you can read it as a stand alone work I believe to really know about the main characters and what has made them the people they are the entire series should be read. If you enjoy suspense, mystery along with great writing that revolves around the Amish then you should really give this series a try. I would caution that there are a few graphic descriptions that might be off putting for some. My only complaint about this book is waiting for the next one in the series. Highly recommend this entire series!
I borrowed this book from my local library.
I get books from library too if there is something I particularly want to read and they have it. thanks for your thoughts on this one-I like it.
ReplyDeletePaula O(kyflo130@yahoo.com)
Pol,
ReplyDeleteI really think this series just keeps getting better,some people are a bit put off by some of the graphic descriptions but they don't bother me. Thank you so much for commenting and visiting my blog.