Her Last Breath

Finally something resembling a believable plot, involving a fatal hit-and-run buggy accident.
Not that it stops Castillo from making the Amish victims out to be lying adulterous sociopathic in-bred child-abusing murderous scum.

Kate continues to be the Worst Cop Ever, barging into people's homes with no warrant or probable cause to bully and threaten them, outing infidelities to spouses out of spite, obstructing an investigation, concealing evidence, conspiring to cover up a crime, using her badge to settle scores, blaming the wrong people, failing to recognize the obvious, etc.
Her personal life isn't any better. She's an alcoholic, suffers from PTSD, panic attacks and anxiety disorder, and also treats her boyfriend like a disposable show more fuck toy. Yet angrily refuses any sort of therapy or treatment.
When one of her victims finally can't take her shit anymore and exclaims "You are going to burn in hell, Kate Burkholder!" it's hard to disagree.

The repetitions and continuity errors are particularly annoying in this one. Castillo's favourite words are back: biceps (x4), sidle (x3), ditch (x5), the fact that Kate's car is an Explorer in noted a record 51 times. John is called by his name exactly zero times unless immediately followed by "Tomasetti" which tops out at 97 mentions. She literally doesn't refer to him by his name a single time in the whole book.

Beyond the weird word use, multiple phrases and occurrences are repeated, such as the definition of Cohen syndrome. When Kate looks into two different garages, the thing she sees in each is two 50 gallon drums.

Kate proclaims "for the first time I understand how a police officer could step over the line," as if she hadn't previously shot a subdued suspect in the head.

Every time she has a panic or anxiety attack it's the "first time." Maybe this is deliberate by the author to show us that Kate doesn't realize how bad off she really is, but given the other discrepancies it seems like an error. And it's a little late in the game for Kate to suddenly become an unreliable narrator.

These books are such a train wreck, awful and broken, yet you can't look away. show less

Another solid entry in the Kate Burkholder series. A horrific collision between a car and an Amish buggy kills three people, and the investigation indicates it may not have been an accident. Kate’s childhood best friend Mattie is left widowed, and Kate struggles to balance her professional investigative responsibility with care and support for Mattie, especially when it appears Mattie may have knowledge to contribute towards solving the case.

As the investigation proceeds, two long-running plot threads also inch forward. Remains are found from a long-ago death described in the first novel, and Kate continues dithering over her relationship with John Tomasetti. The former added new interest to the series; the latter was just more show more “will she or won’t she” for no good reason. But there was ultimately progress on both fronts, and the crime investigation ended in a satisfying way, with unexpected and dramatic closure. show less

Sheriff Kate Burkholder's latest case hits close to home. A buggy carrying an Amish man and his three children is involved in a hit-and-run accident that leaves all but one child dead. Kate's called the scene only to discover that the victims are the husband and children of her childhood best friend. Dealing with an important person from her past gives us a chance to learn more about Kate's formative years; we get to learn more about who Kate was before a personal tragedy forced Kate out of her Amish community. In the last book, there was plenty of movement in Kate's relationship with Tomasetti. This time out, we're doing little more than marking time. But, I'm already looking forward to finding out what happens next.

If you haven't read show more any of the others in the series, you should be able to pick this book up and have a good idea about what's going on. Castillo does a nice job of providing expository narrative to bring you quickly up to speed on prior key developments.

I love that Linda Castillo teaches me something new about Amish people or culture in every book. This book is now exception - now I know a bit about non-farming options and the genetic issues of their closed cultures. And because I used to be a medical librarian, I did a little follow up research and discovered there's even an Amish, Mennonite, and Hutterite Genetic Disorders Database. Who knew? show less

The past has always been a huge part, if not the overriding main theme, of this series set in rural Ohio. The past has its hooks deep inside Chief of Police Kate Burkholder and hasn’t let go yet. The past is certainly not about to let go in the latest novel of the series, Her Last Breath. If anything, in this fifth book of the series, the hooks will set even deeper and will violently and excruciatingly twist in this powerful read.

