Among the Wicked by Linda Castillo

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong Language, A woman is raped but it is not described.



Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is called upon by the sheriff's department in rural, upstate New York to assist on a developing situation that involves a reclusive Amish settlement and the death of a young girl. Kate infiltrates the community and goes deep under cover. In the coming days, she unearths a world built on secrets, a series of shocking crimes, and herself, alone... trapped in a fight for her life.

This was a little different from the other books in the series because Kate isn't in her usual element and Tomasetti is barely in the book at all, but I liked the change of scenery. Parts of this book were pretty gripping and kept me on the edge of my seat. I was however slightly disappointed that the undercover work Kate did left her mostly isolated from a good part of the Amish settlement. I was expecting her to become more integrated in the community. That being said, I enjoyed the friendships she made with the women of the quilting group.

I thought Kate was a little dense not to know what was going on at a couple of points as it was pretty easy to figure out. Even though it was pretty easy to figure out what was going on, I did not see that twist concerning a certain person. I'm not altogether sure how I feel about it either. There is also one thing that happened between Kate and the Bishop that I thought happened too soon in the story. I would have preferred more suspense and for the feeling of imminent danger to continue on for longer before this thing happened.

Kate was herself here and once again went headlong into danger with little regard for her safety. There was one thing she did near the beginning because she wanted to help a woman, but it did nothing to help anyone and could have completely blown her cover. The thing that I find ridiculous is that she keeps getting so mad at Tomasetti for worrying about her and not wanted her to do certain things, but he has good reason. She claims she is careful but she isn't, and that's the real reason he has problems with her doing her job. If I overlook these annoyances about the series it is very good. Unfortunately sometimes these things are hard to ignore and that's why this book gets 3.5 stars instead of 4.