Broken (The Will Trent Series) - Hardcover

Slaughter, Karin

4.18

64,673 ratings by Goodreads

9781846052040: Broken (The Will Trent Series)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1846052041 ISBN 13: 9781846052040

Publisher: Century, 2010

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When the body of a young woman is discovered deep beneath the icy waters of Lake Grant, a note left under a rock by the shore points to suicide. But within minutes, it becomes clear that this is no suicide. It's a brutal, cold-blooded murder.

All too soon former Grant County medical examiner Sara Linton - home for Thanksgiving after a long absence - finds herself unwittingly drawn into the case. The chief suspect is desperate to see her but when she arrives at the local police station she is met with a horrifying sight - he lies dead in his cell, the words 'Not me' scrawled across the walls.

Something about his confession doesn't add up and deeply suspicious of Lena Adams, the detective in charge, Sara immediately calls in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Shortly afterwards, Special Agent Will Trent is brought in from his vacation to investigate. But he is immediately confronted with a wall of silence. Grant County is a close-knit community with loyalties and ties that run deep. And the only person who can tell the truth about what really happened is dead...

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Review:

With such tense novels as Blindsighted and Kisscut, Karin Slaughter has firmly positioned herself as one of the most capable exponents of the crime novel at work today – and certainly one of the most disturbing (a skill the author is clearly proud of). What's more, she ensures that each new book is subtly different from its predecessor, as her latest, Broken, demonstrates, with its innovative, edgy mix of tried and trusted elements. We are introduced once again to former Grant County medical examiner Sara Linton, proving that the Jacobean taste for bloodshed and mystery is alive and well in contemporary USA.

A woman's corpse is discovered in the waters of Lake Grant, and a note is found which seems to point to suicide – but Sara Linton has never been a woman to settle for obvious solutions. The principal suspect in the case has requested – desperately -- to be able to speak to Sara -- but when she turns up at his cell in the local police station, the suspect, Tommy Braham (whom she had known as a boy), is unable to speak to her. Tommy is dead; he has been savagely beaten, and his wrists have been cut. Scrawled in blood on the cell wall is a poignant message: ‘Not me’. Sara, personally involved now, is distrustful of Lena Adams the detective in charge, so she gets in touch with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and asks (as she has done before) for the help of Special Agent Will Trent (Karin Slaughter readers will be well aware of the intriguing relationship between these two). The duo begins to suspect that a murderer enjoys the covert protection of the close-mouthed inhabitants of Grant County, who have fashioned a skein of non-communication. But, as the Bard observed, murder will out...

With so many writers tackling uncompromising material such as this (and Slaughter is nothing if not uncompromising), there is clearly a danger of over-familiarity for readers. But it’s a measure of the author’s skill that such notions are firmly banished, and Slaughter’s customary position at the top of the bestseller charts is well earned. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

"A gripping investigation into a brutal murder" (Woman and Home)

"A taut, terrifying plot ... Guaranteed to keep you up reading all night long" (Stylist)

"Addictive . . . Slaughter is a terrific writer, and she keeps the emotional tension high throughout" (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

"This chilling mystery is just begging to be read in one sitting" (Cosmopolitan)

"Move over, Catherine Coulter - Slaughter may be today's top female suspense writer" (Library Journal)

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