So I have not been able to write anything much since November 8th. Election Day the day America, as I know it, may have died! Anyway even through I haven’t been writing, I have been reading. As such, I have finish four books this month. The first one was Redemption Road by John Hart. I wrote about Redemption Road earlier in the month. The second was the latest Will Trent novel from Karin Slaughter The Kept Woman.

The Kept Woman – Karin Slaughter (Will Trent #7 )

Karin Slaughter has been one of my favorite authors since I read KissCut the second book in her Grant County series. Since then I have read all of her books.

It took me a while before I read the first Will Trent book, but once I read the first book that series has been a favorite, too. For several years now Sara Linton a character from the Grant County series has been a central figure in the Will Trent series. Sara was a pediatrician and part-time medical examiner in the Grant County series..After leaving Grant County Sara became staff member at an Atlanta Hospital., In The Kept Woman, she has left the hospital and joined Will Trent and Faith Mitchell as a member of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI)

The Story

A grizzly murder,at an unfinished nightclub of a major basketball player kicks off the book.  The GBI is called to help with the investigation. At the crime scene, tons of blood covers the walls of the room. The only victim found  is a former dirty cop. He is found with a door knob in his neck. Only the stabbing did not kill him or was it the source of all the blood! Evidence suggested that a mortally wounded woman fled the scene. Angie Polaski, Will Trent’s estranged wife appears to be that woman!

The plot twist and turns revealing the true nature of the crime. The progressing investigation  reveals truths, that threaten to destroy Sara and Will’s relationship.  In addition, the reader learns more about Will and Angie’s convoluted relationship. A relationship, which started, when they were in an orphanage together.

Final Thoughts

Once again Slaughter has created a psychological thriller with characters that her readers have come to know and love. The Kept Woman delves deep into the  wounded psyches of Will, Sara and Angie. As such, they are always struggling to find happiness. Sara and Will had thought they had found it together, but now Angie threatens to tear their relationship apart.

The story, I believe can be enjoyed even if you have never read any of the previous book, However, to fully appreciate Slaughter’s work you should read the earlier books in both the Grant County books and the Will Trent books! That should keep you busy for a while!!

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So it seems that I oftentimes avoid reading stand alone books written by authors whose series are among my favorites. This was the case with Karin Slaughter’s stand alone novel Pretty Girls, which was released in September of 2015.

However, when I saw that the Kindle Edition was on sale for $3.99 the other day, I thought now is the time! All I can say is Wow! What a fool I am!! And bring on William Kent Krueger‘s Ordinary Grace!

I guess one of the reasons that I avoid stand alone novels is that I’m afraid that they won’t measure up to the series that I love! In the case of Karin Slaughter that series is the Grant County/ Will Trent Atlanta series. Hmm, let’s see Pretty Girls not only measured up it may be the best book that Karin Slaughter has written, and at least one of my top favorites of her books.

The Story

The story revolves around two events. One the 1991 disappearance of the teen-aged Julia Carroll and the second is the murder of millionaire Paul the husband of Claire Carroll Juila’s sister. When Julia disappeared the Carroll family was torn apart Claire’s sister Lydia turned to drugs to ease the pain, While their parents marriage fell apart and their father eventually committed suicide. Claire forced Lydia out of her life after Lydia accused Paul of attempting to rape her!

After Paul’s death Claire discovers that her husband had a secret life that involved rape, snuff films and stalking women including her sister Lydia. Soon Claire asks Lydia to help her unravel all of Paul’s mysteries and the sisters are pulled into a very dark and dangerous world that may provide closure to their sister’s disappearance, but it may also cost them their lives!!

Praise for Pretty Girls

“Searing, searching, soulful: a major achievement…Every Karin Slaughter novel is a cause for celebration — but simply put, Pretty Girls is the finest novel of her career.” (Kathy Reichs, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Speaking in Bones)

“Unique in voice, brilliantly plotted…an uncompromising depiction of pure evil…Slaughter has managed the most difficult of feats–to tell a gripping, page turning

crime story…. Fiction doesn’t get any better than this.” (Jeffery Deaver, New York Times-bestselling author of Solitude Creek and The Skin Collector)

Final Thoughts

Read this Book!! Like the above authors said – it doesn’t get much better than Pretty Girls. I think that I read this book about as quickly as any book I have ever read! I literally couldn’t put it down or turn the pages fast enough!! Five Stars for Book 10 of 2016, which should have been read back in 2015!

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Karin Slaughter – Cop Town Atlanta 1974

The first Karin Slaughter book that I read was Kisscut, book #2 in her Grant County series. After finishing it, I immediately went back and found book #1, Blindsighted, and read it even faster than Kisscut. Since then I have read every book she has written—including both the Grant County and the Will Trent series, which are now intertwined!

