Broken

Twenty-one year old Allison Spooner is at the end of her rope. She is short of money, her boyfriend has disappointed her, and her rusted-out hulk of a car is on its last legs. She is struggling to keep up with her college classes at Georgia's Grant Tech while earning a pittance as a waitress in a diner. Sadly, her dream of escaping her tedious life is shattered by and unknown assailant. Evidence tells a darker story.

Karin Slaughter depicts the characters as three-dimensional human beings, warts and all, most of whom would like to fix what is broken in their lives. Unfortunately, not everyone has the courage, honesty, and motivation to face the truth and take the necessary steps to rectify what is wrong.

In Karin Slaughter’s tenth novel, she combines the characters from her two ongoing detective series, who come together to help solve a series of murders in the small town of Heartsdale, in Grant County, Georgia.

Sara Linton, now a pediatrician in Atlanta but formerly the county medical examiner in Grant County, has come back home for Thanksgiving. Although called in to help on the killings, she wants to avoid Lena Adams, the police detective that Sara blames for the death of her husband four years earlier. Will Trent from Atlanta is also called into the case. Sara has met Will before, and there is an attraction between them that neither one wants to acknowledge, although it seems evident to everybody else.

Sara wants Will to show more investigate the apparent negligence of Lena in pursuing this case, but Will discovers that Lena’s boss, Acting Chief Frank Wallace, is even worse. He has problems with alcoholism and anger management, and is clearly covering up something about the murders.

Discussion: The mystery of the killings is solved at the end, but that never really seems to be the point of a Slaughter book. Rather, the process of criminal investigation provides a framework for Slaughter to explore the flawed, complex characters who work on the cases.

Sara is still coping with the loss of her husband Jeffrey. Will struggles through the world as a dyslexic, having survived a violent and emotionally impoverished childhood in a series of foster homes. Lena, a multiple victim of abuse, has internalized her experiences, and is, as Will observes, “angry, and self-destructive, and feeling trapped.” Frank thought he could have a stereotypical, television-quality nuclear family and fulfilling job; he has not been able to handle the shocking reality of what he got instead.

And yet... Sara is a strong woman whose compassion knows few bounds. Will has learned to compensate for his inability to read words with an exceptional ability to read people. Lena never gives up on love. And even Frank has a redeeming sentimentality and tenderness that soften his harsh edges.

Slaughter never portrays the human condition in black or white – her ability to create realistic, three-dimensional characters is what makes her work stand out from so many other authors in this genre.

At the end of the book, the characters remain broken, but they’ve moved on to a new day and a new resolve to cope in a world full of bashed dreams.

Evaluation: I love Slaughter’s characters. They are endearing, frustrating, offensive, surprising, scared, oh so human, and willing and eager, for the most part, to give and receive love. show less

classic Karin Slaughter. Assolutely love everything she writes. Lena annoys me to no end, her character is worthless. I figure anyone who can stir such strong feelings in me about a fictional character, deserves credit. I can't wait to read what's next and see if Lena ever gets what's coming to her.

"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 become 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 show more 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 . . ."
Small towns are quaint and usually full of secrets. That is glaringly obvious in the characters who are introduced in this book. Such a spider web of connections that makes you think of the old "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game of old. Typical for Ms. Slaughter, the story goes in lots of possible directions, the clues are scattered throughout, the reader thinks it is definitely one person and then, nope, you're wrong. She throws you a fantastic curveball. Love it! show less

The fourth book of the Will Trent series opens late one night when a young woman is pulled from the lake. At first it looks like a suicide until the medical examination proves it is most definitely murder. Detective Lena Adams, a central character is Slaughter's Grant county series , along with Police Chief Frank Wallace go to the victim's apartment where they discover a masked intruder holding a knife. Things fall apart immediately and before long, one of the police officers is in the hospital. They take the suspect, Tommy Brahm, to jail and he eventually confesses. Lena and Frank and the entire local police force are convinced of Tommy's guilt, but this is just the beginning of a fascinating story.

Meanwhile Dr. Sara Linton is back show more home in Grant County for Thanksgiving. She gets a call from Frank telling her that her former patient, Tommy, desperately wants to see her. When she arrives at the jail, circumstances cause her to place a call to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Will Trent is brought in. He starts investigating the police force, but it slowly turns into an investigation into the murder of the woman pulled out of the lake.

This is a difficult book to review without adding spoilers. The author has merged two series together and there's a lot of backstory here, especially Sara's hatred of Lena, the woman she blames for her husband's death several years ago. I've read the series before and am currently listening to them in audio. The author dies a wonderful job of portraying both good and bad sides of each character. Her ability to create realistic, three-dimensional characters is what makes this such a standout suspense series. show less

Oh yes, it's a great one by Karin Slaughter. It takes place down in south Georgia, more so than Atlanta, and a bit in Macon. Which are really three different worlds.

Lena, Sara, and Faith are all the women in the book, all of whom are whole women who have experienced different levels of shattering. Faith is a voice on the phone, Sara Linton (mother is Catherine Earnshaw Linton - great literary reference!) is the doctor come home for the holidays, and Lena Steele is the cop. And both Sara and Lena have their blind spots towards one another which gives the book a depth that one does not get from a cozy mystery. These could be real women dealing with real life.

Will Trent is down to investigate a murder/suicide and a possible cop cover-up show more and finds himself, with both Lena and Sara, in the midst of something he never imagined. Part of what I enjoyed about this book is that Lena has to work her way through Will: his thought processes, his questioning, and what he really wants to find out. And she knows what it is, but she is loyal to her boss until she realizes where it will get her. Then she does the brave and courageous thing and she and Will and Sara all uncover something truly tragic.

So this seems to be a prelude to a love relationship that is examined in further books by Karin Slaughter, as well as the setting for what becomes of Will and Faith later on. show less

Broken is Karin Slaughter at her finest. Dr. Sara Linton, the star of this ongoing series, takes a backseat in this novel. Slaughter gives Special Agent Will Trent, a character we've met in earlier novels, the starring role here. Will is a flawed but incredibly likable character who brings a new spark to this series.

It's not often that a twist in a story truly takes me by surprise. However, Slaughter manages it with ease here. The story moves at a quick pace, we are given great imagery without lengthy descriptions, the characters feel real, and the tangled plot kept me reading.

I will be honest and say that I was disappointed in Slaughter's last book and was a bit leery of reading this one. But nothing about Broken was a let down. I show more enjoyed every word!

** I received this book as an early review. ** show less