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Reader Reviews | |
Review
by Chrissi (010902) Rating (9/10) Review
by Chrissi I picked it up and only a few pages in was assaulted by one of the most intense literary scenes that I had read in quite a while - I know that I would be picking it up and finishing it at the earliest opportunity. The story is set in the small town of Heartsdale, Georgia, a place that is not large enough to support a full time medical examiner, and so purchases the services of Sara Linton, a paediatrician at the local hospital. Sara has returned to her hometown to take this job in spite of the fact that her ex-husband, Jeffrey Tolliver, is the town Police Chief. The working relationship between them is tense to say the least. The horror starts when Sara finds a young woman bleeding to death in the toilets of the diner where she is meeting her sister. Sara tries her hardest but is unable to save her. At the autopsy, Sara finds that the attack was not just the knife wound, and the findings become even stranger. You may think me a bit sick for saying this, but this was an excellent story. The gore is real enough to be interesting, and it kept me guessing right up until the end, well, almost, I had a pretty good idea who it was before the end, after a couple of false starts. If
you read this, beware, it will probably disgust you, even a hardened
stomach like mine churned at the thought of the pliers, but do
not let that put you off, it is a truly excellent debut, and I
look forward to seeing whether the next will be as good. Review
by Nigel The story is nicely paced without the need for a body fest, with the characters private lives mixing well with the main plot. There is a quote on the cover of the novel: 'Don't read this alone. Don't read this after dark. But do read it.' That is quite apt. The descriptions of the victim's ordeals, from the medical examiners point of view when establishing what has occurred, as well as from the victim's, are very graphic. I'm not sure if the modern reader has become numb to descriptions of violence and so publishers/authors feel a need for escalation, but I personally found some of the detail a little too gross. However, if you like your thrillers vivid, no holds barred and blood red then you can't go wrong with this. This
is as good as anything I have read by Jeffery Deaver or Dean Koontz
and I for one will be putting Karin Slaughter on my list of authors
whose books I buy as soon as they are published... a great debut
novel. |
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