COVER

The Last Widow by Karin Slaughter

Summary:

It begins with an abduction. The routine of a family shopping trip is shattered when Michelle Spivey is snatched as she leaves the mall with her young daughter. The police search for her, her partner pleads for her release, but in the end…they find nothing. It’s as if she disappeared into thin air.
A month later, on a sleepy Sunday afternoon, medical examiner Sara Linton is at lunch with her boyfriend Will Trent, an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. But the serenity of the summer’s day is broken by the wail of sirens.
Sara and Will are trained to help in an emergency. Their jobs – their vocations – mean that they run towards a crisis, not away from it. But on this one terrible day that instinct betrays them both. Within hours the situation has spiralled out of control; Sara is taken prisoner; Will is forced undercover. And the fallout will lead them into the Appalachian mountains, to the terrible truth about what really happened to Michelle, and to a remote compound where a radical group has murder in mind…

Author

My Review:

Shock! I have only just discovered the international bestselling author Karin Slaughter. I cannot believe this either. But I am so pleased I have. I am new to the Will Trent series but this did not deter me and can be read as a standalone novel.

This is a terrifying thriller and you will need to prepare yourself for some parts of the storyline as it contains some scenes which will make you angry. Do not let this deter you from reading as the tension is heart-stopping with some brilliant characters written into the plot and there is no let-up in the action as the story begins when a family head off to a shopping mall. As Michelle Spivey leaves the mall with her young daughter it is Michelle who is kidnapped. But who has taken her and why? Despite everything there is no sign of Michelle.

If this is not scary enough then the story really ignites as Will Trent and Sara Linton are enjoying what was going to be a relaxing lunch, but sound of explosions means their lunch will go cold but the action now really hots up as they speed to help and find a car accident and they stop to help. Home-grown terrorists have attacked Georgia leaving many dead and wounded.

These are bad guys and Sara is taken. Will is hurt but one of the bad guys is taken prisoner. Now the situation is rapidly getting out of control and there are some difficult moments in this story. Will is lost and hurt at prospect of allowing Sara to be taken by the gang members. This is Will at his most vulnerable but he must regain control to have any attempt of finding Sara alive as he now goes undercover and finds these murderous white young men are planning something more horrific and terrifying.

What they find is utterly shocking as there is an ultra-right wing group with one thing on their mind. Murder! This group of young white supremacists with an agenda and they will not be stopped. Something we are hearing a lot of in the sad times for real.

As much as some of the scenes are shocking I believe you can move quickly to avoid any upset to the reader. The characters of Will and Sara are strong and they both bring so much to this rollercoaster of a story.

Nothing is left to chance in this pulsating read as fans of Karin Slaughter will know from her previous novels. The author has researched well for the plot line and the superb characters she brings to her novels as well as emotions that are at times plainly raw.

The start may seem slow but persevere as this story just comes to life quickly and there is so much going one that you wonder how it will all end. A brilliant if at times disturbing read but we are living in troubled times. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

464 Pages.

Thank you to Rebecca Bryant (Harper Collins) for the review copy of The Last Widow by Karin Slaughter

The Last Widow by Karin Slaughter was published by Harper Collins and was published on 13^th June 2019 and is available through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop.