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Grant County #2
Kisscut
Saturday night dates at the skating rink have been a tradition in the small southern town of Heartsdale for as long as anyone can remember, but when a teenage quarrel explodes into a deadly shoot-out, Sara Linton--the town's pediatrician and medical examiner--finds herself entangled in a terrible tragedy.
What seemed at first to be a horrific but individual catastrophe proves to have wider implications. The autopsy reveals evidence of long-term abuse, of ritualistic self -mutilation, but when Sara and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver start to investigate, they are frustrated at every turn.
The children surrounding the victim close ranks. The families turn their backs. Then a young girl is abducted, and it becomes clear that the first death is linked to an even more brutal crime, one far more shocking than anyone could have imagined. Meanwhile, detective Lena Adams, still recovering from her sister's death and her own brutal attack, finds herself drawn to a young man who might hold the answers. But unless Lena, Sara, and Jeffrey can uncover the deadly secrets the children hide, it's going to happen again . . .
What seemed at first to be a horrific but individual catastrophe proves to have wider implications. The autopsy reveals evidence of long-term abuse, of ritualistic self -mutilation, but when Sara and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver start to investigate, they are frustrated at every turn.
The children surrounding the victim close ranks. The families turn their backs. Then a young girl is abducted, and it becomes clear that the first death is linked to an even more brutal crime, one far more shocking than anyone could have imagined. Meanwhile, detective Lena Adams, still recovering from her sister's death and her own brutal attack, finds herself drawn to a young man who might hold the answers. But unless Lena, Sara, and Jeffrey can uncover the deadly secrets the children hide, it's going to happen again . . .
436 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
Karin Slaughter
127 books73.8k followersKarin Slaughter is the author of more than twenty instant NEW YORK TIMES bestselling novels, including the Edgar–nominated COP TOWN and standalone novels THE GOOD DAUGHTER, PRETTY GIRLS, and GIRL, FORGOTTEN. She is published in 120 countries with more than 40 million copies sold across the globe. PIECES OF HER is a #1 Netflix original series starring Toni Collette. The Will Trent Series is on ABC (and streaming on Hulu in the U.S and Disney+ internationally). THE GOOD DAUGHTER and FALSE WITNESS are in development for film/tv. Slaughter is the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programming. A native of Georgia, she lives in Atlanta.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,051 reviews
October 8, 2019
Dark and Disturbing
Since I am so behind on this series, I will only be writing mini-reviews until I am caught up. Kisscut is book two in the Grant County series. The plot is even more gruesome and disturbing than book one. There are allusions to pedophilia, female castration, and sexual abuse. Needless to say, it was beyond difficult to read. However, Sarah, Jeffrey, and Lena’s characters helped me make it through. I didn’t love this book as much as book one, but I still enjoyed.
My bingefest of Grant County continues!
Since I am so behind on this series, I will only be writing mini-reviews until I am caught up. Kisscut is book two in the Grant County series. The plot is even more gruesome and disturbing than book one. There are allusions to pedophilia, female castration, and sexual abuse. Needless to say, it was beyond difficult to read. However, Sarah, Jeffrey, and Lena’s characters helped me make it through. I didn’t love this book as much as book one, but I still enjoyed.
My bingefest of Grant County continues!
August 17, 2019
“We believe what we want to believe, don’t we?”
Karin Slaughter's propensity for pushing boundaries—and extensive backlist to prove it—set her apart from the pack. Whether it's her latest and greatest release or in this case, her sophomore career and Grant County offering (first published in September 2003!), she's unafraid of making readers squirm. There's a calculated method to her madness though, not just a series of antics put together on a page for the sake of a few gasps. Slaughter's brand of crime—rife with blood and guts, plot twists, and a full spectrum of emotions—ensures a fully immersive experience for the reader. Her storytelling is crime fiction at its very BEST.
Kisscut finds exes, Jeffrey and Sara, toying with their lingering feelings and what it could mean relationship-wise. Until a confrontation between teenagers at the local skate rink halts their date night plans and puts their will-they/won’t-they musings on pause. As police chief, Jeffrey is forced to take extreme action, even though it breaks him to his core. Sara, working alongside Jeffrey as the town medical examiner and pediatrician, attempts to help answer the many questions the heart-wrenching case begs.
Without a doubt, Kisscut will prove to be a difficult read for most and probably not for the reasons you might assume. Slaughter’s modus operandi is first and foremost blood and guts, but not so much this time. It’s the criminal case involving kids that delivers the gut-punch. It would take a pretty heartless person to make it through the egregious acts of abuse depicted within these pages unscathed. Chances are, there are things you’ll wish you could unsee or scrub from your mind. With that said, I wholeheartedly appreciate Slaughter’s approach to the topic, her willingness to take a risk and the raw emotions the case ultimately evokes from this stunning cast.
Satisfying a craving for a police procedural is what might lead you to pick up a Grant County novel initially, but there’s a high probability the characters at the heart of this series will find you clamoring for more. Slaughter’s ability to humanize her characters is what makes this series so noteworthy. The constant buzz of emotion swirling around Jeffrey and Sara’s attempt at a second-go was enough to steal my heart and keep me coming back time and again.
And, just in case you were wondering my opinion on the matter, I’d say it’s crucial to read the Grant County series in order. Not only because I’m a stickler for such things or even a tad obsessed, but because the books were not written as standalone novels. Meaning, you’ll not only miss out on the character arcs over the six installments, but spoilers are inevitable if you skip around. Also, another thing to keep in mind, the Will Trent series is a spin-off of Grant County, so some of the characters transition over. Starting with the Will Trent books guarantees HUGE spoilers here. I get it, believe me, 14 books (combined total) is quite the commitment. If you enjoy Slaughter's storytelling though, the journey will prove worthwhile. Trust me. That sentiment coming from a reader who's made several revisits to Grant County over the years.
*Thanks to the queen of crime for giving me a place worthy of revisiting. A setting I can appreciate even more now that I call Georgia home. #slaughtersquad
Karin Slaughter's propensity for pushing boundaries—and extensive backlist to prove it—set her apart from the pack. Whether it's her latest and greatest release or in this case, her sophomore career and Grant County offering (first published in September 2003!), she's unafraid of making readers squirm. There's a calculated method to her madness though, not just a series of antics put together on a page for the sake of a few gasps. Slaughter's brand of crime—rife with blood and guts, plot twists, and a full spectrum of emotions—ensures a fully immersive experience for the reader. Her storytelling is crime fiction at its very BEST.
Kisscut finds exes, Jeffrey and Sara, toying with their lingering feelings and what it could mean relationship-wise. Until a confrontation between teenagers at the local skate rink halts their date night plans and puts their will-they/won’t-they musings on pause. As police chief, Jeffrey is forced to take extreme action, even though it breaks him to his core. Sara, working alongside Jeffrey as the town medical examiner and pediatrician, attempts to help answer the many questions the heart-wrenching case begs.
Without a doubt, Kisscut will prove to be a difficult read for most and probably not for the reasons you might assume. Slaughter’s modus operandi is first and foremost blood and guts, but not so much this time. It’s the criminal case involving kids that delivers the gut-punch. It would take a pretty heartless person to make it through the egregious acts of abuse depicted within these pages unscathed. Chances are, there are things you’ll wish you could unsee or scrub from your mind. With that said, I wholeheartedly appreciate Slaughter’s approach to the topic, her willingness to take a risk and the raw emotions the case ultimately evokes from this stunning cast.
Satisfying a craving for a police procedural is what might lead you to pick up a Grant County novel initially, but there’s a high probability the characters at the heart of this series will find you clamoring for more. Slaughter’s ability to humanize her characters is what makes this series so noteworthy. The constant buzz of emotion swirling around Jeffrey and Sara’s attempt at a second-go was enough to steal my heart and keep me coming back time and again.
And, just in case you were wondering my opinion on the matter, I’d say it’s crucial to read the Grant County series in order. Not only because I’m a stickler for such things or even a tad obsessed, but because the books were not written as standalone novels. Meaning, you’ll not only miss out on the character arcs over the six installments, but spoilers are inevitable if you skip around. Also, another thing to keep in mind, the Will Trent series is a spin-off of Grant County, so some of the characters transition over. Starting with the Will Trent books guarantees HUGE spoilers here. I get it, believe me, 14 books (combined total) is quite the commitment. If you enjoy Slaughter's storytelling though, the journey will prove worthwhile. Trust me. That sentiment coming from a reader who's made several revisits to Grant County over the years.
*Thanks to the queen of crime for giving me a place worthy of revisiting. A setting I can appreciate even more now that I call Georgia home. #slaughtersquad
October 8, 2017
This is a two part review. The first part is my review in words, the second part is my review in gifs. I know not everyone likes gifs in reviews, and this part is for you. But, if you like a tale told through gifs, check out part two!
