After the Storm by Linda Castillo

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong Language



When a tornado tears through Painters Mill and unearths human remains, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder finds herself tasked with the responsibility of identifying the bones--Kate digs deep into the case only to discover proof of an unimaginable atrocity, a plethora of family secrets and the lengths to which people will go to protect their own.

Talk about horrific deaths. I thought I had read just about every kind of horrible death there could be, but nope, this book included yet another one. Let's just say I will never look at pigs the same way again. It seems as if the Amish community as a whole is getting darker in this series. There are just so many individuals from that community at this point in the series that have been involved in or done something terrible. I had to laugh when I got to a part where Kate states that she is the chief of police in a small town and that her job is relatively safe compared to other places. Who is she kidding? All those murders in that tiny little town make Painters Mill the most dangerous town in the US!

The mystery in this one was ok. It was pretty obvious who had been involved in the decades old murder, but I was surprised a little by the second killer and also a little sad that it went that way. The best thing about this book was the personal drama between Kate and John Tomasetti. For a little while there I thought I was going to end up despising Tomasetti, but he pulled though eventually. I did think his reaction to something felt a little manufactured just to add drama, especially considering what I've come to know about him as a character. It just didn't quite fit.

Overall I liked this book a lot and I'm surprised at how quickly I've been going through the books in this series. What started out as a slow progression has turned into a marathon read. I plan on getting caught up on this series this year so I'll keep reading, but because this series is so heavy on the dark and sinister, I do think I need to take a breather for a little while and read something lighter.