Linda Castillo 1: Sworn to Silence/An Amish Murder

*A Trigger Warning: The Kate Burkholder Series contains many plot lines around sexual assault and murder.

This post gets to be me killing two birds with one stone; a series review and a film adaptation! Linda Castillo's newest novel, The Outsider, was just published a few days ago, so I've been wanting to write about her Kate Burkholder Series. I was first introduced to her book series through the Lifetime movie, An Amish Murder, which is an adaptation of Castillo's first book in the series, Sworn to Silence.

I rewatched the movie the other day with my mom, who is also an avid fan of the Kate Burkholder Series. It had been a while since I had last watched it, but it has held up well! An Amish Murder originally aired in 2013 and stars Neve Campbell as Kate Burkholder. As a young girl, Kate was sworn to keep the secret of what happened to her and is forced to leave her Amish culture behind. Returning to her part English (those that are non-Amish) and part Amish hometown in Painters Mill, Ohio, she has found solace in her roll as chief of police. Tragedy strikes when a young girl is found murdered in a similar manner to the way a serial killer had been attacking women 17 years ago. Is it the same man? Could it be a copy-cat killer? Why is this BCI agent John Tommesetti so handsome? What will he uncover?

The film and the novel mirror each other pretty well. The only major difference being is that the film had to cut out certain parts and a few suspects. The novel is based around the reader learning more about Kate and her past. The reader also learns some more really important information about Tomesetti's past as well. 

Castillo also adds in a nice range of diversity into the novels. She has clearly tired her best to research Amish culture and does her best maintaining respect for their way of life. She also adds in a Black cop who bonds well with Kate due to their "non-traditional" identities as cops.

The biggest struggle is handling the sexual assaults and PTSD in the book. I believe that Castillo has done her research on how trauma can effect a person and has applied this well to her characters. She represents trauma in a fairly realistic way, which is hard to do. 

Overall, a great start to a series. And Neve Campbell was the PERFECT Kate Burkholder.

Plot: 9/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Meaningfullness: 9/10

*Because the film and novel are so similar I have decided to give them the same rating.