Among the Innocent by Mary Alford

Among the Innocent
by Mary Alford

ISBN-13: 9780800740269
Paperback: 297 pages
Publisher: Revell
Released: June 7th 2022

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Goodreads:
When Leah Miller's entire Amish family was murdered ten years ago, the person believed responsible took his own life. Since then, Leah left the Amish and joined the police force. Now, after another Amish woman is found murdered with the same MO, it becomes clear that the wrong man may have been blamed for her family's deaths.

As Leah and the new police chief, Dalton Cooper, work long hours struggling to fit the pieces together in order to catch the killer, they can't help but grow closer. When secrets from both of their pasts begin to surface, an unexpected connection between them is revealed. But this is only the beginning. Could it be that the former police chief framed an innocent man to keep the biggest secret of all buried? And what will it mean for Leah--and Dalton--when the full truth comes to light?


My Review:
Among the Innocent is a Christian romantic suspense. Unfortunately, the story had so many aspects that weren't realistic that I felt like I was watching a super-villain action movie. Early on, the police had a good sketch of the bad guy and, later, a recent photo, but the bad guy only had to put on sunglasses and a hat and no one recognized him. They repeatedly opened doors to him, after which he'd knock them out with one powerful punch. Dalton kept telling Leah that he'd keep her safe even after it was proven that neither of them could stop the guy from doing whatever he wanted. And the police made so many basic mistakes. For example, once someone finally shot the bad guy in the arm (and somehow this made him helpless), no one tried to handcuff or otherwise restrain him.

I didn't like that Dalton expected Leah to view the actual crime scenes. I had no problem with her interviewing the victim's families (which she was good at), but Leah felt like she had to be tough and work the scenes even though it was traumatizing. Dalton wanted to identify the true killer but didn't seem to do much except drive Leah around and schedule which officers would watch which family or empty barn. They were nice enough characters, but they came across as ineffectual. And the behavior of the previous police chief was completely illogical. Seriously illogical. However, the suspense was high throughout as one love-sick girl after another willingly sneaked off to see the killer even after being warned he was a killer. Will anyone survive?

There was no sex or bad language. Though the crime scenes were bloody, not much time was spent describing the gore (as in, it's not very graphic).


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.