Part One
This was a my second Karin Slaughter book and the second in the Grant County series. I will say that Slaughter does compose an enthralling story that kept me interested throughout. However, she is all about shock value. If you like crime thrillers and don't mind uncomfortable content, then this book is for you!
Each page seemed to be trying to out do the page before it when it came to shocking grossness. If you have issues reading about rape, incest, genital mutilation, pedophilia, child abuse, and/or suicide then steer clear of this book! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Part Two
When I started this book:
Then I was like:
Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, I was all like:
And
Then the bomb dropped!
Then, as the book ended:
Part One
This was a my second Karin Slaughter book and the second in the Grant County series. I will say that Slaughter does compose an enthralling story that kept me interested throughout. However, she is all about shock value. If you like crime thrillers and don't mind uncomfortable content, then this book is for you!
Each page seemed to be trying to out do the page before it when it came to shocking grossness. If you have issues reading about rape, incest, genital mutilation, pedophilia, child abuse, and/or suicide then steer clear of this book! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Part Two
When I started this book:
Then I was like:
Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, I was all like:
And
Then the bomb dropped!
Then, as the book ended:
March 21, 2016
Kisscut is not for the fainthearted, graphic repulsive subject matter, very horrifying scenes of intense evil, and layer upon layer of deception. Be warned!!
Kisscut is the second book in the Grant County Series. The book opens explosively. Jenny, a high school student, confronts a teenage boy outside a roller skating rink, threatening him with a gun. Sara witnesses the event and Jeffrey is on the scene shortly after it starts
and is forced to do the unthinkable.
The confrontation sets into motion a complex investigation of a group of teens in Grant County. As Jeffrey follows leads connecting the
criminals together, he is amazed at what he learns. Kisscut takes a look at a brutal and dark side of modern society.
I just loved this book. Slaughter continues her gritty edgy style!
Kisscut is the second book in the Grant County Series. The book opens explosively. Jenny, a high school student, confronts a teenage boy outside a roller skating rink, threatening him with a gun. Sara witnesses the event and Jeffrey is on the scene shortly after it starts
and is forced to do the unthinkable.
The confrontation sets into motion a complex investigation of a group of teens in Grant County. As Jeffrey follows leads connecting the
criminals together, he is amazed at what he learns. Kisscut takes a look at a brutal and dark side of modern society.
I just loved this book. Slaughter continues her gritty edgy style!
February 25, 2015
The story begins at a skating rink where a young girl pulls a gun on another teen and a standoff involving the police ensues. It sets off a chain of events that goes into a direction I didn't expect.
It's an awful, uncomfortable story that Slaughter tells masterfully. My emotions were all over the place, especially where Lena is concerned. By the end, I couldn't believe my feelings of sympathy for her, an amazing feat. Her soliloquy near the end was extraordinary. There were a number of themes resonating strongly, most loudly was the fragility of children's faith in the adults entrusted with their care.
The narration by Clarinda Ross was a bit uneven, at times wonderful and at others, it felt like she was just reading.
While the subject matter is tough, its honest and realistic presentment was compelling. I'm pulling for Lena but I know she's going to disappoint me 100 times throughout this series. And that's impressive storytelling.
It's an awful, uncomfortable story that Slaughter tells masterfully. My emotions were all over the place, especially where Lena is concerned. By the end, I couldn't believe my feelings of sympathy for her, an amazing feat. Her soliloquy near the end was extraordinary. There were a number of themes resonating strongly, most loudly was the fragility of children's faith in the adults entrusted with their care.
The narration by Clarinda Ross was a bit uneven, at times wonderful and at others, it felt like she was just reading.
While the subject matter is tough, its honest and realistic presentment was compelling. I'm pulling for Lena but I know she's going to disappoint me 100 times throughout this series. And that's impressive storytelling.
April 23, 2021
4 stars for my first Karin Slaughter book!
I’ve heard that Karin Slaughter is an author like no other. I was warned that she is edgy and not afraid to tackle highly disturbing, gruesome and uncomfortable subject matter. This book really proved that!
This was an extremely shocking, fast paced, suspenseful and addictive story with unique and memorable characters whom I was fully invested in. I felt extremely uncomfortable reading much of the stomach churning subject matter yet I couldn’t put it down. The author tackles these horrific topics with enough explanation for the reader to understand the full picture but without having to lay it all out for the reader (which I appreciated). It was an extremely upsetting storyline that will stay with me a long time.
This is book 2 in a series but can be read as a standalone. I am going back and reading book 1 as I want to get the full insight into these terrific characters and I plan to continue on with this series.
Overall, this book was a very tough read but left a great impression on me as far as the power of this authors writing. I look forward to reading more from this author!
Trigger warnings: child abuse, sexual abuse.
Thank you to my lovely local library for the loan of this book!
I’ve heard that Karin Slaughter is an author like no other. I was warned that she is edgy and not afraid to tackle highly disturbing, gruesome and uncomfortable subject matter. This book really proved that!
This was an extremely shocking, fast paced, suspenseful and addictive story with unique and memorable characters whom I was fully invested in. I felt extremely uncomfortable reading much of the stomach churning subject matter yet I couldn’t put it down. The author tackles these horrific topics with enough explanation for the reader to understand the full picture but without having to lay it all out for the reader (which I appreciated). It was an extremely upsetting storyline that will stay with me a long time.
This is book 2 in a series but can be read as a standalone. I am going back and reading book 1 as I want to get the full insight into these terrific characters and I plan to continue on with this series.
Overall, this book was a very tough read but left a great impression on me as far as the power of this authors writing. I look forward to reading more from this author!
Trigger warnings: child abuse, sexual abuse.
Thank you to my lovely local library for the loan of this book!
August 24, 2021
Yes. Yes, I do happen to have Grant County #3 sitting on my shelves.
October 18, 2020
5 STARS
Update: This is one of my very first reviews on Goodreads. I love me some Karin Slaughter, even though I haven't read her in a while, and I may or may not have some kind of crush on her dark, twisted mind. I look back fondly on this one because I was trying so hard to be like the good reviewers on GR - and it never even dawned on me that I said nothing about the actual story.
Since then I've realized that if I stick to what I'm good at,I'd sleep all day, I can make the occasional person laugh, which brings me joy as well. But I'm keeping this review exactly the way it was, if you ignore this part.
It is a very rare and precious thing when you read a story that makes enough impact to change you as a person.
This book did it for me.
It was the surname “Slaughter” that caught my attention in the bookshop. As a young man, I firmly believed that women could not write a thriller as well as a man. My (limited) experience with female authors in this genre, up to then, were stories that were not very violent or shocking, and left me feeling that they were more focused on a love story for the main character, and the thriller part was nothing but fluff.
That day, however, I picked up the book and read the blurb, which was interesting enough to make me take a chance.
When I finished the book, less than three days later, my first thought was – that was one of the sickest things I’ve ever read. I loved it!!
Today, I can say that Karin Slaughter is my favorite thriller writer and I have read most of what she has published. I can also say that there are a few other female thriller authors whose books I love and read regularly.
I think this book changed me for the better.
Update: This is one of my very first reviews on Goodreads. I love me some Karin Slaughter, even though I haven't read her in a while, and I may or may not have some kind of crush on her dark, twisted mind. I look back fondly on this one because I was trying so hard to be like the good reviewers on GR - and it never even dawned on me that I said nothing about the actual story.
Since then I've realized that if I stick to what I'm good at,
It is a very rare and precious thing when you read a story that makes enough impact to change you as a person.
This book did it for me.
It was the surname “Slaughter” that caught my attention in the bookshop. As a young man, I firmly believed that women could not write a thriller as well as a man. My (limited) experience with female authors in this genre, up to then, were stories that were not very violent or shocking, and left me feeling that they were more focused on a love story for the main character, and the thriller part was nothing but fluff.
That day, however, I picked up the book and read the blurb, which was interesting enough to make me take a chance.
When I finished the book, less than three days later, my first thought was – that was one of the sickest things I’ve ever read. I loved it!!
Today, I can say that Karin Slaughter is my favorite thriller writer and I have read most of what she has published. I can also say that there are a few other female thriller authors whose books I love and read regularly.
I think this book changed me for the better.
September 20, 2018
Second in the Grant County series, Kisscut kept me up over my weekend until I finished it, that is typical Karen Slaughter. She delivers on everything, great characters, intriguing mystery, and plenty of creepy criminals. This time it's pedophile pornographers outed because one poor kid was pushed too far. I pretty much figured out one of the monsters before his reveal, but there were at least 3 things that shocked and surprised me along the way.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2022
I think by now it is well established that Karin Slaughter is the queen of what she does. I am ripping through this series at an alarming rate on audio. I just flipped to a chick lit book, it’s taken some adjustment, that’s for sure!
