cam_torrens's review against another edition
5.0
Long-time Karin Slaughter fans will gobble up The Silent Wife. The thriller continues Slaughter’s melding of two separate series: the Grant County books with medical examiner Sara Linton, and the Will Trent series with—you guessed it—GBI sleuth Will Trent.
My first exposure to Slaughter was through an author interview. Her comments about trying to break into the crime thriller genre in the 1990s struck a chord. As progressive as I thought those decades were, evidently publishers still considered a woman author candidly writing about mutilation, rape, and murder “in poor taste,” despite the successes of her best-selling male cohorts.
Slaughter ignored those stale paradigms with her breakout 2001 novel, Blindsighted. Blown away by both her groundbreaking detail of a heinous murder, and by the quality of her first published novel, I immediately followed the read with her newest effort, The Silent Wife.
Slaughter did not disappoint. Years after the events in Blindsighted, medical examiner Sara Linton teams with Slaughter’s newest protagonist, Will Trent, to investigate a prison riot and subsequent murder. An inmate who has always claimed innocence offers information on both events if Linton and Trent reopen his own murder case. He claims Sara’s dead ex-husband, police chief Will Tolliver, screwed him over years before, sending him to prison while the actual murderer continued murdering young girls.
Slaughter pivots the story between the original murder cases and the present-day investigation, the protagonists searching for a pattern that will identify the killer who remains on the loose.
I’ve only read two Karin Slaughter novels and argue that’s an advantage over long-term Slaughter fans.
First, this book can stand alone outside of the series. Karin Slaughter has written 20 bestsellers that include one or both of our protagonists. I sped through this book and did not once feel that the story was confusing because I’d never read a Will Trent book before. Don’t feel you need to start from the beginning.
Second, I suspect avid Slaughter fans take her storytelling skills for granted. I don’t. She’s got a special talent for character, plot, and gore. Her protagonists leap off the page, pursuing justice while struggling through deep flaws in themselves and their relationship with each other.
“With Will, Sara was keenly aware that she was the only woman on earth who could love him the way that he deserved to be loved.”
The plot is fast-paced, and no suspect gets a pass until the reader rolls into the nail-biting conclusion. The gore is not gratuitous. Slaughter’s depictions of extreme violence show detailed research and she presents the scenes to the reader in a dispassionate, almost medical, manner. I’m not a gore fan, but Slaughter does it right.
Readers looking for similar authors/titles providing the medical/crime thriller vibe that Slaughter has mastered should check out Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli and Isles series. You decide—start with her 2001 bestseller, The Surgeon, or the latest release, 2017’s The Bone Garden.
I’ll rate The Silent Wife a 4.5 out of 5 stars. The acid test? I generally read two to three books at once, but when I stumble on a page-turner, the other books go to the back burner. I read The Silent Wife straight through.
My first exposure to Slaughter was through an author interview. Her comments about trying to break into the crime thriller genre in the 1990s struck a chord. As progressive as I thought those decades were, evidently publishers still considered a woman author candidly writing about mutilation, rape, and murder “in poor taste,” despite the successes of her best-selling male cohorts.
Slaughter ignored those stale paradigms with her breakout 2001 novel, Blindsighted. Blown away by both her groundbreaking detail of a heinous murder, and by the quality of her first published novel, I immediately followed the read with her newest effort, The Silent Wife.
Slaughter did not disappoint. Years after the events in Blindsighted, medical examiner Sara Linton teams with Slaughter’s newest protagonist, Will Trent, to investigate a prison riot and subsequent murder. An inmate who has always claimed innocence offers information on both events if Linton and Trent reopen his own murder case. He claims Sara’s dead ex-husband, police chief Will Tolliver, screwed him over years before, sending him to prison while the actual murderer continued murdering young girls.
Slaughter pivots the story between the original murder cases and the present-day investigation, the protagonists searching for a pattern that will identify the killer who remains on the loose.
I’ve only read two Karin Slaughter novels and argue that’s an advantage over long-term Slaughter fans.
First, this book can stand alone outside of the series. Karin Slaughter has written 20 bestsellers that include one or both of our protagonists. I sped through this book and did not once feel that the story was confusing because I’d never read a Will Trent book before. Don’t feel you need to start from the beginning.
Second, I suspect avid Slaughter fans take her storytelling skills for granted. I don’t. She’s got a special talent for character, plot, and gore. Her protagonists leap off the page, pursuing justice while struggling through deep flaws in themselves and their relationship with each other.
“With Will, Sara was keenly aware that she was the only woman on earth who could love him the way that he deserved to be loved.”
