The Silent Wife: An Intense Crime Thriller with a Gripping Narrative, Perfect for Fall 2024, Get Ready to Be Hooked! (Will Trent Book 10)

Slaughter has reached a new pinnacle. This is an almost effortless work despite the many complexities. Some still question the extreme unlikelihood that Will could get a college degree and work for the GBI while virtually illiterate. Or rural Georgia has more serial killers than Los Angeles. Or that the citizens there are either white supremacists or liberal Democrat unbelievers. Or that Will has zero male friends. It's literary license and is used by every author - give her a break.The writing is the best yet - polished, flowing, expanding - a lesson in the art of novel construction. Flow is difficult when using multiple timelines but Slaughter does not disappoint. The plot is (again) complex, violent, superb in its execution from the opening to the shocking conclusion. In the afterward the author confesses she's been writing a romance all along (lol) in the Will Trent series. With this novel both Sara and Will find closure in terms of as it relates to Jeffrey.Good writers do not create black and white characters. They excel in grays and in this case we peel back layer after layer revealing surprising truths that makes us question the reader's assumptions. The usual gang is back. Lena, married to Jeffrey's son and expecting a child, appears in the flashbacks as a young detective starting her "to hell with rules" approach. In the present day she transforms into the familiar "Lenaesque" mode readers know so well, her old nature returning with a vengeance. Faith is the weak link - she seems to have lapsed into the "griping young mom" mode. Amanda is still a bitch, playing both ends against the middle. But Will and Sara capture the show with an ending that will please all fans.

Love Karin Slaughter and this series is by far my favorite. She hit another home run! I definitely highly recommend

Another excellent tale for the Will Trent series. Back & forth, yesteryear & today. Kept you glued to the storyline throughout. Shocking ending. Two thumbs up.

Oh my Gosh!! A new Will Trent novel <3.Will is one of my favorite male characters. He is so broken and so smart at the same time.Surprisingly, I adored Sara Linton too. In general, we tend to be harder on the female characters. Thinking things like "she is making the wrong choice", "she is putting herself in danger unnecessarily", "she is acting mean for no reason" or maybe it's just me that expects to read more about smarter, interesting and powerful women characters. Luckily, I never have to complain about Sara. She is perfect for Will. She makes him more confident and even though it takes him a while to open up, she gets him to do it. Also, her own traumas and the way she has handled herself through all of it, makes me respect her. Or maybe because she is a doc is why I like her so much. Who knows, it may be all of it.Getting back to The Silent Wife, Karin Slaughter wields her magic wand and we get to be back in Grant County, with a younger Sara and Grant County's Chief officer, Jeffrey Tolliver.How you might ask? simple a serial killer.At the beginning of the book, a prison riot brings the GBI to investigate. While gathering information, an inmate, Daryl Nesbit, wants to talk to Will and Faith. He says he is innocent of a crime and he has the proof. Women have gone missing after he was put in prison and he blames Jeffrey and Lena Adams for letting the serial killer run free.By several POV's and by intercalating past and present chapters, we get a bigger picture of what truly happened. The identity of the serial killer was shocking but maybe not too much. It all made sense.Karin's writing is always raw and gritty. True evil is out there in the world and she knows how to bring it into her fictional world in a masterful way.In regards to the characters, I already drooled over Will and Sara at the beginning of my review, so I will say that Faith is another strong female character. Being in her head is always entertaining and I do love her relationship with Will as a partner and as his friend. Amanda as their boss is the cherry on top. She seems to be one step ahead of everyone every single time. I know the majority of readers love Jeffrey. I'm in the minority. I was never a Jeffrey fan. I thought Sara deserved better. However, he annoyed me very little in this one.One thing I want to make clear in case I haven't done it in my prior reviews is that I HATE Lena. I hope she gets what she deserves. She is a horrible person and doesn't learn from her mistakes. Really sad for her husband.Cliffhanger: No4/5 Fangs

I can barely recognise this book from reading some of the five-star reviews below. This book is truly dreadful on so many levels.Characters - none of the characters are that likeable or credible. Even Will who is meant to be vulnerable and measured seems to exhibit the behaviour of an inarticulate spoilt brat at times.Plot - the plot such as it is wanders all over the place. Many little side avenues are started but not closed off - what happened to the victim in the prison? Was the Chief exonerated ? Did Lena come good? etc etc I found myself reading and rereading pages to try and follow the slow-moving thought. The time changes from past to present didn't really flow either.Violence - I've read some violent crime novels in my time but the level of detail in this book felt like it came from the mind of a sadist who was revelling in the descriptions. The abuse of the women was in my view misogynistic and unnecessary in a work of fiction. Any decent editor would have been able to ameliorate this. A more articulate writer would have been able to give more subtle hints of violence and give glimpses of horror rather than detail every piece of ripped flesh. Disappointing!The overall feel of the book was it was far too long, fairly boring for most stretches and wasn't even satisfying at the end. The book peaked in the first chapter and went downhill continuously from their. Avoid!!Wandering Plot Line - Unlikeable Characters - Misogynistic & Sadistic

