A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Somehow or another Karin Slaughter never came into my radar, which is surprising as I like this kind of crime drama, a lot. So now I’ve read the first three in the Grant County series, and I feel compelled to write a short review.
Slaughter doesn’t coddle her characters. She throws believable stuff at them. Extreme extreme, but still within the realm of believable. Her people are complex, nuanced, and each of them handles the dog-awful stuff differently. There are a couple of characters who could be more developed, but then there are characters who have small roles but who are incredibly well drawn and vivid. Eddie, I’m looking at you.
In particular one character — Lena Adams — was interesting to me in this third novel because she’s been through hell, and there’s no telling if she’ll be able to pull herself out of the resulting self destructive spiral. I thought her development was handled really well, and then out of left field: a twist I never saw coming. Now I am really wondering how Slaughter is going to handle this in the rest of the series. She’s not afraid to do bad, bad things to her characters but she’s also making things challenging for herself. Which is brave, and promising both.
Warning: not for the faint of heart.
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This is still one of my favourite crime series. Its heartbreaking though. I’d be interested on your thoughts after you’ve read them all.
Wait until you meet Will Trent, I believe his name is. He’s a good guy with major problems. I try to read all of Slaughter’s novels.
How about Barbara Hamby’s Benjamin January series? A black man, both physician and pianist, in the 1830’s, mostly solving crimes in New Orleans. It reminds me of Queen of Swords.
Then there’s Dana Stabanow’s Kate Shugak series. Kate’s an Aleut who investigates crime in Alaska. Contemporary.
Hey you. Nice to hear from you. I’ve read all of the Benjamin January books, and I like them a lot though I have reservations about her research. Also Kate Shugak: read ’em all. I simply can’t figure out how I missed Karin Slaughter. And I’m scrambling to catch up.
Jacqui — I’m completely addicted. Except I’m on the fifth of the sixth in this series and I’ve decided I can’t read the last one. Because I know how it ends, and I simply could not stand it. So I’m going over to the Will Trent series when I’m done with Faithless.
Just read this post – (have also read your recent review of the latest Will Trent). I’ve done the opposite and have stopped reading the Will Trent books since Sara became his love interest. (the 3rd one?). Isn’t that silly? I love her writing but I just can’t. I am still so traumatised. And sad. I would have done the same thing if John Crichton had been killed off and Aeryn hooked up with someone else….it would have felt so wrong.
I wish she would start another completely different series so I could start reading her again.
BTW on her website there is an extra chapter that tells of when Sara and Jeffrey meet.