The truth came in layers, and every one of them made things worse.
I thought The Hidden One was solved not just once, but twice. First, I swore it was the former Amish man with the pickup truck and the attitude. That felt neat. Suspicious guy, questionable past, check the box, move on. Nope. Then I swore it was the bishop’s son, especially after he said he did what he had to do. That really felt like the answer. Confession-adjacent. Moral certainty. Case closed. Nope.
Linda Castillo led me down a gilded road, smiled politely while I admired the scenery, and then absolutely sank me at the end. It was beautiful.
The urgency never lets up. Kate Burkholder isn’t just investigating; she’s exposed. She has no jurisdiction, no backup from local law enforcement, and no safety net. Worse, she knows the accused personally, and intimately, from her Amish past. Every step forward feels dangerous, not just professionally but emotionally, and that tension lurks underneath every interview and revelation.
When it came out that the bishop had nearly beaten a man to death, I knew something was up. Where was Castillo going with this? Amish pacifism isn’t just background texture in this series. It’s foundational. Violence of that magnitude shouldn’t exist in that world, and Castillo uses that knowledge like a pressure point. I suspected the bishop wasn’t who he claimed to be, but I never once suspected who he really was. Not even close. Castillo’s misdirection is practically gleeful. She wants you to settle. She wants you to relax into certainty. And then she yanks the rug out with precision and takes your breath away.
My dominant feeling while reading this book was urgency. A constant sense that Kate needed to hurry up before she got hurt...or killed. I read this in one sitting, not because I planned to, but because stopping felt unsafe.
The Hidden One isn’t just about solving a crime. It’s about how well you think you understand people, the lies communities tell themselves to survive, and how dangerous certainty can be. Even when you’re convinced you’ve reached the truth. Especially then.