I did recieve a copy to review from Net Gallery, but this book I purchased in hardback. I have all the Karin Slaughter books and with the celebratory cover on the hardback, 20 books in 20 years in 2020. It was a book I needed to own.This is the series for crime investigation thriller series, many authors aspire to write like Slaughter and many do well but this is pure genius as soon as l read the first page, my shoulders relaxed I switched off and got stuck into the story. Slaughter has a way of writing that's hard to define, the filler details are concise and minimal so you get the background information without having to read loads and the back story is always present in each book so even if someone hasn't read the series they can still engage in the book and throughly enjoy it.Karin Slaughter books are on my to read again pile, the Will Trent series, which is the current running series including The Silent Wife is my favourite. Will Trent is not your usual investigator with his learning difficulties but it makes him loveable and as a reader I love hearing his approach to his work overcoming his difficulties and his relationship with Sara is just awesome. I was sad when Jeffery Tolliver died at the end of the Grant County series and I had no idea why Slaughter had done this. Then Will Trent arrived and it all made sense. But lovely to see Jeffery back in this book, historical events relevant to the current investigation but still lovely to have his character in action, and to see another side to the Lena character and see how poor she was as a police officer in the beginning. I didn't really get the dislike of her, she was more a rough diamond but seeing her unravel as a new officer was an insight.The Silent Wife is another 5 star book and will be a enjoyed by all who read it. A decisive, well written beautifully planned thriller again from Karin Slaughter.I cannot fault her books at all, they epitomise the perfect book for me, they have everything.If you haven't read Karin Slaughter before, start at the beginning with Blindsighted... Best read in order.

It's hard to imagine that it is 20 years since Karin Slaughter introduced us to Dr Sara Linton and (as the author regularly pauses in the writing of her series, to deliver quality standalone stories with other characters) always a delight to meet with 'old friends' despite all they've been through. This time though Slaughter has outdone herself, not only do we get Will, Amanda, Faith, Tessa and others appearing, and cameos from Sara's parents, but Lena Adams is back, Brock the Grant County undertaker/coroner, Jared, Sibyl Adams and Jeffrey.All cleverly told by jumping back to early in the series with flashback chapters that link seamlessly into the current day action, played out over a couple of days following a prison uprising. It took me less than a day and a half to devour this eagerly awaited tale of Will and Sara and that took a lot of discipline, I could have happily stayed up all night and finished it in half the time. There are twists, turns, surprises and a few typical Slaughter like gruesome bits, all adding to the sum total of another great read.I hesitate to say anything that might dampen someone elses enjoyment of the story so will simply say the team(s) are following up on what they discover to be a serial killer. She's tinkered with the timeline, so the twenty years we have spent with the characters is now just eight, but it works (though it likely means Sara is one of the strongest women in fiction, she's been through so much in that time) and hopefully means many more years of Will Trent, Sara Linton and the team. Believeable, readable and a tightly crafted tale that left me (as ever) wanting more. Thank you Karin, look forward to the next twenty years.

I ordered this based on the synopsis but have to wonder if the reviewers actually read it. The first chapter is good then it`s downhill all the way. All the totally unbelievable characters are flawed and miserable. Would the story have worked without all the expletives? well the book would have been half the length! what a lazy way of writing.This comes across as a collections of the authors` horrible imaginings---very little in the way of suspense and far too many loose ends. I wouldn`t recommend this book, it`s one of the worst I`ve read in a long time.

I've read all the book in the Grant/GBI series and I started from THAT book (if you know you know). This book has just the right ingredients: the relationship with Sara and Will, a bit of Faith, Lena, a reminiscing about Jefferey all intertwined with a good old whodunnit plot plus the gory bits. I sort was losing interest with Grant/Atlanta series a bit and maybe because there wasn't much cohesion in the last book and the relationship for of turned whiny than moving it on, I just wanted the characters to TALK to each other. The throwback to Jefferey was excellent and showed Sara from a different perspective and how she's matured since then, along with letting Will in on her life before. I couldn't put it down and when I did I felt a sense of contentment. The author did right by Sara and Will and finally Jeffery. And as much as Lena is a pain in the ass - I'd love to see some Faith/Lena showdowns! Finally, there is a couple of sentence that were sooooo beautiful and right that Karen Slaughter mentions it in her Author's Note. It was the cherry on top. Enjoy.