Fallen by Linda Castillo ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

Amish-focused books have been pretty popular over the past few years but mostly they have been Amish romances. Since I don't read a lot of romance, I haven't really gotten into this fascination. Though I have been interested in the Amish as I remember driving through "Amish country" when we traveled to see family in Indiana. So when I saw a suspense novel featuring the Amish I figured it was a good opportunity to try Amish fiction.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free audiobook was provided for an honest review.

July 2021; Macmillan Audio; 978-1250142924
audio (10h), ebook, print (320 pages); suspense

Fallen is book 13 in the Kate Burkholder series. I have not read any of the books in this series, and I didn't have any problems figuring out the characters. Also, there is a quick info dump at the beginning of the book to tell you who Kate Burkholder is. 

The next thing I realized after figuring out it was the middle of a series was that it was a police procedural. I'm really picky about police procedurals and don't like most of the ones I have tried. However, I really enjoyed this book. Enough so that I'm hoping to find the previous books at the library so I can catch up.

The characters are great. I really liked Kate Burkholder. She seems pretty straightforward but you can tell that there is a complex character beneath the surface. The minor characters are interesting as well.

I liked the setting of a small town in Amish country. I like small rural towns where there is a country store and farmers' market. There is something wholesome about it, which might be a strange choice for a story about murder. But I think the juxtaposition is perfect - a possible outsider killing in this close-knit community. That is often more frightful than a murder in a gritty city where violence can be found around every corner.

I typically prefer character-driven stories, but the plot of Fallen was so intriguing and really showed off Castillo's writing ability. I think I might want to read the other books in the series more for the plotlines rather than the characters, which is super rare for me when reading a series. I definitely didn't figure out "whodunnit" and a few times I was biting my nails as danger approached.

Kathleen McInerney is great as the narrator. I had no problem telling the different characters apart - if I didn't know there was only one narrator I would probably have thought there was more than one. There is also a conversation between McInerney and Castillo at the end of the audiobook that was a lot of fun. I finished the audiobook just before my bedtime but I stayed up the extra time it took to listen to the whole conversation.

If you are looking for a book you won't want to put down, then you need to get this book.

 

Buy Fallen at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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