Karin Slaughter: Perfect name for a crime writer

Karin Slaughter is a hugely successful American crime writer who has written 24 novels, selling over 40 million copies. If ever there was someone destined to become a crime writer, it would be someone called Slaughter😉.

I've read all of Karin Slaughter's books and I think she's a gifted storyteller and one of the few American crime and thriller writers I like. I don't think I've ever guessed the outcome of any of her books. The endings aren't bonkers, but they are pretty dark in terms of human behaviour. I am sure there are people out there as evil and psychopathic as the characters in Slaughter's books. I guess that's what makes her stories so disturbing, that the heinous crimes are realistic.

Slaughter grew up in Georgia where most of her novels are set, having started a degree in literature at Georgia State University but dropping out before graduation. She founded Save the libraries, a non-profit organisation that campaigns to support public libraries.

There are two series that Slaughter is most known for of the 24 books she has published - Grant county and Will Trent. The former includes six books (published 2001-2007) set in a small fictional Georgian town, Heartsdale. This series features Dr Sara Linton, the town's paediatrician and later Medical Examiner, her husband, Chief of Police, Jeffrey Tolliver, and local Detective Lena Adams. The second series of 12 books is set in Atlanta and follows Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Will Trent and his partner, Faith Mitchell. The two series merged in the second Will Trent book, published in 2008.

There are also four standalone novels, Cop town, Pretty girls, The good daughter, and False witness. It looks like a third series is underway with the publication of Pieces of her and Girl, forgotten, featuring Andrea Oliver. We first meet Andrea as she uncovers her mother's secret past and in the second book, Andrea becomes a US Marshal.

The Will Trent books are now a television series and the 2018 Andrea Oliver novel, Pieces of her, has been adapted into a Netflix eight-episode series, starring Toni Collette.

This is my review of the 2024 Will Trent book, This is why we lied, and the 2022 (second) Andrea Oliver novel, Girl, forgotten. I've also made some general comments about the two series and the standalones.

This is why we lied | Published August 2024 | Read September 2024

The first thing to note about Karin Slaughter is that her books are extremely dark and brutal. I usually love Slaughter's plotting and have to marvel at the way her mind must work. That said, she can be pretty raw in her descriptions of violence (and a lot of it directed at women). The violence isn't gratuitous, but her books are still often tough to read.

This is why we lied is definitely disturbing, coming with a long list of content warnings. Mercy McAlpine is the manager of an off-grid, mountainous family-owned lodge. When she is murdered and the property is cut off from the nearest town after a storm, all the family members and guests become suspects. Working my way through the book I found myself deeply unsettled and saddened by Mercy's situation. I actually struggled to read some of it.

Georgia Bureau Investigation Special Agent Will Trent and Atlanta Medical Examiner Dr Sara Linton take over the investigation into Mercy's murder as they are honeymooning at the lodge. The book is part of the Will Trent series, merged with the Grant County one after he meets Sara.

If you haven't read any of the books in the two series, it's still possible to read each book as a standalone. That said, all the backstory and context help. Will and Sara, as noted above, have been part of 12 books together, with Sara in her own series of six books prior to meeting Will. I suggest going back through the series if this is your first outing, at least to the start of the Will Trent books (Triptych, published in 2006) to get a clearer picture of the players. If you do jump in at book 12, you might find the ongoing storylines and character relationships a bit hard to follow.

I stick with the series for Will rather than Sara. He had the most awful childhood, he's dyslexic, and has come out of a toxic and violent relationship to be with Sara (although thankfully that storyline seems to have been put to bed). I'm not sure what it is about Sara that doesn't have me on board the train. I guess you'd call her a Mary Sue. I find her a bit patronising.

I love Faith, Will's partner, though. I like how she's been written over the course of the books - she's got plenty of grit and she always comes through. She has a more intriguing personality and backstory than Sara who seems like she might have been a Mean Girl in high school 😏.

This is why we lied is another lengthy book but as a Slaughter fan, I'm used to that. A word of warning: she does take a long time to get to the point. That's just her thing. I usually don't feel the books are drawn out, but this one did have a lot of descriptions of the scenery, of the mountain trails, of mud, horses...you get the picture.

