Her Last Breath

Linda Castillo's Kate Burkholder suspense series has a unique Amish setting that I dip back into when I want a tension-filled suspense read with an interesting protagonist and crime scenes that aren't for the faint of heart.

In this fifth book in the series, Kate investigates a deadly hit-and-run accident. The book has an emotional start when lives are lost, but the story has a bit less tension than I expected, and the ending was a bit unbelievable and not quite satisfying. There is an additional storyline that brings Kate's past back into the limelight and I actually liked it a bit more than the main plot, to be honest.  

Overall, this digital audiobook was an enjoyable, easy listen and Kathleen McInerney did a good job narrating but it was not my favourite in the series. I plan to continue with the series, but part of me worries that its limited setting and some repetitive aspects are causing the series to have a bit of a predictable feel. 

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Author: Linda Castillo

Genre: Suspense

Type and Source: eAudio from public library

Series: 5th book in the Kate Burkholder series

Narrator: Kathleen McInerney

Run Time: 9 hours, 41 min

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

First Published: June 2013

Book Description from GoodReads: An extraordinarily beautiful Amish woman, a dangerous femme fatale, is the central figure in Linda Castillo's Her Last Breath, a story that reveals a dark side of Painter's Mill and its seemingly perfect Amish world.

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 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.