3.5 stars

In this 12th book in the 'Kate Burkholder' series, the Chief of Police learns about serious corruption in the Columbus, Ohio Police Department. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

Police Chief Kate Burkholder grew up in an Amish community in Painter's Mill, Ohio but left as a teenager. Kate eventually wound up in Columbus, Ohio where she met Gina Colorosa. The two young women bonded instantly. They moved in together, attended the Police Academy together, and became Columbus cops together.

Gina was always a loose cannon, but Kate loved Gina like a sister and ignored her roguish behavior for years. Then Gina went too far and Kate packed up, moved out, and returned to Painter's Mill, where she became Police Chief.

Kate and Gina haven't spoken for ten years when Gina crashes her truck on the icy roads of Painter's Mill. Gina is rescued by Amish widower Adam Lengacher who's out sledding with his three young children. Adam takes Gina to his house, administers first aid, and contacts Police Chief Burkholder.

Kate makes her way to Adam's house just as a blizzard is roaring into Painter's Mill. Kate is shocked to find her former friend in a highly agitated state and bleeding from a bullet wound. The blizzard makes it impossible to take Gina to a hospital so Adam's Amish neighbor administers medical help.

Meanwhile, Gina shamefully admits she was one of a group of bent cops in Columbus who shook down drug dealers, stole money from crime scenes, beat up suspects, and so on. According to Gina, her corrupt comrades went too far one night, and she was about to blow the whistle.

Gina goes on to explain that, before she could turn them in, her former buddies framed her for murder, obtained a no-knock warrant, and planned to kill her during the arrest. Gina was ready for them though, and she escaped - getting shot in the process.

Now Gina is in Painter's Mill, hoping Kate can help her.

Kate repeats this shocking story to her boyfriend John Tomasetti, who's an investigator with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI). Both Kate and John think Gina is holding something back, but Tomasetti agrees to check things out. He learns that the BCI is aware of corruption in Columbus and is quietly investigating. Moreover, Gina can supply valuable information.....if the bad guys don't get her first

The suspense ratchets up as blizzard conditions strand Gina and Kate in the Amish household while a couple of Columbus cops are on the hunt, determined to find Gina and shut her up....forever.

It's interesting to learn more about Kate's early police career. I also liked the peeks into Amish culture, and the scenes where the Lengacher children care for a newborn calf that's been rejected by its mama.

This is more of a thriller than a mystery, but there are some twists to keep things interesting. I enjoyed this addition to the Kate Burkholder series and recommended it to fans of thrillers.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Linda Castillo), and the publisher (Minotaur Books) for a copy of the book.

This is the 12th book in the Kate Burkholder series and I've read each one and eagerly anticipated this one.

Kate, Chief of Police in small town Painter's Mill, receives a call from Amish widower Adam Lengacher. In the midst of a blinding snowstorm, he was out sleighing with his 3 children when he comes across a car crash, and an injured woman, Gina Colorosa, who has a gunshot wound in her shoulder. Gina is a cop and a friend of Kate's, having graduated with her from the police academy in nearby Columbus.

Gina is on the run from two corrupt police officers, who accused her of killing an undercover officer. Kate rushes to Adam's farm, where Gina is hiding. Can Kate trust Gina? Was Gina wrongly accused?

Included in this book was more backstory on Kate's life growing up Amish before she left to become a police officer. I suggest if you have not read previous books, to start with the earlier ones.

I really enjoyed this book and recommend it.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance review copy.

It has been a while since I read one of Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder novels, so I was excited to get a chance to preview this one.

Outsider begins with an unexpected scene – I really thought something was wrong with my copy until I got further into it. However, I was soon comfortably back in Painter’s Mill with Kate and the Amish community. The book was a quick, easy read, but unlike the others that I have read in the series. Here, the story is heavily focused on the “Englishers” rather than the Amish community, and it includes a lot of backstory on Kate’s decision to become a policewoman, and subsequent early career. While this was enjoyable, and helps flesh out Kate’s character, I was not as enthralled with this book as previous ones.

For anyone not familiar with any part of the series, I would not start with this one. There are a number of references to prior events that are just in passing here, and knowing the details (e.g., Daniel Lapp, Kate’s estrangement from her family, etc) would significantly increase the understanding and enjoyment of this particular book.

For those who, like me, have missed a few, this works well as a stand alone and I didn’t feel I had missed anything by not having read those other books. It has inspired me to go back and read them previous ones, though!

My thanks to NetGallery, the publisher and the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for my review.

Thank. you for the advanced e-ARC win exchange for my honest review. I will post my review on Goodreads and Amazon.