Like the earlier books, this novel begins with a tragedy that will destroy a family. A horrific crash between an Amish family in a buggy and a vehicle has happened and Painter’s Mill Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is first on the scene. The vehicle and its driver are long gone by the time Burkholder show more arrives, but the horse is dead and the buggy is destroyed. In the pulverized wreckage she begins to find the family. It takes her a few minutes to realize that she knows the man who is dying in front of her eyes. Paul Borntrager was driving the buggy with his three children home from their weekly visit to the doctor. Unfortunately, they didn't make it.

With the only survivor, an eight year old boy named David off to the hospital, Burkholder contacts the Bishop and takes him with her to go break the news to Paul's wife, Mattie. Mattie and Kate were strong friends all through childhood until Kate was excommunicated from the Amish and became an outsider. That decision was one of many things that broke their friendship, but Kate Burkholder will always love her.

“Reaching out, he squeezes my arm. ‘Katie, remember God has a plan. It is not our place to question, but to accept.’
The words are intended to comfort me, but I wince. The tenet of acceptance is one of the belief systems I disagreed with most when I was Amish. Maybe because my own philosophy differs so profoundly. I refuse to accept the deaths of three innocent people as part of some big divine plan. I sure as hell don’t plan on forgiving the son of a bitch responsible.” (Page 22, Her Last Breath)

Acceptance has always been a foreign concept to Kate Burkholder. Especially since that fateful day when she was 14 and her own family was destroyed though they still lived, acceptance of events and people has no longer been possible. While that refusal of acceptance drove her out of the Amish faith, continues to cause issues in her relationship with John Tomasetti, and political problems with the council as well as other difficulties, it makes her a tenacious cop. A cop enraged by the current horror and driven by the past to find out what happened to the family of her former best friend.

This is a powerful and deeply emotional book that continues an incredible series that began with Sworn to Silence. While Texas author Linda Castillo continues to slowly deepen the tangled romantic relationship between John Tomasetti and Kate Burkholder, the focus is primarily on the traffic crash and Burkholder's fateful day when she was 14. Both events, the current one and the one years ago, have huge and ongoing repercussions. The waters in this novel are deep, literally and figuratively, and Burkholder will be lucky to survive in so many ways. The psychological has always been as much of this series as the police procedure and that is certainly also true in Her Last Breath.

Simply put, the book is excellent and might be the best one of the series. You simply have to read it. If this series is new to you, start with the first novel Sworn To Silence (reviewed here) and work your way forward. It is well worth it.

Her Last Breath
Linda Castillo
http://www.lindacastillo.com
Minotaur Books (St Martin’s Publishing Groups)
http://www.minotaurbooks.com
2013
ISBN# 978-0-312-65857-1
Hardback (also currently available in e-book and audio)
320 Pages
$25.99

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System. A big time thank you especially to the staff of the Haggard Library for all they do.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2013 show less

From Amazon:

A rainy night, an Amish father returning home with his three children, a speeding car hurtling toward them out of nowhere. What at first seems like a tragic, but routine car accident suddenly takes on a more sinister cast as evidence emerges that nothing about the crash is accidental. But who would want to kill an Amish deacon and two of his children? He leaves behind a grieving widow and a young boy who clings to life in the intensive care wing of a hospital, unable to communicate. He may be the only one who knows what happened that night. Desperate to find out who killed her best friend’s husband and why, Kate begins to suspect she is not looking for a reckless drunk, but instead is on the trail of a cold blooded killer show more amid the residents of Painter’s Mill. It is a search that takes her on a chilling journey into the darkest reaches of the human heart and makes her question everything she has ever believed about the Amish culture into which she was born.