A Stand-Alone Set in 1974 Atlanta

Cop Town is Karin’s first stand-alone novel. For this book she went back 40 years and recreated the feel of a changing Atlanta in 1974. Having lived in Athens, Georgia from 1975 to 1979, I could really appreciate the atmosphere she brought to life—it took me back to that time and place, when names like Maynard Ferguson and Reginald Evans were part of the soundtrack of our lives.

Meet Kate Murphy

The novel introduces Kate Murphy, a strong female character much like Sara Linton or Faith Mitchell. Kate is a young widow trying to rebuild her life after her husband Patrick was killed in Vietnam. After a bad experience as a secretary, she decides this police job has to work—but the odds are stacked against her. She’s a young, attractive woman on a misogynistic police force that doesn’t believe women belong, and she doesn’t fit in with the women either, coming from well-to-do Buckhead.

The Atlanta Shooter

On Kate’s first day, the “Atlanta Shooter”—who has already killed four officers—claims another victim, Don Wesley. Don’s partner is rising star Jimmy Lawson, whose family connections run deep in the department. Soon Maggie Lawson (Jimmy’s sister) is paired with Kate, and together they investigate what really happened in that Five Points alley, while trying to stop the Shooter before he strikes again. They get some help from Gail Patterson, a plainclothes officer and Maggie’s former mentor, but it’s an uphill battle against both the system and their own personal demons.

Characters and Atmosphere

Karin Slaughter fills the novel with memorable characters—from the Lawson family to Kate’s Dutch-Jewish mother and grandmother, survivors of Nazi concentration camps. The action is fast, furious, and tension-filled, with just the right mix of grit and heart.

“Relentless pacing, complex characters, and gritty realism, all set against the backdrop of a city on the edge….Slaughter’s eye for detail and truth is unmatched. I’d follow her anywhere.” – Gillian Flynn

“Stunning… Karin Slaughter’s first stand-alone novel, she breaks new ground with this riveting story of two young police officers trying to stop a serial killer targeting cops. Her characters, plot, pacing are unrivaled among thriller writers and if you haven’t yet read her, this is the moment.” – Michael Connelly

Final Thoughts

Ok, I know this is a stand-alone novel—but come on, Karin! I just know you have more to write about Kate Murphy. We need to know what happens next. Maybe keep the Atlanta PD world going, NYPD Blue–style? Nah—I want more Kate, Maggie, and Gail! (Book 22 for 2014)

Related Articles

• Review: Cop Town by Karin Slaughter (randombookmuses.com)
• Cop Town by Karin Slaughter (bookbrowsing.wordpress.com)
• Review: Cop Town by Karin Slaughter (stephaniesbookreviews.wordpress.com)

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September was a slow reading month (I listened to more music than mysteries. However, I’ve still been reading and yesterday finally finished Book 30 for the year Karin Slaughter’s latest Will Trent book Unseen.

Unseen is the seventh book in the Will Trent series couple that with the six books in the Grant County series and that makes a total of thirteen great books by Karin Slaughter!!

The Story

In  Unseen the  Grant County series and the Will Trent series continue their collision course, as Sara Litton and Lena Adams, come face to face for the first time since the surprising conclusion to the final book in the Grant County series. Beyond Reach.

The story opens with a deadly attack on Lena and her husband Jared in their Macon Georgia home. . Lena takes out two of the assailants and is stopped short of taking out a third by Wiil Trent a Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) agent working undercover in Macon. Jared is Sara’s stepson so she quickly heads to Macon at the request of Nell  Jared’s mother. Soon the lives of Sara, Will and Lena are entwining and creating havoc in all their lives!  The action careens through flashbacks from present events to a failed drug bust that Lena had headed!!

Final Thoughts

As always the story functions on two levels first on the events that occurred prior to and after the drug bust and the attack on Lena and Jared,and on the second level how the events affect the lives of Sara, Will and Lena. The case nearly destroy Will and Sara’s relationship, and forces both Lena and Sara to relive a period of their lives, that they would both rather forget!

Now the question is whether you can read this novel without having read any of Slaughter’s other works. Yes, you can but I don’t think you’ll enjoy it as much as you would if you had read Beyond Reach, So if you are new to Karin’s work do yourself a favor and read that one first. But at a minimum read at least one, then you’ll only have twelve more to go!!

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So hot in the heels of a great read James Rollins’ Bloodline, Book 18 for 2012 Karin Slaughter’s Criminal  may be even better. The book is the seventh in the Atlanta series featuring Will Trent and Sara Litton. I’ve written before that I put off reading the first book in this series Triptych for a long time because I loved the Slaughter’s Grant County series so much I didn’t think that this one could match up! Silly me! After a couple of books in this series the two series merged (for reasons not discussed here) and since then the series has been wonderful!

