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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Medical content, Trafficking
Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Terminal illness
Minor: Fatphobia, Homophobia
Quite the intense thriller. The story starts with a young girl threatening to kill a young boy. She is shot by the police and then while investigating her the story leads to child abuse where young kids are sexually abused. It gets a bit disgusting at points as the subject is not pleasant.
Some of the main characters are the chief of police who is dealing with getting back together with his ex wife who is a pediatrician and coroner. One of the police detectives has lots of issues as she was kidnapped and abused a few months earlier. She can relate to the victims and it brings up lots of emotions for her. The story is set in a smaller town and it showcases how some awful things can be going on without anyone knowing. Lots of secrets in a small town.
Some of the main characters are the chief of police who is dealing with getting back together with his ex wife who is a pediatrician and coroner. One of the police detectives has lots of issues as she was kidnapped and abused a few months earlier. She can relate to the victims and it brings up lots of emotions for her. The story is set in a smaller town and it showcases how some awful things can be going on without anyone knowing. Lots of secrets in a small town.
Really enjoying Karin Slaughter's well-written crime novels. The subject matter on this one was really tough, but well-done.
Goodreads says I have read this before in 2013, but I really can’t remember? It was like reading it for the first time. And considering the subject matter, it’s quite possible my mind just shut down and deliberately deleted memory of this. Because even at Karin Slaughter standards, this is one of the more disgusting and disturbing books of hers. The crimes involve children, and that’s always hard to read, but this book goes very far in how much violence and evil it deals with. Just all over a really dark story. I still enjoyed (?) reading it because the author‘s writing just vibes with me, and her characters are really well done. I’ve become really attached to them, especially Sara. Characters like this make reading a dark and disturbing book worthwhile! The audiobook narrated by Kathleen Early was great too. I’m on a Karin Slaughter binge and have already started the audiobook for the third book in this series!
Karin Slaughter, Kisscut (Harper Collins, 2002)
I was wandering along in the middle of Kisscut half enjoying the novel and half wondering if this thing was really as obvious as it had seemed since chapter two, thinking that I was really, really going to hate this book if it was. And then I got to the end of chapter seventeen. And I immediately hated this novel so much that I actually considered abandoning a novel with only sixty pages left to read for the first time ever. I did end up finishing it for some unknown reason, despite the fact that, after that horrendous climax, there was no possibility that anything Slaughter could do could possibly save it. But finish it I did.
I'm not sure I can provide even the barest skeleton of a plot synopsis without giving the game away here. The book opens with a threatened shooting, and then a real shooting; it turns out to be setup. The real plot kicks off in chapter two, and if you've seen any three random lifetime original movies, or read three random books of this stripe, by the time chapter two ends, you should know every twist and turn this plot is going to take, as well as the main perpetrator who gets arrested during the Big Reveal. This is thriller writing at its most wooden, and it seems to be trading on the idea that you won't figure out who the bad guy is because it's such an overdone cliché that you'll figure Slaughter is too up on these things to use it. But then comes the red herring, and the red herring is so obviously being set up as the bad guy that you've now got two equally improbable bad guys. Which might not necessarily be a bad thing, depending on how the book's panning out (I can easily see Christopher Moore or Robert Rankin, for example, writing a book exactly like this, except much, much funnier), except that it's deadly obvious the red herring is the red herring. Once you've figured out who the bad guy is, the framework Slaughter is using to set up both bad guy and red herring is blatant and amateurish.
Then there's the subplot, presumably (I didn't realize this was the second in a series, and thus didn't read the first book before reading this—oops) carried over from the previous book, about a sheriff's deputy struggling to get her life back in order after a traumatic ordeal. I'm not accusing Slaughter of plagiarism by any means, but come on. For this part of the book, if you've read any three self-help manuals dealing with this sort of trauma (not saying which, spoilers and all), everything here is going to look very, very familiar. There's the self-conflict, the teary confession, the intervention, etc. etc. ad nauseam. It's all very textbook, and that's what's wrong with it. There's no room whatever for interpretation, no place where Slaughter read these books and said “you know, it might be more realistic if I did [fill in the blank:] instead of just parroting the conventional wisdom.” Which is fine as long as you're unthinking enough to swallow the conventional wisdom without ever questioning it. I hope no one reading this falls into that category. If so, you're reading the wrong reviewer, because I give points off for that sort of behavior in a writer. Unfortunately, by this point, I don't have much left to take off. I only give zero stars to books that I either don't finish or that are, in some egregious way, outrageously morally offensive. Kisscut doesn't quite make it, so I give it half a star because, for reasons I still haven't uncovered during the writing of this review, I did finish it. But lordy lordy me, what a terrible, terrible disappointment it turned out to be. (half)
I was wandering along in the middle of Kisscut half enjoying the novel and half wondering if this thing was really as obvious as it had seemed since chapter two, thinking that I was really, really going to hate this book if it was. And then I got to the end of chapter seventeen. And I immediately hated this novel so much that I actually considered abandoning a novel with only sixty pages left to read for the first time ever. I did end up finishing it for some unknown reason, despite the fact that, after that horrendous climax, there was no possibility that anything Slaughter could do could possibly save it. But finish it I did.
