Review: On edge until the mystery was solved
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 20, 2014
I received an ARC of this title as part of a promotional tour in exchange for my honest review. I've also purchased this title for my personal library collection. Thoughts and opinions are my own.Karen Ann Hopkins is an author whose books I have come to love. Who knew that reading books with Amish characters in an Amish setting could be so interesting? At first, not me. What I like about Karen's books is how she intertwines the lives the of Amish and the English, exposing their differences as well as their similarities.Lamb to the Slaughter captured my attention from the Prologue with Naomi's death and never let up until I finished. The story is told from alternating perspectives of Serenity and Daniel, both in first person, and from Naomi's perspective, told in third person. This technique kept the story fresh and let readers in the minds of the characters. Even though I knew Naomi's fate, I enjoyed reading the chapters with her story. I got to know about her, her friends, her enemies (the mean girls), and about her family. Reading the scenes with her mother and the punishments she suffered for her transgressions were the worst, but it also exposed the ugliness of the supposed plain and peaceful Amish life.There is a wide variety of characters in Lamb to the Slaughter. Some will make you laugh and some will make your skin crawl. There are many connections between the people of the Amish and English communities but the connections aren't always obvious and I was amazed time and time again as the pieces of the murder mystery began to fall into place. With so many people involved, almost anyone could have been a suspect. I had my suspicions of who the murderer was and whether I was right or wrong, I was on edge as it all unfolded.Lamb to the Slaughter is a must read for fans of mystery novels. Karen Ann Hopkins made me a fan with her YA Temptation series, and she's made me an even bigger fan with this murder mystery. I enjoyed the story, the characters, and the writing. I hope to read more books with Serenity Adams and Daniel Bachman and find if their connection becomes more that a working relationship.