This book is set both in current time and flashes back to Atlanta in 1975, when Amanda Wagner, Will’s current boss at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and his partner Faith Mitchell’s mother Evelyn were working their first case, while they were members of the Atlanta Police Force.

The Story

The case involves missing, prostitutes, a murder of another prostitute who is miss identified by the missing girl’s brother!! In the present time Will Trent faces demons from his past when a college girl is reported  missing, and  Will discovers  his father has been released from prison after serving 30 years! Will is convinced that the abduction of the missing girl is the work of his father and Amanda agrees.

Soon the two cases are intertwined and the reader learns the secrets of Will’s past and his connection to Amanda.

 Final Thoughts

The reason that I love Karin Slaughter’s work is that she pours her heart and soul in the characters that inhabit her books. While the story lines are always great ,it’s the characters that make the stand out from the crowd.

In Criminal,  Slaughter outshines herself, as we learn about: the prejudices that Amanda and Evelyn overcame to be accepted as police officers, the demons of Will’s past as he faces what and who his father and mother were,  the ever developing relationship between Will and Sara and the continuing relationship between Will and his estranged wife Angie, that was forged in the orphanage where they grew up! Wow! All that in 428 wonderful pages!!

So check it out!!

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So for seven years and six books, Karin Slaughter entertained her readers with her Grant County series, featuring Sara Linton and her husband Jeffrey Tolliver. Jeffrey was a cop and Sara a pediatrician and a medical examiner. In 2006, she started another series featuring a dyslexic Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) agent Will Trent and his partner Faith Mitchell. In 2009 the two series merged (I’m not telling why) in Undone. Book 24 for the year is the 3rd book in this series Fallen This book had me from the first page and I zipped through the book looking forward to what was going to happen next.

The story revolves around the kidnapping of Faith’s mother Evelyn Mitchell, former head of the Narcotics Division of the Atlanta Police Department and best friend of Will and Faith’s boss Amanda Wagner. I said the story got my from the first few pages that’s when Faith arrives late at her mother’s house only to pull up and hear AC/DC Back in Black blaring from the house and blood on the door handle! When she enters the house she sees it’s been trashed and blood is everywhere. There’s a dead man in the laundry room and a man with a hostage in her mother’s bedroom. Quickly things get worse as Faith kills one man and then the other as he is trying to escape! But where is her mother and why was she kidnapped!

This book is as much about the people as it is the storyline. Sara and Will, Faith and her children Jeremy and Emma, Amanda and Evelyn and their interwoven histories! It’s a story about family, and friendship and the effects of drugs. I have loved Slaughter’s books from the first one I read which was book two in the Grant County series Kisscut. That book was quickly followed by Book 1Blindsighted and all the rest and the books just keep getting better and better and I can’t wait for the 2012 edition!

Here’s an interview with Karin talking about Fallen Lena Adams was a very important and interesting character in the Grant County Series!

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Broken by Karin Slaughter is the seventh book in the Grant County series. It is also Book #2 in the Georgia Series which features Will Trent and Faith Mitchell. The Georgia Series combines Slaughter’s two series – the Grant County Series with the Atlanta series and together Slaughter’s book list is notable and great!

Broken opens with Sara Linton returning to her home town for Thanksgiving and she is quickly immersed in a mystery

The Story…. from her website:

When the body of a young woman is discovered deep beneath the icy waters of Lake Grant, a note left under a rock by the shore points to suicide. But within minutes, it becomes clear that this is no suicide. It’s a brutal, cold-blooded murder. All too soon former Grant County medical examiner Sara Linton – home for Thanksgiving after a long absence — finds herself unwittingly drawn into the case. The chief suspect is desperate to see her but when she arrives at the local police station she is met with a horrifying sight — he lies dead in his cell, the words ‘Not me’ scrawled across the walls. Something about his confession doesn’t add up and deeply suspicious of the detective in charge, Lena Adams, Sara immediately calls the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Shortly afterwards, Special Agent Will Trent is brought in from his vacation to investigate. But he is immediately confronted with a wall of silence. Grant County is a close-knit community with loyalties and ties that run deep. And the only person who can tell the truth about what really happened is dead.

Final Thoughts

Like all her books the story flies by as you can’t wait to find out what happens, but to me the real beauty lies in the characters that populate her books. These characters are real and face real problems and as you read the books you really feel for the characters as they deal with their disabilities and the consequences of their past actions and shared history.

Karin has a quirky sense of humor and writes a very funny newsletter and is great on Facebook. She is always having contests. The latest contest was  making cupcakes with a murderous theme. The winners are displayed on her website.

While the books can be read out of order. It’s my opinion that it is best to start at the beginning! So check out her work!

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