My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, suspense
Content: Strong language, A brief description of a sexual encounter that happened in the past.
Chief of Police Kate Burkholder’s past comes back to haunt her when
she receives a call from Amish widower Adam Lengacher. While enjoying a
sleigh ride with his children, he discovered a car stuck in a snowdrift
and an unconscious woman inside. Kate arrives at his farm and is shocked
to discover the driver is a woman she hasn’t seen in ten years: fellow
cop Gina Colorosa.
Ten years ago, Kate and Gina were best friends
at the police academy, graduating together as rookies with the Columbus
Division of Police. But the reunion takes an ominous turn when Kate
learns Gina is wanted for killing an undercover officer. Gina claims
she’s innocent, that she was framed by corrupt officers who want her
gone because she was about to turn them in for wrongdoing.
Kate
calls upon state agent John Tomasetti for help and with a blizzard
bearing down, they delve into the incident. But no one wants to talk
about what happened the night Gina allegedly gunned down a fellow cop.
Even Tomasetti is stonewalled, his superior telling him in no uncertain
terms to back off.
With whisperings of corruption and the threat
of rogue cops seeking revenge, Kate and Gina hunker down at Adam
Lengacher’s farm. As Kate gets closer to the truth, a killer lies in
wait. When violence strikes, Kate must confront a reality that changes
everything she thought she knew not only about friendship, but the
institution to which she's devoted her life.
This series has
been a mixture of 3 and 4 star ratings for me. After a rocky start, I've
grown pretty attached to these characters. Over time, the stories have
mellowed out a bit, meaning that the characters are less abrasive and
reckless. They've settled into who they are, and are comfortable with
each other. There is also less cursing in the books. I like it so much
better this way!
Unlike most of the books in the series, the
mystery in this one doesn't directly involve any of the Amish. There is
just the Amish family that ends up finding the woman in trouble and
letting her stay in their home. I liked that this book was a departure
from that same old formula. One thing that I enjoy about this series are
the flashbacks we get to Kate's earlier life. This time around it was
to the time period after she left home until after she joined the police
force in Columbus. As the mystery unfolds, Kate goes down memory lane,
back to when she met her friend, Gina, who is the woman in trouble, and
through all the ups and downs of their friendship, until it finally ended. Kate comes to a life-changing decision along the way,
and I was glad that she finally came to this decision after many books.
I liked the way Tomasetti
was supportive in this book. He wasn't overbearing, and he didn't keep
telling Kate that she needed to stop putting herself in danger. I
thought maybe he went a little too far in the other direction this time,
but it was better than the angry, worried Tomasetti. And Kate mostly
played it smarter than in some of the previous books. I think they have
both grown and changed for the better. That being said, there was one
part that didn't feel very realistic to me. I thought they wouldn't have
stayed at the farmhouse after the car was spotted in the middle of the
night. They blew it off too easily for the situation they were in, and
Tomasetti, who in the past has been so worried about Kate, didn't come
across as worried enough about that.
My only other problem with
the book is the cover. It's a nice cover, but it has absolutely nothing
to do with anything that happens in the book. Other than a couple of
brief encounters with two Amish women, there is no Amish lady featured
in the book, so I'm not sure why they decided on this cover. But I do
know that authors really don't have much input on the cover that is
chosen for their books, so that's on the publisher.
Overall, this
series is still going strong, and I still enjoy the time I spend in
Painter's Mill each year with these characters, so I will definitely
keep reading.
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