Unseen by Karin Slaughter

Title: Unseen 
Series: Will Trent #7
Author: Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter’s novels featuring detective Will Trent are utterly riveting and masterfully drawn. Her latest thriller, Unseen, pits detectives, lovers, and enemies against one another in an unforgettable standoff between righteous courage and deepest evil.

Will Trent is a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent whose latest case has him posing as Bill Black, a scary ex-con who rides a motorcycle around Macon, Georgia, and trails an air of violence wherever he goes. The cover has worked and he has caught the eye of a wiry little drug dealer who thinks he might be a useful ally. But undercover and cut off from the support of the woman he loves, Sara Linton, Will finds his demons catching up with him.

Although she has no idea where Will has gone, or why, Sara herself has come to Macon because of a cop shooting: Her stepson, Jared, has been gunned down in his own home. Sara holds Lena, Jared’s wife, responsible: Lena, a detective, has been a magnet for trouble all her life, and Jared’s shooting is not the first time someone Sara loved got caught in the crossfire. Furious, Sara finds herself involved in the same case that Will is working without even knowing it, and soon danger is swirling around both of them.

In a novel of fierce intensity, shifting allegiances, and shocking twists, two investigations collide with a conspiracy straddling both sides of the law. Karin Slaughter’s latest is both an electrifying thriller and a piercing study of human nature: what happens when good people face the unseen evils in their lives.

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"You're the first person in my life who's ever really seen me." 

Unseen takes us back to Sara's past. Lena Adams reenters the picture with a big bang!

These two women have never liked each other and with a good reason. Sara still holds Lena responsible for the events occurring in Beyond Reach. 

Lena lives in Macon. She's now married to Jared Long, Jeffrey's son. She's doing great at her job and she's the lead in a new investigation. She's working with a snitch before taking down a big fish when everything goes wrong. This prompts an investigation by Internal Affairs. Then, Jared gets guned down at their home and is fighting for his life. 

Nell, Jared's mom calls Sara for support. Sara is furious with Lena because once again someone's life is in danger because of her. 

As for Will, he goes undercover as Bill Black to Macon, Georgia.  He's in the middle of the case gone wrong and his life is very much in danger too. 

I felt bad for Will. He was in a tough spot. He was undercover and had to hide things from Sara. He knew this could lead to him losing her. After all, she had already lost someone when placed in a dangerous situation by Lena. Yet, he couldn't walk away either.

"You can tell me to go, but I won't. I'll sleep in my car outside your house. I'll follow you to work. To the gym. If you go out to dinner, I'll be at the next table. If you go to a movie, I'll be in the row behind you." 

As always, Sara was great in Unseen. She was there for Will when he needed it the most. She supported Jared's family. She helped whoever needed it. Yes, she was mean to Lena once but then Lena returned the favor in spades. 

“Now you know how it feels.” 

Ugh Lena, can you keep your mouth shut for one second? It's like she's incapable of behaving. I mean the woman has improved. She's a good detective or at least her team thinks so. She's trying to work things out with Jared, her husband. She's trying to follow her superior's commands but she's unable to behave in front of Sara. Twice she was awful to her, once with her words and once with her thoughts. 

“Sara Linton’s sixty-five-thousand-dollar BMW had been turned into the world’s most expensive Rubik’s Cube.” 

I think she just envies Sara too much. Anyway, that's my two cents about Lena. I'm sure we haven't seen the end of her in this series. 

Overall, I think Unseen is yet another great addition to the Will Trent series.

Cliffhanger: No

4.5/5 Fangs

Busted by Karin Slaughter

Title: Busted 

Series: Will Trent #6.5

Author: Karin Slaughter

Detective Will Trent is standing in a Georgia convenience store, waiting on an obstinate ICEE frozen-drink machine. To the surveillance cameras and bored staff of the Lil' Dixie Gas-n-Go, however, Will appears to be someone very different - the menacing ex-con Bill Black. Going undercover as Bill, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent is about to infiltrate the most corrupt town in the most corrupt county in the new American South. But first: his ICEE.

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If you're current on your Will Trent info, you know Will has a poor diet. He likes his sweets. Breakfast sometimes involves a donut and for lunch usually a hotdog. 

In Busted, Will stops at a convenience store to get himself an ICEE frozen drink when bullets start flying. But Will is not dressed with his usual 3-piece-suit. Instead, he's in disguise as his undercover character, ex-con Bill Black. 

