Indelible by Karin Slaughter review

Indelible immediately jumps into the action as the police station is under siege. Sarah had gone to visit a slightly unwelcoming Jeffrey as Brad led a group of kids on a tour of the station. Two gunmen walk in and begin shooting. Sarah screams to Jeffrey as she sees what is about to happen and begins a case of mistaken identity as officer Matt Hogan walks through the door and is gunned down and Jeffrey is wounded. They realize the gunmen had a vengeful purpose, to kill Jeffrey, whom one of the boys believes is his father.

The book then flashes back to 1991 when Sarah and Jeffrey first began dating. This really builds up the story and strength of their relationship (once again, too bad I didn't read these in order). They make an unexpected detour to Jeffrey's hometown on their way to Florida for a vacation. While there she is disgraced by his mother and tormented by his childhood friends. One of which becomes involved in a suspicious murder. Sarah gets a glimpse of Jeffrey's life growing up and is unsure of how this may change her opinion of him, particularly when he is accused of rape. Meanwhile Jeffrey tries to determine what Robert, his high school friend, is trying to hide as well as trying to live down his past reputation.

After Jeffrey appears to have tampered with the crime scene, Sarah's trust of Jeffrey begins to waiver. Sarah learns that, unknown to him, Jeffrey has a son with his high school sweetheart. When Sarah and Jeffrey discover the remains of a young girl, Julia, in a secret cave the blame immediately goes to Jeffrey and Robert. Robert is willing to take the fall for everything because he has his own secret to hide. On top of this, Julia had a son before she disappeared that is believed to be the motive behind her murder. Luckily, Sarah makes a discovery that clears both Jeffrey and Robert of being the boys father. Later Roberts secret is revealed as well as who Julia's murderer is.

Slaughter definitely packs on the suspense with two story lines that tie together nicely in the end. As I stated before, I really enjoyed the development of the main characters by looking into their past.

Broken by Karin Slaughter review

In Karin Slaughter's latest novel, she brings back together Dr. Sarah Linton and Agent Will Trent. As in the last book, there is an attraction that neither will give in to. Sarah returns home to Grant County for a small vacation and is immediately called to work. Before moving to Atlanta she was the medical examiner and pediatrician for the small town. She is called to the jail to see a former patient, Tommy, whom she can barely remember, only to find him dead in his cell. Tommy had been arrested for the murder of Allison Spooner who was found in the lake and made to look like a suicide. Immediately Sarah knows something is off. She decides this must be Lena's fault and is determined to destroy her career as Sarah blames Lena for the death of her husband Jeffrey. She calls in a complaint to the GBI and they send out Agent Trent to investigate. Due to renovations at the only hotel in town, Trent is forced to stay in Sarah's parent's garage apartment while on the case. Attraction and tension both rise as Sarah and Will dive into the investigation and begin unraveling the cover-ups of both Lena and Frank Wallace, the current crooked police chief.

Well I finally finished this book, Christmas time is busy around here. Let me just say, I am soooo aggravated that Sarah and Will are not together yet. I need a new book out ASAP. And let me say WOW about Lena and Jared. Maybe it's because I didn't read them in order, but I had not put together who Jared was. Needless to say, I enjoyed this one a lot. The overall story line was a little dull, but the character growth and interaction was worth it.

 On to the next one...

The Girl Who Played with Fire

*SPOILER ALERT* 

Another random Kroger pick. And of course, I found out after reading it that this was the 2ND of the trilogy by Stieg Larsson Great. Perhaps I should look up bestsellers more often. I have a bad habit of just randomly picking up books.

This book took me forever to finish! Call me uncultured if you want, but it took weeks for me to keep the foreign, Swedish names straight in my head. I'm not complaining, I know it was adapted from Swedish, but I felt like I was going back and re-reading parts over and over because I couldn't remember who was who. But halfway through the book, when I finally got past that, it turned out to be ok. The story seemed drawn out and I never felt a real character connection with Lisbeth Salander. She is most definitely an original type of character, but murdering someone in a hurricane, murdering her crippled father (even though he deserved it) and surviving being buried alive seemed like quiet a stretch for any story. There were lulls that took me days to get through followed by page-turning suspense that I couldn't put down. I would have enjoyed it much more had it been more consistent. Unfortunately, it seems as though a lot of my biases are based on having not read the first book of the series. I would not necessarily recommend this book, but the 1st and 3rd of the trilogy are on my last resorts reading list.

Karin Slaughter overview

So one evening, I was hankering for a new book to read. I had to pick up some groceries at Kroger and decided to browse and see what I could find. I came across a Karin Slaughter book called Undone. I had never heard of her, but after reading the back cover I thought it looked pretty good. And I was right. It was about a sadistic murderer who tortures his victims in an underground chamber, until one escapes which starts an investigation. I really enjoyed the characters and half way through the book Googled to see what other books Karin Slaughter had written. I was quiet saddened when I realized that this was a very new book and that there were many others that followed the same characters (previous to how they met in this book). I like to do things in chronological order, but oh well. It was good so I decided to start back at the beginning, or at least as far back as my library allowed.

This sent me back to Faithless, which also held my attention. There were four more before this, one of which is in my queue.  It was not near as gruesome as the first one, but had an intriguing plot with the religious fanatic family. It contains Sarah Linton whom I immediately like from Undone.

Next on my list was Tryptich, which kept me on my seat. This one is a little more gruesome that the last, with more killings. I was dying to get to the end to find out for sure who the murderer was. You pretty much know, but you don't know the connection till toward the end. Will Trent is like a wounded, good-hearted puppy that you can't help but love and want the best for, which in my opinion is NOT Angie Polaski.

Then we have Beyond Reach, which I just finished last week. This one also includes Sarah Linton, but it wasn't my favorite. It contains a lot of drug use and white-power bigotry that is definitely bold, if not a little too overpowering in the story. Lena Adams also wasn't my favorite of characters. However there is a big surprise ending, that somewhat saved the book.

Fractured should be next on the list, but it wasn't in at the library, so I 'm skipping ahead to Broken, the newest one which continues with the characters I became fascinated with in Undone. Perhaps I would have felt differently about some of the characters had I read them in order.

And since I only get to read at night, after baby is asleep, my blog posts will be short as I continue through Broken with bits of review at a time.


And in case you didn't follow that, here is the full list in chronological order:

Blingsighted
Kisscut
A Faint Cold Fear
Indelible - reading
Faithless
Tryptich
Beyond Reach
Fractured
Undone
Broken

My likes

I thought since I am going to start posting book reviews, I should give you a little background on the types of books I read. Mostly they are serial killer/murder mystery/psychological books. However I have read and enjoyed the Twilight books (yes, I'm a grown woman, but I liked them), as well as a few by Nicholas Sparks and Jodie Picoult. Mainly, I hate watching a movie if there is a book and I haven't read it. And I am definitely that person who sits in the theater and picks out every difference between the two. *shrug*

Some of my favorite authors are Mary Higgins Clark, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Lisa Gardner and Michael Connelly. I have read several Sandra Brown books I enjoyed and I am currently reading through Karin Slaughter's works (out of order, much to my dismay).So I'm sure that is where we will begin.

I may occasionally throw in a children's book or two, because we are rapidly growing our collection. 

Feel free to give me any suggestions, I am always looking for new authors and great reads!