police procedurals

I really enjoyed Blindsighted, although it's not for the faint of heart. Karin Slaughter's writing style is engaging, characters are believeable and interesting, and the plot is frightening but compelling. I read the whole thing in an afternoon--I couldn't put it down.

Dr. Sara Linton (pediatrician and medical examiner) finds the body of Sibyl Adams in a pretty grotesque way, and she makes several more grisly discoveries during the ever-widening investigation. She's also got a stalker, and her ex-husband happens to be the town's police chief. Sara has to work with Sibyl's angry twin sister, police officer Lena Adams, who's investigating her sister's case and looking for the killer in their midst.

I highly recommend this book and am eagerly anticipating KS's next installment.

It's Monday morning in the sleepy tow of Heartsdale, Georgia, and everything is as normal. That is until Sara Linton - local paediatrician and medical examiner and ex-wife of Chief of Police Jeffery Tolliver - goes to the bathroom of the local diner and finds Sibyl Adams, sister of detective Lena Adams, barely clinging to life. She has been viciously raped, ad a cross has been cut deep in her abdomen. Despite Sara's desperate efforts to bring her back to the land of the living, Sibyl dies, thus becoming the first victim of a serial killer ready to commit ore horrifying crimes than anyone in this genteel little town could ever have dreamed of.

Then, a young student goes missing, and, shortly after, another victim is found, crucified and lying on the bonnet of Sara Linton's car...

This, an excellent portrait of crime in small-town America, is an absolutely first-class debut novel. Taut, suspenseful and shocking throughout, this is a runaway success that puts Karin Slaughter (perfect name!) right on the front line of female thriller writers, alongside Mo Hayder, Cornwell, Reichs, McDermid and the like. "Blindsighted" is bloody well-written, too, and Slaughter has struck an exquisitely perfect balance between plot and character.

The plot is excellent. It's brutal at times, although never gratuitously, shocking, with one or two events completely taking me by stunned surprise, yet also moving and compassionate. The leading trio are a compelling, fully realised bunch, and their relationships with one another (especially Sara and Jeffery) are fascinating.

Slaughter clearly has some fantastic talent and promise within her. "Blindsighted" is reminiscent of Cornwell's own spectacular debut, "Postmortem", and, while not yet quite as good as her, she hopefully has a long, similarly successful and influential career ahead of her.

Like Boston Teran's "God is a Bullet", "Blindsighted" is a debut to die-for.

First, a disclaimer: If you are queazy when it comes to violence, this book may not be for you. There's plenty of violence, but it's not over the top. Rather, it is important to the story.

I picked up Blindsighted and decided to read it based on the description on the inside flap. I had never heard of the author, but I like to try new writers I haven't heard of. The book reeled me in right away. The writing is fast paced and vivid.

Without revealing too much, the plot centers on a series of brutal assaults and murders. Slaughter doesn't shy away from describing the assaults, and the following autopsies are just as graphic. Coroner Sara Linton and her ex-husband, who is the sherrif, work together to solve the mystery of who is the murderer. The chemistry between these two characters is good, but I felt like I wanted to know more about their past. There are a few other central characters that are well developed, but some just breeze through the story without the reader paying them much attention.

I liked Blindsighted a lot. For her first novel, Slaughter writes incredibly well. She is definitely a talent that hopefully will bring us many more novels.