Blindsighted
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Karin Slaughter
Grant County, Book # 1
Arrow
May 1st 2001
ebook
418
English
February 7, 2021 February 9, 2021
Beat the Backlist, Cloak and Dagger, Mount TBR, The Backlist Reader
In Blindsighted (book one of an anticipated three featuring Grant County, Georgia, pediatrician and coroner Dr. Sara Linton), first-time novelist Karin Slaughter comes out swinging in true medical examiner fashion. That is to say, covered with blood from the get-go.
Without warning, the body jerked violently, pitching forward and slamming Sara onto the floor. Blood spread out around both of them, and Sara instinctively clawed to get out from under the convulsing woman. With her feet and hands she groped for some kind of purchase on the slick bathroom floor. Finally, Sara managed to slide out from underneath her. She turned Sibyl over, cradling her head, trying to help her through the convulsions. Suddenly, the jerking stopped.
Sibyl is, or was, Sibyl Adams, a college professor who had the misfortune of being drugged, savagely raped, slashed, and left for dead in the toilet of the local diner, to be coincidentally discovered by Sara Linton. Coincidences don't stop there, and neither do the rapes and murders. The next is, unimaginably, still more gruesome than the first and it, too, is discovered by Dr. Linton. Police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver is Sara's ex-husband, and mercurial detective Lena Adams, another major player in the ensuing drama, was Sibyl's twin sister.
And the monster behind these increasingly more depraved acts? Suspects abound, from the diner's jack-of-all-trades, Will Harris, to Victim No. 2's boyfriend, to Jack Allen Wright who, a dozen years prior, raped Dr. Linton (that rape had been a secret until now). There are other possibilities, naturally, and it soon becomes apparent that Sara's an intended target.
About the Book
Blindsighted is the first book in the Grant County series in which one of the protagonists is Sara Linton. The series consists of 6 books, then Sara appears in Will Trent series from the third book (titled Undone) and from there she will remain a recurring character. This series should be read at least before Broken, (which is Will Trent’s fourth book) to avoid spoilers, but better read it before the third. Unfortunately I did the opposite, so I basically know how this series ends. But I don’t care, I’m going to read this series, anyway.
As mentioned, we are in a small county south of Atlanta where the paediatrician, Sara, has a double job as she is also the coroner in the area. On a Monday, the woman has an appointment with her sister in a restaurant and is involved in a murder. She finds Sibyl Adams, a university teacher, in the bathroom, brutally wounded in the abdomen with a knife. Sara tries to save her but it is too late, the woman dies in her arms. What makes the murder even more brutal is that the woman is blind. Grant County’s chief of police Jeffrey Tolliver investigates, he is Sara’s ex-husband and boss of the victim’s twin sister, Lena.
Shortly after, a university student disappears and she is also found injured by Sara. Do these assaults have anything to do with her past? A secret past that not even the ex-husband knows.
Before continuing I must say that this book is brutal, the descriptions of the attacks are very detailed so a warning for those who are sensitive to these things.
What I think
I loved the book, I read it so fast because I couldn’t put it down. The pace is pressing, the chapters not too long, the author knows how to involve you emotionally too. Unfortunately I already know how it all turns out, but that hasn’t stopped me from loving this book. I hope the next books are like that too. And honestly, I wanted to reread Will Trent’s books that include Sara. But we’ll see when I’m done with this series.
Characters
I already knew Sara, but I honestly didn’t remember her story. I like her in the other series and I must say that now I understand her even more.
I also like Jeffery, even though he cheated on Sara (scoundrel!) And that’s why they’re divorced. He may be only a “country policeman” as he is called in the book, but he still manages to solve the case by asking the right questions to those in charge.
I don’t remember much about Lena in Broken apart for a fact, but I didn’t even remember that she had lost her sister or even that she had a twin so even if I’ve already read that book it’s not like I’ve read things I’ve already seen because the whole case was new to me. Now I want to see how she behaves in the following books.
Conclusion
Although it’s a series that I already know the end of, I still like it. How Sara works and also the dynamics between the main characters and even though I have these characters together for only 5 books I like the fact that I can get to know them better. I can’t wait to continue with the series.
I don’t know if I’ve already mentioned it in the review a few weeks ago, but maybe not because I read that book before Sherlock Holmes, but I had moved away from this genre because it didn’t give me much anymore. Karin, with this book (but also with the previous one, from Will Trent’s series by the way) made me reconcile with the genre. Maybe I read Agatha Christie and Sherlock too much that I totally forgot what I liked about this genre. I know I can’t compare these books to the classics but honestly I like these more than the classics.