Outsider
Linda Castillo
July 7, 2020

Kate Burkholder had left her family and gone off to join the police academy some ten years ago. Her best friend in school was Gina Colorosa. She was more outgoing but when they became acquainted and room-mates their first year after graduation they felt like sisters. They worked for the same Columbus police force and the same shift just in different zones. After a few years they depended on each other for support at home and especially after work for decompression. About 4 years in, Kate and Gina planned a much needed vacation. The night before leaving Kate went unplanned, to meet up with Gina and ended up supposedly witnessing a warrant being served with her and detective superiors. Kate knew it was wrong, all wrong. When she left the scene she went back to their apartment, packed and left without ever speaking to Gina again.
Now it is 6 years later. Kate is police chief in Painters MIll, Ohio, the small Amish town she has grown to love. She lives in a farmhouse together with John Tomaseti a CSI in the Ohio BCI(Bureau of Criminal Investigation).
In Outsider, we find Gina hiding from local Columbus detectives that she knows will soon be pulling a no-show warrant situation. She knew they would do anything but take her into custody. She had too much information for them to let her live. The Plan was ready, now she had to escape and get to the truck she’d hidden in the neighbor’s garage. Despite the blizzard and a gunshot wound to her shoulder, she was on the road to Holmes County in search of the only person she knew could help her, Kate Burkholder.
Minotaur of New York Books will be publishing the latest Linda Castillo novel on July 7, 2020. Outsider is the 12th in the Kate Burkholder series of mysteries dealing with the Amish town of Painters Mill, Ohio, which she is police chief. I stumbled on the original book, Sworn to Silence when it came out in June of 2009. I had not heard of Linda Castillo but as luck would have it snapped it off the library shelf. I have been hooked on her books ever since. They are some of the top mystery/suspense on the market. Outsider is terrific, very hard to put down as all of Castillo’s works have been. Would love to see NetFlix latch onto one for a film.
Readers familiar with her are waiting ‘not so patiently’ for this to be published. If you are a suspense fan and have not opened one of her thrillers as yet be sure to check this one out, it is another chartbuster.

It has often been said that opposites attract, and that certainly seems to be the case in Linda Castillo’s twelfth presentation of the Chief Kate Burkholder series, Outsider. After years of separation, Kate suddenly meets up with a blast from the past, her former roommate from her early days as a cop, Gina Colorosa. The two are as different as night and day, ying and yang, yet they were best friends when Kate was a new refugee from Amish life. It was Gina who put the bug in Kate’s ear to become a cop, and the two shared that experience for a while until Kate became increasingly disturbed by Gina’s increasingly, let’s say, “questionable,” behavior. She left Columbus for Painter’s Mill, where she now serves as police chief.

Imagine her surprise when she gets a call to go to the home of her old childhood friend, Adam Lengacher, a widower with three children, about a woman whom he has rescued from a ditch during a massive snowstorm, and the injured driver turns out to be her estranged pal, Gina. Colorosa’s story unfolds in bits and pieces. Kate suspects she is holding back, but the first order of business is treating her gunshot wound. Then she must keep her safe while trying to get as much of the truth as she can, which is no small task.

With her lover, John Tomasetti, doing his best to get the BCI involved, Kate wrestles with her duty to turn in her fugitive friend. How much does she trust her, knowing her past? This was her best friend whom she loved like a sister, but she’s a wanted criminal. How far will Kate go to protect her?

The flip side of this is that Colorosa is only one piece of a larger pattern of corruption in the Columbus Police Department. The BCI and FBI have bigger fish to fry. Colorosa has gotten herself caught up with some bad actors, and now she wants out. The problem is, she knows too much. She is a threat. The reports of police abuse seemed all too real, since these past two weeks have been fraught with protests and riots following the death of George Floyd, just blocks from where I used to live in Minneapolis. Police behavior, now under a microscope, continues to be all-too racist, unnecessarily violent at times, and unequally adjudicated in the justice system. In this case, the cop becomes a victim, and she is not wholly innocent. But what is the truth? Kate is never quite certain. Is she being played?

As she is snowed in at the farm with Adam and his family, waiting with Gina for the weather to clear and for Tomasetti to arrive with news of the next steps, Kate feels twinges of nostalgia for the life she left behind. Gina sees, too, for the first time, what Kate’s life as an Amish child must have been like. It provides some relief from the tension; Kate and Gina both know that someone wants Kate arrested, if not killed. Can they possibly find her at an Amish farmhouse? Castillo is an expert at building the tension and mood with the snow, the lack of access and communication, and other unknowns. She has cast doubt upon Gina’s character and her motivations. It all adds up to an exciting, nerve-jangling climax.

