Kisscut - Softcover

Slaughter, Karin

4.08

55,626 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062021885 ISBN 13: 9780062021885

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2011

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First the kiss . . . then the blood.

Sara Linton, pediatrician and medical examiner in Heartsdale, Georgia, knows only too well the horrors that can hide behind closed doors in a small community. But when a Saturday night argument between teenagers at the local skating rink leads to death—and a subsequent autopsy reveals evidence of ritualistic self-mutilation and long-term abuse—she realizes that true evil is closer than she imagined. Aided by her ex-husband, police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, and Detective Lena Adams, still traumatized by her brush with a maniac, Sara's investigation is frustrated at every turn by the cold silence of the family and friends of the slain girl. But the truth cannot be hidden forever, as Sara inexorably peels back the many layers of an inhuman outrage that goes far beyond mere murder. For an ominous cloud has settled over the young daughters and sons of Heartsdale—and those who would protect them must act quickly before all innocence here is devoured.

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Review:

Kisscut is a reminder that Karin Slaughter has--with just one previous novel--built a reputation as one of the most powerful and astringent thriller writers at work today. In fact, Slaughter's work represents a development of the Southern Gothic strain, and like so many of her illustrious predecessors, she is adept at exploring the darker reaches of the human psyche. As her last book, Blindsighted, sold over 25,000 copies, it would seem that many of us have become Slaughter aficionados.

Kisscut begins with a particularly explosive opening. In the car park of a skating rink in the small southern town of Heartsdale, chief of police Jeffrey Tolliver witnesses a teenage girl pointing a gun at a man. But the detective, there for a date with his ex-wife Sara (the town's medical examiner and paediatrician), is obliged to shoot the girl to save the boy's life. The subsequent autopsy brings to light a gallery of horrors, and as Tolliver and Sara undertake a particularly difficult investigation, they are met with a wall of silence.

Slaughter is now routinely compared to Thomas Harris, and the comparisons are not far-fetched. We're used to unflinching forensic detail these days (courtesy of such writers as Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell), but Slaughter is adept at unsettling the reader in a whole host of ways, not least through her recurrent suggestion that the patina of normality sustaining her characters is very thin indeed. Jeffrey and Sara's faltering relationship is richly drawn, though we find reduced attention given to their private problems as the novel progresses and the focus shifts more to the author's polished and consummate handling of the tortuous plot. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

"A great read ... crime fiction at its finest" (Michael Connelly)

"A complex and confident thriller in which character goes deep" (Daily Mirror)

"With Blindsighted, Karin Slaughter left a great many thriller writers looking anxiously over their shoulders. With Kisscut, she leaves most of them behind" (John Connolly)

"Slaughter's plotting is relentless, piling on surprises and twists ... [Kisscut] should come with a psychological health warning" (Guardian)

"Fast-paced and unsettling ... A compelling and fluid read" (Daily Telegraph)

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