After the Storm

Bestseller Castillo’s seventh Amish novel (after 2014’s The Dead Will Tell) does something remarkable for a thriller. Not counting the gripping prologue, readers are halfway through the book before police chief Kate Burkholder and the town of Painters Mill, Ohio, are threatened by even one violent act. And yet Castillo manages to keep the tension building as Kate and her team doggedly follow leads in the case of 30-year-old human remains uncovered in a crumbling Amish barn. Kate, utilizing her childhood Pennsylvania Dutch to share memories with and interrogate members of the reclusive Amish community, soon realizes the long-ago incident was not an accident. Somewhere within the gentle sect, killers are lurking. After the first shots are fired at Kate by an unknown stalker, the violence doesn’t let up—in fact, it gets grislier and grislier. Personal stress, hidden family secrets, and unlikely murderers—as well as murder weapons—turn the serene landscape into fertile ground for this chilling tale. Author tour. Agent: Nancy Yost, Nancy Yost Literary Agency. (July)