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124 of 127 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"None of this makes sense.", April 24, 2010
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Karin Slaughter brings together some of her most memorable characters in "Broken," her latest thriller. Twenty-one year old Allison Spooner is at the end of her rope. She is short of money, her boyfriend has disappointed her, and her rusted-out hulk of a car is on its last legs. She is struggling to keep up with her college classes at Georgia's Grant Tech while earning a pittance as a waitress in a diner. Sadly, her dream of escaping her tedious life is shattered when an unknown assailant attacks and kills her. Lena Adams, the senior detective on call, is summoned to the scene. At first, it appears that Spooner may have killed herself, but new evidence points to murder. Lena's boss, interim chief of police Frank Wallace, is not much help. He has been drinking heavily, and his mind is clearly elsewhere. When Wallace, Adams, and Detective Brad Stephens travel to the address where the victim allegedly lived, they discover a possible suspect. What follows is a series of blunders that lead to disaster both for the person taken into custody and the cops who arrest him. To make matters more complicated, Dr. Sara Linton, who is a pediatrician, medical examiner, and the widow of the former police chief, Jeffrey Tolliver, is visiting her family for Thanksgiving. Sara despises Lena, whom she blames for her late husband's death, and would prefer never to lay eyes on the detective ever again. She acidly tell someone that Lena is "never held accountable for anything. She always manages to slither back under her rock." When Special Agent Will Trent from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is assigned to look into Allison Spooner's death, he teams up with Sara, whose expertise proves to be invaluable. "Broken" is an exciting, suspenseful, and poignant tale that shows how people sow the seeds of their own destruction. They withhold vital information, try to cover up their mistakes, and shift blame to others. What results is a needless waste of lives and resources. Sara and Will both have inner demons to contend with, but as they get to know one another, they open up a bit and form a tenuous connection. Slaughter is a terrific storyteller. The plot is well-constructed and involving, her dialogue is realistic, and the author captures the feeling of life in a small Georgia town where people know everyone else's business and cling tightly to their prejudices and pettiness. The characters are generally well-delineated: Dr. Sara Linton is still in mourning for her husband, although he has been gone for four years; Lena Adams has committed her share of screw-ups, but has always been too stubborn to admit her culpability; Will Grant is a good-hearted man and an excellent detective but he is hiding a secret that, if revealed, may affect his future in the Bureau; Frank Wallace, after thirty-five years on the force, is an alcoholic who no longer has what it takes to function on the job. This is a fast-moving story that falters a bit during the final formulaic confrontation. In general, however, "Broken" works, because Karin Slaughter's compassion for her characters shines through. She depicts them as three-dimensional human beings, warts and all, most of whom would like to fix what is broken in their lives. Unfortunately, not everyone has the courage, honesty, and motivation to face the truth and take the necessary steps to rectify what is wrong.
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31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Grant County is Broken, May 17, 2010
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Dr. Sara Linton is in Heartsdale, Georgia visiting her family for Thanksgiving. Being back home from Atlanta stirs up conflicted emotions. The wound of her dead husband, Heartsdale's former police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, is still fresh. She blames Detective Lena Adams for creating the circumstances that lead to his murder four years earlier. A homicide ruins Sara's plans to keep a low profile while in town. Someone tried to make the murder of a female college student look like a suicide, but Lena turns up clues that reveal a different story. The evidence leads Sara, interim chief Frank Wallace and rookie officer Brad Stephens to the student's garage apartment, where they surprise Tommy Braham. A lot of things are broken in Grant County, including the local police department. Wallace is a raging drunk. Tommy's arrest was a catastrophe of epic proportions and the confession Lena obtained was probably coerced. Tommy has a low IQ and is highly suggestible. The case probably won't stand up in court, and that was before someone started tampering with the evidence. In custody, Tommy plunges into depression and begs to see Sara, who used to be his pediatrician. By the time she gets to the jail, Tommy has killed himself. Rather than going through channels, Sara reaches out directly to GBI agent Will Trent to investigate the circumstances surrounding Tommy's death. Sara sees the situation as a chance to exact her revenge revenge on Lena. Will knows he won't be welcomed with open arms, and he's right. The local police dig in their heels, hide evidence and generally refuse to cooperate with his investigation. To make matters worse, he ends up staying at Sara's domineering mother's house, leading to rumors that he's sleeping with Sara. He has a complicated relationship with his wife back in Atlanta, but that's not the worst of his problems. He has severe dysgraphia, which makes it virtually impossible for him to read anything. Sara is quick to diagnose his problem, which leads to tension between them. While characters with afflictions can be interesting, readers may find it difficult to accept that someone with such a severe handicap could escape detection by his coworkers and superiors. It's also hard to fathom how he could have progressed through the ranks. Surely his job and advancements would require copious paperwork, written reports, and written examinations. Will reminisces about how his wife helped cover for him, but that stretches credibility to the limit. Vital evidence often comes before him in written form. Delays in interpreting that material could torpedo cases. He even has trouble following directions, so how does he make it to crime scenes? There is a lot of history among the characters, much of which comes from Slaughter's previous novels; however, she does a good job of filling in the history for readers who haven't read the earlier books. At times, the conflict feels a touch melodramatic and it's hard to like the characters very much. Lena, at least, begins to lighten up once she realizes that Will has figured out how badly she screwed things up. She achieves a kind of peace in acknowledging that her career may be over. She starts working the case with a diligence she previously lacked. The resolution of the crime comes out of left field, though. There are clues to the motivation behind the murders, but they're very subtle, and some readers my feel like Slaughter has been stingy. The killings are more brutal than the motive would seem to explain. Also, people make much of the fact that everyone in tiny Heartsdale knows everyone else's business and yet Lena's relationship manages to remain secret and another important character returns to the area without anyone noticing.
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16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Spellbinding Thriller from a Best Selling Author, April 25, 2010
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What a great feeling it is to discover another great author! This is the first book that I have read by Karin Slaughter, but certainly not my last! I had a tough time putting this book down. An outstanding story teller, Karin Slaughter knows how to keep a reader spellbound and on the edge of his seat frantically turning pages. The story begins with Georgia Grant Tech College Student Allison Spooner's surprising murder at a lake in Heartland as she contemplates suicide mourning her breakup with her boyfriend Jason Howell. Likeable, mentally disabled Tommy Braham is the prime suspect after he runs from what is believed to be the scene of the murder and accidentally stabs police detective Brad Stevens in the stomach with a letter opener. His confession and subsequent suicide seals the deal for arresting officer Senior Detective Lena Adams. Lena, as policewoman thought to be overzealous, having a problem with following proper police protocol and a propensity of bending the truth is protected by her alcoholic Acting Chief of Police Frank Wallace who has dark secrets and skeletons in his own closet. Coming home from Alabama for Thanksgiving, former County Coroner and Hartsdale Children's Clinic Director Dr. Sara Linton, wife of Jeffery Tolliver, murdered former Grant County Police Chief blames Lena for his death and becomes involved in the case with an agenda to make Lena pay for her transgressions. Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Will Trent is called to investigate the murder following, Acting Chief of Police Frank Wallace and Senior Detective Lena Adam's apparent dubious and obstructive behavior in the case. With the murder of Allison Spooner's boy friend Jason Howell after Tommy's death, his involvement in the murder is dispelled. Slaughter keeps the reader involved as the story evolves and the killer's motive comes to light while putting main characters lives in jeopardy. I enjoyed this thriller from beginning to end and can hardly wait to read more from this excellent writer and fabulous story teller.
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