The past has always been a
huge part, if not the overriding main theme, of this series set in rural Ohio. The past has its hooks deep inside Chief of Police
Kate Burkholder and hasn’t let go yet. The past is certainly not about to let
go in the latest novel of the series, Her Last Breath. If anything, in
this fifth book of the series, the hooks will set even deeper and will
violently and excruciatingly twist in this powerful read.
Like the earlier books, this
novel begins with a tragedy that will destroy a family. A horrific crash between
an Amish family in a buggy and a vehicle has happened and Painter's Mill Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is first on the scene. The vehicle and its driver are long gone by the
time Burkholder arrives, but the horse is dead and the buggy is destroyed. In the
pulverized wreckage she begins to find the family. It takes her a few minutes
to realize that she knows the man who is dying in front of her eyes. Paul
Borntrager was driving the buggy with his three children home from their weekly
visit to the doctor. Unfortunately, they didn't make it.
With the only survivor, an eight
year old boy named David off to the hospital, Burkholder contacts the Bishop
and takes him with her to go break the news to Paul's wife, Mattie. Mattie and
Kate were strong friends all through childhood until Kate was excommunicated
from the Amish and became an outsider. That decision was one of many things
that broke their friendship, but Kate Burkholder will always love her.
“Reaching
out, he squeezes my arm. ‘Katie, remember God has a plan. It is not our place
to question, but to accept.’
The words
are intended to comfort me, but I wince. The tenet of acceptance is one of the belief
systems I disagreed with most when I was Amish. Maybe because my own philosophy
differs so profoundly. I refuse to accept the deaths of three innocent people as
part of some big divine plan. I sure as hell don’t plan on forgiving the son of
a bitch responsible.” (Page 22, Her Last Breath)
Acceptance has always been a
foreign concept to Kate Burkholder. Especially since that fateful day when she
was 14 and her own family was destroyed though they still lived, acceptance of
events and people has no longer been possible. While that refusal of acceptance
drove her out of the Amish faith, continues to cause issues in her relationship
with John Tomasetti, and political problems with the council as well as other
difficulties, it makes her a tenacious cop. A cop enraged by the current horror
and driven by the past to find out what happened to the family of her former
best friend.
This is a powerful and
deeply emotional book that continues an incredible series that began with Sworn to Silence. While Texas author
Linda Castillo continues to slowly deepen the tangled romantic relationship
between John Tomasetti and Kate Burkholder, the focus is primarily on the
traffic crash and Burkholder's fateful day when she was 14. Both events, the
current one and the one years ago, have huge and ongoing repercussions. The
waters in this novel are deep, literally and figuratively, and Burkholder will
be lucky to survive in so many ways. The psychological has always been as much
of this series as the police procedure and that is certainly also true in Her
Last Breath.
Simply put, the book is
excellent and might be the best one of the series. You simply have to read it. If
this series is new to you, start with the first novel Sworn To Silence (my review) and work your way forward. It is well worth it.
Her Last Breath
Linda Castillo
Minotaur Books (St Martin’s
Publishing Groups)
2013
ISBN# 978-0-312-65857-1
Hardback (also currently available in
e-book and audio)
320 Pages
$25.99
Material supplied by the good folks
of the Plano, Texas Public Library System. A big time thank you especially to
the staff of the Haggard Library for all they do.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2013
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2 comments:
Kevin,
I LOVE Linda's series!
Thanks so much for making me aware of her latest release.
I do too and this one was/is incredible. Thanks for coming by!
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