Will's bad luck has him there at the wrong time and at the wrong place. Or maybe he's at the right place and he's there to prevent further damage. The aftermath leaves too many bodies for the GBI. Piecing together the reason for the crime and the culprit is up to Will, Faith, and Amanda.

As always, I love Will's character. Amanda gives him such a hard time but the truth is that Will's brain is amazing. He has a great partner in Faith, making them a great team of investigators.

Busted also gives you the idea where the next book is going. Lena will return in the next book: Unseen.

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs

Criminal by Karin Slaughter

Title: Criminal 

Series: Will Trent 

Author: Karin Slaughter 

Will Trent is a brilliant agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Newly in love, he is beginning to put a difficult past behind him. Then a local college student goes missing, and Will is inexplicably kept off the case by his supervisor and mentor, deputy director Amanda Wagner. Will cannot fathom Amanda’s motivation until the two of them literally collide in an abandoned orphanage they have both been drawn to for different reasons. Decades before, when his father was imprisoned for murder, this was Will’s home. It appears that the case that launched Amanda’s career forty years ago has suddenly come back to life—and it involves the long-held mystery of Will’s birth and parentage. Now these two dauntless investigators will each need to face down demons from the past if they are to prevent an even greater terror from being unleashed.

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Criminal was good but not as great as its predecessors. 

I think the main reason why it wasn't as good for me is that Will was not in it for half of the book.

Criminal can be divided between the past in the 1970's where Amanda Wagner and Faith's mother, Evelyn Mitchell are the main characters and in the present were Will, Faith, Sara, and Amanda are running the investigation into the murder of a college student, Ashleigh Snyder.

When the book begins, we learn that Will's father has been released from prison. Will is shocked this evil man is out and of course, he's mad at Amanda for keeping things from him once again. 

Just in case his father's reappearance is not enough to make Will's life go into turmoil, we have Angie, his currently estranged wife who's stirring up trouble for him and Sara. Angie loves to make Will suffer. She's mean and she takes pleasure in hurting him. I was disappointed in Will for not stopping her when he needed to. 

The time taken away from Will and focusing on Amanda and Evelyn were less interesting to me except for the portrayal of the 1970's situation with women in the police force. Those were eye-opening. 

One thing which is becoming tiring to me is that most of the criminals portrayed in both of the series I'd read by Karin Slaughter use religion in an evil way. I'm hoping for a new approach in Unseen.

The more I read about Will's past, the more I like him. He has overcome a life full of disadvantages. It's sad that he doesn't understand how smart he really is. Thankfully, there's Sara to support him when he needs it the most. 

"He still felt like a stranger."

Cliffhanger: No

3/5 Fangs

Snatched by Karin Slaughter

Title: Snatched 

Series: Will Trent #5.5

Author: Karin Slaughter

A gripping, action-packed short story available only as an eBook—from a master of character, crime, and urgent suspense.

Will Trent, a dedicated agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for fifteen years, knows that there’s definitely such a thing as a cop’s intuition. Which is why he should have listened to his own. 

While in an airport restroom at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International, Will overhears a girl’s pleading, plaintive voice: “Please, I wanna go home.” Something isn’t right here, thinks Will. He feels it in his gut. But he waits too long to act, and now the girl and the anxious, angry man she’s with have disappeared into the crowds at the busiest passenger airport in the world. 

After a desperate search and with time running out, Will makes a call to his supervisor, Amanda Wagner. Will’s partner, Faith Mitchell, immediately sends out an abducted child alert. The entire airport will soon be grinding to a halt: Almost 100 million passengers a year. Five runways. Seven concourses. Six million square feet of space that sprawled across two counties, three cities, and five jurisdictions. All shut down on a dime because Will has a hunch that he is certain is true: a girl, maybe six or seven years old, has been snatched from God knows where. And he intends to bring her back—no matter what it takes.

 

Amazon

A short story in the Will Trent series.

Will has been assigned police toilet duty at the Atlanta's International airport. All this because his hair is too long and the GBI manual has a recommended length. Will doesn't want to cut his hair because Sara, his girlfriend, likes his hair a little longer, so he would rather continue with toilet duty than getting rid of his locks.

When a man enters the restroom with a small girl, Will's instinct tells him something is terribly wrong. He proceeds to follow the man and the little girl. Everything goes crazy and the girl disappears. It's up to Will, Amanda, and Faith to find the little girl before is too late. 

Snatched is a fast-paced short story. Will is determined to get the little girl back and he feels responsible for not intervening sooner. Of course, he couldn't have known what was really going on.

