Undone (Grant County) [Hardcover]

Karin Slaughter (Author)

Book Description

Series: Grant County | Publication Date: July 14, 2009

In the trauma center of Atlanta’s busiest hospital, Sara Linton treats the city’s poor, wounded, and unlucky—and finds refuge from the tragedy that rocked her life in rural Grant County. Then, in one instant, Sara is thrust into a frantic police investigation, coming face-to-face with a tall driven detective and his quiet female partner…. In Undone, three unforgettable characters from Karin Slaughter’s New York Times bestselling novels Faithless and Fractured collide for the first time, entering an electrifying race against the clock—and a duel with unspeakable human evil.

In the backwoods of suburban Atlanta, where Sara’s patient was found, local police have set up their investigation. But Georgia Bureau of Investigation detective Will Trent doesn’t wait for the go-ahead from his boss—he plunges through police lines, through the brooding woods, and single-handedly exposes a hidden house of horror buried beneath the earth. Then he finds another victim.…

Wresting the case away from the local police chief, Will and his partner, Faith Mitchell—a woman keeping explosive secrets of her own—are called into a related investigation. Another woman—a smart, upscale, independent young mother—has been snatched. For the two cops out on the hunt, for the doctor trying to bring her patient back to life, the truth hits like a hammer: the killer’s torture chamber has been found, but the killer is still at work.

In her latest suspense masterpiece, Karin Slaughter weaves together the moving, powerful human stories of characters as real as they are complex and unforgettable. At the same time she has crafted a work of dazzling storytelling and spine-tingling mystery—as three people, each with their own wounds and their own secrets, are all that stands between a madman and his next crime.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Bestseller Slaughter brings together characters from her two series for the first time with electrifying results. Dr. Sara Linton, who lost her husband in 2007's Beyond Reach, has left rural Grant County for a new life in an underfunded Atlanta hospital. Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents Faith Mitchell and Will Trent, last seen in 2008's Fractured, happen to be in the hospital's ER when a woman known only as Anna arrives. Anna was hit by a car after escaping from an unknown captor, whose underground torture chamber Will soon uncovers near the accident site, along with the body of a second woman he believes was held in the same bunker. When another woman is snatched, Faith and Will realize they're chasing a sadistic serial killer. As the GBI agents try to connect the victims, Sara becomes more involved in the investigation, even as it dredges up painful memories from her past. Slaughter ups the emotional ante with every twist and turn in this disturbing thriller.
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Review

“Powerful and complex…The way Slaughter gradually unspools her fascinating story, all the way up to its shocking conclusion, will have readers captivated. Another fine, dark novel from Slaughter.”—Chicago Sun-Times for Beyond Reach

“[Slaughter's] best yet….Her novels smolder with reality…. She writes with confidence and precision as well as passion”
—Washington Post on Faithless

“Slaughter has the courage to detonate her biggest bombshells early on, keeping even the wariest readers off-balance.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“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 and Mitchell, a pair of complex and deeply flawed heroes, will leave fans clamoring for the next installment.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review for Fractured

“Bone-chilling…Slaughter builds the suspense to a perfect crescendo, connecting every loose plot strand in a devastating and unforgettable climax…A timely and unsettling read.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review for Beyond Reach, named one of Publisher Weekly's Best Books of the Year

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; First Edition edition (July 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385341962
• ISBN-13: 978-0385341967
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #150,552 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Karin Slaughter is a New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author. She is a native of Georgia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sara Linton is back!, July 30, 2009

By 

iGertrude, the Bad Sheriff "Live well, laugh ... (The Wild West) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Undone (Grant County) (Hardcover)

The last novel Sara was in Beyond Reach should have been called Shattered for what it did to the readers-- very few novels have that shocking of an ending. We now know what the writer is capable of -- it was merciful of her not to bring Sara back in the last book. I only opened her last book Fractured reluctantly. A year was not enough to get over it. Apparently Karin Slaughter had not gotten over it yet either, because she sauntered off to a different area of Georgia to reprise the deeply flawed characters of Will Trent and Faith Mitchell from Triptych.

This book, Undone, brings all of these characters together in Atlanta.

Will and Faith are locked in a stormy partnership, part-friendship, part-bickering sibling style. They come to police work from wildly divergent backgrounds, Will after being raised in the orphanage in Georgia, Faith after struggling most of her life after having given birth to a child at the age of 15. Will struggles with dyslexia that makes it virtually impossible for him to read without the aids he has built into his life. Faith works on coming to terms with two heath issues that present themselves immediately in this book: diabetes and pregnancy, which bring her right into Sara's new world, the ER in Grady Hospital in Atlanta. Sara left Grant County when she discovered that she could no longer survive in the places where Jeffrey had ever been.

Karin Slaughter is a master of characterization. This is a description of Will and Faith's boss, Amanda Wagner: "She favored monochromatic power suits with skirts that hit below her knee and stockings that showed off the definition of what Will had to admit were remarkably good calves for a woman he often thought of as the Antichrist."

This book is a thriller to its very core. Karin Slaughter is a master of this genre and brings to her books a gritty realism that is brilliant and earth-shattering.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A mixed blessing ... 3 ½ stars, July 26, 2009

By 

Brian Baker (Santa Clarita, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Undone (Grant County) (Hardcover)

Like many other readers, I was very surprised by the ending of Slaughter's Grant County novel a couple of books back in which a series lead character - Jeffrey Tolliver - was killed, leaving his counterpart Sara Linton a grieving widow.

