Book review: Criminal, by Karin Slaughter

BOOK
Criminal by Karin Slaughter
(Century)
★★★✩✩

IN A NUTSHELL
Karin Slaughter's grisly crime thriller is an epic sweep across 40 years where two similar murder cases bring up some chilling memories.


REVIEW
Crime author Karin Slaughter takes her readers into a world of degradation, defilement and decay. She returns there frequently during the course of this razor-sharp story and each time the stomach churns.

No less sly and vile are the gender divisions of '70s Atlanta which occupies half her timeline as she explores the roots of a key character (rookie detective Amanda) and a crime that ripples through the decades.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Will Trent is looking to put a difficult past behind him with a new love. He's on low-level duties and can't figure out why his enigmatic boss Amanda Wagner is keeping him off a high-profile disappearance.

In the summer Will was born, 40 years early, Wagner was trying to step out the shadow of her notorious father. But other shadows await, notably the sexism that makes the Atlanta Police Department a vile boys' club.

But a neglected murder case gives her the opportunity to make her name and launch her stratospheric career. Little did she think that the case of a lowlife junkie and prostitute would revisit her four decades later and become entwined with the mystery of Will's parentage.

Both need to face demons from the past to find closure - and end a case that has the capacity to grow into a sinister terror.

There is authenticity, cracking detail and ambience as well as sufficient twists and turns to make for a compelling and, in places, uncomfortable read.