Karin Slaughter | FRACTURED

Plot (via Goodreads):

With its gracious homes and tree-lined streets, Ansley Park is one of Atlanta's most desirable neighborhoods. But in one gleaming mansion, in a teenager's lavish bedroom, a girl has been savagely murdered. And in the hallway, her horrified mother stands amid shattered glass, having killed her daughter's attacker with her bare hands.

Detective Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is here only to do a political favor; the murder site belongs to the Atlanta police. But Trent soon sees something that the cops are missing, something in the trail of blood, in a matrix of forensic evidence, and in the eyes of the shell-shocked mother. Within minutes, Trent is taking over the case -- and adding another one to it. He is sure that another teenage girl is missing, and that a killer is on the loose.

Armed with only fleeting clues, teamed with a female cop who has her own personal reasons for hating him, Trent has enemies all around him -- and a gnawing feeling that this case, which started in the best of homes, is cutting quick and deep through the ruins of perfect lives broken wide-open: where human demons emerge with a vengeance. 

Review:

Well, Triptych was certainly a mind-blowing opening to this series, so I was sure to brace myself before starting Fractured. Fractured is like the comfortable and typical Slaughter plot. A woman walks in on a man who has murdered her daughter and she kills him herself. It's so far out in left field and yet only a fraction of what this story really involves. This story also introduces us to the fantastic Faith Mitchell - my now favorite character in this series. I enjoyed the regular gang of returning characters combined with the new characters that are introduced in this case. It's always a blend of thriller, police procedural, and a real inside look into the lives of these agents - the perfect storm in a Karin Slaughter novel.

I really enjoyed this case! It was complex to begin with, but the revelations come quickly and pack a punch more brutal than the last. There were so many twists and turns with this one that I was spinning and dizzy with my infatuation with this story. I really enjoyed getting to know Will Trent and Faith Mitchell so much with this one. I did find that the finale felt a little far fetched and I felt like it kind of came out of nowhere, but sometimes that's exactly what happens in the real world with cases like this.

Rating: 4/5