This small county is being ripped apart by some heinous abuse, the extent of which is shocking to Sara, the town’s paediatrician and medical examiner, and her ex, Jeffrey, the police chief. They do begin to work together, and their blossoming of their reconnecting relationship is in very early days, but it is clear this will be going somewhere. The chemistry is strong as is their working relationship.
Kisscut picks up 4 months after the first in the series in an explosive opening scene in the town’s skating rink, a young girl pointing a gun at another boy. This ends in tragedy, but the worst is yet to come. The story contains the type of child sexual abuse I haven't experienced before, Sara and Jeffrey, and particularly Lena, grapple with the consequences and fight even harder to weed out the evil in their small town. Lena gets particularly enmeshed with this. While I assumed part of this evil, not all was apparent to me. It was very well done.
Very heavy matter in this book will not be for everyone, but as is her quality of writing it is handled well, although very hard to read.
Lena, the only detective in Grant County plays an integral role as we see the parallels to her awful experience in book one, and her fractured relationship with her uncle. Lena begins to thaw out, and I am excited to see what is next for her.
Sara’s family are great characters also, and as all good series that I love, the characters play an integral part of my complete absorption in series that I really enjoy.
I am very late to the Slaughter party, and what an apt name she has. Can’t wait for the next, and to see how Will Trent fits into all of this. Recommended but brutal.
This small county is being ripped apart by some heinous abuse, the extent of which is shocking to Sara, the town’s paediatrician and medical examiner, and her ex, Jeffrey, the police chief. They do begin to work together, and their blossoming of their reconnecting relationship is in very early days, but it is clear this will be going somewhere. The chemistry is strong as is their working relationship.
Kisscut picks up 4 months after the first in the series in an explosive opening scene in the town’s skating rink, a young girl pointing a gun at another boy. This ends in tragedy, but the worst is yet to come. The story contains the type of child sexual abuse I haven't experienced before, Sara and Jeffrey, and particularly Lena, grapple with the consequences and fight even harder to weed out the evil in their small town. Lena gets particularly enmeshed with this. While I assumed part of this evil, not all was apparent to me. It was very well done.
Very heavy matter in this book will not be for everyone, but as is her quality of writing it is handled well, although very hard to read.
Lena, the only detective in Grant County plays an integral role as we see the parallels to her awful experience in book one, and her fractured relationship with her uncle. Lena begins to thaw out, and I am excited to see what is next for her.
Sara’s family are great characters also, and as all good series that I love, the characters play an integral part of my complete absorption in series that I really enjoy.
I am very late to the Slaughter party, and what an apt name she has. Can’t wait for the next, and to see how Will Trent fits into all of this. Recommended but brutal.
February 11, 2020
Very very tough read. I think this is the most horrific storyline I've read from Karin Slaughter and that is really saying something. I thought the other reviews were exaggerated but they weren't. Just when I thought the storyline couldn't be worse it got so much worse. I think I even had bad dreams....
Caution: Lots of pedophilia, Lots of rape, more pedophilia, attempted suicide (also more than once), female genital mutilation and more pedophilia, and incest.
Caution: Lots of pedophilia, Lots of rape, more pedophilia, attempted suicide (also more than once), female genital mutilation and more pedophilia, and incest.
November 9, 2017
I have a feeling that Slaughter is just getting warmed up with this series. I continue to root for Sara and Jeffery as they work towards solving yet more horrific murders.
This book begins in a skating rink and ends with a shooting that will haunt Jeffrey the entire book. Teenagers in a quarrel or is this a much bigger problem. In true Slaughter fashion, this is the beginning of a very HUGE problem that will get much worse before it gets better.
Yet again Sara is at the heart of the issue. Once again this series begins with Sara being on the scene and heavily involved in the case as a pediatrician and a coroner. I like Sara, I really like this character. She is smart, strong, and savy.
While performing an autopsy, Sara uncovers severe abuse and female mutilation. A young girl is kidnapped and even more brutal crimes are discovered. Jeffrey and his officers are off to save the case. Jeffrey I also like a lot even though he has hurt Sara, it is evident he loves her. I like their story and how they work together (and argue together) to solve the case. Lena, Lena, Lena, sometimes I like her sometimes I want to take her and shake her.
Another gritty mystery by Slaughter.
See more of my reviews at www.openbookpost.com
This book begins in a skating rink and ends with a shooting that will haunt Jeffrey the entire book. Teenagers in a quarrel or is this a much bigger problem. In true Slaughter fashion, this is the beginning of a very HUGE problem that will get much worse before it gets better.
Yet again Sara is at the heart of the issue. Once again this series begins with Sara being on the scene and heavily involved in the case as a pediatrician and a coroner. I like Sara, I really like this character. She is smart, strong, and savy.
While performing an autopsy, Sara uncovers severe abuse and female mutilation. A young girl is kidnapped and even more brutal crimes are discovered. Jeffrey and his officers are off to save the case. Jeffrey I also like a lot even though he has hurt Sara, it is evident he loves her. I like their story and how they work together (and argue together) to solve the case. Lena, Lena, Lena, sometimes I like her sometimes I want to take her and shake her.
Another gritty mystery by Slaughter.
See more of my reviews at www.openbookpost.com
February 12, 2023
Pediatrician Sara Linton was at the skating rink with her sister Tessa when the unthinkable happened. A teenage girl stumbled from the rest rooms with blood on her clothing and when Sara followed her outside, she was in the middle of a group of hostile boys. Chief Jeffrey Tolliver was also trying to diffuse the situation but when two more police officers arrived - Lena and Brad - the shootout that followed saw one teenager dead, the one who'd passed Sara inside. When Sara - in her other job as ME - saw what had been done to her victim, she was shocked and horrified. And so began a case of incidents that Jeffrey couldn't believe had been happening in his home town...
Kisscut is the 2nd in the Grant County series by Karin Slaughter and it was brutal! The pacing was fast, the writing good, but the content was sickening. There was a lot going on with Lena again, and the involvement of other jurisdictions satisfying. I'm looking forward to #3 next month. Recommended - but...
Trigger warning: Child abuse, pedophilia..
Kisscut is the 2nd in the Grant County series by Karin Slaughter and it was brutal! The pacing was fast, the writing good, but the content was sickening. There was a lot going on with Lena again, and the involvement of other jurisdictions satisfying. I'm looking forward to #3 next month. Recommended - but...
Trigger warning: Child abuse, pedophilia..
March 9, 2022
"How could this happen?"
This one was more disturbing than the previous one.
We have Sara and Jeffrey ... divorced ... but sort of "in a relationship". I don't get them.
Lena is another enigma. Do I like her? Not really. What happened to her was dreadful.
Three stars really doesn't have me running to start the next book but I will. I want to read Sara's story before I meet her in the Will Trent novels by the same author.
The moon was high above the trees, and a breeze was coming in off the lake.
December 6, 2019
"Een mix van verschillende soorten verhaallijnen die door elkaar heen lopen, zorgen voor een aangename afwisseling"
https://elinevandm.wordpress.com/2019...
https://elinevandm.wordpress.com/2019...
June 29, 2018
Note: The crimes involved in Kisscut are perpetrated against children. It's not my intention to spoil the plot in any way but I know some readers have hard limits and it's best you are aware up front.
Kisscut is the second installment in Karin Slaughter's thriller series titled: Grant County. In my opinion, it's just as good as her epic debut, but I had to take off a star based on personal enjoyment. Don't misunderstand, this book is still stellar, but it was damned hard to read. The subject matter is dark and graphic, and my God, I can't even begin to imagine how Slaughter coped while this story took shape in her head. The crimes and the manipulation that goes along with them are horrific, the perpetrators are plentiful, and the insight into how a sexual predator may rationalize his/her actions put it all over the edge.
In my opinion, Kisscut serves the admirable purpose of bringing awareness to cycles of abuse, how victimization can alter vulnerable young minds in terms of how healthy relationships are viewed/processed, and how a perpetrator can indeed be someone other than "the dirty old man" across the street.
Thoroughly engaging, heartbreaking, palpable even when you don't want to feel it, and with characters that may conflict you down to your very core. A 5-star written story, but a 4-star reading experience for me personally. It was intense but well-worth the read if you enjoy thrillers without the need for trigger warnings.
My favorite quote:
"Adam never thought to eat of the forbidden fruit until Eve tempted him." "Seems to me Adam's snake had something to do with that."
The Grant County series consists of the following installments as of June 2018. Based on my experience with books #1 and #2, the stationary characters in this series have an ongoing storyline that may be enjoyed best by reading in order.
#1-Blindsighted
#2-Kisscut
#3-A Faint Cold Fear
#4-Indelible
#5-Faithless
#6-Beyond Reach
Kisscut is the second installment in Karin Slaughter's thriller series titled: Grant County. In my opinion, it's just as good as her epic debut, but I had to take off a star based on personal enjoyment. Don't misunderstand, this book is still stellar, but it was damned hard to read. The subject matter is dark and graphic, and my God, I can't even begin to imagine how Slaughter coped while this story took shape in her head. The crimes and the manipulation that goes along with them are horrific, the perpetrators are plentiful, and the insight into how a sexual predator may rationalize his/her actions put it all over the edge.
