This suspense tale starts with a truly horrific scene; numerous cattle and two people are found poisoned by anthrax, while another farmer is also affected. The event in wintry Amish country leads Noah Miller to call the doctor and law enforcement for aid. Their TOXIN ALERT brings the FBI to the area.

I hadn’t previously read any books in the linked series ‘Tactical Crime Division: Traverse City’ but as with most of these setups, a number of characters drop in and out of the storyline, as well as the main agents. We follow FBI special agent Carly Welsh, who works out of Traverse City, Michigan. She doesn’t know much about the Amish lifestyle, and her colleagues explain to her when she arrives with a team sent to trace the biological weapon. One colleague, Selena Lopez, is a lady with a tracker dog, Blanca, but this dog is so seldom seen that I forgot the name belonged to a dog and thought it was another agent, as they have names like Aria, Amanda, Alana, Rhianna.

The agents all stay in the same B&B and persuade Noah to help them navigate the uneasy waters of the community. Noah was born here but never took the vows to become an Amish man, so he has leeway that the farmers do not; the downside is that the farmers regard him as someone who turned away from the faith, and only give as much help as strictly necessary to assist in finding the attacker. Noah helps interpret the situations and domestic arrangements for Carly, which informs the reader, and Noah also has his own land to manage, with a few workers who are quite sensibly scared in case their farm is next to be tainted.

I have to say that I found the writing style choppy and confusing.  The author seemed to have established plot points, started each chapter at one of them – someone is chasing a wrongdoer, or trudging after someone else, being led into a trap – and then had to go back for a few pages of conversation or in-head thoughts to explain how this character got into this situation. Not only does this scheme do away with much of the action, and slow down the forward motion, but we are left thinking the FBI agent wasn’t very smart to fall for a ruse, instead of the story allowing the reader to fall for the ruse too. The author Tyler Anne Snell has previously written other thrillers, and perhaps another book would flow better.

TOXIN ALERT will certainly have the reader on the lookout for signs of anthrax, and more, we do feel that it’s a particularly cruel crime against people who vow to do no harm, and their livestock. As a contemporary romance I was left unconvinced, but maybe that’s because I associate Amish country with inspirational romances instead.