Undone

A esta autora la conocí con el libro de Flores Cortadas, ya en ese libro, vislumbre a una escritora preocupada realmente por sus personajes, pero en esta ocasión me dejo con un muy buen sabor de boca.

Una Novela negra, donde además de ver unos crímenes ya de por si crueles, una investigación bien llevada, tenemos unos personajes realmente bien definidos.

La autora nos perfila a cada personaje de esta historia de una manera tan personal, tan humana, tan real, que es imposible no empatizar con ellos, es imposible no sentir algo hacia cada uno de ellos.

Faith, la detective con problemas de carácter, una personalidad realmente destructiva, extraña, una mujer en toda regla, que se desquita de su mal humor con quien se le pone en frente y show more por supuesto quien paga el pato es su compañero, no me cayo bien, pero no podía dejar de comprenderla, de entender sus cambios de humor.

Will, un detective demasiado guapo y buena persona, inteligente, pero lleno de inseguridades, pero cada una de sus inseguridades esta bien fundamentada, sabemos por que es como es, es que te dan ganas de conocerlo en persona y casarte con él y ayudarlo todo lo que puedas, me encantó el personaje, sobre todo porque en este tipo de libros, estos personajes generalmente son malhumorados, gordos, alcohólicos, fumadores o amargados, Will no es nada de esto, cosa que agradezco infinitamente, pero tiene sus particularidades, unas que para mi fueron entrañables, no pude mas que sentir ternura y admiración hacia él.

Sara, la doctora de urgencias, una historia en si misma, una mujer con la que aunque no quieras simpatizas y sientes cercana y quisieras abrazarla y decirle que todo va a salir bien

Y así podría desmenuzar cada personaje, porque todos y cada uno de ellos, incluyendo las victimas son perfectamente identificables, sin que esto conlleve a que nos cuenten historias largas e interminables, asì que ya con esto tenemos algo que hace diferente a esta historia y que me engancho desde la primera página.

La trama es buenísima, no la puedo catalogar de otra manera, es diferente, es innegable que perfilo perfectamente a sus victimas, a su asesino, su caso, su investigación haciéndolo todo muy real, tocando temas importantes y reales, porque suceden por mas crudas que sean, suceden, a diferencia de muchos libros de este genero, aquí no hay giros sorprendentes en la historia, porque no los necesita, tiene un argumento tan bueno y tan solido que en ningún momento requiere de sorpresas porque tampoco hay de quien sospechar estas tan en blanco en la investigación como los mismos detectives y eso en si es ya una delicia.

Seguiré con la saga y ya les contaré, por lo pronto les recomiendo mucho este libro. show less

This is not a happy story, nor is it a romance in the traditional sense. It is about power and the consequences of werewolf - or human, for that matter – politics. It is about Jeff, a powerful pack lawyer, and Rusty, who owns a garage, coming to terms with the reality of their lives, which is spouses with different priorities, and settling for what they can have instead of going after what they really want. While the rebel in me wanted things to end differently, ‘Undone’ is the more realistic version of what might happen in reality, and it does explain the characters’ feelings and motivations really well. Be warned: there is cheating in this story.

Rusty loves working on engines, but his husband is into politics and has bigger show more plans. Jeff is a lawyer and quite powerful within the pack, but his husband of thirty years wants kids, and has set up a family that will always be his priority. Both Rusty and Jeff are fed up with their situations, but neither is ready to rebel. After all, they have each other to get them through the dry patch.

The very sad truth is that they are both men who would rather not upset the status quo – if for slightly different reasons. Jeff loves his husband, and has settled into accepting that “the kids thing” is something he won’t be able to change. Rusty still hopes that his husband’s political ambitions will come to an end, at which point he can have him back. I wanted to yell “You fools!” at both of them, and that just goes to show that the characters are well drawn and the story is realistic.

If you prefer your stories to be on the realistic side, if you want to find out why someone might “settle” for what life is like rather than “rebel” and change things, and if you don’t mind cheating and a very bittersweet ending, then you might like this short story.


NOTE: The anthology this story was published in has been provided by Torquere Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. show less

I really enjoyed the first two books in this series, but I am horrified by this book.

The main character, our literal protagonist raping his wife around the 80% mark was ghastly. A total what the fuck moment as that wasn’t even a major storyline, just something that the author casually added into the story.

