Hello Beautiful People!! Welcome back to another Baddie Book Review!
I feel like I just need to preface this review with a bit of an explanation. This review may be slightly biased. I am of the strong belief that Linda Castillo cannot write a bad book, and everything she writes is a 10/10. My mom actually introduced me to this series when I was a young adult and was getting more into mystery books. The first book I read in this series was one from my mom’s shelf and I fell in love and have devoured every book since then. Kate Burkholder goes down in history as being one of my all-time favourite book characters. I just can’t help but love and root for her in every book. So let’s get into it!
Band of Characters:
- Kate Burkholder: Badass Chief of police in Painters Mill, ex-Amish
- John Tomasetti: Fiancé to Kate Agent with the Ohio Bureau of Investigation
- Aden Karn: Young Amish man that’s murdered on his way to work
Some warnings for future readers:
- Contains murder
- Contains sexual assault these methods of sexual assault may be triggering for some such as using drugs to incapacitate the victim, and multiple perpetrators assaulting a victim in a singular instance
My Review
For this review, I don’t plan to do a summary/commentary section. Since it’s such a new book I really recommend you check it out if you haven’t read it.
So, obviously, I loved the book. I do really give it a 10/10 because it genuinely was such a well-rounded, and enjoyable book to read. I finished it so quickly because I could not put it down once I started. I think I do have to be fair and say that I feel such a connection to Kate because I have read every book in this series (1-12 twice lol) so I just sink so deeply into any story that’s being told about her. This may have made this book much more enjoyable for me because I do know the details of the past books. I definitely don’t think you have to read the other books to enjoy this one though because Linda always does a good job in giving the other characters a quick introduction so you know who they are if you haven’t read the series before.
Something that made me so happy in this book is that we are on book 15 and FINALLY Kate and Tomasetti get married! *Sobs* Okay but honestly though if you have been reading these books as long as I have you know that this was so exciting. The relationship between Kate and Tomasetti has been building for a long time and I just always want those two to win. Kate is the kind of character where you can’t help but hope she gets every happy ending, so for me, I was so happy to finally see them get to this point. When it comes to mystery books I don’t often like the romance bits that sometimes show up in them, but I have always, always, rooted for this one. I think it’s just the common respect, love, and devotion that Tomasetti and Kate have for each other. Tomasetti is always Kate’s safe space and god almighty this woman has been through some shit, so she deserves to have a strong person there to support her. Same with Tomasetti honestly. He has dealt with a terrible past (his wife and children were murdered well before he met Kate) so he also very much deserves to have Kate in his life who is there to comfort and support him. They are just so damn good for each other!! Like in this book Kate is dealing with two pretty horrific murders, and whenever she needs an ear or a shoulder, Tomasetti is always there for her. Tomasetti is also dealing with two missing girls, and he has Kate there for all those things too.
Something that was different about this book as well was that I felt like it was a bit more spicy than the ones in the past. If you haven’t checked out the series before Kate is unique in her role as Chief of Police because she grew up in Painters Mill. However, she grew up Amish. Painters Mill has a large Amish population and Kate left the church when she was 18, eventually ending up back there, but in a different role. Most of the crimes revolve around crimes in the Amish community, so the crimes in each book aren’t always super gory or in your face. Like for example in the last book, the crime revolved around them finding old bones at an Amish farmhouse. For this book, however, the crimes are definitely up there in wildness. We get a look at murder and disturbing sexual assault. I think what added to the crimes in this one though is there was a mix between the victims/perpetrators being English and Amish. Something I’ve always enjoyed about these books as well is how much I have learned about Amish culture through them. Even though the tones of these books are mysterious and spooky, Linda does a really good job of presenting the Amish community as being just a simple happy group of people. An aspect that I loved about this book (and all the others) is what a respectful character Kate is to all the people she comes into contact with. The Painters Mill Police Department is very small, and Kate shows so much respect and kindness to her staff. She always appreciates all the work they do, and it makes sense why all of her staff are so loyal to the department, and her. Along with that, she’s always respectful to the community who kind of did her dirty when she was young.
When Kate is called to the scene of a crime in which a dead body is on the road she does not expect the roller coaster it would send her on. The murder of Aden Karn is originally very strange as he presents to be the average young Amish man. When I tell you I did not see the twists in this book coming I mean it. Even with something so simple as a dead young Amish man Linda manages to make sure you are guessing the whole time. Something that always makes me sad is the anger that Kate generally receives from different Amish people. Everyone just loves to yell at this woman and tell her she is terrible for just doing her damn job. Those are really the only parts I don’t like because Kate often seems to be on the receiving end of people’s blame and anger even when it doesn’t make sense just because she was once Amish and left the community. Along with this, the body of a young English woman is found not long after the investigation for Aiden begins. Originally I really struggled to figure out how she connects but oh boy does she!
Due to Aden being Amish the community is fairly closed off from speaking to Kate, and this makes it a struggle for her to connect the dots. This tends to be a common theme in the books. The Amish are known to sometimes distrust English institutions such as justice and police and often refuse to speak to Englishers even though this means crimes of loved ones go unsolved. I think an interesting topic and one that doesn’t just relate to Amish women but all women is the issue of sexual assaults going unreported. It doesn’t just have to do with the fact that they fear they will be judged or not taken seriously by police and medical professionals. A lot of women young and old are affected by the social pressure that it’s unfair for them to ruin a man’s life. This is a prevalent topic in the book in which men disregard the health and safety of women for their own pleasure, and yet the women still feel as though they should have some sympathy for the men. This is something that’s found a lot in younger victims. It’s always hard see characters go through these things but it’s important that it’s always talked about that victims still often do not feel safe or able to come forward.
Something I enjoyed about this book as well is the compassion Kate has for her staff. One of her younger/newer officers out of fear messes up in an intense situation, almost risking Kate’s life. Her response is compassion understanding, and further encouragement. I think all bosses out there need to read this book to just learn how to respect their staff and understand that everyone is human and no one is perfect.
All in all, if you want a mystery that makes your spine tingle and also has some really heartwarming parts I recommend you check this one out!
Thank you for checking out this review and I hope you enjoyed it! Have you read this series before? What did you think? I would also love to hear what you thought of the book if you’ve read it! Feel free to follow me on Instagram @baddiebookreviews to be kept up to date when I post a new review!
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