"Gone Missing" by Linda Castillo

Gone Missing by Linda Castillo

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Linda Castillo's imagination is almost as dark as John Sandford's (Prey Series). The climax here will haunt me for a while. The story will be a chilling movie.

Related entirely in the voice of Kate Burkholder, the reader never hears from the bad guys in dialogue or shared thoughts a la Sandford.  Also, the horror is not ongoing throughout the story, but clobbers you in the last few chapters.  I was totally unprepared.  It's possible to feel that the clues are beginning to lead to an arrest, a rescue, a happy ending and then Castillo gives you a jaw-dropping conclusion.

The setting in Ohio's Amish communities and the disappearances of Amish girls give Castillo the opportunity to share a bit of Amish life.  It's great color and then you realize that it is essential to this mystery. It gave me a false sense that there were boundaries for "bad things" that might happen in the story because these were "good" people.

It was great. I will read the first three Chief Burkholder mysteries.



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