
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Karin Slaughter
Grant County, Book # 2
HarperTorch
2002
470
English
March 3, 2022 March 4, 2022
Chunkster Reading, Cloak and Dagger, Finishing The Series, Library Love, The Backlist Reader, Virtual Mount TBR
Saturday night dates at the skating rink have been a tradition in the small southern town of Heartsdale for as long as anyone can remember, but when a teenage quarrel explodes into a deadly shoot-out, Sara Linton—the town's pediatrician and medical examiner—finds herself entangled in a terrible tragedy.
What seemed at first to be a horrific but individual catastrophe proves to have wider implications. The autopsy reveals evidence of long-term abuse, of ritualistic self -mutilation, but when Sara and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver start to investigate, they are frustrated at every turn.
The children surrounding the victim close ranks. The families turn their backs. Then a young girl is abducted, and it becomes clear that the first death is linked to an even more brutal crime, one far more shocking than anyone could have imagined. Meanwhile, detective Lena Adams, still recovering from her sister's death and her own brutal attack, finds herself drawn to a young man who might hold the answers. But unless Lena, Sara, and Jeffrey can uncover the deadly secrets the children hide, it's going to happen again . . .

About the book
Saturday night in Heartsdale. The local skating rink seems a place like many others where you can meet to chat for a while and to relax after the work or school week just passed. But when Sara and Jeffery get caught up in a chilling incident in which a teenager loses her life, they quickly realise that things aren’t entirely clear. Investigating, they find themselves in front of a case beyond their reach and Sara wonders why she has never seen anything, no signs on these guys, her patients.
What I think
I think I like the Sara Linton series more than the Will Trent series (and since I really like that series, that means a lot).
The case is very cruel, it speaks of abused adolescents and children. It is not one of those cases where you have to find out who is the culprit because during the book you discover it (ie before the end), here you need to understand more than anything else why and how it all happened. Yes, there is a bit of mystery of course but it is not the focal point of the book.
The only flaw is Lena, I have never endured her and I can’t stand her here either, although perhaps reading this series I understand more about her character in the Will Trent series.
I practically read this book in two days. The first day, I couldn’t put it down so much that I stopped due to fatigue at 2:30 am. It is a book in which you want to continue to understand everything.
And yes, I will continue with the series, I still have 4 books to read.