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Book Review of Down To The Bone

Down To The Bone
esjro avatar reviewed on + 909 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3


Rachel Mast is a widow and mother of young twin boys. Since her husband's death in a freak accident, she has been struggling to tend the farm left by her husband. Fortunately, she lives in an Amish community full of people willing to help her with the farm chores, and her non-Amish neighbor Jennie helps care for the boys. The farm's barn is in need of repairs, and Rachel receives offers from a number of people wanting to buy the farm. In addition to turning down real estate offers, Rachel is also busy turning down Eben Yoder, the local bishop who is determined to court her. She also finds herself intrigued by Mitch Randall, one of the potential buyers for the barn.

Rachel's quiet life begins to unravel when strange things start happening - items belonging to her deceased husband start appearing around the farm, and her boys claim to have seen their dead father. She suspects that members of her Amish community may be involved, so she turns to Mitch to help her investigate. Soon Rachel and Mitch realize that her husband's death may not have been an accident.

This book is marketed as romantic suspense, but it is truly more than that. Rachel's struggles with her desire for independence versus faith and her traditional community make for an engrossing story. The mystery builds slowly, and is not the focus of the book for the first half of the book, which is spent introducing Rachel and acclimating the reader to her community and the Amish way of life. Surprisingly I found those parts of the story far more interesting than the whodunnit.

Highly recommended!