Well, Sara's back in this novel, along with Slaughter's other parallel series duo from the GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) Will Trent and Faith Mitchell.

I have very mixed feelings about this book, to be honest. I think Slaughter's a tremendously talented writer; I also think it was a very gutsy move in the earlier book to kill off Jeffrey. She probably knew this wouldn't sit well with many of her fans, and judging by that book's review on this site, she was right. But she did it anyway.

I think that's also a very artistic choice, because now we'll never know if a lead character's safe in any book she writes going forward, and that certainly adds dramatic tension to the story. A lead character can actually die... think about that! You KNOW when you read a book featuring Mitch Rapp, Jack Reacher, Lucas Davenport, Harry Bosch, or any of the others that no matter HOW bad the situation is in which they find themselves, they're ultimately going to emerge from the other end alive.

You can't say that any longer about a Slaughter character, can you?

Also on the upside, the plot of this book was very clever and cunningly executed; I was surprised at the denouement. The clues were there, but even though I'm a devotee of this genre, I hadn't figured it out.

However, I do have some nits to pick.

First of all, to set the background, Slaughter writes very strong female characters. Some are appealing, some not. That's fine; no problem. In the Tolliver/Linton series, Sara's appealing, Lena's a pain in the tukus (though I happen to like her). In the GBI series, Faith, Angie and GBI honcho Amanda are all also tough as nails. Actually, I think this gives one some insight into Slaughter's own personality, interestingly enough. Faith and Amanda are both very appealing in their own ways, while Angie's a demon in a dress.

In the Tolliver/Linton series, Jeffrey kept Lena on a strong and short leash, which made for a very interesting dynamic. But in the GBI series, Will Trent is completely p-whipped by Angie. Now, that works for a while, but here's where the problem arises for me.

Trent is already a case of "damaged goods", being dyslexic and emotionally stunted due to his background as an orphanage veteran. To be honest, I have a hard time believing he's as disabled as he is and yet still managed to go through training to become a peace officer - with firearms privileges at that - or even have passed a driving license test. If you can't read, how do you pass the written test for a license?

But even putting that aside, we've now seen him in three books, and his obsession with Evil Angie is starting to become tiresome, to be honest... particularly as it was used in a pretty manipulative and unbelievable fashion to delay the revelation of a vital clue in this story. She's a cop, and would endanger a potential victim just to play mind games with him? And even after that, he wouldn't boot her butt out the door for good?

PUH-LEEZE!

This is the same problem I have with the "Beauty Killer" trilogy by Chelsea Cain. Enough with the total wimpdom of the character, with no progress over a series of books covering an appreciable time frame. In order to stay interesting - and believable - characters have to change over time just like real people do. None of us are frozen in amber.

I, for one, am totally done with Trent's being mesmerized by Angie. Time for him to develop as a character, move forward in some way, either admitting his total vulnerability to her and just giving up, or tossing her completely out of his life.

But something has to change. His unbelievable dyslexia coupled with his whippedness just makes him too static and boring a character to continue unchanged.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, Recommended, July 19, 2009

By 

Joshua Calderhead (Indiana USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Undone (Grant County) (Hardcover)

I am not the type to typically write reviews, but this book was so amazing that I decided I had to write something.

I started this book off after reading a new series of books that had nothing to do with mysteries or crime solving, I was taking a break from this type of book for awhile after finding myself growing tired of them. I decided to read this book after a long wait, because I really was curious to what would happen to Sara.

I was worried I couldn't get into the book, because of growing tired of this genre, but I found myself unable to put the book down after I purchased the book and finished it within days of buying it.

I have read all the Grant County and Will Trent books and I have been looking for to this one for a long time after the big surprise at the end of the last Grant County book.

When I first read she was combining the two series, I have to say I was surprised and not exactly excited with the decision. I didn't think the outcome would be lived up to either series on it's own, but I was actually surprised how it turned out and I found myself enjoying the book more than some of the others in the earlier Grant County series.

I thought Karin Slaughter did a great job of mixing the characters together in a believable fashion and I really felt connected to each one of them.

I do agree that Sara didn't get as many pages in the book as I would have liked her to have, but I don't think that made or broke the book. I keep thinking over and over how she could have gotten more pages and with what happened to her at the end of the last book, I really don't see a way she could have.

I feel Will and Faith brought enlightenment to Sara and hopefully that enlightenment will help her get back to her old life and make her a bigger part of the next book.

As for this book though, I thought Karin Slaughter did a good job of mixing the characters together, it's not always about who gets the biggest part in the book but the ones you found yourself loving and wanting to read more about and I found myself connected the most to Sara.

The mystery or crime in the book that needed to be solved was graphic, but not to graphic and had your heart aching for the victims. I don't want to put any spoilers here, but no matter how the victims acted, you still found yourself mourning for them.

As always the bad guy in the book was someone I didn't expect, yet right there in front of your eyes from the beginning.

I would definitely recommend this book if you have read any of the other books, I have to say I was very surprised by the ending once again like I was with the last book in the Grant County series.

I found myself almost unable to finish the book with the big twist at the end. I will admit I almost cried and any book that brings out such emotion in someone deserves 5 stars.

I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.