Thursday, August 16, 2018

A Gathering of Secrets

Title: A Gathering of Secrets
Author: Linda Castillo
Published: July 10th 2018 by Minotaur Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 308 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Kate Burkholder #10

Saying it is better than her last book, “Down a Dark Road”, is not really saying much considering that I thought that was the weakest book of the series. What I can say, is “A Gather of Secrets”, was reminiscent of her very first book “Sworn to Silence”, and that is not because Kate Burkholder is comparing what happened to her as a child with what is happening to the girls in Painter’s Mill and surrounding areas, but there is a spark in this book that has been missing for the recent Kate Burkholder books. The spark that had drawn me to this series in the first place.

What began with the deliberate arson of a barn exposes the fact that the sainted Danny Gingerich might not have been so golden after all. He had secrets, those around him kept his secrets, and most importantly, the girls of the community had to bear their shame in silence since they did not want to be shunned by their community.

No one is willing to talk. The Amish keep to themselves and bear their pain in silence. This is not going to work for Police Chief Burkholder. She owes her community and she owes a healing to herself for the choice she had to make one dark day. Though the final choice was different for the two girls, if mothers were open, and had protected their daughters, they would not have had to endure having to make a choice and the emotional pain that follows.

As a reader, you are going to be angry at certain parts of this book. You are going to stop and wonder if you would have handled things differently and most importantly, can you find the arsonist guilty for doing what a community should have been responsible for.

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