This is the third book in the Grant County series by Karin Slaughter. We catch up with Sara, Jeffrey and Lena and of course there’s a death in town.
I’ve read this book before and loved it back then, as much as now. It’s not the best in the series, but that in no way detracts from the awesomeness of Sara and Jeffrey’s case solving skills. Karin writes this like the rest of her books, with suspense, gore and mystery. It isn’t for the faint hearted – like nearly all her books – they are graphic and bloody. 🙂
So we start with a suspected suicide close to campus, and Sara gets called to the scene by Jeffrey to take a look at the body before it’s taken to the morgue. Sara’s just getting ice cream with her sister Tess, so she has to take her along too. Throughout the story, another two people ‘kill themselves’, one person is murdered and one is brutally attacked, causing devastating injuries and lifelong pain for the whole family (I won’t say anymore on that one). Sara and Jeffrey have a funny feeling about the suicides so investigate them as murders, until they find out the truth.
Now, this story is heavily focused on Lena, who after being attacked last year (in Kisscut), has left the police force, after refusing to seek therapeutic help, and has joined the security team at the college. I don’t like Lena. Never have, never will. Since I read this series way back when, she is just an idiot and I can’t stand her attitude to life and people in general. She makes problems when there doesn’t need to be any, she insults people, is stubborn and rude, and she won’t accept help. We see in this story that she is also now a borderline alcoholic, just about holding onto her job at the school.
Lena tries to help Jeffrey with the case, but because she is so cagey, she just makes things worse. She keeps secrets, doesn’t share information and generally doesn’t help herself when she gets implicated in one of the suspected suicides. A new character is introduced to us in this book – Ethan. He is an ‘ex’ Nazi skin head type of guy, with anger and control issues. He is, for some reason, attracted to Lena – Lord knows why – and he becomes a kind of stalker/lover of hers. He sticks around into the next book, so let’s not forget about him yet.
Quick update of Sara and Jeffrey’s situation : They are divorced. They were married once, Jeffrey cheated, they broke up got divorced and now they are kind of dating again. Sara is the town pathologist and paediatrician. Jeffrey is the town chief of police, so they work together a lot. We explore the relationship further in this book. We see how they are trying to move on and get over Jeffrey’s past infidelities, but it’s hard for Sara.
Jeff wants Lena back on the police force, but she was given an ultimatum last year – see a therapist and keep your job, or quit. She chose to quit because she is an idiot. This thread is further explored in the next book too.
Overall, this book is a good instalment in the Grant County series, and I’m glad to have read it again. Getting back to all those old ‘friends’ is why I love to read series’.
Pick this one up if you want a quick, thrilling read, with plenty of gory detail and some complex relationships thrown in too!
Happy reading
Becca x
The Beautiful Book Break 