In my opinion, Kisscut serves the admirable purpose of bringing awareness to cycles of abuse, how victimization can alter vulnerable young minds in terms of how healthy relationships are viewed/processed, and how a perpetrator can indeed be someone other than "the dirty old man" across the street.
Thoroughly engaging, heartbreaking, palpable even when you don't want to feel it, and with characters that may conflict you down to your very core. A 5-star written story, but a 4-star reading experience for me personally. It was intense but well-worth the read if you enjoy thrillers without the need for trigger warnings.
My favorite quote:
"Adam never thought to eat of the forbidden fruit until Eve tempted him." "Seems to me Adam's snake had something to do with that."
The Grant County series consists of the following installments as of June 2018. Based on my experience with books #1 and #2, the stationary characters in this series have an ongoing storyline that may be enjoyed best by reading in order.
#1-Blindsighted
#2-Kisscut
#3-A Faint Cold Fear
#4-Indelible
#5-Faithless
#6-Beyond Reach
January 14, 2014
I'm a little torn about this book..overall I liked the story but if I linger a little more on its parts there are a lot of things that didn't convince me.
One of the biggest problems, I'm sad to say, is the main characters: Sara, Jeffrey and Lena. They're not very likeable and it's very difficult for me to sympathize with them and theirs problems; also theirs attitude are often quite erratic which doesn't facilitate any understanding between them and the reader (or me in this case). Jeffrey, for example, in the same day describe Sara pretty much as a an ugly and sloppy woman since she put on a comfy dress for work (he couldn't get it up the night before and it was obviously Sara's fault with hers 'hairy legs'..) and as a wonderful and 'oh so beautiful one' in the evening since she put on a sexy dress for him!
Even overlooking my slight dislike for the main characters, I had also some problems with the storyline.
Obviously the subject it's not an easy one and the author's brutal writing style doesn't help...still this is not what I'm complaining about.
I criticize instead the author's strategy to arise, at the beginning of the story, some very heavy questions that in the end are not going to be answered in a satisfying way. It seems indeed a strategy to capture the reader's attention from the very first chapter and there wouldn't be anything wrong about it if the author was prepared to handle these elements giving a satisfactory explanation of these facts at the end of the book...unfortunately this wasn't the case and, in the end, I was a little disappointed with the solution offered.
One of the biggest problems, I'm sad to say, is the main characters: Sara, Jeffrey and Lena. They're not very likeable and it's very difficult for me to sympathize with them and theirs problems; also theirs attitude are often quite erratic which doesn't facilitate any understanding between them and the reader (or me in this case). Jeffrey, for example, in the same day describe Sara pretty much as a an ugly and sloppy woman since she put on a comfy dress for work (he couldn't get it up the night before and it was obviously Sara's fault with hers 'hairy legs'..) and as a wonderful and 'oh so beautiful one' in the evening since she put on a sexy dress for him!
Even overlooking my slight dislike for the main characters, I had also some problems with the storyline.
Obviously the subject it's not an easy one and the author's brutal writing style doesn't help...still this is not what I'm complaining about.
I criticize instead the author's strategy to arise, at the beginning of the story, some very heavy questions that in the end are not going to be answered in a satisfying way. It seems indeed a strategy to capture the reader's attention from the very first chapter and there wouldn't be anything wrong about it if the author was prepared to handle these elements giving a satisfactory explanation of these facts at the end of the book...unfortunately this wasn't the case and, in the end, I was a little disappointed with the solution offered.
November 19, 2011
Well what can I say about this book. I really enjoyed it but it made me sick to my stomach. Now let me explain, the subject matter of this book was painful and at time sickening to read. Most of this dealt with violence towards children and I couldn't really handle it much before, and now that I am a father it is even harder to read and know that people like this really do exist. I have also thought that I had read and seen some of the most grisly crime scenes ever, but the one at the beginning of this book was hard to deal with as well.
Now with all of this said I must give Karin Slaughter credit for writing so well, and having wonderful characters that kept me turning page after page. As tough as the subject matter was I kept reading to find out the next clue as to who was the mastermind behind it all. And when I thought I finally had it figured out it seemed to be so much bigger and more people were involved.
This was suspenseful, thrilling and at the same time, made me want to shower when I had to admit to myself that I really enjoyed this book. It is not for the faint of heart and I don't think I will ever be rereading this, but that characters in the series and the suspense kept me picking this up and pushing to the end.
Now with all of this said I must give Karin Slaughter credit for writing so well, and having wonderful characters that kept me turning page after page. As tough as the subject matter was I kept reading to find out the next clue as to who was the mastermind behind it all. And when I thought I finally had it figured out it seemed to be so much bigger and more people were involved.
This was suspenseful, thrilling and at the same time, made me want to shower when I had to admit to myself that I really enjoyed this book. It is not for the faint of heart and I don't think I will ever be rereading this, but that characters in the series and the suspense kept me picking this up and pushing to the end.
June 7, 2017
Disturbing subject matter & abrupt ending made for a disappointing read compared to Blindsighted.
October 20, 2019
3.75 Stars
Grant County: Turns out it’s not the sweet and innocent little place that everyone thought it was.
Abuse, Assault, Child Pornography, Kidnapping.
Chief Jeffrey Tolliver and County Coroner and Town Pediatrician, Sara Linton had no idea that their little town had so many secrets. Not until a date at the skating rink turned deadly for a teenaged patient of Sara’s.
What they find upon investigating makes heads spin.
One crazy thrilling, gruesome mystery for thriller fans of Karin Slaughter. If you love Jeffery Tolliver (and Sara Linton, lol), you’ll love this.
Thank you to Hoopla for the audiobook.
Published on Goodreads on 10.20.19.
Grant County: Turns out it’s not the sweet and innocent little place that everyone thought it was.
Abuse, Assault, Child Pornography, Kidnapping.
Chief Jeffrey Tolliver and County Coroner and Town Pediatrician, Sara Linton had no idea that their little town had so many secrets. Not until a date at the skating rink turned deadly for a teenaged patient of Sara’s.
What they find upon investigating makes heads spin.
One crazy thrilling, gruesome mystery for thriller fans of Karin Slaughter. If you love Jeffery Tolliver (and Sara Linton, lol), you’ll love this.
Thank you to Hoopla for the audiobook.
Published on Goodreads on 10.20.19.
November 11, 2017
EXCERPT: At twenty-eight weeks old, Jenny Weaver's child might have been viable outside the womb had its mother not tried to flush it down the toilet. The foetus was well developed and well nourished. The brain stem was intact and, with medical intervention, the lungs would have matured over time. The hands would have learned to grasp, the feet to flex, the eyes to blink. Eventually, the mouth would have learned to speak of something other than the horrors it spoke to Sara of now. The lungs had taken breath, the mouth gasped for life. And then it had been killed.
For the past three-and-a-half hours, Sara had tried to reassemble the baby from the parts Jenny Weaver had left in the bathroom and in the red book bag they found in the trash by the video game room. Using tiny sutures instead of the usual baseball stitches, Sara had sewn the paper thin flesh back together into the semblance of a child. Her hands shook, and Sara had redone some of the knots because her fingers were not nimble enough on the first try.
Still, it was not enough. Working on the child, tying the tiny sutures, was like pulling a thread on a sweater. For every area repaired, there was another that could not be concealed. There was no disguising the trauma the child had been through. In the end, Sara had finally accepted that her self-appointed task was an exercise in futility. The baby would go to the grave looking much the way it had looked the last time her mother had seen her.
THE BLURB: Saturday night dates at the skating rink have been a tradition in the small southern town of Heartsdale for as long as anyone can remember, but when a teenage quarrel explodes into a deadly shoot-out, Sara Linton--the town's pediatrician and medical examiner--finds herself entangled in a terrible tragedy.
What seemed at first to be a horrific but individual catastrophe proves to have wider implications. The autopsy reveals evidence of long-term abuse, of ritualistic self -mutilation, but when Sara and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver start to investigate, they are frustrated at every turn.
The children surrounding the victim close ranks. The families turn their backs. Then a young girl is abducted, and it becomes clear that the first death is linked to an even more brutal crime, one far more shocking than anyone could have imagined. Meanwhile, detective Lena Adams, still recovering from her sister's death and her own brutal attack, finds herself drawn to a young man who might hold the answers. But unless Lena, Sara, and Jeffrey can uncover the deadly secrets the children hide, it's going to happen again . . .
MY THOUGHTS: Grant County is a series that needs to be read in order, from the beginning, to get the full benefit from the storyline.
