BEYOND REACH by Karin Slaughter
Karin Slaughter is probably one of the most intense writers of mystery thrillers today. She has an uncanny knack of being able to get inside the psyches of her characters and to explain their emotions and motivations with thrilling detail. Never is she better at this than when she is writing about the characters in her "Grant County" series. The latest in this series is BEYOND REACH and it is Karin Slaughter's best book ever!
Once again the focus is on a trio of lead characters. They are Jeffrey Tolliver, the Police Chief of Heartsdale, Georgia; his wife Sara Linton, pediatrician and medical examiner for Heartsdale; and Lena Adams who is Jeffrey's deputy. When the book opens Jeffrey and Sara have just learned that Lena has been arrested and is in a hospital in the small South Georgia town of Reese.
Jeffrey is one of Lena's biggest supporters. He knows her background and all that she has had to overcome. Sara is not quite as supportive. She finds Lena to be rough and rude. Still there is a part of Sara that empathizes with Lena. She knows what it is to have rough times in her own life and this gives her a bond of sorts with Lena.
Once Jeffrey and Lena arrive in Reese things get even more complicated. This is Lena's home town and a place she knows well. She manages to escape from the hospital even though she knows this will cause nothing but pain and problems for Jeffrey and Sara. Lena has been arrested in connection with a brutal murder in Reese. A woman was burned to death and Lena was on the scene of this event when the police found her. She has refused to talk about it and this is making the local police chief, Jake Valentine, angry.
As Jeffrey and Sara get more and more involved in this murder investigation and in life in Reese in general, even more horrific events begin to unfold. As the story races towards its eventual climax Lena is not the only one who is inviting suspicion. Jeffrey and Sara must also act to clear themselves of any doubts in a town where the criminal element is taking control.
This is Slaughter's grittiest story yet. She doesn't just write the words of this book, she carves them into your brain with a razor sharp knife. Each chapter is a further descent into the hellish world of drugs and death. And the twists and turns that are involved in this story are the most evil Slaughter has ever concocted.
For those who have been avid readers of all the Grant County books, this one is a MUST READ. I do not say this lightly. It is a story you have to absorb in order to understand the full impact of all that has come before it. It is a stunning book and it is a sorrowful one. As I said before it is also Karin Slaughter at her very best. That is something you can not afford to miss.
BEYOND REACH is published by Delacourte Press. It contains 404 pages and sells for $25.00.