The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter

The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter
Buy The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: General Fiction
Reviewer: Kerry King
Summary: Will Trent is back *swoons slightly*. The body of an ex-cop is discovered in an Atlanta building site. Worse, that building site is the property of an infamous, politically connected, wealthy basketball player that Special Agent Trent has spent the better part of the last year trying, without success, to convict on a rape charge. Worse still, it seems that the dead ex-cop is not the only victim of the scene. Dr Sara Linton, the GBI's newest recruit M.E. has discovered the blood of a woman.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 560	Date: 14 July 2016
Publisher: Century
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1780893570
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Special Agent Will Trent is back. Collected by his partner, Faith, to attend the scene of a rather brutal murder, Trent queries why the GBI has been called in to what would usually be a standard homicide investigation for Atlanta PD. Arriving at the scene, their boss, Deputy Director Amanda Wagner is somewhat characteristically pacing and barking orders; the victim is none other than ex-cop and all round bad egg, Dale Harding. There is a lot of blood, presumably due to the door-knob and spindle sticking out of Harding's neck.

Dr Sara Linton, Medical Examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation soon throws a new theory into the mix. There is a second victim; a woman - and most of the blood at the scene is not from the wound in Harding's neck, but from her. Further exploration of the crime scene indicates that something quite horrible has happened here and things are not as they might seem at first glance. Given the quantity of blood and the lack of body at the scene, Dr Linton explains to Trent that he has just two or three hours to find this woman before she bleeds to death if he hopes to have any chance of finding out exactly what happened here. And so the clock is ticking.

I'll tell you now; I love a Karin Slaughter novel. I've never read any in the Will Trent series before. My prior forays have all been The Grant County series so I had already met Dr Sara Linton but never Special Agent Trent; in fact a friend of mine actually said she has something approximating a giant crush on this character, which is hilarious because he isn't real and he exists only in her imagination! That's the effect that Slaughter's Will Trent character is having on a grown woman of sound-ish mind! So of course I went into this novel already having high hopes of this chap and I've got to admit that I wasn't disappointed. The mother in me wanted to tuck Trent under my wing and heal his fractured soul. The woman in me wanted to …. Well, let's just leave that there while I open a window and get some fresh air.

So, here we are, right in the middle of a brand new grisly murder and death by door-knob is a new one on me. Slaughter's foxtrot of a narrative takes you swiftly and concisely through the timeline, introducing you to a medley of ne'er-do-wells along the way and has the reader pointing a accusatory finger at just about everyone Trent meets. It is a most enjoyable ramble with lots of plot and many ways in which to follow it. The blossoming relationship between Trent and Linton is delightful and loaded with the kind of issues that come from a widow meeting a man whose childhood was spent in the state care system in the US. Though you are handed the who at the beginning of the story (well, pretty much), discovering the why and who else and how they all fitted together like the proverbial jigsaw, was quite excellent.

I do not hesitate to recommend this book to you; it was unputdownable. I found myself dodging the dishes and lingering in all manner of places to get to the end as quickly as possible. You must buy it, borrow it or beg for it. You won't be disappointed.

If you like the sound of The Kept Woman, Karin Slaughter could keep you occupied for a month with her prior work. I expect the rest of the Will Trent series to be fabulous and Criminal has my attention next, but since I have also read Karin Slaughter's Grant County Series, I'm going to recommend Skin Privilege though you might wish to take a wider look at all the Grant County Series of books and start at the beginning.

My cup overfloweth with thanks to the kind folks at Century for sending this copy to Bookbag for review.

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You can read more book reviews or buy The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter at Amazon.com.

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