All I have to say is, this book is somehow even more awesome than the original series.
Don't be nervous about the multiple POVs--every character has hAll I have to say is, this book is somehow even more awesome than the original series.
Don't be nervous about the multiple POVs--every character has history and agency, and you'll care deeply about every single one of them. Plus diversity! Kickass heroines! Gifted thieves! Amaaaaazing action sequences! All perfectly paced and perfectly thrilling.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book that I formatted, too! Get thee to a bookstore--the hardback is gorgeous, and so is the book. The author has outdone herself.
Everything, everything, everything a violent crime thriller should be, and the best Slaughter book to date. (view spoiler)[ I am even more irritated wEverything, everything, everything a violent crime thriller should be, and the best Slaughter book to date. (view spoiler)[ I am even more irritated with The Shining Girls now. Grrrrr. (hide spoiler)]
3.5 stars I eagerly anticipate every single book by Karin Slaughter, and she's never let me down when it comes to Will Trent and Sara Linton--and afte3.5 stars I eagerly anticipate every single book by Karin Slaughter, and she's never let me down when it comes to Will Trent and Sara Linton--and after last year's fantastic Fallen, I was really excited to read her new book. Criminal is, however, my least favorite book by this author yet, and the first book in the Georgia series that I've rated less than 4 stars. After thoroughly enjoying each of the previous (12?) novels in this series, it's something of a shock to find myself with such mixed/negative feelings about this one.
The two things that normally make Karin Slaughter books so damned good are crackling, suspenseful mysteries and strong characters that you passionately care about. In Criminal, those elements are woefully obscured by the book's structure (too many POVs, many of which are too long for secondary characters), too much focus on Amanda Wagner's past (which sounded like such a great idea, except that she's much less compelling and sympathetic as a young rookie), and a serious lack of time spent on the central characters we've come to know. The starts and stops of the many, many characters POVs make for a jumbled narrative and a frustrating reading experience, and they detract from both the cleanness of the plotting and any emotional response we might've had to the characters. I'm frankly very surprised that a Slaughter book would be this messy.
Eventually, the central mystery is an interesting one, if a bit on the predictable side. The little we see of the Will/Sara/Angie dynamic continues to be fascinating. The flashback sections that took place in the 70s did provide a few good things: it was kind of neat to see Evelyn Mitchell's early career since we all know how it later turns out, a bit about Will's early beginnings, and through Amanda, it was interesting to read about how female police officers were treated back then. But the issues of discrimination, as well as so many others, were done with a much less expert hand than I'm used to seeing in Slaughter's books. Even the level and detail of the violence, which the author's been criticized for and I've never had a problem with before, seemed unnecessarily extra brutal and verging on salacious here. For the first time in reading this author's work, I felt serious twinges of distaste as I read about (view spoiler)[women being sewn to mattresses, women with their mouths and eyelids sewn shut or open, etc, etc (hide spoiler)]; it's not what happens, as I've read similar levels of violence or worse, it's the repetitive way these things are presented to us, without the appropriate subsequent gravity and care to balance it out. When I think about the awful thing that happens to Lena's sister in the very first Slaughter book, ((view spoiler)[a blind woman is savagely attacked in a public restroom, and the killer opens up a wound in her torso and rapes it while she's still conscious (hide spoiler)], and how well the author handled both the procedural and emotional effects of that, I am especially surprised at how clumsily heavy-handed this new book seems to be.
So I would just say that if you're considering reading this series, definitely don't start with this one. They should be read in order anyway (I put the order in my review of the first book, Blindsighted), and the others are much, much better. I'm still a big fan of this author's work, but for the first time, I'm going to be anticipating the next one with muted expectations. Fingers crossed she returns to her usual excellent form next year....more
Oh! This is so cool.That was my reaction late last night when I finished this book and the feeling hasn't worn off. Ultraviolet is one of those sneakyOh! This is so cool.That was my reaction late last night when I finished this book and the feeling hasn't worn off. Ultraviolet is one of those sneaky books that makes you think you're reading one thing and then all the sudden, whoosh, you're off on a different adventure. I think many of us who spend a lot of time in the paranormal genre have come to expect a certain story structure from these types of books, but this one has no problem bending all the rules and leaping out to explore other dimensions. Be careful as reviews start to come in, however, because the less you know about this story, the more you'll enjoy it.
The book starts off with a bang: Alison has been institutionalized in a teen mental facility because she's confessed to killing Tori, a girl from school. The problem is, Ali watched her classmate disintegrate in front of her...and the body has disappeared. Since Ali's also seeing colors and tasting lies, she doesn't know whether she's really going crazy or not. She is isolated from her friends and family, she can't relate to the other kids in the facility, and she's being pressured by the police and her psychiatrist to give up information she knows will hurt her. The only one she can turn to is the handsome Dr. Faraday, who helps her understand her synesthesia, an unusual neurological condition in which she processes certain letters as colors, sees symbols where they don't exist, etc.
The author spends a lot of time carefully easing us into a familiarity with Alison's condition and making us feel for her situation, and for the longest time I wasn't even sure if she was ever going to make it out of the institution since her mother keeps finding excuses to not to see her. It took me a little while to adjust to her condition as well, but once I settled in I really enjoyed seeing the world through Ali's sensations, even though I wasn't sure where the story was going.
