Reviews, commentary, and stories from a musical engineer s perspective
By Ande Jacobson Fallen, is the thirteenth Kate Burkholder thriller, this time exploring the dangers of following one’s dreams. Kate isn’t the only one who left the Amish community when she approached the critical decision point of whether or not to be baptized. In Kate’s case, she never was. Rachael Schwartz was another young woman Continue reading Following your dreams can be rough
By Ande Jacobson The twelfth Kate Burkholder novel, Outsider, delves into Kate’s more recent past. The Prologue starts with a deadly and graphic raid where the target, Gina Colorosa, barely escapes. Gina is the person who helped Kate the most when she first left the plain life. At present though, Gina has troubles, and she Continue reading The past matters
By Ande Jacobson I’ve kept a journal since I was a child, although in recent years I’ve not made many entries. In some ways, the essays I write have taken its place helping me delve into things that I’m thinking about. Sometimes that means writing up thoughts on books I’ve just read or delving into Continue reading Writing can be therapeutic
By Ande Jacobson In Linda Castillo’s eleventh Kate Burkholder novel, Shamed, the Amish don’t always get it right even when their intentions are noble. Seven years before the main story takes place, something happened in the middle of the night that would later haunt a family in Painters Mill although the story doesn’t start there. Continue reading Gossip and faulty assumptions can backfire
By Ande Jacobson Linda Castillo’s tenth Kate Burkholder novel is A Gathering of Secrets. This time the Amish community goes full vigilante trying to right a horrible wrong. The prologue begins with the suicide of a young woman on the cusp of adulthood with her whole life ahead of her, though it takes some time Continue reading Vigilantism is not the way to go
By Ande Jacobson Linda Castillo’s ninth Kate Burkholder novel is Down a Dark Road. This time, Kate finds herself face-to-face with an old childhood friend in a desperate situation. The Prologue starts out two years earlier detailing the commission of a horrific crime. Kate’s childhood friend, Joseph King, was tried, convicted, and sent to prison Continue reading Childhood impressions stick around
By Ande Jacobson We are quickly approaching the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. That should be cause for celebration. 250 years ago, the fledgling colonies did something momentous. They threw off the bonds of tyranny and royal rule and emphatically declared that they were to be self-governing. They weren’t without discord, Continue reading The US at 250
By Ande Jacobson Linda Castillo’s eighth Kate Burkholder novel is Among the Wicked. This time, Kate goes undercover back into the plain life. After Rachel Esh, a fifteen-year-old Amish girl, is found frozen to death in the woods near a small rural New York town, Ohio BCI agents John Tomasetti and Lawrence Bates along with Continue reading The dangers of being on the inside
By Ande Jacobson I’ve long held that it doesn’t take faith for somebody to be good, or more to the point, to be a good person. What exactly is a good person though? Realistically a good person is one who treats others with respect and who sees beyond their own nose striving to do what Continue reading Why be good?
By Ande Jacobson Linda Castillo’s seventh Kate Burkholder novel is After the Storm. In a sense, this book feels like a brief respite from the shocking crimes that Castillo has brought forth in the series so far, at least early on. Of course, when Kate Burkholder is involved things get complicated rather quickly. The book Continue reading Dangers abound from nature and from man