After that Night by Karin Slaughter

 

Title:  After that Night (Will Trent Series #11)

Author:  Karin Slaughter

Narrated by:  Kathleen Early

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Length: Approximately 16 hours and 34 minutes

Source: Review Copy from NetGalley.

Do you have a favorite genre that you like to read in the fall?  I really love to read thrillers and mysteries in the fall.  After that Night by Karin Slaughter was a riveting thriller that kept me on pins and needles throughout the entire story.

Doctor Sara Linton made a promise to a dying girl, Dani, that she would find who had raped and brutalized her.  Years later as Sara testifies at a trial to convict Dan’s rapist, she discovers that this case may be linked to her own brutal rape fifteen years before.  With help from her fiancé, Will Trent, and his partner, Faith, they investigate Sara’s rape as well as Dani’s to figure out if they can find the perpetrators.  Will they solve this crime before they strike again?

This book kept me on the edge of my seat as Sara, Will, and Faith investigated the crime and put the pieces together.  Even after you think you know what’s going on, there is still a slight twist at the very end.  The crimes were horrifying and made me want to lock my daughter up to keep her safe. It’s sad to know that there are people like that out in the world that only think about themselves and their gratification and not about the people whose lives they’ve destroyed.

What I loved even more than the suspense were the characters and their relationships.  I loved Sara and Will’s love story and finding out more about them.  They are on the verge of being married so they have that on their minds as well.  Faith is a great partner, worried mother, and Sara’s best friend.  Faith wants what is best for her son who is soon graduating from college, but is what she wants, what he wants?  I have only read the last few Will Trent books and I really need to go back to the beginning of this series and read from the beginning.  I do feel you can read them as standalone as they give background on the characters.   I have not watched the show yet, have you? 

Kathleen Early was a great narrator.  This was yet again another audiobook that made me want to keep driving just so I could keep listening to the story.  It was a perfect book for the end of October and beginning of November.

Girl, Forgotten by Karin Slaughter

 

 

Title:  Girl, Forgotten (Pieces of Her #2)

Author:  Karin Slaughter

Narrated by:  Kathleen Early

Publisher: Dreamscape Media

Length:  15 hours and 45 Minutes

Source: Blackstone Publishing  & Netgalley.  Thank-you!

 What author do you turn to when you are looking for a great suspense or thriller novel?  Over the past few years, Karin Slaughter has been just such an author for me.  I am always carried away by her books and I can’t stop reading them.

 If you enjoyed Pieces of Her, you will be excited by Girl, Forgotten.  This time Andrea is the main character.  She is now a U.S. Marshall.  She is working at Longhill Beach on her first assignment to protect a judge that has been receiving death threats.  The judge’s daughter, Emily, was murdered in 1982, and this murder has never been solved.   Who fathered Emily’s child?  Who murdered Emily?  What does any of this have to do with the current death threats?

 I loved this audiobook and I couldn’t stop listening to it.  The story was very engaging – especially Emily’s story.  The book alternated chapters been 1982 and present day.  There is a scary cult in the modern times story that kept me enjoyed.  I really wanted to know how it would all end.   I didn’t put all of the pieces together until just before it was solved on the page.  I was still surprised by many elements.

The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter

 A riot in a prison ends with a murder of a prisoner.  The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) agent Will Trent and crew are on the scene to investigate the crime.  To their surprise, their visit to the prison leads them to an inmate that has information about a girl that was found in the woods had died by an assumed “accidental death.”  His information points to a serial killer with crimes that link to Will’s girlfriend Sara’s past.  Her late first (and second husband) Jeffrey was the county Sheriff that worked on the first two crimes that are indicated.  This new information brings open the past for Sara.  Will they be able to find out who the serial killer is and stop him before his next crime?

 I loved this book and couldn’t put it down.  I’ve read a few Karin Slaughter novels over the last few years and they are page turners.  This is the latest in the Will Trent series.  I have not read most of the series, but I’m still able to enjoy the novels.  I need to go back at some point and catch myself up.  This novel flipped back and forth in time to Jeffrey’s investigation of the first murder during the time that he and Sara were divorced, and the current investigation.  It gave me a great background to these two characters and was a great firsthand look at the first crimes.

 I did figure out who the murderer was early on in this book, but it was satisfying to see my suspicion confirmed and to see how it all tied together.  I also liked that the novel also further developed Sara and Will’s relationship.  I look forward to seeing how the two of them continue to move forward on their relationship.

 Favorite Quotes:

“She did not want a silent husband.  She sure as hell was not going to be a silent wife.”

