Lamb to the Slaughter: Book Review & Giveaway
Lamb to the Slaughter
By: Karen Ann Hopkins
Published By: Karen Ann Hopkins
Publication Date: March 14, 2014
Page Count: 336
Buy it at Amazon or Barnes & Noble
Source: Kindly Provided by Author
Audience: Adult - Mystery
I really enjoyed Hopkins' Temptation series so when she approached me about being part of this blog tour I couldn't resist. Hopkins does a beautiful job with immersing readers in the Amish culture. This novel does include the Amish again, but this is a very different group than the sort I got to know in the previous series. This community has darker secrets which makes the mystery in this one haunting and creepy.
The novel is told from three perspectives and from two time frames. At first, I found this to be a little confusing, but I quickly fell into a reading rhythm and made the transitions between the shifts easily. The past time frame focuses on the perspective of Naomi, the deceased girl, as she tells her story of the weeks leading up to her death. These segments provided a lot of clues and I found myself jotting down possible murder suspects each time I would read one of Naomi's sections. Naomi is full of life and adventurous. She craves the outside world and isn't sure that being Amish is the right path for her. I have often wondered if I would also feel as Naomi does if I was raised in this culture. I don't think that I could handle the way women are in charge of house and family, but aren't always treated as equals by the men in their community. The present sections are told from the perspectives of Serenity, the sheriff investigating Naomi's death, and Daniel, a former member of the Amish community. Daniel helps Serenity navigate the Amish culture and puts her in position to investigate what everyone believes was merely a hunting accident.
I really enjoyed piecing together the mystery and trying to identify the killer. It was interesting for me to see Hopkins write in a different genre and for an adult audience. I think she did a nice job crafting the mystery, but I was disappointed in the romance elements of the present time frame. It just seemed a little too predictable.
Overall, I enjoyed the time I spent reading Lamb to the Slaughter. (Is it sad that I kept looking for Noah - even though I knew he wouldn't appear?) I'd highly recommend it to those who are interested in murder mysteries. The Amish spin added an intriguing layer. I think Hopkins certainly has the potential to turn this one into a highly addicting series.
One Last Gripe: There were some typos, but I found that they didn't interrupt my reading.
My Favorite Thing About This Book: I loved the combination of the Amish culture and the murder mystery
First Sentence: Hugging myself, I tried to stop shaking.
Favorite Character: Serenity
Least Favorite Character: Naomi's mother - ugh that woman
Lamb to the Slaughter is a story about the intertwining lives of three unlikely people in an Indiana Amish Community and the devastating results when a rebellious teenage girl is found shot to death in a corn field during the harvest.
Serenity Adams is the newly elected young sheriff in the country town of Blood Rock and besides dealing with the threatening behavior of her predecessor, she now has a dead Amish girl on her plate. At first glance, the case seems obvious. The poor girl was probably accidently shot during hunting season, but when the elders of the Amish community and even the girl’s parents react with uncaring subdued behavior, Serenity becomes suspicious. As she delves deeper into the secretive community that she grew up beside, she discovers a gruesome crime from the past that may very well be related to the Amish girl’s shooting.
Serenity enlists the help of the handsome bad-boy building contractor, Daniel Bachman, who left the Amish when he was nineteen and has his own dark reasons to help the spunky sheriff solve the crime that the family and friends who shunned him are trying desperately to cover up. Serenity’s persistence leads her to a stunning discovery that not only threatens to destroy her blossoming romance with Daniel, but may even take her life in the end.
*Lamb to the Slaughter is book one of Serenity’s Plain Secrets.
A native of New York State, Karen Ann Hopkins now lives with her family on a farm in northern Kentucky, where her neighbors in all directions are members of a strict Amish community. Her unique perspective became the inspiration for the story of star-crossed lovers Rose and Noah. When she’s not homeschooling her kids, giving riding lessons or tending to a menagerie of horses, goats, peacocks, chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs and cats, she is dreaming up her next romantic novel.
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Nice review
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking out the review :)
DeleteGreat giveaway = thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteIsn't it an awesome prize? Best of luck!
DeleteLOVE that you enjoyed the darker parts of the Amish mystery and that you totally connected with Serenity!!
ReplyDeleteLovely review :)
She's an awesome author!! I hope she makes the bestseller lists everywhere!!
Thank you :)
I'm interested to see more of Serenity's story unfold in the next novel.
DeleteGreat review! Can't wait to read this!
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy it! :)
DeleteThank you for your thoughts - helpful.
ReplyDeleteI love the name Serenity and Naomi... in fact the novel I am writing at the moment has the name Naomi as one of the main characters! I'm not one who enjoys reading books with typos and punctuation problems... it's a pet peeve of mine. But I think I can brave it!
ReplyDeleteGreat review! :)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to read this book,I love to read mystery books :)