Karin Slaughter's The Silent Wife - Review

"𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚍𝚘 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚠?" 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎. "𝚆𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎."

~ Karin Slaughter

I had brought this book almost a year ago because I saw this among a few recommendations of good crime fiction - along with My Dark Vanessa and The Woman in the Window. Among the three "spooky" reads I brought, I didn't read any - because mystery, crime, thriller, horror are my less-read genres. Plus, I had just read The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, which was more than enough gore to last a year! I hadn't been able to even write a review for that.

But here I am, trying to describe the way that this book is basically full of various trigger warnings, (TW) some of them include: R@pe, murder, Su!cide, self-harm, mention of paedophilia, torture, stalking, necrophilia and very graphic and gore-y description.

Eight years ago, Grant Country was proud of locking in a psychopath, paedophile, rapist. Eight years later, when Sara Linton, widow of the Grant Country chief, and the GBI agents: Faith Mitchell and Will Trent investigate a prison riot, they find themselves negotiating with the aforementioned rapist. To their utmost surprise, the convict claims he was not the man behind the r@pes which claimed three victims (2 alive, 1 dead) in Grant Country 8 years ago. And he has proof. And when another woman is killed it is on Dr. Sara Linton, her boyfriend Will and the rest of the GBI to establish an MO that will finally lead them to the real killer.

I don't like reading about things like this because - well, this might sound stupid - it's the real world, you know? Things like this actually happen. Just 2 days ago, another deadly r@pe crime in Sakinaka has gripped India with fear. Whatever happened to the victims in the book could easily happen to us - and I am not fond of truth doses like that. I prefer feeling safe by escaping into fantasy. Anyway, moving on to the review.

REVIEW:

I enjoyed the book. Can't say that I exactly loved it - and it isn't the fault of the author, I just can't find myself loving the genre itself. So raw, so heartbreaking and the graphic descriptions kept me awake for 2 days. I applaud the author's correctness in all the medical terms, though. I even checked in with my doctor cousin and damn, that is some brutal truth I didn't think I would ever want to know. So I am just warning you again, that this book is not for the faint-hearted.

Coming to the characters, I confess this was my very first Karin Slaughter book and after completing the book I realised it was the last one in the Will Trent series. 🤣 Anyways, I loved the partner-chemistry Will Trent and Faith had. Faith was easily the character I liked the most. She was so sassy, yet so compassionate. She and Will's conversations were always funny to me. Take this one for instance:

(Faith) "...Oh - Princess Bride. Westley was only mostly dead. Turn up here."

(Will) "As you wish."

The Princess Bride reference made me snort! As I said, their partner-chemistry is awesome. Then comes Sara Linton. Honestly, I thought of her as a bit stupid for idolizing her ex-husband who used to cheat on her with multiple women. But then again, in death, many people seem nicer than they were in real life. I liked how Sara and Will's relationship grew along with the book, it was clear how much they cared for each other - FORGET TOLLIVER GIRL! That was what I wanted to scream at Sara at times.

To be very honest, I guessed who the killer was on Page 289 and I was delighted to find out I was correct. (Some lawyer amirite) Then it all made sense. The Silent Wife has a serial rapist who might just put Ted Bundy to shame - and I know what I am talking about. I liked the book because it made me feel like I was solving a case - I have never annotated a book as much as I did to this one before! I am in a crime fiction mood currently, so let's see what I read next!

Thin Bookish Girl's rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐🌠 (4.5/5)

©All pictures belong to Ananya Annapurna/@demidork._