Snatched is an easy read. For Will Trent lovers this is a little gem. 

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs

Fallen by Karin Slaughter

Title: Fallen 

Series: Will Trent 

Author: Karin Slaughter 

There’s no police training stronger than a cop’s instinct. Faith Mitchell’s mother isn’t answering her phone. Her front door is open. There’s a bloodstain above the knob. Everything Faith learned in the academy goes out the window when she charges into her mother’s house, gun drawn. She sees a man dead in the laundry room, a hostage situation in the bedroom. What she doesn’t see is her mother. 

When the hostage situation turns deadly, Faith is left with too many questions. She’ll need the help of her partner, Will Trent, and trauma doctor Sara Linton to get some answers. But Faith isn’t just a cop anymore, she’s a witness—and a suspect. To find her mother, Faith will have to cross the thin blue line and bring the truth to light—or bury it forever.

BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Karin Slaughter's Unseen.

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“At the risk of sounding like a country music singer, you can take my heart, but I can’t let you take my dog.”

Another incredible book in the Will Trent series. 

I'm a huge fan of Will. He's very smart but has a bunch of insecurities. He does his job well and he can think outside the box. Although he always blames himself for something that is beyond his control, this doesn't last long and he's able to look forward and function. 

His personal life is a mess. He's still married to Angie, who's not a nice person. For most of their marriage, she has been gone. One reason why I can't stand her, besides the obvious pleasure she gets from hurting Will, is her treatment and attitude towards Betty. Will needs to cut the umbilical cord in this very unhealthy relationship. 

“Will let out a long breath. "She leaves me a lot. That's what she does. She leaves, and then she comes back. And then she stays some and then she leaves again.""Where does she go?""I have no idea.""You've never asked her?""No."Sara Didn't pretend to understand. "Why not?".He glanced out into the street, watching the traffic zoom by. "It's complicated.” 

Fortunately, Sara Linton entered Will's life two books ago. Sara is everything Angie isn't or I should say she's the opposite of every other woman in Will's life. Sara is patient, understanding, unable to be hurtful on purpose. No woman has been nice to Will before. This terrifies Will. He's sure Sara will find something bad in Will and walk away. Will still has a lot of healing to do. 

"Don't you understand? I don't want to be needed. I want to be wanted."

Now, going back to the case. This one is personal. Faith Mitchell comes back home to find her baby Emma locked in the shed, a bloody handprint on the door, a hostage situation inside her house, and her mother Evelyn has been taken. 

Will and his boss Amanda Wagner are all over the investigation. Yet, Amanda is still hiding Evelyn's secrets which makes it harder for Will to be an effective investigator. 

Kudos to Faith in trusting Will on this one. She could've made a huge mistake making her a TSTL award winner but she wasn't. 

There was so much I loved in Fallen. I had a hard time listening to the audio. Despite the speed, I NEEDED to know what was going to happen next. I had to switch to my Kindle many times.

Cliffhanger: No

5/5 Fangs

Undone by Karin Slaughter

Title: Undone

Author: Karin Slaughter 

Series: Will Trent #3

When a tortured young woman enters the trauma center of an Atlanta hospital, Dr. Sara Linton is thrust into a desperate police investigation with Special Agent Will Trent and his partner, Faith Mitchell. Though guarding their own wounds and their own secrets, Sara, Will, and Faith find that they are all that stand between a madman and his next victim.

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Undone is the third book in the Will Trent series. 

Will Trent and his partner Faith Mitchell are part of the GBI. When the book begins, Faith had passed out and she has been taken to the ER. Here is where Will will meet Sara Linton for the first time.

Sara Linton was the main protagonist from Karin Slaughter's Grant series. She's a pediatrician as well as a coroner back in Grant County. In Undone, she has moved to Atlanta and is working as an ER doc. Something horrible happened to her 3 1/2 years ago and she needed a change of scenery. She's still healing.

“And now, when she looked in the mirror and saw a new line on her own face,a new wrinkle, all she could think was that she was growing old without him” 

At the same time that Faith is in the ER, a woman is brought in. She was hit by a car but a lot more has happened to her before the car accident. What she has suffered turns her into a GBI investigation. A serial killer is on the loose and Will, Faith, and Sara will all be involved in the investigation.

Another amazing book in the Will Trent series. It has become one of my favorite series. The character development is extensive and thoughtful. 

My thoughts on the main players:

Will---> So damaged. His past has marked him and despite being a smart man he has many vulnerabilities. One his wife loves to exploit.

