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A review by veraasim
A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
3.0
This felt weaker than the first two instalments of the Grant County series. Plot was slow and character development was stale (backward even – I’m looking at you, Lena).
Regarding the slow plot, the overall format doesn’t stray from the earlier books – sub-plots appear and we get lots of clues, and it all builds up to a grand reveal through a long convo with the perpetrator (kinda like a monologue too) at the last few chapters. The problem is that this book felt quite boring. A lot of sub-plots (and sub-sub-plots) kept getting thrown at us but it felt flat throughout with a few exceptions. I kept waiting for a breakthrough that would move things along, but we mostly got Sara and Jeffrey circling around each other and Lena going down a path of self-destruction.
I mean, I don’t expect every character to evolve dramatically into a better version of themselves and I get that people do regress, but Lena was frustrating to read. It’s giving character torture porn, with what she was going through (and put herself through). The twist at the ending was pretty sick though, one that I didn’t see coming. I also didn’t expect Ethan to stick around, but since he’s such a volatile character that I can’t get a read on his true motives, I’ll be somewhat looking forward to his appearance in the future books. I really hope Lena improves down the series; I sorta agree with other reviewers’ sentiments to just kill her off already.
Regarding the slow plot, the overall format doesn’t stray from the earlier books – sub-plots appear and we get lots of clues, and it all builds up to a grand reveal through a long convo with the perpetrator (kinda like a monologue too) at the last few chapters. The problem is that this book felt quite boring. A lot of sub-plots (and sub-sub-plots) kept getting thrown at us but it felt flat throughout with a few exceptions. I kept waiting for a breakthrough that would move things along, but we mostly got Sara and Jeffrey circling around each other and Lena going down a path of self-destruction.
I mean, I don’t expect every character to evolve dramatically into a better version of themselves and I get that people do regress, but Lena was frustrating to read. It’s giving character torture porn, with what she was going through (and put herself through). The twist at the ending was pretty sick though, one that I didn’t see coming. I also didn’t expect Ethan to stick around, but since he’s such a volatile character that I can’t get a read on his true motives, I’ll be somewhat looking forward to his appearance in the future books. I really hope Lena improves down the series; I sorta agree with other reviewers’ sentiments to just kill her off already.
As for Sara and Jeffrey, I don’t really know what to feel. I kinda spoiled myself knowing that Sara will get together with Will Trent, so I know her relationship with Jeffrey won’t get anywhere. They won’t anyway, if they keep up what they had going in here in the future books. Honestly I find myself getting through the Grant County series just to get to the Will Trent series. I can’t wait till Sara meets Will.