Fallen by Linda Castillo

 Award-winning reviewer, author, and blogger Kevin Tipple joins us today at the BPL Bookblog.  Check out Kevin's Corner for more news and reviews!

 

Reviewed by Kevin Tipple

 

Painters Mill, Ohio, Police Chief Kate Burkholder has responded to a lot of crime scenes. The one at room 9 of the Willlowdell Motel as Fallen: A Kate Burkholder Novel by Linda Castillo begins is one of the worst she has ever seen in her career. From the carnage, it is clear that the woman was savagery beaten to death. It was some sort of frenzied or overkill attack. Rachel Schwartz’s final moments were horrific.

 

Many years ago, Kate Burkholder babysat Rachel and her brothers and sisters. She has not seen or spoken to Rachel in years as Rachel had left town long before Kate Burkholder came back home to be the police chief. Now it is her duty to lead an investigation into the murder that stirs up their shared past and much more.

 

Fallen: A Kate Burkholder Novel is an intense and deeply moving read. Linda Castillo again brings readers home to Painters Mill, Ohio, and its environs. Where there are differences in culture and religion, the past never stays buried. A complicated and multi layered read, this is one of those books that you just have to read.

 

Highly Recommended. 

  

Fallen: A Kate Burkholder Novel

Linda Castillo

https://www.lindacastillo.com/about_linda.html

Minotaur Books (Macmillan Publishers)

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250142948

ISBN#: 978-1-250-14292-4

Hardback (available in eBook and audio)

320 Pages

 

 

My copy came by way of the Downtown Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2021

Outsider: A Novel of Suspense by Linda Castillo

 Once again we are delighted to have Kevin Tipple back with a review.  Please check out his own blog, Kevin's Corner,  for more reviews, recommendations, and news for both readers and writers.  

 

 

She was lucky to have escaped with her life when the intruders came for her that cold and snowy night. She had been ready and had a plan, but as often happens with plans, things went sideways from the point her door crashed inward. She fled into the night and by sheer luck survived and got to the vicinity of Painter’s Mill, Ohio. There is one person there she knew long ago that might help her now: Kate Burkholder.

 

That one person is Chief of Police Kate Burkholder. Many years ago, Kate Burkholder and Gina Colorosa were friends. Good friends who first met by happenstance, bonded, and soon went through the academy and joined the force together. Once employed as police officers, their inner natures took over, and what had been a close friendship frayed and then broke irretrievably.

 

All these years later, Gina Colorosa is a wanted fugitive and in a world of trouble. She desperately needs Kate Burkholder’s help. Can Gina be trusted?

 

Outsider: A Novel Of Suspense by Linda Castillo is the latest in her long running series featuring Kate Burkholder. It is also a heck of a good read with a lot going on at different levels. Part mystery, part police procedural, and with a lot of reflection about how our inner nature as well as our experiences shape us to be the people we are now, the read powers along at a steady pace to the inevitable violent conclusion deep on a snowy winter night.

 

Even when you see it coming one hundred pages out, that final confrontation is very intense. Outsider: A Novel Of Suspense by Linda Castillo is an intense very good read and is strongly recommended.  Unlike earlier books in the series where it was best to have read the preceding books, this one can be read and enjoyed by readers new to the series.

 

Outsider: A Novel Of Suspense

Linda Castillo

https://www.lindacastillo.com/about_linda.html

Minotaur Books (Macmillan Publishers)

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250142894

ISBN#: 978-1-250-14289-4

ARC (available in hardback, eBook, and audio)

320 Pages

 

 

 

 

I received an ARC of this book by way of winning one in a Goodreads contest.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2020

Shunning Sarah by Julie Kramer

 Reviewed by Jeanne

Riley Spartz is a TV news reporter working for a station in Minneapolis, trying to scoop the other stations in a very competitive market.  The station has just taken on a new manager after a horrific incident, meaning that Riley doesn’t yet have a good sense of how things will be run.  Still, when she gets a tip from her mother about a child trapped in a sinkhole, Riley figures that’s a no-brainer and probably a ratings bonanza. As it turns out, there’s much more to it than that: not only was the boy trapped in a sinkhole, but he was sharing it with the corpse of a murdered woman.

What doesn’t play out as expected is the new boss’s reaction:  he takes a dim view of covering events outside of the immediate market area.  He also has some other ideas about station economics that make life miserable for anyone actually trying to cover news. Riley stubbornly pursues the story, discovering that the deceased was a member of the close-knit Amish community.  Close-knit also means closed mouthed, especially to English (i.e., non-Amish) television reporters.  Soon Riley realizes that her investigations may not only be jeopardizing her job, but her life as well.

This is the fifth in Julie Kramer's popular Riley Spartz series, but the first one I’ve read. I noticed a blurb from James Patterson on the front cover, and the structure of the book did remind me of his work:  short, punchy chapters designed to keep the reader turning pages.  The plot has enough twists and turns to surprise, and there are some strong action scenes.  One in particular is a standout. There’s even a bit of romance in the background as Riley tries to decide whether or not to rekindle the flame with an ex-boyfriend or to move on. If there’s a weak point for me, it’s the characters don’t seem to have a lot of depth. I enjoyed the book but didn’t feel compelled to find the others immediately and catch up get any background I might have missed. There’s also one part of the book I had a quibble with but I can’t discuss it without giving away a part of the plot that I definitely don’t want to spoil.

My favorite parts of the book had to do with the insider’s view of how television news: not just the reporter’s tricks of getting the good shots, but what determines the stories that are covered and the ones that aren’t. There’s no sugar-coating about the public’s need to know; for the most part it all comes down to advertisers and money.

Shunning Sarah is a good solid thriller which I’ll be recommending to our readers who like well-written action-oriented books.