Kisscut by Karin Slaughter is not a pretty story. It is not a pleasant read. It contains references to child abuse, and while it doesn't go into specific detail, we all know enough to fill in the blanks. But Kisscut is compelling reading. Even though this is a reread for me, I found myself totally embroiled in the plot and the fates of the characters.
This is Slaughter at her best, and I still love the Grant County series best of all.
I listened to Kisscut by Karin Slaughter,narrated by Kathleen Early, on audiobook via OverDrive. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
For the past three-and-a-half hours, Sara had tried to reassemble the baby from the parts Jenny Weaver had left in the bathroom and in the red book bag they found in the trash by the video game room. Using tiny sutures instead of the usual baseball stitches, Sara had sewn the paper thin flesh back together into the semblance of a child. Her hands shook, and Sara had redone some of the knots because her fingers were not nimble enough on the first try.
Still, it was not enough. Working on the child, tying the tiny sutures, was like pulling a thread on a sweater. For every area repaired, there was another that could not be concealed. There was no disguising the trauma the child had been through. In the end, Sara had finally accepted that her self-appointed task was an exercise in futility. The baby would go to the grave looking much the way it had looked the last time her mother had seen her.
THE BLURB: Saturday night dates at the skating rink have been a tradition in the small southern town of Heartsdale for as long as anyone can remember, but when a teenage quarrel explodes into a deadly shoot-out, Sara Linton--the town's pediatrician and medical examiner--finds herself entangled in a terrible tragedy.
What seemed at first to be a horrific but individual catastrophe proves to have wider implications. The autopsy reveals evidence of long-term abuse, of ritualistic self -mutilation, but when Sara and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver start to investigate, they are frustrated at every turn.
The children surrounding the victim close ranks. The families turn their backs. Then a young girl is abducted, and it becomes clear that the first death is linked to an even more brutal crime, one far more shocking than anyone could have imagined. Meanwhile, detective Lena Adams, still recovering from her sister's death and her own brutal attack, finds herself drawn to a young man who might hold the answers. But unless Lena, Sara, and Jeffrey can uncover the deadly secrets the children hide, it's going to happen again . . .
MY THOUGHTS: Grant County is a series that needs to be read in order, from the beginning, to get the full benefit from the storyline.
Kisscut by Karin Slaughter is not a pretty story. It is not a pleasant read. It contains references to child abuse, and while it doesn't go into specific detail, we all know enough to fill in the blanks. But Kisscut is compelling reading. Even though this is a reread for me, I found myself totally embroiled in the plot and the fates of the characters.
This is Slaughter at her best, and I still love the Grant County series best of all.
I listened to Kisscut by Karin Slaughter,narrated by Kathleen Early, on audiobook via OverDrive. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
July 13, 2020
Possibly the most disturbing book I’ve read.
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When a teenage quarrel explodes into a deadly shoot out, Sara Linton finds herself entangled in a terrible tragedy with wider implications than first realised. Then a young girl is abducted, and it becomes clear that the first death is linked to an even more brutal crime, one far more shocking than anyone could have imagined...✨
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Okay so first up, let’s be clear that this is not for everyone. Parts of it left me feeling physically sick, it’s so dark, twisted and disturbing.
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However, Karin Slaughter is one hell of a writer and being book 2 in the Grant county series I am so invested in Sara and Jeffery and their little town.
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After this one I’m a little scared of what’s to come in the rest of the series 😬
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When a teenage quarrel explodes into a deadly shoot out, Sara Linton finds herself entangled in a terrible tragedy with wider implications than first realised. Then a young girl is abducted, and it becomes clear that the first death is linked to an even more brutal crime, one far more shocking than anyone could have imagined...✨
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Okay so first up, let’s be clear that this is not for everyone. Parts of it left me feeling physically sick, it’s so dark, twisted and disturbing.
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However, Karin Slaughter is one hell of a writer and being book 2 in the Grant county series I am so invested in Sara and Jeffery and their little town.
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After this one I’m a little scared of what’s to come in the rest of the series 😬
April 13, 2018
I'm glad I was warned but even still.. this was brutal. Equally tough, too, were the emotional hurdles that the recurring cast had to tackle. The only light spot was the slowly-being-repaired relationship between Sara and Jeffrey.
I need a fluffy story, stat.
I need a fluffy story, stat.
April 23, 2023
I am determined to read these because I love the Will Trent show and because I am doing things right I’m reading them in order from this point on. I have to say these early books are gruesome and disturbing on a whole other level. I can almost see why the show centers on Will and not Sara and these horrible crimes. While I loved this book, I need to make clear a huge trigger warning for child sexual abuse, and this book holds no punches when it comes to graphic violence. I have to say with having read some of the later books with Will I am totally over the Jeffrey/Sara story line and am ready for that to have run it’s course. Overall this was a really gripping mystery and I do recommend it as long as you mind your limits with the trigger warnings.
November 12, 2010
2.5 stars. I'm not sure what I think of this series.
On the one hand, I started the book yesterday, stayed up too late reading it, and finished it this morning. So it must have kept me interested, right?
The main thrust of the story involved a child pornography ring and a couple of really bad people running it. I didn't see the bad guy coming until Jeff Tolliver did - and it gave me the creeps, as was surely intended. She chose her villians wisely -- people you would never expect, which makes it more insidious than if it were the obvious. Of course, she throws the obvious in as well (helping out the main villian), just to keep things familiar, I guess.
On the other hand, I'm finding I don't care for some of her main characters (I don't think it's just me - she has written them as extremely unsympathetic) and the way she tells her stories is beginning to rub me wrong.
In the first book it was the disappearing kid with a fatal cancer diagnosis that did me in. In this book it was a double whammy red-herring: female genital mutilation (FGM) and flushing a baby down a toilet.
Neither of which had much to do with the actual plot of the book once you got into it. The author threw them into Chapter 1 to grab our attention, then left them until the end of the book, where she threw them back in (in what seemed to me to be a really offhand way).
**Major spoiler alert**
Kind of an oh, by the way, the baby from the beginning? It didn't belong to either of the girls, but to the one girl's mom, who was undergoing cancer treatments, whose husband had no idea she was pregnant, even though she was five-feet-fuck-all and had had a double masectomy. WTF?! And the way she wrapped up the FGM was another half-assed aside in the last chapter of the book. The victim, a 13yr old girl, starts the procedure on herself , her mother finishes it, sews her up and that's the end of it? Worthy only of mention in the last chapter, when the other girl victim does a little monologue wrapping up all the loose ends that Dr. Linton and her husband can't possibly figure out on their own, as all the bad guys are either dead, in a coma or escaped.
It seems to me like the author has some really BIG, GRAND ideas for a crime story at the beginning of both books I've read. Nothing wrong with that, to be sure, but I'm starting to think from reading her books that she ends up not knowing what to do with them all. And the book as a whole suffers for it.
Nevertheless, I will slog on through the series. Her books are an entertaining way to spend a few hours - the stories themselves have a lot going for them -- it's the execution that, for me, is just meh.
On the one hand, I started the book yesterday, stayed up too late reading it, and finished it this morning. So it must have kept me interested, right?
The main thrust of the story involved a child pornography ring and a couple of really bad people running it. I didn't see the bad guy coming until Jeff Tolliver did - and it gave me the creeps, as was surely intended. She chose her villians wisely -- people you would never expect, which makes it more insidious than if it were the obvious. Of course, she throws the obvious in as well (helping out the main villian), just to keep things familiar, I guess.
On the other hand, I'm finding I don't care for some of her main characters (I don't think it's just me - she has written them as extremely unsympathetic) and the way she tells her stories is beginning to rub me wrong.
In the first book it was the disappearing kid with a fatal cancer diagnosis that did me in. In this book it was a double whammy red-herring: female genital mutilation (FGM) and flushing a baby down a toilet.
Neither of which had much to do with the actual plot of the book once you got into it. The author threw them into Chapter 1 to grab our attention, then left them until the end of the book, where she threw them back in (in what seemed to me to be a really offhand way).
**Major spoiler alert**
Kind of an oh, by the way, the baby from the beginning? It didn't belong to either of the girls, but to the one girl's mom, who was undergoing cancer treatments, whose husband had no idea she was pregnant, even though she was five-feet-fuck-all and had had a double masectomy. WTF?! And the way she wrapped up the FGM was another half-assed aside in the last chapter of the book. The victim, a 13yr old girl, starts the procedure on herself , her mother finishes it, sews her up and that's the end of it? Worthy only of mention in the last chapter, when the other girl victim does a little monologue wrapping up all the loose ends that Dr. Linton and her husband can't possibly figure out on their own, as all the bad guys are either dead, in a coma or escaped.
It seems to me like the author has some really BIG, GRAND ideas for a crime story at the beginning of both books I've read. Nothing wrong with that, to be sure, but I'm starting to think from reading her books that she ends up not knowing what to do with them all. And the book as a whole suffers for it.