This is a story about “opposites” and how they co-exist. Amish and “English”. Unethical cops and those who seek to police honorably. One person who is impulsive and reckless; one who is careful and more guarded. I love how Kate reflects upon her Amish past, accepts the decisions she has made, yet still respects those in the Amish community. I also liked how Gina came to feel about the Lengacher family. She did seem to soften around the edges somewhat. As usual, Castillo portrays the Amish family realistically, with respect. Outsider seemed like a heavier, more serious read than some of the others in the Burkholder series, but I liked the Colorosa character and the complexities of her relationship with Kate. It gave yet another look at Burkholder’s past. Now, if we can just move forward with that relationship with Tomasetti....

Thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and the author for this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

I've read the entire Kate Burkholder series by this author and I get so excited every time a new one is released.

This one was just not quite up to par, in my opinion.

I enjoy with the Amish are the focus of the mystery, and, instead, in this book the focus was on an Englisher police woman who is an old friend of Burkholder's.

I just didn't like it quite as much!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my review copy.

Another great read from Linda Castillo. Well developed storyline and characters. I love learning more and more about the Amish way of life in this series.

Linda Castillo always provides an engaging thriller, and the latest is no exception. An old friend of Kate Burkholder's is in trouble, and Kate must unravel the threads to find out who she believes. The Outsider fills in some of Kate's past between her Amish upbringing and her return to Painters Mill as police chief.

I loved this book. The story is different from other Kate Burkholder stories in that it focuses more on Kate and her history then than a crime experienced by an Amish family. I really enjoyed the difference and learning more about Kate’s background. I love this series and can not wait for the next book!

I have read every Kate Burkholder book and eagerly await a new one every summer. Needless to say I was thrilled that I got an ARC thru NetGalley for the newest book, Outsider. For those who have not read these books I recommend starting from the beginning and reading them in order so you get the full background and character building that happens in each book but this one could be read as a stand-alone.

The series is about chief of Police Kate Burkholder in the small Amish country town of Painter’s Mill, Ohio. Kate herself is formerly Amish so each book has a component of Amish life in it. This book contained the usual involvement with the Amish community that every book does, maybe even a bit more.

In this book we get to learn more about Kate’s history of when she left her family and her journey to becoming a cop., including the woman who befriended her and pushed her into law enforcement. It is this woman who is behind the mystery of this book. Is she a good cop in a bad situation or a dirty cop who is caught in her own bad decisions? Read the book to find out!

The mystery/plot in this one was a bit predictable in my opinion and not as thrilling, edge-of-your seat as the books usually are, but a decent fast read.

***3.5 stars***

Love the Kate Burkholder series! Wonderful that we get to learn more about Kate’s past in this book.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Every time I finish one of Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder mysteries, I find myself wondering how she will come up with yet another crime to hit the tiny Amish community of Painter’s Mill, Ohio. Outsider, the twelfth installment in the series, brings in someone from Kate’s past, who is running from corruption within her own police department. Some of the complaints I had about the previous book in this series with regard to then lack of character development is fully addressed in this book. I really enjoyed finding out more about how Kate decided to become a police officer and her early days in the Columbus Police Department. Outsider is one of my favorite books in this series so far!

Another great book in the Kate Burkholder series. Kate is called out in the middle of a snowstorm to the Amish farm of a childhood friend to find Gina, an old police colleague, who has been shot and is running from members of her own police vice unit. It is up to Kate to figure out what the truth is.

I really liked so many things about this book. I liked that we got a view into Kate’s early days as a police officer and then got to compare it to the woman she is today. I also liked the flashback scenes of Kate and Gina’s relationship as rookies on the police force. These scenes were really good at establishing the roots of their relationship and made the fact that Kate gives Gina the benefit of the doubt believable.

Usually, the Amish are front and center in this series, but in this book they take a backseat to the other characters. Kate’s colleagues are nonexistent as well. This is essentially a two woman show and the farm is the only setting, except for in the flashback scenes. You would think the lack of characters and places would get tedious but I didn’t miss them at all because the interactions between Kate and Gina were so strong. The feeling of isolation just adds to the suspense.

This book is a slow burn. You know the confrontation is coming. You know who it will be between, but that only had me turning the pages faster and staying up way to late to finish this book. Many series start to lose steam when they have been around as long as this one, but Linda Castillo just keeps improving with every book.

Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder series is another one that doesn’t disappoint. This book is the twelfth offering.
Kate finds herself caught up in a potential corruption case out of Columbus. During a heavy snow storm, an Amish farmer finds a crashed car and close by, an unconscious woman. When the woman comes to, she asks for Kate by name. Turns out, she and Kate went through the police academy together and were close friends. But the friendship didn’t end on a good note and they haven’t seen each other in ten years. As always, this book is strong on character development. We learn even more about Kate’s first years after leaving her Amish home. Gina is an excellent secondary character and provides a great contrast to Kate. “Gina Colorosa is not a reflective person. She’s always lived her life by the seat of her pants, never anticipating the consequences, the past - and the future- be damned.”
Throughout the series, Castillo has done a good job of giving a fair, unbiased look at the Amish. Here, we get an in-depth look as the snowstorm strands Kate and Gina at a farm.
This book takes a while longer to get into a higher gear. But once it did, it delivered on both tension and suspense.
My thanks to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.

The background of Kate Burkholder is explored more in this book in the series. During a killer snowstorm, a woman is found by an old friend of Kate's, Adam and his children. And the woman turns out to be an old friend of Kate's - Gina, whom she lived with worked with in Columbus as a police officer. Gina, is an officer too, and seems to have gone down a dark path and needs Kate's help - desperate people are on her trail and she barely escaped with her life. As Kate and Gina confront the sins of the past, will anyone survive? While being different than the others in the series, this is still an entertaining mystery, and gives a lot more background on the main character. Series fans will enjoy this one.

I am a huge Linda Castillo fan! I have devoured all of her Kate Burkholder Amish stories as soon as they are released. I was so excited to get my hands on an advanced readers copy of Outsider, Book #12 in the Kate Burkholder series in exchange for my honest opinion. Castillo doesn't let you down, despite being book #12. You are greeted with all the same great characters and get to meet a few new ones. In Outsider, we meet Gina, a friend of Kate's from the early years. Kate met Gina prior to becoming a cop after leaving her Amish family for the big city and a new life. After Painter's Mill is covered in a snow storm, Gina reconnects with Kate, pleading for help hiding her from Gina's local police authorities. Gina is involved in a corrupt police ring and is running for her life.
Castillo writes a great suspense novel with great characters. Outsider flows and is an easy, exciting read. One definitely could pick up this book and follow along without reading any of the other Burkholder books. But loyal fans will love the continuation of the Burkholder story. Can Kate and Tomasetti please settle down now?!!! I highly recommend Outsider to others and will continue to watch out for Kate Burkholder. Special thanks to Linda Castillo, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
#NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books/MacMillanUSA for a copy of "Outsider" in exchange for an honest review.

Gina Colorosa is a cop in trouble. The book opens as she is shot fleeing the police. She ends up in Painter's Mill, Ohio, population 5,300 with one third of them Amish. She is found by Adam Lengacher who is out on a sleigh ride with his children Samuel (8), Lizzie (7) and Annie (5). Her last words before she passes out are to ask for Police Chief Kate Burkholder.

Gina apparently has information on crooked police officers in the Narcotics Bureau of the Columbus police department. Officers Damon Bertrand and Ken Mercer are on her trail wanting to stop her at all costs to keep her from talking.

This is book #12 in the Kate Burkholder series - I did not find it a hindrance to have not read the previous books in the series. It was easy to just start reading and "meet" Kate through this book.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review.

Not the best Kate Burkholder book but still pretty good. I am an avid fan of the series, but this one felt more like a filler book. There was action and Tomasetti and Kate, of course, but much of it surrounded Katie's relationship with her former best friend and police officer Gina Colorosa. Gina wrecks her car in Painter's Mills fleeing from a no-knock executed in the middle of the night (In Columbus). She's stranded at the farm of an Amish man named Adam, snowed in, and asks for Kate.

The rest of the book is basically a narrative of the several days that Kate and Gina are snowed in with Adam's family. Tomasetti arrives a few times on a snowmobile to give BCI updates on the case and Gina's allegations of corruption.

A quick read, but not my favorite.

Five stars as always, though I do feel that a lot of this one was filler. We meet Gina, who was mentioned in the first book or one of the really early ones as being a mentor and friend for Kate when she was in the police academy. Their paths in life took different turns and Gina has found herself in trouble, shot and on the run from an alleged corrupt police force. She ends up in Painters Mill seeking Kate's help and quite a lot of the novel is spent with her getting to know the Lengachers, an Amish family that takes her in while she's healing and hiding. A lot of this bonding time could have probably been cut out, as it made this one a little less thrilling than most of the other books in this series. The ending was good, though, and I liked how the reader never really knew which side Gina was really on. Castillo did a great job of having you question every move she made. There was not enough Tomasetti in this one for my liking, though. Still, this is my favorite ongoing series and it always gets recommended to patrons. This title will be no different.