Depth Perception

by Linda Castillo

A killer is watching . . . Nat Jennings nearly died the night her family was murdered--and spent the next three years wishing she had. Now, she is returning to the sleepy bayou town of Bellerose, Louisiana, driven by cryptic messages only she can hear--messages pleading for her help . . . After serving six years for a crime he didn't commit, Nick Bastille is back in Bellerose, mourning his precious son, who drowned while Nick was away at prison, unable to protect him. But when Nat approaches him with a shocking revelation, his denial slowly turns to a desire for revenge . . . Together, they will hunt for a merciless killer who nearly destroyed them both once before--and is now preparing to finish them off once and for all . . .

Genres: Romantic Suspense, Mystery, Romance, Fiction, Suspense, Audiobook, Thriller

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 2005

About the author

Linda Castillo is the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Kate Burkholder mystery series, set in the world of the Amish. The first book, Sworn to Silence, was adapted into a Lifetime original movie titled An Amish Murder starring Neve Campbell as Kate Burkholder. Castillo is the recipient of numerous industry awards including a nomination by the International Thriller Writers for Best Hardcover, a nomination for the Mystery Writers of America’s Sue Grafton Memorial Award, and a nomination for an “Audie Award” for best mystery audiobook. Her work has appeared on numerous bestseller lists and earned a spot on the Boston Globe’s shortlist for best crime novel.

In addition to writing, Castillo’s other passion is horses. She lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, three Appaloosas, and two feisty, but loveable Blue Heelers.

She loves hearing from readers. Contact her at books@lindacastillo.com.

Reviews

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two-haiku review:

Son and husband killed
Other boys died, disappeared
She's after killer

Plenty of depth here
Lots of tension and action
Plus a good romance

[Karen Terney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book. Got to 50 percent read and stopped. I didn’t care what happened to either of the main characters, and I knew who was doing the murders as soon as the character entered the story even though other red herrings were thrown into the story.

The romance wasn’t a romance, just sex. The sex was unbelievable, stupid, and boring. Since I’m older than 13, reading it was not interesting. It did nothing to move the plot forward, and just seemed to be added because sex sells.

I’ve read other stories by this author that I liked. This one is a clunker.

[Juli · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder books and have read all of them. I could barely get through this one. Lots of repetition and the main female character constantly did stupid stupid things. Big plot holes too. Not for me

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one. The suspense drew me in and I liked the main characters. It definitely kept me reading.

[jenjn79 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depth Perception was an enjoyable read. It's on the tragic and dark side, but not excessively so. I was pretty hooked into the story.

I liked the two main characters. Both are strong leads. There was definite chemistry between the two, but the book is not overly romantic. Castillo focuses mostly on the plot and all that's going on. With all that, there's not much time for romance between the two characters. Even so, I was still able to believe in the feelings that developed between the two.

The suspense aspect was nicely done. Nat's ability to receive messages from the dead added a nice dimension to the book and upped the urgency of the story. Castillo didn't spend too much time pushing suspects at the readers, just some vague accusations. I think it might have been better if she'd given us more solid suspicions. But saying that, I had a pretty good guess who the bad guy was. There was a certain detail that made it rather obvious fairly early on. Another drawback in the book was that there were one or two details that were contradictory, that didn't fit with other details in the book. But they were fairly minor things.

Overall, a good read. I enjoyed it.

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again I found the romance angle of this book to be predictable, but what kept me going was the suspense part and I really like the characters. You have Nat, a woman just out of the nut house. The people in town think that she murdered her husband and son because he was having an affair and for money. And then there is Nick the fresh out of prison ex-con, just wanting to get back to some sort of semblance of life. The only thing that these 2 people have in common is the death's of their son's.

Nat comes back to town with a secret weapon to find out how really murdered her family, and Nick's son, even though his death was ruled a drowning, but she needs Nick's help to do so. As they start to investigate Nat is able to convince Nick that she is telling him the truth and it is the 2 outcasts against everyone else in town.

During their chase they are forced to be honest with each other laying every wound out raw for the other to accept. As things heat up Nat's secret weapon kicks into high gear to help save the day at the right moment. Ugly truths were exposed in the town and Nat and Nick find a way to come to terms with their pasts.

[Carolyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was terrible. So so bad. One note of emotion through the whole book. Repetitive language, really slow moving. But I did want to finish it to see what happened so I listened to it on double speed just to get through it.

[Julie Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Linda Castillo and became hooked on her after reading her Amish series. The book was well written, though perhaps the ending was a little predictable. Nevertheless, it is a great read.

[James Sivers · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF: Got to the bit where the FMC passes out writing a check at a gas station apropos of absolutely nothing and just couldn't keep reading. Yeah, panic attacks happen to people out of the blue sometimes. Yeah sometimes they're even that bad. Based on the internal monologue of the FMC, it sounds like this isn't unusual. Makes me question this person's ability to drive safely. And this person hasn't even been confronted by anything remotely troubling so far. If things are going to ramp up from here, and they pretty much have to because again this fainting episode was apropos of nothing, then how is this character going to possibly cope? Not well. — For me, it would kind of be like watching one of the goats that faint when they get scared, except being able to see their thoughts which no doubt would be very panicked and incoherent (assuming goats had human thoughts).