And then...just as you're getting comfortable, the author turns everything on its head. Shortly before it happened, I guessed what was going on--but the reveal is so simply and beautifully done that my little heart still fluttered. From that point on, the story kicks into high gear as Alison tries to solve the mystery of what happened to her classmate and to prove--and to believe--that she isn't insane at all.
There is a wondrous moment near the end that made me catch my breath that invokes the same sort of feelings I get from lying in a meadow under a giant nightscape of stars and sky--that awesome, bigger-than-life emotion of gazing up into a beauty and mystery that we will never fully understand. It's hard to go into detail here about what made this book so fantastic for me without spoiling it, but as I was reading this scene, I flashed back to the very best work of Madeleine L'Engle and Ray Bradbury. I've often wondered if those two masters of speculative fiction are as beloved by teens today as they were back in the day, because like Ultraviolet, their work trusted their readers enough to peel back their many layers slowly and patiently.
I'm not sure how this book will be viewed by modern mass audiences, but I do believe (and hope) that it's going to be critically very well received. It's intelligently written fiction with ideas that stimulate the imagination and move you with what's unspoken...as well as the infinite possibilities of a future yet to come.
This review also appears in The Midnight Garden. An advance copy was provided by the publisher for this review. ...more
One of my favorite things about this one upon re-read is this brief, telling moment during Will’s POV. He’s thinking about how he doesn’t want to relyOne of my favorite things about this one upon re-read is this brief, telling moment during Will’s POV. He’s thinking about how he doesn’t want to rely upon his partner for paperwork, because Faith is pregnant and will probably out for at least a week when the baby comes. It’s so funny in its cluelessness about men in general and Will in particular, especially because it’s just a throwaway line. But one that illustrates how well Slaughter writes her characters.
I also appreciate how she takes her time with Sara’s reappearance, and allows her—and us—to grieve with her, as well as to open the door to moving on....more
Will Trent is amazing, but fuck this tv show. The trailer is awful, and shows it is going with basically Will’s job and the LEAST interesting things aWill Trent is amazing, but fuck this tv show. The trailer is awful, and shows it is going with basically Will’s job and the LEAST interesting things about him, including the yappy little dog. He doesn’t look like Will (I don’t mean his changed ethnicity), he doesn’t act like Will, and I would bet he doesn’t deal with crimes like Will.
While I am happy for the authors’ success, I will never understand why studios option these amazing thriller books and then proceed to never use the best things about them: the characters, the stories, the writing, the research. Lowest common denominator cookie cutter jokey case of the week series are a dime a dozen, how often do we get source material that’s BETTER than/has as much potential as a SILENCE OF THE LAMBS? First Rizzoli and Isles, then Reacher, and now this. Ugh.
*ALSO. Karin Slaughter had two series, the Grant County series with medical examiner/pediatrician Sara Linton and her police chief husband + this one, the Will Trent series. Eventually those two series merged into one storyline, which for awhile was referred to as the “Georgia” series, I believe, but then they started being referred to as “Will Trent” overall. Why, when Sara has always been one of the two primary characters in both series and drives much of the action? This has bugged me for years. I hate this retconning of something that seems perfectly understandable, if publishers would just clearly lay out the order and explain.
My original BLINDSIGHTED review explains the order of the earlier ones. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... I still think they should be read the way they were originally published/the way I listed them there. There are important back stories for both sets of characters that help you fully appreciate the significance of things that happen later on. Slaughter is the MASTER of the long game when it comes to trusting her readers to follow and letting the stories and character arcs develop gradually. I honestly have only read one other author who has had the patience to let things simmer for so long and so rewardingly—and KS still comes out on top in the way the stories are executed.
Reread 9/2023 and bumping up my rating. This time I was able to further appreciate how superbly crafted this book was—so tightly wound, so perfectly executed. Incredible character work (especially, with context offered by time and seeing how this was placed after Grant County and before Sara comes back on scene) and so much heartbreak and tension, even though I knew where the story was going. Just so much awe over Slaughter’s writing....more
I liked this book more than I thought I would. I was a bit worried that it would be too "clever" and gimmicky, but it turned out to be very well writtI liked this book more than I thought I would. I was a bit worried that it would be too "clever" and gimmicky, but it turned out to be very well written and kept my attention throughout. It was interesting to read a book written from the POV of an autistic boy and Haddon did a great job of working in Christopher's everyday approach to life as well the bigger picture of his family unit revealed through the snippets of adult interaction.
What was less successful for me was the whole "curious incident" itself, but perhaps that is more of a marketing issue since it's the main hook of the story. I also tend to enjoy books more when they are more emotionally involving, which tended to be mostly an impossibility with a narrator like this one. Still, I would expect to feel more than mild curiosity and mild pity when reading a story like this. A little more tension and little more excitement to go along with the intellectual exercise would have been great. ...more
Absorbing and complex. I loved the descriptions of Nan's early life as an "oyster girl" and how she gradually discovers who she is and how she fits inAbsorbing and complex. I loved the descriptions of Nan's early life as an "oyster girl" and how she gradually discovers who she is and how she fits into her Victorian world....more
Wendy Darling
>
Books:
neurodiverse
(31)
Loading...