I'm not sure I can provide even the barest skeleton of a plot synopsis without giving the game away here. The book opens with a threatened shooting, and then a real shooting; it turns out to be setup. The real plot kicks off in chapter two, and if you've seen any three random lifetime original movies, or read three random books of this stripe, by the time chapter two ends, you should know every twist and turn this plot is going to take, as well as the main perpetrator who gets arrested during the Big Reveal. This is thriller writing at its most wooden, and it seems to be trading on the idea that you won't figure out who the bad guy is because it's such an overdone cliché that you'll figure Slaughter is too up on these things to use it. But then comes the red herring, and the red herring is so obviously being set up as the bad guy that you've now got two equally improbable bad guys. Which might not necessarily be a bad thing, depending on how the book's panning out (I can easily see Christopher Moore or Robert Rankin, for example, writing a book exactly like this, except much, much funnier), except that it's deadly obvious the red herring is the red herring. Once you've figured out who the bad guy is, the framework Slaughter is using to set up both bad guy and red herring is blatant and amateurish.
Then there's the subplot, presumably (I didn't realize this was the second in a series, and thus didn't read the first book before reading this—oops) carried over from the previous book, about a sheriff's deputy struggling to get her life back in order after a traumatic ordeal. I'm not accusing Slaughter of plagiarism by any means, but come on. For this part of the book, if you've read any three self-help manuals dealing with this sort of trauma (not saying which, spoilers and all), everything here is going to look very, very familiar. There's the self-conflict, the teary confession, the intervention, etc. etc. ad nauseam. It's all very textbook, and that's what's wrong with it. There's no room whatever for interpretation, no place where Slaughter read these books and said “you know, it might be more realistic if I did [fill in the blank:] instead of just parroting the conventional wisdom.” Which is fine as long as you're unthinking enough to swallow the conventional wisdom without ever questioning it. I hope no one reading this falls into that category. If so, you're reading the wrong reviewer, because I give points off for that sort of behavior in a writer. Unfortunately, by this point, I don't have much left to take off. I only give zero stars to books that I either don't finish or that are, in some egregious way, outrageously morally offensive. Kisscut doesn't quite make it, so I give it half a star because, for reasons I still haven't uncovered during the writing of this review, I did finish it. But lordy lordy me, what a terrible, terrible disappointment it turned out to be. (half)
I'll keep reading these Grant County thriller/mysteries when I need something quick and page-turning to read. She has some nice twists even if her plots are more SVU than regular Law and Order. Good stationary bike material.
This is more of a 3.5, but where Lena's arc went grated enough I'm not sure I'm going to continue the series despite really enjoying the first two (especially due to spoilers about the last one indicating there's more sad than I prefer in my escapism).
Depraved doesn’t even begin to cover the mind that this story came from. Karin I’m watching you! You deep sea cave dwelling mad woman! Lol I cannot lie I was invested in this story book line and sinker, because I NEEDED TO KNOW! What the actual F was going on. I think the reason I have a hard time reading books like this is because you know that these people, read monsters here, exist in real life. It’s a very visceral thing when you start to peel back those layers, which Slaughter’s books do flawlessly. This book is going to be 4/5 from me but I caution anyone who would go to read. If you are not willing to pull the curtain back on all the terrible things in the world in graphic detail. Leave Slaughter’s books for those of us who clearly are a little on the depraved side as well.
I'm struggling with putting together my review for this book. Having read the first, Blindsighted this second edition left me feeling similarly unsatisfied.
It's written reasonably well, the characters are reasonably believable, the plot is twisty enough to get me interested but it's just a bit... well, lacking. There's no exceptional, wonderful orshining ingredients here.
It's a solid read for any crime reader. Definitely not for the faint of heart as the subject matter is truly terrifying and very sensitive for a lot of people.
I didn't appreciate the meandering pace at times and Jeffrey and Sara's relationship grated on me. However I will read the next one in the series as they seem to be dependable and a decent read. No where near fantastic, but good enough.
It's written reasonably well, the characters are reasonably believable, the plot is twisty enough to get me interested but it's just a bit... well, lacking. There's no exceptional, wonderful orshining ingredients here.
It's a solid read for any crime reader. Definitely not for the faint of heart as the subject matter is truly terrifying and very sensitive for a lot of people.
I didn't appreciate the meandering pace at times and Jeffrey and Sara's relationship grated on me. However I will read the next one in the series as they seem to be dependable and a decent read. No where near fantastic, but good enough.