The plot is fast-paced, and no suspect gets a pass until the reader rolls into the nail-biting conclusion. The gore is not gratuitous. Slaughter’s depictions of extreme violence show detailed research and she presents the scenes to the reader in a dispassionate, almost medical, manner. I’m not a gore fan, but Slaughter does it right.
Readers looking for similar authors/titles providing the medical/crime thriller vibe that Slaughter has mastered should check out Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli and Isles series. You decide—start with her 2001 bestseller, The Surgeon, or the latest release, 2017’s The Bone Garden.
I’ll rate The Silent Wife a 4.5 out of 5 stars. The acid test? I generally read two to three books at once, but when I stumble on a page-turner, the other books go to the back burner. I read The Silent Wife straight through.
cwinters's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
optimisticbooknerd20's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 ⭐️
gripping, shocking, overwhelming, Karin Slaughter slays the genre
gripping, shocking, overwhelming, Karin Slaughter slays the genre
cammie13's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
morganlaut's review against another edition
5.0
TW: very descriptive scenes of violence and or rape.
Wow this book was a rollercoaster. I was completely invested the entire way. This technically is a series, but one again I do not feel it was needed to read any of the other books in the series in order to enjoy this one. The thing I loved the most about this is how involved the solving the mystery was, and also how fast the plot was moving. There was always something keeping me thinking and hooked on. Going into this I did not nearly expect the crimes to be experienced first hand, and in the past scenes like that have been too much for me. I think Karin Slaughter found a happy balance though and I honestly think those scenes were critical to the story. I don’t think I would have been invested nearly as much without them. Overall a fantastic read!!
Wow this book was a rollercoaster. I was completely invested the entire way. This technically is a series, but one again I do not feel it was needed to read any of the other books in the series in order to enjoy this one. The thing I loved the most about this is how involved the solving the mystery was, and also how fast the plot was moving. There was always something keeping me thinking and hooked on. Going into this I did not nearly expect the crimes to be experienced first hand, and in the past scenes like that have been too much for me. I think Karin Slaughter found a happy balance though and I honestly think those scenes were critical to the story. I don’t think I would have been invested nearly as much without them. Overall a fantastic read!!
perfectionotincluded's review against another edition
4.0
This might have been my favorite entry in this series.
erikaslibros's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
nortoang's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, late nights reading to find out the conclusion
I hadn't read any Karin Slaughter books for a very long time so was interested to preview this book thanks to #NetGalley. The story line and detail is quite shocking and graphic but totally appropriate to the theme and should be expected. It seemed to be quite a long book but in a good way that I just had to read late at night to understand who was the murderer and why. Lots of twists and turns as well as human relationships and emotion. Well recommended read
I hadn't read any Karin Slaughter books for a very long time so was interested to preview this book thanks to #NetGalley. The story line and detail is quite shocking and graphic but totally appropriate to the theme and should be expected. It seemed to be quite a long book but in a good way that I just had to read late at night to understand who was the murderer and why. Lots of twists and turns as well as human relationships and emotion. Well recommended read
cnorbury's review against another edition
4.0
The work of a master storyteller is always evident from page one, and this book was no exception. The opening third was outstanding, gritty, ugly, and unsettling. Slaughter painted a dark, vivid picture of the seamier side of life in Atlanta. A serial killer who beats, tortures, and rapes young women and then bites their tongues off. But she captured the essence of human emotions--lust, greed, disappointment, lost chances, hopelessness, endemic poverty, trust, etc.
There were moments in the middle half of the book when the introspection and repetition of thoughts and emotions slowed the pace, but the stellar prose compensated for that to a degree. The plot twists were generally good and unexpected. I did have a hard time with Will Trent as an effective Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) agent. It's hard to imagine how a functional illiterate (thanks to severe dyslexia) can rise to his position and do a decent job, let alone and outstanding job. Plus, his past (orphan, foster homes, beaten tortured, etc.) seems like far too much baggage to overcome in the pursuit of a normal, productive life.
But, on the whole, this was a first-rate detective thriller, with compelling characters, vivid prose, and an interesting premise and plot.
There were moments in the middle half of the book when the introspection and repetition of thoughts and emotions slowed the pace, but the stellar prose compensated for that to a degree. The plot twists were generally good and unexpected. I did have a hard time with Will Trent as an effective Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) agent. It's hard to imagine how a functional illiterate (thanks to severe dyslexia) can rise to his position and do a decent job, let alone and outstanding job. Plus, his past (orphan, foster homes, beaten tortured, etc.) seems like far too much baggage to overcome in the pursuit of a normal, productive life.
But, on the whole, this was a first-rate detective thriller, with compelling characters, vivid prose, and an interesting premise and plot.