Nevertheless, I will slog on through the series. Her books are an entertaining way to spend a few hours - the stories themselves have a lot going for them -- it's the execution that, for me, is just meh.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 3, 2020
Karin Slaughter's books get increasingly twisty and twisted but I'm left feeling dejected and claustrophobic more than anything. 😭
April 7, 2018
I think 'Kisscut' generally is realistic and true to life. It's about child sexual abuse. If you are sensitive or triggered, I wouldn't recommend reading this novel. However, if you are curious or want to be aware of how sometimes sexual abuse works invisibly in our society, and how it affects victims, I highly recommend this novel.
I want people to read novels like this because a part of me feels 'if people only knew, they would be more proactive in prevention', which of course, is a foolish hope. A part of me, the experienced part, knows a lot of people do not become more proactive, even if they talk the talk, but instead turn into deniers when actually faced with it, or accuse the victim of playing the part of victim for personal gain. Abusers almost never admit to abusing anyone, so often the truth is only word against word.
Defining abuse is an issue. Punishing a child ranges from 'time-outs' to swats and making them miss an occasional supper to being beaten for days with belts, fists and feet and eating once a week confined by chains to a bed. What 'being bad' is is all over the map as defined in family or institutional definitions, as well as what 'being bad' deserves as punishment or 'correction', as religious people think of it. 'Being bad' can be swearing or setting the pet on fire.
People vary in their responses to abuse, whether it's hearing or seeing abuse. Some people dust themselves off and move on, others collapse into hopeless helpless useless puddles of trauma and drama queendom. Helping oneself is 80% of recovery. Dissolving into angry violence or eternal martyrdom is useless and self-destructive, but no one can predict how any one will react or recover, if they recover. One person can be scarred and psychologically maimed for life seeing another person get slapped, while someone else can be raped from age two to thirteen and find recovery eventually in time, with no one knowing there ever was a bad childhood.
Books like this are an answer, a good effective one in my opinion. Reading a dramatic dark mystery by yourself is mostly a nonjudgmental experience, and socially private. You can choose to read it or not. You can choose privately to believe it can happen or not, since it's simply a fictional novel. You can accept it as entertainment or personal validation or education. You can acquaint yourself further about the topic with facts and information from the Internet or the library, or get books from a bookstore. You can think about what you would do in similar circumstances, or not. No one will know if you read it, thought about it, or what you thought about it, unless you talk about it. If it is too terrible to contemplate, no one will know about either your lack of courage or belief or if you were triggered. You can privately choose what boundaries to live by, what standards to set, or whether you choose to avoid all mention or thinking about the subject of child abuse hereafter. You can frame the issue in your mind in any manner you choose.
As an aging adult, all I can do is witness and give my opinion. This is a realistic novel about a real problem. I cannot recommend it as a read for everyone, but if the subject of sexual abuse of children interests you and somewhat graphic, but realistic, descriptions do not send you screaming from the room in denial or horror, then this is a great book to read for both emotional and social depictions of 'what happens'. I usually read mysteries for entertainment, which I speak of regularly, but I also read for validation and a type of 'sharing', which I don't always talk about. Today, I want to share my inside view.
The main hero characters in the book are from a small town and a small county with the usual conformist pressures of a close community, but they are proactive in seeking legal, medical and social solutions once they are aware of what has been happening. It wasn't always so in real life. A major flaw in the novel is how easily the parts of the puzzle come to light and are put together by the characters. I think real life is more like 'Chinatown', the movie, and superheroes don't exist in real life.
My childhood was a ruin similar to the victims in this book. I survived it, but not without costs.
Let's call my childhood neighborhood Evergreen Gulch.
To the outside world, the Gulch was a mixed/low-income area. It was unincorporated but urban. On the south side of Evergreen Gulch district across a street the real city began; but on my street, the north side, the Gulch had blocks of empty grassy fields between blocks of houses, some that were kept up and some that were wrecked. No sidewalks. Open ditches. Beater cars. Unlicensed and uninsured everything. Lawns a parody of the word. When adults worked, they were in 'entry level' jobs forever. How could they advance into good paying jobs with almost no ability to read or write? Lives were interrupted because of WWII or the Great Depression or prejudice. Others spent decades of their lives on Welfare; some families went back three generations on Welfare. But it wasn't all consistently poor and ignorant residents. A couple of blocks would look similar to a third world neighborhood; then there would be a block or two of comfortable middle-class homes, with nice cars and mowed lawns.
This was 60 years ago. No internet. There were only 4 national TV stations which began broadcasting at 5 AM and went off the air at midnight. Only AM radio stations operated - no FM or digital.
Starting at the middle school level, schools had two tracks of education - college-ready or 'technical', which often depended on the family's wealth and involvement. 'Technical' education was where almost 90% of all females were placed whether middle-class or poor. A 'technical' high school diploma would not get them into college - no foreign language, no extra years of science or math.
Poor parents often were terrified of books and teachers and schools. My parents were in this category. My father often acted as if books were poisonous to touch, but he knew the school required books to come home with schoolchildren, and parents could get in serious trouble if they didn't send their kids to school, so books were the one thing he allowed me to keep, thinking them all from school. So at the time, the Salvation Army store with the shelves of 5-cent paperbacks and the public library were my hangouts of safety.
Evergreen Gulch was made up mostly of second and third generation European white trash, with a sprinkle of Native Americans amongst us that the white trash thought of as the 'real' trash people. Everyone was very religious, mostly Protestants. Drug of choice was alcohol, with sleeping pills or diet pills as a chaser.
Officially, child abuse and wife abuse was not a crime - literally. There weren't any laws on the books under which to charge an offender because raping your children or beating/torturing your family was considered normal for white trash. Male abusers who abused the family were not either offenders or criminals by any definition. Some, but only some, people thought family abuse was immoral, but after all, it was a biblical commandment for men to 'correct' their women and children. Fathers, if they still were around, were normally drunk and raging most nights, and since it was so common to have drunken raging fathers, drunken beatings were also socially normalized.
Everyone went to a church on Sundays. If your father -most common, or mother -not so common, almost killed you or tortured or raped you, no one stopped it nor was there any place to go for help. It was rigorously taught by church authorities and 'enforced' by god and all of society that children must love, obey and fear. Parents raping or beating their own kids to a pulp, uncomfortable as it may have been to glimpse, wasn't ever in the news, and no one ever was arrested for it. And it WAS common in neighborhoods of poor people (but even we who lived there didn't know sometimes exactly all of where it was going on), and no one talked about it. We knew who was on welfare and we knew which fathers and mothers drank because they spilled out into the streets or bars drunk regularly, and we knew who sometimes might be looking to beat up their family if they could find where they were hiding. That's all.
It was only decades later, when we survivors began to talk openly about it, we learned exactly how common abuse and rape was in the neighborhood. We discovered that as we endured the chaos within our own four walls, we did not know as much as we thought that next door the same or worse chaos and pain was being played out.
Despite therapy and decades of moving on, it is only with other survivors I feel truly comfortable. There is a paradigm of reality which cannot be bridged. I am faced regularly with people who think a prayer or some kind of spiritual device fixes everything, that a god or society watches over every bird in the trees of the world. As someone who has buried tortured kittens and puppies, I cannot agree.
Generally, I handle it by keeping silent with folks who are innocent of any true knowledge of the effects of long-term and constant parental crime, brutality and abuse, enduring the innocent but stupid and ridiculous babblings of religious and legal pablum. It is similar to speaking with individuals who seem to be unaware they can be injured or die if they jump off of a 100-foot cliff, who confidently explain to you that a god or a lawyer or a policeman or a teacher or a minister will reach out a hand and save you, that you are being silly in thinking any harm can possibly occur or if it does, it can be cured by the power of whatever. The worse beliefs people express to me are that there will be rewards of personal growth in having suffered, or that if you hadn't wanted it to happen it wouldn't have happened because you would have done something to prevent it.
Actually, the fact is sh*t happens, damage occurs, and you either live with it or not. Sometimes there is help, sometimes not. Survival depends on luck and learning to be your own best friend, but also in knowing not everyone is a monster and you can choose positive life-affirming options as time goes on as you grow up. My own biggest remaining issues with what happened, still setting me off into rants today, are people who rely on a god to fix it all or who believe if god didn't fix the problem it must be you were blocking god or it's all a mystery of god's divine will, or those who think it happens only when bad people are being bad but it never happens when people are good or Republican Party voters.
True story: a mother-in-law, who I'll call Faith, who was extremely religious, and who frightened every child in her family from the age of two with stories about how god saw every thought in their head and every action in the bathroom, told me a story about her own childhood family. She hated her sister because she believed her sister was her father's favorite. Faith believed her sister was an evil whore. Faith believed her sister connived, lied and deceived her way through life, never taking responsibility. When I asked why, she told me her sister used to sit in her father's lap, doing lap dances and acting out sexually to get favors. I don't know why, but it struck me to ask the following question: how old was your sister when you noticed her doing this? Faith spat out, "She was nine years old when I first noticed it. I hope at some point she asked for God's forgiveness." Faith rarely spoke after childhood with her sister, and obviously had never 'forgiven' her.
