Broken, Karin Slaughter

Ok, so now we've got a real crossover.

Unfortunately, that means Lena's back.

Goddamnit!!

Sigh.

Ok, lets get to it.

It's Thanksgiving in Grant County.  Sara is home for the first time since Jeffery died. And what happens? That's right, Lena fucks up.

So, Sara calls Amanda and she sends Will.

As far as the Sara/Will story, this was a good book. They get to know each other better, and Will meets the fam. Tessa, Sara's sister, is back and pregnant, and as hilarious as ever. As is Cathy, Sara'a mom.

So, Sara and Will are bonding, but Will is still married to Angie. *sigh*

What's Lena done this time, you ask? Well, nothing so disgusting as what she did during Beyond Reach, but definitely sloppy and negligent.

This time she gets the apartment number wrong and mistakes the resident for an intruder. This causes a chain of events including the stabbing of Lena's partner, and the suicide of the (wrong) suspect in Lena's custody.

It's a complete cluster.

Undone, Karin Slaughter

So, this is the first crossover with Grant County. It's 3 years since the events in Beyond Reach.

A woman is hit by a car. She's been raped and tortured. Blinded. She walks out into the road, and...

...ends up in the ER with Sara.

That's where we begin.

Will and Faith are working well together, though there's still some...kinks to work out.

Where in Triptych, I felt that Will and Angie were just 2 damaged people who loved each other, but didn't know how to have a relationship, in this one...

I feel like Angie stopped being a victim and started being an abuser.

Stay with me, here.

We weren't in her head, like we were in Triptych, I admit that could be part of the switch, but I think it's more than that. In this book, Angie was cruel. She hurt Will on purpose. She wanted him to know that he wasn't worthy of anyone but her. He tries to stand up for himself. He tries to make a break, and she makes it clear that he's stuck with her. That he's not good enough to be with anyone else.

She calls him stupid.

She's...alluded to that before. Mocked him for his disability, thought subtly, but this was something different. This was "I can control you, and don't you forget it."

Like I said, she switched roles for me in this one.

Triptych, Karin Slaughter

If I only had one word to describe this book it would be "lonely."

Everyone is just so damn lonely.

This is the first book of the Will Trent series. Now, I mentioned in my review for Beyond Reach we were leaving the Grant County series for a bit. This is why. See, Slaughter merged Grant County into Will Trent, but not until the 3rd book of the Trent series. So, I have a bit of catching up to do before we get more news about the Grant County folk. I'm not sure if there will be any more Grant County only books, to be honest. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

So, a triptych is one of those art pieces that's in 3 panels. Likewise, this book is written in three parts, from 3 points of view. We don't get into Will's head until the 3rd part actually.

The first part is that of a cop who seems perilously close to burnout. He doesn't seem to care much about the job - and a police work is not the kind of thing people do for the money. And his home life is pretty much a shambles. He and his wife can't stand each other and their son is stressing them and their bank accounts out due to his special needs.

Then there's John - he gets part 2. Man, his loneliness seriously kills you. He was arrested and convicted of rape and murder when he was 15. Sentenced as an adult. At 16 he was thrown into a prison where he was fresh meat. He's out on parole now and his life is pretty shitty. He got his college degree in prison, but the best job he can get is a car wash. His sister can't stand the sight of him. And he lives in constant fear of being sent back. That's not even taking into account what a bastard his father is.

Beyond Reach, Karin Slaughter

Ok, kids, we're doing this one a little differently.

I give a general spoiler warning in the blog intro/description, but I still try to be conscientious of what I give away. I only usually call them out in my reviews if they're pretty obvious and I'm being facetious.

However, as I also say in my review, these aren't meant to be a synopsis of the book, but I do have to give some sort of run down in order to make the parts I want to talk about make sense.

But, in order to discuss this amazeballs book honestly, I need to reveal a huge spoiler.

Which brings me to the different part. Normally, I put the page break in mostly for space and try to place it where it makes you want to read the rest of the review. Because of this major spoiler, I'm placing the break after this intro.

This really was a great book (with and without spoilers), and I absolutely would tell you to read this and the whole Grant County series (in order). But, if you're not like me and a major spoiler ruins it for you, makes you want to not read something, do yourself a favor: Read this book, then come back and read my review.

If not....keep reading....if you dare...