Review: Snatched – Karin Slaughter

Will Trent / Atlanta #3

Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agent Will Trent is in the dog box with his boss, Amanda Wagner. He is on duty in the airport toilets to arrest men who are looking for a little illegal fun. Instead, while on the job, a man comes in with a young girl who does not seem to want to be anywhere near him. Will’s instincts kick into overdrive, and he is immediately suspicious. However, with no cause, there is really nothing that he can do. Following the man out of the airport bathroom, he follows him, and the girl remains so fragile looking and afraid.

Upon the decision to take action, Will loses the man and the little girl, and comes to when he sees the man in a whole new outfit, though without the child. Panic stricken, Will calls in all sorts of favours, and almost instantaneously Amanda Wagner and his partner, Faith Mitchell, rush to his aid. Time is running out and there is no news on the little girl, and their suspect refuses to say anything. What will they do to find the little girl? The knowledge that the child has been trafficked is there, yet there is no proof. Their suspect is incredibly egotistical, cocky and arrogant, sure that he cannot be caught, and sure that he will not talk.

The team that has been assembled in the airport and with all the different jurisdictions that come into play are all working together tirelessly to find a small child who seems to have been spirited away. Will they recover the girl? Will they discover the identity of their client and be able to crack him?

It was by no stretch a weak story, and it was not too long or too short for a short story. It conveys what it needs to, and it is concise. No long, on-going ramblings and all that, though there is also no real character growth or revelation, but it is a nice “filler” to read, so to speak. Will remains a wonderful character, Amanda Wagner ever the short and snappy woman in power. Faith’s role is very minimal in here, though I expected a slight bit more. Not a bad way to tie a short story in to a whole array of novels, though Karin Slaughter is most definitely more mind-blowing in a more lengthy novel where she gets to take you through the glory that is the world she built and the wealth of characters she has, and the emotions that she attaches to them.