A Faint Cold Fear

So I stayed up late, because this book was intense times ten! Sara is at the scene of a suicide when she discovers a member of her family is attacked. Things go from bad to worse when her suicide case turns out to be murder and more people start dropping like flies Everyone in this book is struggling with some sort of relationship crisis, which tends to add to the tension of the book. If the murder mystery wasn't top notch, I probably would have chipped away at the star rating for their idiot behavior. Lena is no longer on the force, but she's up to her neck in the investigation and making horrible decisions when it comes to the company she keeps. Jeffrey is pushing Sara for more and trying to "fix" Lena at the same time, which just show more makes a bigger mess of things. I wanted to thump all of the characters on the head to wake them up. Regardless, the surprises discovered during the investigation were literally jaw dropping and the last paragraph of this book blew me away. Did Lena really kill Chuck after all? Or did Ethan use her knife? I want to jump right into the next book...but I can't! Argh. show less

In this 3rd book of the Grant County series by Karin Slaughter, the story opens with a call to the police for an apparent suicide. A college student has jumped from a bridge at the edge of the college grounds into the dry riverbed below. Jeffrey Tolliver, Chief of Police, has called the ME, Sara Linton (his ex-wife and current lover) to the site to confirm the death.

Sara had been out running errands with her sister when she gets the call. Tessa insists on accompanying her and Sara agrees. While at the site of the suicide, Tessa decides to answer the “call of nature” and disappears into the woods where she is attacked and almost killed. This attack calls into question whether the death in the riverbed was really a suicide.

Also called show more to the scene at the bridge is Lena Adams, now a college security officer. After the events in the first 2 books, Lena has decided to leave the force and her life has been falling apart. She’s working for a man she loathes, drinking too much, becoming self-destructive and belligerent to Jeffrey when he tries to help her.

As other college students are found dead in apparent suicides, Jeffrey, Sara and Lena rush to determine a connection between the deaths and – more importantly – if the deaths are really suicides or if there is a killer loose on the campus.

This was a good read but very painful as we watch Lena spiral out of control and consistently make bad decisions. We feel for Jeffrey as he tries to help her and doesn’t understand why they are continually at odds. In addition, we see the strain put on Sara and Jeffrey’s relationship as he is effectively shut out by her family as they sit vigil at Tessa’s bedside.

Yet another good book in the Grant County series, ensuring that I will continue. The story is well-written and has good tension as well as being extremely frustrating. The narration by Kathleen Early was top-notch.

Rating: 4 show less

I find Karin Slaughter very readable and this book is no different. Unfortunately I found it very average. The story started off strong, but then quickly got tedious and boring. ALL of the characters quickly turned into drama queens, each having a never-ending truckload of problems and baggage. And the angst-filled Sara and Jeffrey relationship is on full display, and I found that too tiresome. Lena, whose life cannot be more chaotic or a spectacularly emotionally and physically wreck, somehow proves the universe wrong and works overtime to make her life even worse. All the personal issues fill this book so I felt like that weighed it down on the negative side.

At the end, the storyline ends rather abruptly. I’m sure that plays into show more the next book in the series, but after all kinds of crazy murders in a murder-free corner of America, the 3 pages that explained it all at the end didn’t make up for the long, long intro or the previous 400+ pages. show less

A Faint Cold Fear is well paced, with solid plotting that moves the story forward as the investigation twists around the characters. It starts with a suprising crime scene that gives an impression that quickly changes with the arrival of Sara who uses the injuries, described in detail, to determine that not all is as it seems. There is a lot of violence in this book - some overt, some hidden but Karin handles it well - it's never gratuitious but contributes to the story. There are enough victims and enough suspects to keep you off balance in determining who dunnit - personally I didn't see the last little reveal coming.I found Lena almost more intriguing than the murders, such a damaged woman and her behaviour so difficult to reconcile show more even though I know intellectually that it is not an unusual reaction to the tragedy she experienced.Suprisingly I haven't ever read this author before - as a fan of the genre I am not sure how I missed her - but I'll be hunting up some more of her work show less

I'm gradually becoming a solid fan of Karin Slaughter's mystery novels. In this one the lead characters are Sara Linton, medical examiner, and Jeffrey Tolliver, Chief of Police, of a small college town in Georgia. The college plays a large role in the story; it's supposedly a school for dorky types who don't fit in at the better known large universities in Georgia. Judging from the scene at one dorm party, though, these kids don't seem very nerdy at all.

