Second in the Grant County series and once again I flew through this one.
In this second book we continue to follow Sara, pediatrician and coroner, and Jeffrey, chief of police, as they dig into a teenage quarrel gone wrong to uncover a much deeper, darker problem effecting some of the kids of the town. We also continue our journey with Lena, the detective working with Jeffrey, as she tries to work through much of what happened in the first book.
The great thing about this is you do not need to read the first book to enjoy this story. Yes it is very much a follow on, linking a lot of the relationships and story line from the first book, however everything is summed up at some point perfectly so you are not left wondering about things that shouldn't be the focus. But at the same time for someone who has read the first book, and rather recently, it didn't cover it for so long that I felt the repetition. Actually it was a nice reminder of the whos who of Grant County.
Once again I thoroughly enjoyed Karin Slaughter's writing. She is descriptive enough that you can paint your own picture of the town, the people etc. But not so much that you get bored. She is completely unafraid to say what needs to be said. If someone has been attacked we know where, how and what it looks like. She also writes the 'bad people' really well that you can feel the evil oozing out of the page. The way she shares these pockets of reactions/information is so clever. Like any good whodunit you have your suspicions but never know for definite.
With this particular book we follow young children and teenagers and the manipulations of adults with these children. It can be a difficult subject to write about and there are no holds barred in this book. Slaughter doesn't hold back but omits details we do not need to see for the obviousness. She wants you to feel the horror and emotions of Sara and Jeffrey as they find out more about these children and this comes across really well. It can however be a little jarring so please bear this in mind when deciding to read this book.
These books are not for the faint hearted as they do cover difficult topics and can be quite gruesome. This one however is more tough to read that gross. I can't say I have read half as many books as others but I have to admit that at times I feel it is hard for books to shock/scare/wow anymore as it feels like most stories have already been done. I can honestly say these books hit different to others I have read and definitely provides the shock/wow factor. That being said I feel the first book had more urgency to the writing as it was reaching the climax and I felt that I responded more than I did with this one. Therefore while still a high rating I felt it didn't quite reach the same level as Blindsighted. Potentially because of the subject matter but who knows! Still, a great book and would highly recommend.
Kisscut by Karin Slaughter
Pages - 436
Goodreads rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
