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siobhanward's review
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I didn't love this book and then really hated the ending... To learn that was how Slaugther chose to wrap up a whole series is what dropped this to a single star. I can't speak for how the rest of the series is, but I'm glad I read this one first - if I'd worked through the whole series and this is how it ended, I would have been livid.
Anyway, this book was typical for Slaughter, but definitely weaker than what I've read from her before. Her penchant for torturing women was a lot less pronounced in this book, so I will give her credit for that, but that was the only redeeming quality. I didn't care much for the characters, there were plot lines that went nowhere and were irrelevant to most of the story and moving through time made the plot hard to follow. I get using time/scene jumps for drama, but in this case, it just made it hard to follow.
I think now that I've gotten a bit more into the crime/thriller genre, especially in terms of series, I'm learning some authors are just not worth reading everything from, and Slaughter might be one of those.
Anyway, this book was typical for Slaughter, but definitely weaker than what I've read from her before. Her penchant for torturing women was a lot less pronounced in this book, so I will give her credit for that, but that was the only redeeming quality. I didn't care much for the characters, there were plot lines that went nowhere and were irrelevant to most of the story and moving through time made the plot hard to follow. I get using time/scene jumps for drama, but in this case, it just made it hard to follow.
I think now that I've gotten a bit more into the crime/thriller genre, especially in terms of series, I'm learning some authors are just not worth reading everything from, and Slaughter might be one of those.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Drug abuse, Violence, Death, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Confinement, Medical content, and Gun violence
Minor: Cancer, Abortion, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Car accident
mxcopmy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
!BIG SPOILER ALERT!
Beyond reach was the perfect painful finale for this series. I spent a long time wrapping my head around how the story really made sense and who had done exactly what, but it wasn't until the very last that this became clear. Again, wonderfully done, like most of Slaughter's books.
I was genuinely surprised what turn beyond reach had taken. When I had finished reading faithless (book 5) & immediately started in beyond reach, I was so sure who was after lena & who was in the burning vehicle. In the end, I was completely wrong & it positively surprised me! You were taken into the most tensed scenes every chapter, even more tensed than in the previous books! This was specifically due to the strong interaction between the main characters, namely Lena, Jeffrey & Sara. It was also fun to read an entire book that was mainly about the main characters for once, as I did miss this at times in some previous books. When you read this series in order and not as stand alones, you also create a huge bond with these characters which makes each chapter interactfull. In beyond reach, this was huge! I was really perplexed how, for instance, Lena's mother was still alive after all these years of believing she was dead & that you were first put on a trail that supposedly Hank was the father. There was then also a tender part where Sara & Jeffrey are just about to finally be able to adopt a baby. All these together made the story a rollercoaster of emotions.
I had read a book in the Will Trent series that lightly mentioned already that Sara is widowed because her husband, Jeffrey, died in an attack. So when I started the series I thought 'oh no, so I'm going to read how the main character dies!!!'. And yes, the last 6 pages in beyond reach this did effectively happen. Unfortunately, I found this piece the most silly ever. I therefore found it very unfortunate that Slaughter just writes 6 pages of quick how Jeffrey dies a gruesome death when you have read 6 books at a stretch about him. Jeffrey's death was not given the necessary focus and grief that I feel it should have. I also really feel that this is not the end and that there must be a follow-up after all? So I don't know if the Will Trent series will pick up on this or not, but I guess I'll find out soon enough. Because of this, I also don't give it 5 stars, but 4. It was just too implausible, sloppy and also just pretty nasty to use your main character like that as a final shock effect....
Beyond reach was the perfect painful finale for this series. I spent a long time wrapping my head around how the story really made sense and who had done exactly what, but it wasn't until the very last that this became clear. Again, wonderfully done, like most of Slaughter's books.
I was genuinely surprised what turn beyond reach had taken. When I had finished reading faithless (book 5) & immediately started in beyond reach, I was so sure who was after lena & who was in the burning vehicle. In the end, I was completely wrong & it positively surprised me! You were taken into the most tensed scenes every chapter, even more tensed than in the previous books! This was specifically due to the strong interaction between the main characters, namely Lena, Jeffrey & Sara. It was also fun to read an entire book that was mainly about the main characters for once, as I did miss this at times in some previous books. When you read this series in order and not as stand alones, you also create a huge bond with these characters which makes each chapter interactfull. In beyond reach, this was huge! I was really perplexed how, for instance, Lena's mother was still alive after all these years of believing she was dead & that you were first put on a trail that supposedly Hank was the father. There was then also a tender part where Sara & Jeffrey are just about to finally be able to adopt a baby. All these together made the story a rollercoaster of emotions.