As this gripping story begins, the body of a young man has been found in the dry river bed under a bridge by the college. He has fallen or jumped from the bridge and his legs are shattered. Is it suicide? He has tried to slit his arm before. While Sara, Jeffrey, and others try to figure show more out what happened, Sara's very pregnant sister leaves Sara's car to go up a hill into the woods to relieve herself. They find her stabbed and bleeding profusely a few minutes later. In other words, the book grabs the reader by the neck and doesn't let go until the end.

There is one masterfully drawn character in this book you won't soon forget. Lena is a former cop who now works for the college security department. She hates the job, mostly because of her bigoted, smarmy boss. She was an excellent cop but was the victim of one of the most terrifying violent kidnappings you'll ever read about. Her head still isn't back to normal, and neither is her body for that matter. I was impressed by the depiction of this woman and her struggle to keep it together.

The other characters are well drawn too and although the plot kept me turning pages, it was the characters I really loved. Slaughter has been compared to Patricia Cornwall and Kathy Reichs and I can see the truth of that comparison, but I am more impressed with Slaughter's characters than Cornwall's. I highly recommend this book. show less

Sara Linton is a practicing pediatrician and also the town's Medical Examiner, as well as the ex-wife of Jeffrey Tolliver, the Chief of Police. When questions are raised over a death that looked like an obvious suicide and when someone close to Sara is attacked, you know that the mystery is only beginning. A second suicide/murder, leads into an intricate web of deceit. Along with the investigation, Sara's relationship with Jeffrey becomes more defined, even as an old boyfriend of Sara's pops back into the picture.

Lena Adams is now working security for the local college, no longer an investigator for the Police Dept. Lena's dysfunctional life places her squarely in the center of a major murder investigation.....and only a few people will show more see the whole picture.

Karin Slaughter's writing is very detailed and in detailing, it's graphic. You will leave a page with a definite picture of the crime scene. You won't have to use your imagination. Fans of Patricia Cornwell should enjoy it. show less

Wie auch in ihren ersten beiden Büchern 'Belladonna' und 'Vergissmeinnicht' sind Sara, die Kinderärztin und nebenberufliche Gerichtsmedizinerin und Jeffrey, ihr Ex-Mann und Polizeichef die Hauptfiguren dieses Romans. Hinzu kommt noch Lena, Ex-Polizistin, die in 'Belladonna' auf grausamste Art und Weise gefoltert und missbraucht wurde. Die psychischen Folgen dieses Verbrechens und ihre Auswirkungen auf Lena werden von der Autorin erschreckend anschaulich dargestellt. So entsteht eine Art 'Parallelgeschichte', die aber mehr und mehr zum tragenden Element der Story wird. Insgesamt ist dieser Thriller bei weitem nicht so 'blutrünstig' und grausam wie die beiden ersten, was aber der Spannung keinen Abbruch tut. Slaughter erreicht sogar, show more dass die buchstäblich letzte Seite noch einen wirklichen Überraschungseffekt bietet.
Die Sprache ist schlicht, so dass sich das Buch mehr oder weniger in einem Rutsch durchlesen lest (wenn man 4-5 Std. Zeit am Stück hat :-)).
Negativ fiel auf (das geht aber an den Verlag und nicht an die Autorin), dass immer wieder Personalpronomen fehlen und auch Personennamen verwechselt wurden (Scooter spricht, heisst aber plötzlich Andy).
Alles in allem: wirklich spannende Unterhaltung ohne großen Anspruch. show less