The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter

Today it is my great pleasure to be taking part in the blog tour for Karin Slaughter’s The Silent Wife, the latest book in the Will Trent and Sara Linton series. My thanks to publisher Harper Collins who provided an advance copy for review, and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours who invited me to join the tour. Here’s what it’s all about:

About the Book

He watches.

A woman runs alone in the woods. She convinces herself she has no reason to be afraid, but she’s wrong. A predator is stalking the women of Grant County. He lingers in the shadows, until the time is just right to snatch his victim.

He waits.

A decade later, the case has been closed. The killer is behind bars. But then another young woman is brutally attacked and left for dead, and the MO is identical.

He takes.

Although the original trail has gone cold – memories have faded, witnesses have disappeared – agent Will Trent and forensic pathologist Sara Linton must re-open the cold case. But the clock is ticking, and the killer is determined to find his perfect silent wife…

Available from: Amazon | Kobo | Waterstones | Googleplay | Apple Books | Goldsboro Books

My Thoughts

Wow. This book leaves a mark. And after twenty years and twenty books, perhaps that is the right thing. I don’t think you can read this book without being affected by it, even just a little. It is dark, it is emotional, it is often brutal, but then the subject matter is not one that can simply be glossed over, the effects of the kinds of attacks that the victims in this book suffer, far reaching and inescapable. So if you are going to read, be warned. As nice as it is to be back with Will and Sara, and, in spite of what follows through the course of the book, when all is said and done it is nice to be back with them, this is a hard book to read, one that took me longer than I expected, but the more I look back, the more I understand why. It is a book you probably need to take a break from, if even only for a short while, as Karin Slaughter leads you into a dark and deadly case some eight years in its execution.

Okay, moody moment over – for now … It’s not all bad news. Any Grant County/Jeffery Tolliver fans out there (me!!!) take heart, as this book takes us back to a time in Sara’s past – one where Jeffery is very much a part of her life, not perhaps in the most positive of ways granted, but enough that his presence in this investigation can cast a shadow over her relationship with Will in the present day. Whilst the circumstances of the trip down memory lane are not remotely heartwarming, I did enjoy being back with Jeffery again. Okay – so this wasn’t exactly a moment of crowning glory for the guy – read it and you will know why. If you have read the Grant County series at all you will know that he and Sara had some … difficulties … and it is this time in their relationship that is brought into sharp focus through Will and Faith’s present day investigation. A potential miscarriage of justice, with a man accused of a series of ever more brutal attacks on women that he may well have been innocent of. Could Jeffery really have made such a mistake? Lena – hell yeah. And this book reminded me how much I dislike her as a character and why I have not yet been able to bring myself to finish reading Skin Privilege. Let’s say that she hasn’t improved with age.

This is, as I said before, a hard book to read. Whilst we are not present during the attacks, the after effects, the pain in injury inflicted on the victims, is described in detail as some stages, and leaves little to the imagination of the reader. It is clinical rather than graphic, but it is still brutal and will get under your skin without question. If sexual assault is a difficult subject to read for you, then you may wish to steer clear of this book as the author is not shy in laying it all out for the reader. But outside of the nature of the attacks, this is a complex and mystery laden investigation, carried out over a dual timeline. Part is told from the perspective of Jeffery, Lena and Sara as they deal with what they believe to be the only attacks to have occured. The other half of the investigation comes as Will and Faith try to discover whether or not the wrong man may have been accused and if a brutal rapist has been at large for all those years. The action moves between the two period almost seamlessly, the frustrations of both teams clear and palpable as you read. Both are laced with tension and keep you on edge but it is the emotion that really drew me into the story.

I loved seeing the way Karin Slaughter explored the impact of bringing Jeffery into Sara and Will’s world had on the pair. Their relationship was already fractious for reasons that will become apparent in the reading and seeing Will compete with the ghost of Sara and Jeffery’s relationship, the impact that it had on a man who finds it so hard to express himself, was really bewitching. I really like Will as a character, like his stoic nature, his ability to remain calm, and seeing him react so badly, so out of character really made the story pop. A man of few words, his actions spoke volumes and his uncertainty, frustrating as it could be at times, really made me feel for him.

The book, as a whole, had my emotions all over the place, for so many different reasons. Littered with characters you cannot help but hate, scenes that will hit you right in the gut, and an underlying sense of tension and menace that keeps you right on edge, I think this may be Karin Slaughter at her dark, unforgiving, emotion wrangling best and fans who can stomach a walk on the darker side, will not be disappointed. Highly recommended, but do heed the warnings. This book will shock. will take you to the brink, but will also leave you with a huge portion of hope, all wrapped up in a Big-Mac box.

About the Author

Karin Slaughter is one of the world’s most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 120 countries with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her 19 novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and the instant Sunday Times bestselling novels Pretty Girls, The Good Daughter, and Pieces of Her.

The Good Daughter and Cop Town are in development for film and television and Pieces of Her is soon to be an eight-part Netflix adaptation, directed by Lesli Linka Glatter (Mad Men), and produced by Charlotte Stoudt (Homeland) and Bruna Papandrea (Big Little Lies).

Karin is the founder of the Save the Libraries project- a non-profit organisation established to support libraries and library programming.   She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Author Links: Twitter | Website

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