Faith had seven children who felt and feel she was a saint. However, their father, Faith's husband, was a drunken physically abusive monster, who was very successful financially until he drank the money away. To their surviving children, all extremely religious as well, their father was a horror. To me, I think their mother was a horror, too. She never divorced, and she never protected her children except to ask god to protect them. Unfortunately, he never did. But she succeeded in instilling the fear of god in every one of her children, who frequently 'share' with me on Facebook various sayings, truisms and quotations from the Bible. Thankfully, I see they, actual physical beings with actual physical activities in this reality plane, are physically and actively protecting their children to the best of their ability, education level and financial status. Social awareness, education and female civil rights seems to be making a dent in reducing abusive family life, if not religious faith.
For myself, I do not blame 9-year-olds for seducing grown men. But then, I'm not religious. And I'm not aware of any god rescuing nine-year-olds or any children, from any distresses or harms throughout history. I think a lot of stuff happens naturally without people or a god having been instrumental. As far as when people are involved with tragedy: there are good and bad people, ignorant and scared people, wise and educated people, and people who have authority and power, and people who are simply trying to survive. All one can do is increase their odds of survival and success with what they know and possess right now, and hope they end up on the right side of the curve of statistical 'luck' .
To those who have somehow survived a disaster or attack, those people who then attribute their survival to a god's rescue, and try to explain patiently to me how The Lord saved them, then it's obvious to me that god plays favorites, and I'm left wondering why was that kid or person worthy of saving and not me? I must have been deemed Satan's own at my birth as a newborn.
My earliest memory is of my dad kicking me in the back out into a street in front of a car, which quickly hit the brakes. I was two years old, and my dad was screaming at my mother for some reason. He had on what I now know was his Army uniform. He was going to Germany soon (for two years) to watch the Soviets and Germans (it was twelve years or so after World War II). I do not know to this day what I did that was so bad my dad punished me by trying to kill me. I had been walking holding my mother's hand. After he left, my mom had boyfriends. By the time dad came back, I had been abused continuously by many men. My dad also picked up where he left off. I prayed a lot, gentle reader, to be good so that the hurting and being afraid of dying would stop. Alas, I never was saved from any abuse. I guess I was an evil tot from birth, like the Bible said (original sin).
Many children are told they are punished for good reasons by their parents, sanctioned by God, and good children do not question either parents, god or adult authority. I was so told by EVERYBODY. I suspect many children like me from young ages do not know why god apparently hates them, too.
The last time my dad kicked me I was twenty-two. He had widened his repertoire of punishments by then, so I got more than a kicking. My terrible crime was not moving fast enough when he ordered me to wash the dishes. I had to stay home from work the next day. I sure knew all about god's hatred of females and society's indifference to abuse of females, by this point. "You must have done something" -translation: I deserved it for being in the wrong somehow, even if I had no clue, or "stay out of his way" -translation: " live on the streets, or get married. Women made one quarter of the salary of what men did for the same work and were expected to quit working if they got pregnant whether raped or not (abortion was illegal), women were not allowed to go to many colleges and if they were admitted, they were only allowed to study certain subjects. Women could be secretaries, clerks or waitresses or nurses or teachers. Married women did not have control of their own money in bank accounts (husband immediately was in charge of all financial transactions and all credit after marriage) nor could married women sign contracts alone for credit purchases like cars, furniture or houses. When I got married, my bank sent me a new credit card with only my husband's name on it - my new 'joint' account.
For the record, I see rescues of people as luck or social intervention, not from an invisible, or visible for that matter, god. However, most people thank a god for their deliverance, no matter who actually saved them. A lot of people need their delusions. What I actually needed was physical strength, real people stepping up to intervene, personal courage, sanity and friends.)
I want people to read novels like this because a part of me feels 'if people only knew, they would be more proactive in prevention', which of course, is a foolish hope. A part of me, the experienced part, knows a lot of people do not become more proactive, even if they talk the talk, but instead turn into deniers when actually faced with it, or accuse the victim of playing the part of victim for personal gain. Abusers almost never admit to abusing anyone, so often the truth is only word against word.
Defining abuse is an issue. Punishing a child ranges from 'time-outs' to swats and making them miss an occasional supper to being beaten for days with belts, fists and feet and eating once a week confined by chains to a bed. What 'being bad' is is all over the map as defined in family or institutional definitions, as well as what 'being bad' deserves as punishment or 'correction', as religious people think of it. 'Being bad' can be swearing or setting the pet on fire.
People vary in their responses to abuse, whether it's hearing or seeing abuse. Some people dust themselves off and move on, others collapse into hopeless helpless useless puddles of trauma and drama queendom. Helping oneself is 80% of recovery. Dissolving into angry violence or eternal martyrdom is useless and self-destructive, but no one can predict how any one will react or recover, if they recover. One person can be scarred and psychologically maimed for life seeing another person get slapped, while someone else can be raped from age two to thirteen and find recovery eventually in time, with no one knowing there ever was a bad childhood.
Books like this are an answer, a good effective one in my opinion. Reading a dramatic dark mystery by yourself is mostly a nonjudgmental experience, and socially private. You can choose to read it or not. You can choose privately to believe it can happen or not, since it's simply a fictional novel. You can accept it as entertainment or personal validation or education. You can acquaint yourself further about the topic with facts and information from the Internet or the library, or get books from a bookstore. You can think about what you would do in similar circumstances, or not. No one will know if you read it, thought about it, or what you thought about it, unless you talk about it. If it is too terrible to contemplate, no one will know about either your lack of courage or belief or if you were triggered. You can privately choose what boundaries to live by, what standards to set, or whether you choose to avoid all mention or thinking about the subject of child abuse hereafter. You can frame the issue in your mind in any manner you choose.
As an aging adult, all I can do is witness and give my opinion. This is a realistic novel about a real problem. I cannot recommend it as a read for everyone, but if the subject of sexual abuse of children interests you and somewhat graphic, but realistic, descriptions do not send you screaming from the room in denial or horror, then this is a great book to read for both emotional and social depictions of 'what happens'. I usually read mysteries for entertainment, which I speak of regularly, but I also read for validation and a type of 'sharing', which I don't always talk about. Today, I want to share my inside view.
The main hero characters in the book are from a small town and a small county with the usual conformist pressures of a close community, but they are proactive in seeking legal, medical and social solutions once they are aware of what has been happening. It wasn't always so in real life. A major flaw in the novel is how easily the parts of the puzzle come to light and are put together by the characters. I think real life is more like 'Chinatown', the movie, and superheroes don't exist in real life.
My childhood was a ruin similar to the victims in this book. I survived it, but not without costs.
Let's call my childhood neighborhood Evergreen Gulch.
To the outside world, the Gulch was a mixed/low-income area. It was unincorporated but urban. On the south side of Evergreen Gulch district across a street the real city began; but on my street, the north side, the Gulch had blocks of empty grassy fields between blocks of houses, some that were kept up and some that were wrecked. No sidewalks. Open ditches. Beater cars. Unlicensed and uninsured everything. Lawns a parody of the word. When adults worked, they were in 'entry level' jobs forever. How could they advance into good paying jobs with almost no ability to read or write? Lives were interrupted because of WWII or the Great Depression or prejudice. Others spent decades of their lives on Welfare; some families went back three generations on Welfare. But it wasn't all consistently poor and ignorant residents. A couple of blocks would look similar to a third world neighborhood; then there would be a block or two of comfortable middle-class homes, with nice cars and mowed lawns.
This was 60 years ago. No internet. There were only 4 national TV stations which began broadcasting at 5 AM and went off the air at midnight. Only AM radio stations operated - no FM or digital.
Starting at the middle school level, schools had two tracks of education - college-ready or 'technical', which often depended on the family's wealth and involvement. 'Technical' education was where almost 90% of all females were placed whether middle-class or poor. A 'technical' high school diploma would not get them into college - no foreign language, no extra years of science or math.
Poor parents often were terrified of books and teachers and schools. My parents were in this category. My father often acted as if books were poisonous to touch, but he knew the school required books to come home with schoolchildren, and parents could get in serious trouble if they didn't send their kids to school, so books were the one thing he allowed me to keep, thinking them all from school. So at the time, the Salvation Army store with the shelves of 5-cent paperbacks and the public library were my hangouts of safety.
Evergreen Gulch was made up mostly of second and third generation European white trash, with a sprinkle of Native Americans amongst us that the white trash thought of as the 'real' trash people. Everyone was very religious, mostly Protestants. Drug of choice was alcohol, with sleeping pills or diet pills as a chaser.