My Thoughts:

The skeleton in the closet... or grain elevator... has reared its ugly head again. It led to some heart-pounding moments, as Kate feared discovery of her long-hidden secret concerning Daniel Lapp. Castillo is slowly building toward resolution of this predicament. Perhaps the next book will see it resolved...for better or for worse. What I liked about this book was that focus was mainly on the one crime. Other than Kate’s ongoing personal issues, there were not a lot of confusing side issues. There were neither multiple homicides to be solved nor a plethora of characters to keep track of. While I had my suspicions, I did not quite figure out the ins and outs of the murder; I always appreciate a clever, skillfully concocted plot. Linda Castillo never disappoints with the Kate Burkholder series. This one is as gripping and well written as all the others. I can't wait to get the next one. show less

First Line: The clip-clop of the standardbred's shod hooves against asphalt echoed within the canopy of the trees.


In moments, an Amish family's lives are shattered by a hit-and-run driver. Kate Burkholder races to the scene and finds it very difficult to maintain any sort of composure. This man... this father... and his three children are the family of Kate's very best childhood friend. That friend, the breathtakingly beautiful Mattie, may never recover from this horrendous loss. And it gets worse. As the evidence begins to be pieced together, what at first seemed to be an accident is now seen to be deliberate. Who on earth would want to kill an Amish father and his children? Burkholder wants answers, and she wants them now. What she show more doesn't want is for old history-- in the form of old bones-- to be uncovered at the site of an old grain elevator.

The first part of this book concerning the hit-and-run and its aftermath had my heart in my throat and tears in my eyes. Having grown up close to an Amish community, I was there as those pages turned. The world could've come to an end, and I would not have been able to stop reading Linda Castillo's words. If the book had been able to maintain that pace, I wouldn't be able to recommend this book highly enough. But it did taper off a bit.

Kate's relationship with John Tomasetti is evolving at a faster rate than she'd like, but she worries too much and is too afraid, so I like seeing her shaken out of her comfort zone. Characters who grow and change are the best characters of all. However, I wish the one element from Kate's past that hasn't been resolved will be soon because her knee-jerk reactions are growing a bit old. Kate, tell 'em the truth, and face the music. If you're thrown out of the police chief's job, set up as a private investigator with Tomasetti. (Those of you who've read the previous books in the series will know to what I'm referring.)

As to the identity of the killer... I hate to say that I wasn't surprised about that either. I'm inherently suspicious of particular situations and certain people. It's just the way I'm wired. Another way that I'm wired is to enjoy a good read. This book had an absolutely fantastic beginning, and even though I deduced what happened and was somewhat disappointed that Kate's past was rearing its ugly head again, I still found a great deal to enjoy-- and I'm looking forward to the next in the series. show less

“Her Last Breath” by Linda Castillo

Speaking of breath, I held mine while reading this latest novel by Castillo. As typical of this author’s quality of work, “Her Last Breath” is another shocking story centering on the lives of the Amish.
An Amish family of five is reduced to two when a senseless slaying occurs. Coming back from a weekly visit with the doctor at dusk, Paul Borntrager slowly leads his horse and buggy and his three special needs children cautiously through an intersection only to be hit by speeding vehicle. Two of the three children and Paul die.
Mattie, the mother is crushed and grieves when she hears of their deaths. She nurtures her sole remaining child David back to health. But that’s not the end, not even show more close. Discovering that it was not just an accident and unsure if Mattie or Paul was the target of someone’s rage, Kate Burkholder, Chief of Police in Painter’s Mill leads up the investigation and tries to protect Mattie and David from further happenstance.
But Kate is working through personal issues of her own involving a lover—whether or not she should take a chance and commit—and her sordid past that is coming back to haunt her. Kate feels the sting from the loss of the Borntrager family because she is not only ex-Amish but also because Mattie was her best friend while growing up. Devastation after hardship spins Kate through a spiraling tunnel, only to end up being the killer’s target when she gets too close to the truth of the murder of the Borntragers. When I read who was behind the deaths and the calamity surrounding it, I was astounded. I wasn’t right about one person I suspected.
Castillo has always been able to—and probably will always do so—flabbergast me. Another fantastic story. show less