Review: The Silent Wife – Karin Slaughter

Will Trent #10

SYNOPSIS: Atlanta, Georgia. Present day. A young woman is brutally attacked and left for dead. The police investigate but the trail goes cold. Until a chance assignment takes GBI investigator Will Trent to the state penitentiary, and to a prisoner who says he recognizes the MO. The attack looks identical to the one he was accused of eight years earlier. The prisoner’s always insisted that he was innocent, and now he’s sure he has proof. The killer is still out there.

As Will digs into both crimes it becomes clear that he must solve the original case in order to reach the truth. Yet nearly a decade has passed—time for memories to fade, witnesses to vanish, evidence to disappear. And now he needs medical examiner Sara Linton to help him hunt down a ruthless murderer. But when the past and present collide, everything Will values is at stake… – via Goodreads

Okay so I get ridiculously excited when I see Karin Slaughter is releasing a new book. Every time. I have been reading her books for around 12-13 years now, ever since I stumbled upon her first two books that someone was trying to bin. I read anything I could get my hands on, and they were new books from an unknown author in a genre I loved. I did not know what I was about to embark on was an absolute obsession. #noregrets

I was beyond stoked to see that we would be reading about Jeffrey Tolliver again. I am a fan of his, and I adore being able to go back to some original favourites. I love how the past and the present intermingle so effortlessly here. Reading in the present and flipping back to the past also brought up so much pain and suffering. All the angst, the worry, the fear, the heartbreak!

The Silent Wife is an excellent read. The relationships, as always, are nuanced and detailed and so real (I mean, we have been with these characters for over a decade). It’s awesome how Slaughter manages to keep things fresh, even this long on in a series. The book is twisty and genuinely scary at times, and it is so ridiculously exciting from page one.

So we return to Will Trent (also a huge fan) and Sara Linton and their fresh, icky case. Lena Adams makes a return as well, and it reminded me once again what an absolute nuisance that woman was. Ugh, what a character as well! Anyway, reading about the case and the developments hand in hand with the past is a tough one. I mean, I love Sara and Will together, and that she really does try to be so much more with him than she was with Jeffrey, and it did feel like cheating returning to Jeffrey, but man, it all works perfectly. I know, a love story, but really, Slaughter always works the romance in so naturally. What an emotional roller coaster! I NEED MORE!

All in all, The Silent Wife is yet another excellent piece of work from Karin Slaughter. The story is emotional and drags you right along for the ride, and is totally heart-stopping at times. I loved every minute of it and tried to drag the experience on for as long as possible – ask Natasha, I even did two hours of gardening (gardening!) to ensure I didn’t just tear through it super fast). As always, I highly recommend Slaughter’s work – it’s gory, dark, gritty, violent as hell and super intense, carried by very human characters and relationships throughout. Engaging read!