Book Review: Genesis (Will Trent #3) by Karin Slaughter

“I don’t want you to think that I’m so good as you put it. I have a little evil side, too. I just keep it well hidden.”

The third book in Karin Slaughter‘s Will Trent series, Genesis is set three and a half years after the events of the Grant County series, as former medical examiner Sara Linton has moved to Atlanta. Now working as a doctor in Atlanta’s Grady Hospital, she finds herself drawn back into a world of violence and terror when a severely wounded young woman is brought in to the emergency room. The woman has been hit by a car but, naked and brutalized, it’s clear that she has been the prey of a twisted mind.

When Special Agent Will Trent returns to the scene of the accident, he stumbles on a torture chamber buried deep beneath the earth. And this hidden house of horror reveals a ghastly truth – Sara’s patient is just the first victim of a sick, sadistic killer. And Sara, Will and Faith are all that stand between a madman and his next crime…

Book Review: Fractured (Will Trent #2) by Karin Slaughter

“A broken window. A bloody footprint. A murder hunt begins…”

The second book in Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent series and published in 2008, Fractured sees Atlanta housewife Abigail Campano return home unexpectedly one afternoon to walk into a nightmare. A broken window, a bloody footprint on the stairs and, most devastating of all, the horrifying sight of her teenage daughter lying dead on the landing, a man standing over her with a bloody knife. The struggle which follows changes Abigail’s life forever.

When the local police make a misjudgement which not only threatens the investigation but places a young girl’s life in danger, the case is handed over to Special Agent Will Trent of the Criminal Apprehension Team – paired with detective Faith Mitchell, a woman who resents him from their first meeting.

But in the relentless heat of a Georgia summer, Will and Faith realise that they must work together to find the brutal killer who has targeted one of Atlanta’s wealthiest, most privileged communities – before it’s too late…

Book Review: Triptych (Will Trent #1) by Karin Slaughter

The first book in Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent series an published in 2006, Triptych sees Special Agent Will Trent of the Criminal Apprehension Team travel to Atlanta to support police detective Michael Ormewood in his investigation of a series of murders. The latest victim has just been found in the stairwell in a pool of her own blood, her body horribly mutilated. As a one-off killing it’s shocking, but when it becomes clear that it’s just the latest in a series of similar attacks, Michael is forced into working with a man he instinctively dislikes.

Twenty-four hours later, the violence Michael sees around him every day explodes in his own back yard. And it seems the mystery behind Monroe’s death is inextricably entangled with a past that refuses to stay buried…

My 2019 Reading Wrap-Up

Over the past couple of years, I have documented every film that I have watched and reviewed them all using Letterboxd. As a way to motivate myself to read more, I thought I would do the same for what books I have been reading, using Goodreads as a way to set myself a reading challenge every year.

After doubling my goal of 10 books last year (since I went on honeymoon and managed to read a book a day!), I thought I would keep my goal to 20 books this year. However, just missed out on this target, but I was ever so close to making it.

Here’s how my 2019 challenge went, with a short review and rating for each of the books that I read:

Book Review: Broken (Will Trent #4) by Karin Slaughter

“Never underestimate the power of a shared history.”

The fourth book in the Will Trent series by author Karin Slaughter, Broken, which was originally released in 2010, follows the investigations of detective Lena Adams and her often drunk boss, interim Chief of Police Frank Wallace, after the body of a female student is discovered deep beneath the icy waters of Lake Grant. With a note left under a rock beside her body, the evidence initially points to suicide. But within minutes, it becomes clear that this was a brutal, cold-blooded murder.

When the prime suspect, Tommy Braham, commits suicide in his jail cell, Dr Sara Linton, back in town for Thanksgiving with her family, is put on the case. Still incredibly angry with Lena over her role in Sara’s husband’s death and convinced that Lena’s callous and reckless behaviour has led to the possibly innocent suspect’s death, Sara calls in back-up from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and is introduced to Agent Will Trent. Despite the roadblocks, he unveils serious errors and deliberate cover-ups in the investigation that definitively points to a murderer still on the loose.

Book Review: Unseen (Will Trent #7) by Karin Slaughter

“If only Lena hadn’t found it. If only she could take a razor and slice the images out of her brain. They haunted her. They flickered into her vision like an old movie every time she blinked. They filled her with a constant, unrelenting sorrow.”

The seventh instalment in Karin Slaughter‘s Will Trent series of detective thrillers, 2013’s Unseen sees Special Agent Will Trent return with a secret, something he doesn’t want the woman he loves, Dr Sara Linton, to find out. He’s gone undercover in Macon, Georgia, and has put his life at risk to solve a case involving someone close to Sara – her stepson, Jared, who has been gunned down in his own home. Sara holds Lena, Jared’s wife and also a detective, responsible, so Will knows that she will never forgive him if she finds out the truth. As Will tries to solve his case, Sara is forced to confront her past and, without even knowing it, they become involved in the same crime. Soon, both of their lives are in danger.