I get that this series and this book in particular is almost 20 years old. The language used throughout all the books in this series has made me cringe a bit, but it was next level in this book. The way all the characters describe sex workers, anorexics, women in general, was abhorrent.

Part of me wants to believe this book is just an outlier for the series. Why would I want to read a series about a protagonist who is a literal show more rapist?! There’s a good chance I’m done with this series after this book, despite already owning the next 5 books in the series. show less

Violence is definitely a limiter for this book. The serial killer rapes, tortures, and mutilates his victims before killing them -- to the extent that the death seems almost a mercy. (The survivors are the truly heartbreaking victims.) The results of the killer's work are explicitly described. It wouldn't "turn off" someone who likes noir and doesn't mind the violence, but it does limit the audience. Note, the violence is realistic and not melodramatic or overdone -- just intensely, and savagely, realistic.

Additionally, the overall tone is very dark. The lead characters also all have fairly unhappy lives. The novel is character driven, and you feel sympathy for and identify with the lead characters. Thus, the novel is even more show more emotionally exhausting. -- One of the lead detectives is a sever dyslexic. Slaughter does an excellent job of weaving that limitation though the character building segments. -- You are left with the feeling of, "I want to learn more about the lead characters, but can I survive reading another horrific case to learn more about them?"

The identity of the killer, and how he ties into the first victim who is taken on camera, is significant and surprising. Not so much a plot twist as a "gotcha". Slaughter does an excellent job of playing her hand close to the chest until the climax.

You don't know "who-dun-it" until the end, which leads to the Mystery classification. However, the novel is so distressing and adrenaline wrenching that it feels more like a Thriller. I think it is more likely to appeal to Thriller fans than straight Mystery fans. show less

"In the trauma center of Atlanta's busiest hospital, Sara Linton treats the city's poor, wounded, and unlucky - and finds refuge from the tragedy that rocked her life in rural Grant County. But when a tortured young woman becomes a patient in her ER, Sara finds herself thrust into a desperate police investigation, coming face-to-face with Special Agent Will Trent and his partner, Faith Mitchell."
Once again, Karin knocks it out of the park. The horror, the unimaginable fear is palpable in each page. An author who writes with such tangible emotion is to be cherished. There are horrors inflicted on the women in this story that cause the reader to wonder if the monsters therein are lurking near them every day.

Early on in Undone, I wasn't sure I would want—or be able—to finish the book. Some of the horrific things that are described as being done to the woman discovered at the beginning seemed just too much, and I worried that the book was an exercise in torture porn.

Once past that obstacle, however, I found myself liking the novel very much. It's a familiar plot, as the police hurry to find a serial killer before he can claim his next victim, but it never feels by the numbers.

Most of that is due to the main characters. They have apparently come from two separate series by the author, but Slaughter provides everything you need to know to understand what's going on, so that should not deter readers. The single most interesting character is show more Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Will Trent, who is (slight spoiler) extremely dyslexic, thinks he's stupid, and lets the women in his life run it. Readers will also meet the most unsympathetic set of victims ever.

There's an undertone of misogyny to much of the book, and some very controlling women characters, which did disturb me. On the positive side we have Dr. Sara Linton, who has a powerful story in her own right.

The book is suspenseful, with plenty of twists to destroy the theories readers might come up with. The way internal police politics can interfere with an investigation was emphasized to a degree I've never seen in a procedural novel, and it is quite believable. The novel scares and thrills, and even the ultimate triumph seems equivocal. I'm inclined to go back and read the author's prior novels now. show less

Undone is the third book in the Will Trent series, and it is also the one that brings Sarah Linton into his world. Focused on women who have been abducted, Will and Faith have to use every skill they have to hunt down a killer who not only abducts these women, but tortures them in ways that is absolutely sickening. The author doesn't hold back and I am grateful for the way she portrays the victims as what is happening to these women was often nauseating to read. (And I read a lot of horror so that should tell you that what happened to these women was terrible.) The women are terrified, but also shows how they tried to fight back and escape the situations in which they found themselves.

All three of the main characters are battling show more personal issues and I thought their journeys were quite interesting. I totally agree with how Will felt in some of the situations and sympathized with his actions. I was also quite happy to see only one appearance by Angie, and honestly, I hope that's the last as I really can't find anything to empathize with her character.

While the mystery was good, I really thought the character development was the highlight of this book. show less