A Faint Cold Fear (Hardcover)

by Karin Slaughter (Author) "Sara Linton stared at the entrance to the Dairy Queen, watching her very pregnant sister walk out with a cup of chocolate-covered ice cream in..." (more)
Key Phrases: rape kit, tox screen, Andy Rosen, Ellen Schaffer, Jill Rosen (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In the coldly captivating tradition of Cornwell and Reichs, Slaughter (Blindsighted; Kisscut) returns to Grant County, Ga., to offer a third installment in the adventures of smalltown pediatrician and part-time medical examiner Sara Linton. Called in to investigate the apparent suicide of a male Grant Tech student, Sara brings along her pregnant sister, Tessa, who wanders away from the scene and is brutally attacked. The distraught Sara must work side by side with her ex-husband, Det. Jeffrey Tolliver, whom she loves despite his past infidelity, but it's Lena Adams, formerly a cop and now a campus security guard, whose story the novel follows most closely. Still mourning the murder of her sister and recovering from her own torture and rape by the same man, Lena is looked on with suspicion by her ex-boss, Jeffrey. With reason: she's hiding a few key facts. The dead boy's mother is her therapist and Lena is involved with an abusive young man with a shady past. Campus gossip Richard Carter further confuses investigators; meanwhile, police discover the bodies of two more students, their deaths potentially suicides but more likely murder. Slaughter provides grisly variations on the themes of sibling rivalry, sexual abuse and campus politics in a story not for the faint of heart. Readers who can stomach gruesome details and like fitting together multiple stories of physical and psychological abuse will savor the way Slaughter can evoke sympathy for perverse, even criminal, behavior by tracing its origins, and those who make it through the complexities and the gore will be rewarded with a satisfyingly chilling ending.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Slaughter returns with the third riveting entry in her Grant County series, in which her lead characters seem to suffer as much as the victims of the horrific crimes they investigate. County coroner Sara Linton arrives at a crime scene with her sister in tow. She consults with her ex-husband, Detective Jeffrey Tolliver, and Lena Adams, a former policewoman who jumped ship rather than undergo psychological counseling and is now employed as part of the security force for the local college. Within minutes, they determine that the victim jumped off a bridge and had recently slashed his wrists and undergone genital piercing. But their investigation is interrupted by a devastating discovery--Sara's heavily pregnant sister has been stabbed. Jeffrey, Sara, and Lena join forces to determine whether the events are related, but their work is fraught with interpersonal difficulties, and their small town, once a safe haven, starts to seem like a claustrophobic and terrifying place. Slaughter knows how to ratchet up the psychological tension in a compelling plot with an unexpected twist. And Lena is a fascinating character, in thrall to a dark compulsion to play out her fears in unnerving sex games. Chilling and addictive reading. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1st edition (September 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688174582
• ISBN-13: 978-0688174583
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #188,947 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OUTSTANDING FOLLOW-UP, September 25, 2003

By	avidbookreader "avidbookreader.com" (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This is the third installment in Slaughter's Grant County series featuring Sara Linton. The story moves at a fast pace, never letting you go. A page-turner. If characterization and realistic dialogue are key to what you enjoy most out of your fiction, Slaughter is the author for you to try. I found her first book engrossing and her second book was a page-turner. The third is no different. She is an author to watch. I find her style unique and original. She is one of the few authors that I anticipate a new novel from and buy & read without reading reviews.

She is not overrated as some reviewers have stated. I find her voice refreshing and yes, the violence level was extremely high in this book but overall, it did not shadow my enjoyment whatsoever. Lena's still struggling to find peace within herself and might have stepped over the line in this installment. She meets her match in Ethan, who seems to identify with her on some level that only the two of them understand. The friendship and respect between Jeffrey Tolliver and Lena Adams is stretched thin here stemming from events from the previous installment and in this book as well. At times it was exhausting to see Lena's struggle to find herself, to come to grips with her past. Sara Linton and her ex-husband, Jeff Toliver are still together and might even be thinking of marriage again. Their romance is nice.

If this is your first time hearing of Karin Slaughter, this is not the book to start with and I recommend that you read them in order to get a better feel for the atmosphere, the characters. I am amazed that a few reviewers who posted seemed to think that the characters are unlikable. I don't agree. Slaughter is only one of the few writers who puts out thrillers with the emphasis on her characters. She gets great endorsements from authors I've enjoyed and respected like Michael Connelly who I just discovered this year and love.

My grade was an A. Outstanding follow-up to last year's KISSCUT and I look forward to INDELIBLE. If I had any problems with this installment---it was the violence. It was excessive and often I wondered if the author was trying to see how much she could gross us out as there were quite a few gross out moments. Overall, great book Ms. Slaughter. The series is very well written thus far. I only hope that the violence level is toned down in future books. Thank You.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intricate Web Of Deceit........., May 4, 2005

By	jeanne-scott (Asan, Guam) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

When a story begins with two sisters, Sara and Tessa, going for ice cream to the Dairy Queen, don't be misled that this book will be different from Karin Slaughter's previous tales!!
A Faint Cold Fear is another story centering on Sara Linton, a practicing pediatrician and also the town's Medical Examiner, as well as the ex-wife of Jeffrey Tolliver, the Chief of Police.
When questions are raised over a death that looked like an obvious suicide and when someone close to Sara is attacked, you know that the mystery is only beginning. A second suicide/murder (?!?) leads into an intricate web of deceit.
Along with the investigation, Sara's relationship with Jeffrey becomes more defined, even as an old boyfriend of Sara's pops back into the picture.
Lena Adams is now working security for the local college, no longer an investigator for the Police Dept. Lena's dysfunctional life places her squarely in the center of a major murder investigation.....and only a few people will see the whole picture.
New unsettling characters are introduced into this series!!
Murder is not a pretty picture. Karin Slaughter writes with a vivid pen revealing the gravity and despair that surround the victims and their families and the graphic details that bring a horrifying reality to the crimes. Don't expect her to pull her punches!!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter, May 26, 2005

By	Christy T. French "author" (Powell, TN, author, "The Bodyguard") - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Faint Cold Fear (Grant County) (Mass Market Paperback)

As a mystery writer, I've heard the name Karin Slaughter many times, but never found the time to read her series. I went at this backward - started with this one first - and fell in love with Ms. Slaughter's writing right away.

Sara Linton, pediatrician and part-time medical examiner in Heartsdale, Georgia, is a wonderful character. Although betrayed by her former husband, Jeffrey Tolliver, the Chief of Police, as medical examiner, she must work closely with him. In this book, she and Jeffrey seem to be moving toward one another and a possible reconciliation while trying to solve suspicious suicides at nearby Grant College.

The pace of the book is excellent, the story intriguing. The twist at the end was unexpected and a real thrill. In essence, this was one book I did not want to put aside. If I could have, I would have read it through in one sitting.