 “Trauma was trauma.  Every person reacted differently.”

 “You stopped talking to me . . . I used to be your confidant.  You could tell me anything. I thought I was marrying my lover.  I ended up with a silent wife.”

 Overall, The Silent Wife is a riveting thriller with great characters.

 Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow. Thank-you!

 

The Last Widow by Karin Slaughter

I read my first Karin Slaughter novel earlier this year and was eager to read another fast-paced suspense novel by this author. CDC scientist Dr. Michelle Spirey is kidnapped one night in front of her 11-year old daughter as they walk into a parking lot after a shopping trip.  Why was she kidnapped?  Over a month later she is still missing when a hospital is bombed.  Dr. Sara Linton and her boyfriend investigator Will Trent inadvertently find themselves caught up in the mystery. They both happen to work for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.  Will they be able to free Michelle and unravel the plot that threatens harm to a great number of people?

At the center of the mystery is an Alt Right hate group of pedophiles who believe that white men are having their rights taken away by women and people of color.  They have a plan to start a revolution.  What is their plan?

I found this novel absolutely thrilling.  I was never sure what would happen next.  The fast-paced plot was fascinating and slightly unsettling as I could see this scenario happening in today’s world.  I also loved the human side of the story between Will and Sara.  I didn’t realize this was #9 in a series of Will Trent books.  I did feel at times there was some back story I was missing, but it didn’t matter in the long run for how I enjoyed the story.  It did make me now want to go back and find the first eight books of the series.  There were also interesting microbiology aspects to the story that I enjoyed as well.

Favorite Quotes:

“I would hardly consider Charlotte Bronte an expert on my daughter’s emotional well-being.”

“Sara could think of multiple facts to contradict him, but there was no use arguing with a person who would not accept basic truths – another hindrance to the contact hypothesis.”

Overall, if you are looking for a thrilling read that will keep you on the edge of your seat – The Last Widow is the book for you.

Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow.  Thank-you!

Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter (TLC Book Tour Review)

Pieces of Her is a wild ride – a great suspense novel where you are not sure what will happen next and are constantly surprised.  In other words, the best kind of suspense novel.

Andrea is at a low point in life.  She tried to make it in New York City, but left that life behind to return home to the Georgia beach town of Belle Isle to take care of her Mom, Laura, who had cancer.  Now Laura is on the mend, but Andrea is at a loss on how to move forward. 

Laura and Andrea are out for lunch to celebrate Andrea’s birthday when they suddenly find themselves within a mass shooting.  Much to Andrea’s surprise, Laura is not a helpless victim and shows the type of moves and smooth thinking that does not match with her life as a speech therapist.  As Andrea starts a journey to learn about her mom and her past, she leans that she has only known pieces of Laura.  Who is the real Laura?

I don’t want to give up too much more of the plot as I loved the surprise of the twists and turns.  I enjoyed that Slaughter started the book with a bang and kept the action and suspense up at a furious pace.  The novel takes place in both the present and 30 years ago in the past to come together at the end for a great conclusion. 

Overall, Pieces of Her is a great suspense novel that has wonderful characters as well a fast-paced plot.  I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it!

Book Source:  Review Copy for being a part of the TLC Book Tour.  Thank-you!  For more stops on this tour, check out this link.

About Pieces of Her

• Paperback: 496 pages • Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (May 21, 2019) COMING TO NETFLIX! Mother. Hero. Liar. Killer. How can you tell when all you have is... PIECES OF HER What if the person you thought you knew best turns out to be someone you never knew at all . . . ?
 Andrea Cooper knows everything about her mother Laura. She’s knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Gullaway Island; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. Because we all know our mothers, don’t we?

But all that changes when a Saturday afternoon trip to the mall explodes into violence and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out that before Laura was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly thirty years she’s been hiding from her previous identity, lying low in the hope that no one will ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again.

 Twenty-four hours later Laura is in the hospital, shot by an intruder who’s spent thirty years trying to track her down and discover what she knows. Andrea is on a desperate journey following the breadcrumbs of her mother’s past. And if she can’t uncover the secrets hidden there, there may be no future for either one of them. . . .

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Photo by Alison Rosa[/caption]

About Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter is one of the world's most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 120 countries with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her eighteen novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and the instant New York Times bestselling novels Pretty Girls and The Good Daughter. Slaughter is the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programming. A native of Georgia, Karin Slaughter lives in Atlanta. Her standalone novels The Good Daughter and Cop Town are in development for film and television. Find out more about Karin at her website and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.