I had read a book in the Will Trent series that lightly mentioned already that Sara is widowed because her husband, Jeffrey, died in an attack. So when I started the series I thought 'oh no, so I'm going to read how the main character dies!!!'. And yes, the last 6 pages in beyond reach this did effectively happen. Unfortunately, I found this piece the most silly ever. I therefore found it very unfortunate that Slaughter just writes 6 pages of quick how Jeffrey dies a gruesome death when you have read 6 books at a stretch about him. Jeffrey's death was not given the necessary focus and grief that I feel it should have. I also really feel that this is not the end and that there must be a follow-up after all? So I don't know if the Will Trent series will pick up on this or not, but I guess I'll find out soon enough. Because of this, I also don't give it 5 stars, but 4. It was just too implausible, sloppy and also just pretty nasty to use your main character like that as a final shock effect....
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Medical content, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Racism, Murder, and Hate crime
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
realhousewifeofthelibrary's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
My lord the ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Drug abuse, Violence, and Domestic abuse
abbs15norm's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Racism, Torture, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Medical trauma
wordsofclover's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
it's going to take me a while to get over that ending.
What the actual f***
Skin Privilege is the last Grant County book and this time we follow police chief Jeffrey Tolliver and his wife Sara Linton as they travel to a neighboring town to help out police detective Lena who has been found at the scene of a crime. A woman has been brutally murdered, and the town itself is overrun with meth dealers. But with Lena on the run, and Jeffrey and Sara in the dark, can they figure out how to save her and themselves before it's too late?
For the last book in this series, the main investigation in this book was a little bit off in comparison to the other books. The kill and the reasons behind the brutality didn't feel as tight or as polished as some of the other crime investigations in the previous book, and I definitely feel like the author just wanted us to once again come back around to Lena and her life, and this seemed to be the best way to do it.
It probably didn't help enjoyment levels that Lena is the worst character in this book, and my least favourite in the book. Every time you think she's improving, she backtracks about 10 steps and this time she brought Jeffrey and Sara with her. She's right in this book when she says everything she touches turns to crap because god, it really does. She genuinely is the worst thing to happen to Jeffrey and Sara, even if it's unintentional.
And the ending. Omg that ending. I knew it was coming - there was so much foreshadowing throughout the book and a sense of dread, I knew it had to come. But in the last two pages. Right when they got the best news and they were at such a wonderful, pivotal point in their lives and they were so goddamn happy. I just don't see the point, I really don't. Yes, the series is dark and goes to places where you do wonder if an author should really go there but that doesn't mean the characters aren't allowed a scrap of happiness. It's honestly one of the worst, emotionally manipulative endings in a book I've read in a long time.
What the actual f***
Skin Privilege is the last Grant County book and this time we follow police chief Jeffrey Tolliver and his wife Sara Linton as they travel to a neighboring town to help out police detective Lena who has been found at the scene of a crime. A woman has been brutally murdered, and the town itself is overrun with meth dealers. But with Lena on the run, and Jeffrey and Sara in the dark, can they figure out how to save her and themselves before it's too late?
For the last book in this series, the main investigation in this book was a little bit off in comparison to the other books. The kill and the reasons behind the brutality didn't feel as tight or as polished as some of the other crime investigations in the previous book, and I definitely feel like the author just wanted us to once again come back around to Lena and her life, and this seemed to be the best way to do it.
It probably didn't help enjoyment levels that Lena is the worst character in this book, and my least favourite in the book. Every time you think she's improving, she backtracks about 10 steps and this time she brought Jeffrey and Sara with her. She's right in this book when she says everything she touches turns to crap because god, it really does. She genuinely is the worst thing to happen to Jeffrey and Sara, even if it's unintentional.
And the ending. Omg that ending. I knew it was coming - there was so much foreshadowing throughout the book and a sense of dread, I knew it had to come. But in the last two pages. Right when they got the best news and they were at such a wonderful, pivotal point in their lives and they were so goddamn happy. I just don't see the point, I really don't. Yes, the series is dark and goes to places where you do wonder if an author should really go there but that doesn't mean the characters aren't allowed a scrap of happiness. It's honestly one of the worst, emotionally manipulative endings in a book I've read in a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Racism
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