Fractured-Karin Slaughter

Fractured
Karin Slaughter
Delacorte, Aug 2008, $25.00
ISBN: 0385341954

Affluent attorney Abigail Campano returns to her mansion in Atlanta's upscale Ansley Park section only to see a dead girl lying on the upstairs hallway. Without getting a close look, a stunned Abigail assumes the victim is her teenage daughter Emma. The apparent killer had not yet left the premise and the outraged Abby kills him. Georgia Bureau of Investigation Agent Will Trent investigates along with Atlanta police Detective Faith Mitchell. The father Paul arrives filled with belligerence and bluster. Paul looks at the body and notices the lack of a birthmark; he insists the corpse of the teen is not his daughter; he and Abigail feel guilt and relief as Emma's friend Kayla Alexander lies dead on the floor.

Will concludes that besides the obvious murder, someone kidnapped Emma. His fear is that they are too late to save the life of the seventeen year old girl but he and Faith remain determined to try; while the case is already confusing with the homicide and the death of the alleged killer by the lioness in her home, neither expected the twists that the investigation takes. Still both cops fear they are too late.

Police procedural fans need to set aside time for this one sitting 400-page thriller as the audience will keep on adding one more exciting chapter after another to read. The two cops Will and Faith are a wonderful pairing as both are dedicated, but flawed; those personal defects augment a strong thriller. Filled with twists, FRACTURED will leave Karin Slaughter fans clamoring for the next GBI installment (see TRIPTYCH for the previous one).

Harriet Klausner