You know it's going to be good when there's a giant express sticker!

I finished this today during a tornado that touched down in my city. Very casual. Very Iowan of me.

Linda Castillo has the formula down pat: Her Kate Burkholder installments always start out with a horrific crime in the Amish community where Kate is the small town sheriff (who used to be Amish). This one starts out with two: a young girl ends her own life and six months later a young man is trapped in a barn and burns to death in a suspicious fire. There will be more crimes committed and close calls that put someone in law enforcement in danger (usually Kate). If you are new to the series, there is some of the back story provided in this 10th book but to get a true flavor for the history that informs Kate and her live in (but still secret lover) lover - you need to read them all and in order. I’m still a fan - Castillo gets how separate and unforthcoming the Amish are. It always seems to take Kate a few trips of questioning family, friends, witnesses and victims in the Amish community to get the information needed to uncover the real criminal from a long list of suspects.
The pace is good and there are a few blind alleys and lots of suspects for the reader and the sheriff to choose from. But after 10 novels, it makes me laugh that this small sleepy town with a handful of employees in the sheriff’s department have crimes that result in more even crimes and multiple assaults or deaths! Kate has been living with Tomasetti for two years and she still thanks that no one knows?! Suspend your cynicism a little bit and you’ll enjoy the series. Kate is a modern woman: conflicted, smart, emotional, and professional.

I have been working my way through this series and while I enjoy them all, this one was just fantastic! So many twists and turns. So many story lines that all come together. Such great movement in the relationship of Kate and John. It was a great mix of bringing back Kate's past with the current case in an amazing way. Loved this book in the series!

Endelig er der igen en Kate Burkholder-bog, der nogenlunde lever op til det ry, serien har. Det er en god bog, om end der er lidt for mange unødvendige gentagelser og et par irriterende, logiske svipsere - men den samlede læseoplevelse er god.

With a cast of thousands, this was one of the more convoluted Burkholder books, but one thing is always predictable: Kate will be losing her gun, her radio, be falling through floors, getting concussions, and have her life in danger. She is the most inept police chief in literature!

I'll start with: I love this series. I love the Amish depictions. The character development is good. The plot and pacing is good and interesting. But there were no surprises. I love that the police procedure depictions seem very accurate. However, I thought this was one of the weaker of the series. There are ways in which I found myself getting irritated with the protagonist, Kate Burkholder. Instead of feeling the comfort of immersing myself in the characters I've come to know over the course of reading all of the series up until now, I found myself skipping ahead often. I knew what the outcome was going to be in even the more dramatic scenes. I also kept thinking, "why are you doing that?"

I will continue to read the series but it won't be at the top of my pile.

Durchschnittlicher Thriller

Like chips. You can't read just one!

The fun part of reading a series, is watching character development. This book sees Kate and Tomasetti moving forward. We also see a little more from a couple of minor characters. Love the characters. I figured this one out. Great read!

Police Chief Kate Burkholder is investigating a barn fire at the home of the Amish Gingerich family when they discover the remains of their missing eighteen year old son, Daniel. It’s soon determined to be arson and, even worse, someone deliberately trapped him in the barn. Daniel was hard working and well liked so Kate has to work to find out who hated him so much to want him to die in such a cruel and painful way. As she pursues the case, it soon becomes apparent that there was a darker side to him.

The story opens with Daniel’s death, told from his point of view, and it was jarring. Imagining dying in a fire is bad enough but it was a vicarious experience in that moment. It also made me extremely sympathetic to Daniel, which I needed as Kate discovered what was obviously his true nature, reinforcing that no matter his behavior his murder was a crime. It also triggered Kate’s traumatic past as she was forced to confront Amish behaviors that left their young women vulnerable and subject to abuse. It was hard to accept girls being victimized again by their own families following a sexual assault.

This was a troubling case that was hard to listen to at times. Kate’s dogged pursuit in the midst of stoic silence and stonewalling was impressive and her understanding of Amish customs strongly aided her resolution of the case. I figured out most of it before it was revealed but it wasn’t easy. And, yes, she had another life-threatening moment that even I saw coming but the strength and themes of the story were more than overwhelmed that downside. Let’s face it, these aren’t just Amish attitudes unfortunately. I continue to enjoy the narrator’s performance, which made this an even better reading experience. She’s the voice of the series for me.

Posted on Blue Mood Café