“It’s shades of In Cold Blood when a family of seven is brutally murdered at their home in Painters Mill, Ohio. But the Plank family was Amish—and their teenage daughter was flirting outside the fold. Another chilling thriller by the author of 2009’s Sworn to Silence."

Painters Mill is an idyllic small town in Ohio’s Amish country. But even the most peaceful of landscapes is not immune to violent crime. The second installment in Castillo’s strong series (after Sworn to Silence, 2009) finds Police Chief Kate Burkholder once again face-to-face with pure evil. This time around it’s the murder of the Planks, an Amish family who invited trouble when pretty 15-year-old daughter Mary became enamored with a non-Amish man, who seduced her and documented their sexual episodes on tape. The case rattles Burkholder, who left the Amish faith as a teenager after she was raped by an Amish man. Helping her through the stressful investigation is John Tomasetti, a big-city cop battling his own demons (his wife and young daughters were murdered a few years before). The two had a brief affair, but time has passed and both have hesitations about rekindling the romance. They have plenty to distract them as they search for a killer who may have more sinister acts in store. Though the plot fizzles a bit at the end, a unique setting and a very human heroine make this a good recommendation for readers seeking an alternative to the urban whodunit.