RAGE by Linda Castillo

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RAGE
Linda Castillo

Reviewed by Annetta Sweetko
Posted July 13, 2025

Chief of Police Kate Burkholder finds there is no peace for her summer when three Amish children find the mutilated body of a local Amish man, Samuel Eicher. Murdered in such a way leaves even the hardened area cops and even Kate sickened and feeling RAGE toward the person, or persons, who destroyed this successful man’s life. A second body is found only miles away with this one found in a ravine. Aaron Shetler’s body was stuffed in a barrel. These two men met violent deaths but what were they involved in to lead them to such horrible endings?

RAGE brings fans back to Painters Mill and Chief Kate Burkholder. Still adjusting to married life with long-time lover and new husband John Tomasetti with the Ohio Bureau of Investigations. Kate has continued to do her best for the people of her town but this time she is going to need everything and everyone she can use. Kate finds herself in a totally unexpected situation with the Amish and the English world colliding.

This 17th edition of author Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder series is a bit more violent than her usual offerings though this one certainly could come straight out of the news headlines. RAGE shows the darker sides of humanity. Ms. Castillo balances the lifestyles readers have come to expect of the Amish with the problems and trials they have with the outside world and its dangers and intrigue very realistically.

RAGE gives us a good look into the dangers of the Amish’s rumspringa – the time for the teens to get a taste of the outside world before being baptized and becoming adults in the Amish world. This book looks into the things that can happen to young people – and not just Amish youth but all youth who go wild. There is some baser language but there is no graphic sex and the violence is mostly off the pages and only felt in the writings.

The characters are as always well-written and as this has been a long series fans are always glad to see that their favorites are the same throughout, with their quirks, humor and seriousness (especially those working in law enforcement with Kate).

RAGE is a well-written page-turner that will leave you satisfied with the results but still wanting more.

SUMMARY

In this gripping installment of the Edgar Award winning series, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates a brutal double murder that takes her into the dark underbelly of society and exposes the dangers of Amish lives gone wrong.

Summer has arrived with a vengeance in Painters Mill, and a macabre discovery by three Amish children brings the quiet to a grinding halt. Chief of Police Kate Burkholder arrives on scene to find the dismembered body of 21-year-old Samuel Eicher, a local Amish man who owned a successful landscaping business. What twisted individual murdered him in such a sadistic way?

The investigation has barely begun when, miles away, a second body is found, stuffed into a barrel and dumped in a ravine. The deceased is 21-year-old Aaron Shetler, Samuel Eicher’s best friend. What could these two young Amish men have been involved in that led to such violent ends?

With a heat wave bearing down, Kate learns quickly that, for reasons she doesn’t understand, no one is willing to talk about what happened to the men. Just as she begins to fear the case may be hopeless, a mystery woman comes forward and reveals that fun-loving Aaron and Samuel had recently befriended some very unsavory characters—individuals who may have ties to a larger, more sinister, black market.

To solve the case, Kate must delve into the most sordid corners of her community, but when she gets too close, the killers target Kate herself. Will the secrets simmering beneath the surface of Painters Mill take another life before she can expose the truth? Or will Kate be the final victim?