“Who’s Sara?”
“Sara Linton,” Faith said. He shrugged, and she studied him carefully. Will never forgot names. He never forgot anything. “The doctor from yesterday?”
“Is that her name?”
Faith resisted a “Come on.”
He asked, “How would she know how long Anna was kept?”
“She used to be a coroner in some county way down south.”
Will’s eyebrows went up. He slowed to look at another sign. “A coroner? That’s weird.”
He was one to talk. “She was a coroner and a pediatrician.”
Will mumbled as he tried to make out the sign. “I took her for a dancer.”
“Woodland,” Faith read. “A dancer? She’s twenty feet tall.”
“Dancers can be tall.”

Faith --> I like her but gosh she can be mean! Luckily it didn't last. She's starting to trust Will and their relationship is more like siblings.

“I am just an awful, awful person, Sara. I can’t believe I said that to you.”

Sara--> I loved Sara from the moment I first started reading the Grant series. She's awesome and she was great in Undone too. She deserves happiness and I hope she achieves it with Will at some point.

Amanda Wagner--> She's tough on Will and also with Faith but I do think she protects them and cares for them.

Angie--> Not my favorite character. She uses Will and she doesn't care about his feelings. She had a tough past as well but this doesn't give her a free pass to hurt Will constantly.

Betty- Will's dog. Love her. 

“Sara studied him. "Is that a Chihuahua behind your back?""No, I'm just happy to see you"Sara gave him a confused smile, and he reluctantly showed her Betty.”

Going forward with Broken.

Cliffhanger: No

5/5 Fangs

Fractured by Karin Slaughter

Title: Fractured 

Series: Will Trent #2

Author: Karin Slaughter

Publisher: Random House

With its gracious homes and tree-lined streets, Ansley Park is one of Atlanta's most desirable neighborhoods. But in one gleaming mansion, in a teenager's lavish bedroom, a girl has been savagely murdered. And in the hallway, her horrified mother stands amid shattered glass, having killed her daughter's attacker with her bare hands. 

Detective Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is here only to do a political favor; the murder site belongs to the Atlanta police. But Trent soon sees something that the cops are missing, something in the trail of blood, in a matrix of forensic evidence, and in the eyes of the shell-shocked mother. Within minutes, Trent is taking over the case -- and adding another one to it. He is sure that another teenage girl is missing, and that a killer is on the loose.

Armed with only fleeting clues, teamed with a female cop who has her own personal reasons for hating him, Trent has enemies all around him -- and a gnawing feeling that this case, which started in the best of homes, is cutting quick and deep through the ruins of perfect lives broken wide-open: where human demons emerge with a vengeance.

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“You see cases as puzzles and whatever it is that’s so different in your brain makes it possible for you to solve them the way no one else can.”

Fractured is my favorite book by Karin Slaughter so far and it all has to do with the amazing Will Trent. As a character, he's definitely someone unforgettable. 

In this new book, Will Trent and Amanda Wagner, his boss are called into a murder scene. At first, Will thinks this is going to stay under the jurisdiction of the police department but when a girl is found missing and the clock is ticking, Trent will do anything to find her. 

Will is not going to be able to do everything by himself. Amanda assigns Faith Mitchell, a detective with the Georgia Police Department to help him out. Due to a past conflict with Amanda's mom, Amanda isn't thrilled to work with Will but she wants to find the lost teenager as much as Will does.

Fractured had all the best components to make it a success. It's told from a dual POV which shines a light into what the main characters are feeling. From it, we learn more about Will's issues. Despite being a very smart man, he still feels threatened by his past and his shortcomings. He tries to disguise them as much as he can.  He's used to working alone and when Amanda tells him he has to work with Faith, he doesn't know how to react at the beginning. He makes assumptions and mistakes but not on purpose. 

His private life is still a mess. He's engaged to Angie Polanski but from what I read, I think he deserves much better. Thankfully, Angie doesn't have a lot of page time. 

“Talk about sloppy seconds. Was there such a thing as sloppy thousandths?” 

I like to see Will's vulnerable side and nothing is clearer for me than the love for his dog Betty. He was forced to take her in but now she has become his companion. Will takes better care of her than of himself.

Faith was a great addition to the story. She got pregnant way too young. Her son is in college. She doesn't have a college education but she's a good detective and like Will, she only wants to find Emma Campano before is too late. 

 I just bought Undone.  I'm excited to see what is coming next for Will and Faith.

Cliffhanger: No

5/5 Fangs