2-3-4 Challenge Book Discussions #1 discussion

Although the opening scene with the sheep is disturbing, it wasn't as shocking as the prologues in the pervious two books. Perhaps I'm just becoming used to Castillo's style. Thoughts.

I certainly agree that Castillo's style is in-your-face from the beginning. When I read the part about the sheep, I just got into the mode that there were young men committing grisly hate crimes against the Amish.

It was interesting to learn that the woman they were targeting wasn't actually an acknowledge member of the Amish community. It revealed a lot about their characters - hateful and disturbed, but also not the brightest bulbs.

I was prepared for a more horrific scene...not that the unnecessary slaughter of animals isn't awful. It's just that I had a momentary sigh of relief when no humans lost their lives.

I had also prepared myself for something more horrific, especially after the first two books. While the sheep killing was terrible, there was no description of suffering (if there had been, I might not have continued)

I agree, (and thank god) it was not as brutal as the first two books.