Also, overdone now is Will and Sara's relationship. It's always been a bit sickly sweet for me. I get they were on their honeymoon in this book, but I'm a bit over it, especially the way they talk to each other. There's much more interesting stuff to explore with the two of them than their relationship.

Book number 12 is a locked room mystery, given the storm had cut off access to the lodge and Mercy's killer had to be one of the family members or guests. Slaughter doesn't usually write locked room-style and I found this approach made me like the book less than her usual fare. The whole book after Mercy's murder is spent jumping from one suspect to another, all of whom had secrets (of course they did!) and looked guilty. I did find the link to Will's past interesting, and the exploration of Mercy's backstory, as heartbreaking as it was.

The book is complex and there's no doubt Slaughter is still able to churn out high-quality work. I found This is why we lied just a wee bit over-the-top for my liking, with so many vile and damaged characters that were had to read about it. I also don't think it had the usual energy of the previous books in the series.

So...I didn't love it but I didn't dislike it. I will still rock up for book number 13 when it comes out.

Book 12 rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Will Trent overall series rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Final word on Will and Sara:

Don't let book 12 put you off if you haven't read any of the others in the Will Trent and Grant County series. They are pretty good examples of crime novels and I have loved working my way through both of them. Of the more recent Will Trent books, try After that night (2023) as it's a disturbing but cleverly plotted book that connects Sara's past to a current case. I also loved Triptych (2006), the first Will Trent novel, a cracking crime novel that got me hooked on the series. I also recommend Fractured (2008), Undone (2009), Broken (2010), Fallen (2011) and Criminal (2012), the latter for a fascinating look at Will's backstory. You could also give these ones a go from the Sara Linton series: Blind sighted (2001) and Kiss cut (2002). If you're interested in what happened to Sara's first husband, Chief of Police, Jeffrey Tolliver, read Indelible (2004) and Beyond reach (2007).

Girl, forgotten | Published June 2022 | Read December 2023

We are introduced to Andrea Oliver in the first book in the series, Pieces of her. It's not essential to read the first book before the second one as Andrea is a completely different person in each book. I liked Pieces of her as I love the past secrets-possible-conspiracy trope, although I remember thinking that Andrea was a bit unsufferable and naïve.

In Girl, forgotten, Andrea has resurfaced and has transformed into a kick-butt newly-mind US Marshal. I like her now! She has some grit to her instead of being a bit pathetic as she was in the first book.

Girl, forgotten covers two storylines: the murder of 18-year-old Emily Vaughan on prom night in a small beachside town in 1982, and Andrea's first assignment to protect a federal judge (Emily's mother) who has been receiving death threats. Emily was pregnant when she was murdered and the case was never solved, nor was the identity of the baby's father ever discovered. The cold case turns up links to Andrea's past that are explored in the first book.

Like This is why we lied, the second Andrea Oliver book is deeply disturbing. I know Slaughter's books are never sugar-coated when it comes to hideous acts towards women, but this one was hard to read at times. The way Emily was treated was appalling and all the players in her story are despicable human beings. The crimes in the current story were also hard to read about, again for their focus on the abuse of women.

I did love Andrea's partner, Leonard 'Catfish' Bible. He was an understated but shrewd operator and his comic moments added some light to an otherwise very dark story. He was the perfect mentor for Andrea.

Despite the disturbing subject matter of both the cold and new cases, I found Girl, forgotten to be a compulsive read. There were a lot of tied threads in both cases and I thought the book was a unique take on the subject matter. I liked seeing Andrea develop and I'd be keen to read more books featuring her and the work of the US Marshals.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A note about the four standalone novels:

I don't suggest reading Slaughter's most recent standalone, False witness. It was published in 2021 and is full of COVID references, so much so that it overshadowed the story. I didn't like it much at all. I highly recommend 2014's Cop town, though. It made my feminist hackles rise but it's a cracking story. The book is set in 1974 and follows young police officers, Kate Murphy and Maggie Lawson. It's a gritty look at what it was like for women in the police force back then, but is sometimes hard to read on that front. It's been ages since I read Pretty girls (2015) and The good daughter (2017) but I know I found both books to be up to Slaughter's standard when it comes to writing suspenseful, well-plotted and dark crime novels.