Officially, child abuse and wife abuse was not a crime - literally. There weren't any laws on the books under which to charge an offender because raping your children or beating/torturing your family was considered normal for white trash. Male abusers who abused the family were not either offenders or criminals by any definition. Some, but only some, people thought family abuse was immoral, but after all, it was a biblical commandment for men to 'correct' their women and children. Fathers, if they still were around, were normally drunk and raging most nights, and since it was so common to have drunken raging fathers, drunken beatings were also socially normalized.
Everyone went to a church on Sundays. If your father -most common, or mother -not so common, almost killed you or tortured or raped you, no one stopped it nor was there any place to go for help. It was rigorously taught by church authorities and 'enforced' by god and all of society that children must love, obey and fear. Parents raping or beating their own kids to a pulp, uncomfortable as it may have been to glimpse, wasn't ever in the news, and no one ever was arrested for it. And it WAS common in neighborhoods of poor people (but even we who lived there didn't know sometimes exactly all of where it was going on), and no one talked about it. We knew who was on welfare and we knew which fathers and mothers drank because they spilled out into the streets or bars drunk regularly, and we knew who sometimes might be looking to beat up their family if they could find where they were hiding. That's all.
It was only decades later, when we survivors began to talk openly about it, we learned exactly how common abuse and rape was in the neighborhood. We discovered that as we endured the chaos within our own four walls, we did not know as much as we thought that next door the same or worse chaos and pain was being played out.
Despite therapy and decades of moving on, it is only with other survivors I feel truly comfortable. There is a paradigm of reality which cannot be bridged. I am faced regularly with people who think a prayer or some kind of spiritual device fixes everything, that a god or society watches over every bird in the trees of the world. As someone who has buried tortured kittens and puppies, I cannot agree.
Generally, I handle it by keeping silent with folks who are innocent of any true knowledge of the effects of long-term and constant parental crime, brutality and abuse, enduring the innocent but stupid and ridiculous babblings of religious and legal pablum. It is similar to speaking with individuals who seem to be unaware they can be injured or die if they jump off of a 100-foot cliff, who confidently explain to you that a god or a lawyer or a policeman or a teacher or a minister will reach out a hand and save you, that you are being silly in thinking any harm can possibly occur or if it does, it can be cured by the power of whatever. The worse beliefs people express to me are that there will be rewards of personal growth in having suffered, or that if you hadn't wanted it to happen it wouldn't have happened because you would have done something to prevent it.
Actually, the fact is sh*t happens, damage occurs, and you either live with it or not. Sometimes there is help, sometimes not. Survival depends on luck and learning to be your own best friend, but also in knowing not everyone is a monster and you can choose positive life-affirming options as time goes on as you grow up. My own biggest remaining issues with what happened, still setting me off into rants today, are people who rely on a god to fix it all or who believe if god didn't fix the problem it must be you were blocking god or it's all a mystery of god's divine will, or those who think it happens only when bad people are being bad but it never happens when people are good or Republican Party voters.
True story: a mother-in-law, who I'll call Faith, who was extremely religious, and who frightened every child in her family from the age of two with stories about how god saw every thought in their head and every action in the bathroom, told me a story about her own childhood family. She hated her sister because she believed her sister was her father's favorite. Faith believed her sister was an evil whore. Faith believed her sister connived, lied and deceived her way through life, never taking responsibility. When I asked why, she told me her sister used to sit in her father's lap, doing lap dances and acting out sexually to get favors. I don't know why, but it struck me to ask the following question: how old was your sister when you noticed her doing this? Faith spat out, "She was nine years old when I first noticed it. I hope at some point she asked for God's forgiveness." Faith rarely spoke after childhood with her sister, and obviously had never 'forgiven' her.
Faith had seven children who felt and feel she was a saint. However, their father, Faith's husband, was a drunken physically abusive monster, who was very successful financially until he drank the money away. To their surviving children, all extremely religious as well, their father was a horror. To me, I think their mother was a horror, too. She never divorced, and she never protected her children except to ask god to protect them. Unfortunately, he never did. But she succeeded in instilling the fear of god in every one of her children, who frequently 'share' with me on Facebook various sayings, truisms and quotations from the Bible. Thankfully, I see they, actual physical beings with actual physical activities in this reality plane, are physically and actively protecting their children to the best of their ability, education level and financial status. Social awareness, education and female civil rights seems to be making a dent in reducing abusive family life, if not religious faith.
For myself, I do not blame 9-year-olds for seducing grown men. But then, I'm not religious. And I'm not aware of any god rescuing nine-year-olds or any children, from any distresses or harms throughout history. I think a lot of stuff happens naturally without people or a god having been instrumental. As far as when people are involved with tragedy: there are good and bad people, ignorant and scared people, wise and educated people, and people who have authority and power, and people who are simply trying to survive. All one can do is increase their odds of survival and success with what they know and possess right now, and hope they end up on the right side of the curve of statistical 'luck' .
To those who have somehow survived a disaster or attack, those people who then attribute their survival to a god's rescue, and try to explain patiently to me how The Lord saved them, then it's obvious to me that god plays favorites, and I'm left wondering why was that kid or person worthy of saving and not me? I must have been deemed Satan's own at my birth as a newborn.
My earliest memory is of my dad kicking me in the back out into a street in front of a car, which quickly hit the brakes. I was two years old, and my dad was screaming at my mother for some reason. He had on what I now know was his Army uniform. He was going to Germany soon (for two years) to watch the Soviets and Germans (it was twelve years or so after World War II). I do not know to this day what I did that was so bad my dad punished me by trying to kill me. I had been walking holding my mother's hand. After he left, my mom had boyfriends. By the time dad came back, I had been abused continuously by many men. My dad also picked up where he left off. I prayed a lot, gentle reader, to be good so that the hurting and being afraid of dying would stop. Alas, I never was saved from any abuse. I guess I was an evil tot from birth, like the Bible said (original sin).
Many children are told they are punished for good reasons by their parents, sanctioned by God, and good children do not question either parents, god or adult authority. I was so told by EVERYBODY. I suspect many children like me from young ages do not know why god apparently hates them, too.
The last time my dad kicked me I was twenty-two. He had widened his repertoire of punishments by then, so I got more than a kicking. My terrible crime was not moving fast enough when he ordered me to wash the dishes. I had to stay home from work the next day. I sure knew all about god's hatred of females and society's indifference to abuse of females, by this point. "You must have done something" -translation: I deserved it for being in the wrong somehow, even if I had no clue, or "stay out of his way" -translation: " live on the streets, or get married. Women made one quarter of the salary of what men did for the same work and were expected to quit working if they got pregnant whether raped or not (abortion was illegal), women were not allowed to go to many colleges and if they were admitted, they were only allowed to study certain subjects. Women could be secretaries, clerks or waitresses or nurses or teachers. Married women did not have control of their own money in bank accounts (husband immediately was in charge of all financial transactions and all credit after marriage) nor could married women sign contracts alone for credit purchases like cars, furniture or houses. When I got married, my bank sent me a new credit card with only my husband's name on it - my new 'joint' account.
For the record, I see rescues of people as luck or social intervention, not from an invisible, or visible for that matter, god. However, most people thank a god for their deliverance, no matter who actually saved them. A lot of people need their delusions. What I actually needed was physical strength, real people stepping up to intervene, personal courage, sanity and friends.)
May 20, 2024
The second volume in the Grant County Series picks up right where the first left off in terms of its cruelty, dementedness and blackened morality. Slaughter really knows how to smother the reader with evil’s embrace and drag them willingly through the muck of madness. I love every minute of her books
Character I Loved & Hated
Loved Jeffrey for continuing to be the aloof, stoic, wise yet idiotic force for good in this town. Hated Grace for all the reasons, but that scene with Lena while she is laying in the hospital bed makes my skin crawl
Themes
Evil continues to be evil and will always do evil evilness
Thing I’ll walk away with
A new reason to dislike skating rinks, as if I needed any more
Character I Loved & Hated
Loved Jeffrey for continuing to be the aloof, stoic, wise yet idiotic force for good in this town. Hated Grace for all the reasons, but that scene with Lena while she is laying in the hospital bed makes my skin crawl
Themes
Evil continues to be evil and will always do evil evilness
Thing I’ll walk away with
A new reason to dislike skating rinks, as if I needed any more
June 17, 2015
I have to admit I have not read the first book in this series. I tried it years ago and gave up because I did not like the characters and thought the story line was silly. I will have to try it again now I have read #2. I still don't like the characters but this time the story dragged me in and I raced through the book. I'm giving it three stars because there are some definite weaknesses for example the dialogue. I hope the interactions between Jeffrey and Sara at least do improve in future books. I will find out because after I have gone back and read book #1 I will certainly carry on with this series.
April 29, 2018
This was the hardest Slaughter book that I've read to date because it deals with child pornography and child abuse. With that said - the writing is amazing and I love how our main characters are developing.
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