I don't particularly want to read about such a person. It's one thing to have flaws, it's another to put a person like that in a novel about murder and then find them compelling enough to follow around for a full book. She's going to likely be entirely incompetent, TSTL, and/or constantly getting saved. I just have had enough of following around uninteresting weak characters.

[Chetta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an earlier book By Linda Castillo and you can see how much she has progressed as a writer when you hold this book up against her highly successful Kate Burkholder series.

The characters in this book were extremely angry. It was tough to keep going with the story since the two main characters had some major anger issues. I wasn't convinced of why the protagonist would even want to go back to that hateful small town. There were too many stretches for the reader to believe in order for this idea to work well.

[Patti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't Put It Down!!!!!

I can't believe how many times I forgot to breathe!!! I found the author through her Kate Burkholder series and just can't get enough! I found this gem quite serendipitously and once I started it, I literally could not put it down. Into the night, through the night and all day today, the book grabbed me and wouldn't let me go! I've met Linda twice and we've only talked about her series, but she's going to get a pleasant earful about this one! I highly, highly recommend you grab this and start reading it immediately!

[Awna Stark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I definitely like Castillo's Amish/Mennonite series a lot better than this piece of work.

The storyline itself wasn't THAT bad. The main charachters were decent, the setting was descriptive and totally different than the normal Ohio farmland that her regular series take place in. What annoyed me however was the interactions between her two main characters...their love scenes, the way they talked to each other, basically EVERYTHING! about their relationship. She could have left that part out and the story would have been terrific!

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story is basically the definition of ‘meh’. There’s nothing wrong, just nothing compelling either. It dragged and just didn’t click for me. The dialogue could be way overly flowery language every once and awhile and it threw me right out of the story. I did like the why the killer was killing/motive It was at least an interesting one.

Most of the problem was the characters. These characters just suck. Just…timing people. The sheer stupidity of some of them had me sighing and gritting my teeth.

[Sharon Hendrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murder and mayhem in hometown

A nice little who dun it mystery starring a mentally damaged mother and a hottie she meets after moving back to the ole hometown to solve the murders of her husband and son. Many more murders are discovered before things come to a head and the deranged killer is unearthed.

[Lynda Badke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book. I rated a 4 partly because
1) portions were a bit too graphic for my taste and
2) while the narrator did a great job on the accents and portraying the emotions of the individuals, I would’ve preferred her handling narrated emotions as opposed to dialogue emotions a little differently.

[Ada Iaboni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although 4 stars in a little generous, this book was different than many of the same types of novels.
Some interesting concepts were introduced and at the same time they were not mocked, also because these special moments were not publicized for others to speculate about.
It was also a different twist on the serial killer methodology.
A very captivating story. I enjoyed it a lot.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't realize when I first picked this up that this was one of Castillo's earlier works.
I do love Kate Burkholder so this one had big shoes to fill and I can't really decide if this was up to snuff or not. That said, it was a good 'car listen'.

[Lin S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this earlier book of Linda Castillo although I much prefer the newer series (Amish). She is a good writer and gets better with every book. This one was a little predictable but still a decent storyline.

[Jodi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this story. Part of that was my fault. I thought this was a mystery not a romantic suspense but it was more romance than suspense. Natalie Jennings returns home 3 years after her husband and son are brutally murdered. She was the original suspect. She attempted suicide which put her into a coma for over two years. As a result, she has seizures during which she engages in trance writing. She also knows that another little boy died, labeled an accident, that was also murder. And if she can't convince someone to listen to her, more children are going to die. Unfortunately, she is correct. Convincing the cops in a small southern town who have already convicted her in their minds is almost impossible. She eventually gets an ally but it is almost too late by the time she puts it all together. If the story hadn't been so melodramatically overacted I would have enjoyed it much more. It was read by a woman and many times romance is better read by a man because they can better contain the emotion. This was overwrought most of the time.

[Teresa R.Fieck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book!

This book had me on the edge of my seat. Never knowing what would happen next. Nat And Nick finally had there lives back and hopefully they will have a happy ending it looks like. Good book !!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually a 5 star book but I had to take 1 star away because the saucy, naughty business is just over the top

[Patty Swanson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not her best effort.

The story line was good. Way too many typos. It became annoying. Really enjoyed the Kay Burkholder series much more.

[Sue Rostosky · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG! WHAT A GREAT READ!!

[Nancy Houck · Rating 5 out of 5]

She Never Disappoints

Linda Castillo is one of my favorite authors. No matter the genre, her books are filled with complicated plot twists. Always such fun to read.

[Diane Hermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Gripping. Kept my interest throughout.

[greg brackmeier · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was nothing like her books I'm used to. I prefer her Kaye Burkholder books. This was like a roller coaster

[aprilla · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not really finished but I can't listen to this narrator any longer. Disappointing as I was looking forward to this.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of twists and turns. Linda Castillo doesn't disappoint her readers.

[Brit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Real people, real mysteries are to be preferred. Everything was solved by the psychic experiences. Could not relate.

[Mark Wesling · Rating 3 out of 5]

not as good as "silent" series