Bookreporter.com - UNDONE by Karin Slaughter

UNDONE
Karin Slaughter
Delacorte Press
Suspense
ISBN: 9780385341967

One somehow gets the feeling just by picking up UNDONE by Karin Slaughter that it is a “can’t miss” novel. This impression --- which is borne out entirely --- is in no small part due to the name of the author on the book. Slaughter has demonstrated that she has no qualms about taking major characters off the board --- I still occasionally read the last few pages of BEYOND REACH for a reminder of how the job is properly done --- and for creating horrific circumstances and situations that are graphically described without descending into exploitation.

But what ultimately makes Slaughter’s work so irresistible is her ability to weave a puzzling and deadly mystery through the ebb and flow of relationships: family, lovers, friends, co-workers. In order to do this, one has to be able to create and sustain strong, unforgettable characters who will stay with you long after the book is finished. This, too, Slaughter accomplishes on a regular basis, whether in her Grant County novels featuring Dr. Sara Linton or her more recently introduced GBI series, which focuses on agents Will Trent and Faith Mitchell. Slaughter brings both series, and all three protagonists, together in UNDONE, balancing their meeting and involvement credibly throughout the story.

Following a roller coaster of a prologue that begins like an episode of “Days of Our Lives” and ends a few pages later in a quite different manner, Slaughter starts the process of gingerly moving her protagonists together. Linton, still emotionally reeling from the death of her husband in BEYOND REACH, has moved to Atlanta and is working as a hospital emergency room physician. She is on shift when a woman suffering from horrific, almost indescribable injuries is brought in for what becomes lifesaving treatment. By a twist of fate, Faith Mitchell is in the ER when the patient arrives. Mitchell has been brought there by her GSI partner, Will Trent, for evaluation and treatment of a sudden fainting spell. There is a reason for this onset of Mitchell’s syncope; actually, there are two reasons, one of which she is aware and the other of which she most assuredly is not, at least not at first.

For his part, Trent interjects himself, and ultimately the GBI, into the investigation of the severely injured lady. It is almost immediately discovered that she and another woman had been abducted and held captive. Trent, who could be more accurately described as patiently dogged as opposed to aggressive, takes the case for GBI and soon becomes obsessed on multiple levels with locating the killer. He also finds himself being slowly attracted to Sara, even as he does an obsessive and twisted emotional dance with his estranged wife, Angie, who flits into and out of his life in a strange and, yes, sick erotic tableau in which he is by turns a willing and an unwilling participant.

Everyone is hiding secrets, wounds and weaknesses. Linton is an emotional wreck, a state that she conceals well but that nonetheless exists. Trent has a learning disorder that he hides from all but Mitchell and his superior, one that practically renders him unable to function in his chosen profession. And Mitchell’s secrets, known only to Linton, have the potential to turn her life upside down. Mitchell and Trent strive to overcome their respective difficulties and the increasing hostilities of local law enforcement as they attempt to capture a dangerous and twisted attacker even as more females fall victim to him.

UNDONE is Slaughter’s deepest and most riveting work to date, a haunting and disturbing tale that closes one door and opens several others. It is a key book in both the Grant County and GBI series, not only because of the new developments in Mitchell’s life, but also due to the mysterious contents of the letter that Sara receives at the beginning of UNDONE and… Well, that would be telling. Read and see for yourself.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

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