Product Description

“Breathless tension!” raved the San Francisco Chronicle. “One of [the year’s] most remarkable achievements,” crowed the Philadelphia Inquirer. Karin Slaughter dazzled readers and critics alike with Triptych, her New York Times bestselling suspense novel set in metropolitan Atlanta. Now the #1 internationally bestselling author returns to the damaged landscape she knows so well in a bold new novel—at once a powder keg of suspense, a gritty portrait of a cop’s life, and a searing exploration of a shocking crime and its aftermath…

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60128 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-29
• Released on: 2008-07-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. At the start of bestseller Slaughter's heart-pounding sequel to 2006's Triptych, wealthy housewife Abigail Campano returns home one day to Atlanta's posh Ansley Park neighborhood to find a dead girl in the mansion's upstairs hallway, the apparent killer nearby. Thinking that the girl is her teenage daughter, Emma, the distraught Abby kills the alleged attacker only to realize that the murdered girl is not Emma, but Emma's friend, Kayla Alexander. Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation soon determines that he has a murder and kidnapping on his hands. Paired with Det. Faith Mitchell, Trent scrambles to put the pieces together and find Emma before it's too late. Slaughter brings the same raw energy and brutal violence that distinguishes her Grant County series (Beyond Reach, etc.) to this new series with chilling results, while Trent and Mitchell, a pair of complex and deeply flawed heroes, will leave fans clamoring for the next installment. (July)
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From Booklist
Best-selling novelist Slaughter is most well known for her Grant County series, but here she follows up on the characters introduced in Triptych (2006). Will Trent, of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, needs a GPS system to find his way to the crime scene in Ansley Park, one of Atlanta’s oldest and wealthiest suburbs. Once on the scene, however, he is the only one to intuit the true specifics of the case, much to the irritation of the Atlanta PD. Suburban mom Emily Campano, returning home early, finds the severely beaten body of her teenage daughter, Emma, and instinctively attacks the seeming perpetrator, strangling him. Will soon discovers, however, that the dead teen is not Emma but her best friend. He is charged with heading up the investigation into Emma’s kidnapping and saddled with a partner from the Atlanta PD, an officer who has her own reasons for hating him. Possible motives and suspects abound as they home in on the girl’s posh private high school, a veritable cauldron that mixes cruel social climbing with sexual manipulation, among both the faculty and their pupils. As Will makes headway on the case, he must also struggle to compensate for his severe dyslexia, smooth the tensions with his new partner, and hide the emotional scars of a childhood spent in an orphanage. Slaughter brings breakneck pacing and emotional intensity to what could well be a series compelling enough to rival her Grant County novels. In addition, she ups the ante by starkly revealing the great emotional divide that separates those who have experienced severe trauma from those untouched by tragedy. --Joanne Wilkinson

Review
“Heart-pounding…. Slaughter brings the same raw energy and brutal violence that distinguishes her Grant County Series (Beyond Reach, etc) to this new series with chilling results, while Trent an Mitchell, a pair of complex and deeply flawed heroes, will leave fans clamoring for the next installment.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Startling twists…. [The detectives’s] quirky relationship—as much as the increasingly intriguing investigation—fuels this fun read.”—People

"A great review. I like what Sharon’s pulled: “A superior crime novel…. [Slaughter is] fiercely focused and one of the most talented young crime novelists.”–Washington Post

“Fractured dazzles because it works on the level of both plot and character…. [And] the combination is unbeatable.”—Cleveland Plain-Dealer

“Unexpected twists and intriguing characters.”—Entertainment Weekly


From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews

Second in a great series
I was glad when Karin Slaughter started a new crime series two years ago with Triptych, as I was tiring of her Grant County novels (especially after the way she chose to end the most recent, Beyond Reach.) Fractured is a sequel to Triptych and again features Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Wil Trent. A wealthy Atlanta housewife kills an intruder in her home after discovering the dead body of a girl whom she initially mistakes for her daughter. Her nightmare is just beginning, however, as it soon becomes clear that her teenager has actually been kidnapped. Agents Amanda Wagner and Wil Trent of the GBI are called in to investigate the crime and recover the girl; they are assisted by Atlanta State Police detective Faith Mitchell, who has major issues with Trent after he helped end her mother's career on the force. The plot barrels forward inexorably, sometimes focusing on the distraught parents, sometimes on the cops and sometimes on the villains, and the suspense is excruciating. Slaughter also uses the city of Atlanta to great effect, exploring wealthy Ansley Park (where the mystery begins), grimy slums and the university campus. But the conflicts between the flawed investigators really made this book stand out for me, and I can't wait to hear from them again.
Also recommended: A Stranger Lies There- winner of the Malice Domestic Award for best first mystery.

Another fine book from Slaughter; with a possibly hidden message?
In her second book featuring Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Slaughter weaves a lean, taut tale that far surpasses the previous work featuring Trent -- Triptych -- and introduces a new character in Faith Mitchell; a tough, savvy, smart and aggressive cop who seems destined to continue into future works as Trent's partner.

Slaughter has a real talent for creating fully realized three-dimensional characters, with all the flaws and gifts that make each of them real and believable.

In this case, Trent's battle with dyslexia is explored in depth, and brings a new twist to the genre that is original and inventive, and used to great effect throughout.

It never occurred to me until I started writing this review, but Slaughter made an interesting decision in naming her characters, because in essence, this novel boils down to:

Can Will and Faith defeat Evil?

) Amazing Storyline, Heart Pounding Action, Superb Character Development and Intensity Spread Across the Pages
Karin Slaughter's latest release, Fractured is completely deserving of the acclaim and high praises it has received. Abigail Campano arrives home to discover her door unlocked and shattered glass around her feet. Her first response is fear for the well being of her daughter, Emma. As she rushes upstairs, she comes face to face with the battered and bloody body of her daughter and a man kneeling over her body with a knife in his hand. Pure adrenaline and rage consumes Abigail and she strangles the man to death. Enter Will Trent, member of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Will struggles with the crime scene and determines that the brutalized body upstairs does not belong to Emma Campano, but to her best friend Kayla, and the murdered man Abigail strangled with her bare hands was actually Emma's boyfriend, whose attempt to save Emma and Kayla got him killed. The shift from the murder to the reality of the kidnapping of Emma, forces Will to pair up with Atlanta officer Faith Mitchell. Running against the clock and without any suspects or leads, Will and Faith must work together to find Emma and catch a killer. Fractured is filled with plot twists and heart pounding intensity. Beyond Karin Slaughter's ability to provide her readers with an excellent storyline and superb mystery, she is able to delve into the characters emotions and backgrounds so deeply that readers feel they know these men and women. The return of our favorites like Will and his boss Amanda paired with new intriguing characters like Faith, Abigail and the monstrous villains will surly please its audience. Fractured is by far one of Slaughter's best works, she gives her readers everything and them some more. Valerie Jones mrsvaljones@netzero.net