Already one of the world’s most popular thriller writers, with her page-turning tales published in 120 countries, Atlanta author Karin Slaughter’s audience looks set to grow further thanks to the Netflix series ‘Pieces of Her’, based on a Slaughter novel about a young woman who suddenly discovers her suburban mum has a very dangerous past.

Now, the story of Andrea ‘Andy’ Oliver and her mother, Laura, (played by Australian actor Toni Collette in the Netflix series) continues in Slaughter’s latest novel. Andrea is now a newly minted Deputy US Marshall, having just completed her training. Her first assignment is to protect federal judge Esther Vaughn, a Reagan appointee who has been getting death threats. At the same time, Andrea is given a secret mission to solve the 40-year-old murder of the judge’s pregnant teenage daughter, Emily.

Slaughter keeps the revs high as Andrea has to sink or swim in her new role, coming up against many obstacles as she has to try to protect the judge and solve a beyond-cold case murder that hits very close to home and where memories, prejudices, and outright lies provide plenty of fogginess. There are some outstanding supporting characters, such as Andrea’s new mentor Catfish Bible, and Slaughter offers readers more insights into the Oliver’s complicated relationship and past. A very good read.

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karin Slaughter burst onto the crime writing scene with her fi rst novel, Blindsighted, which was shortlisted by the Crime Writers’ Association’s Dagger Award in 2001 for Best Thriller Debut. Now with sales of over 40 million copies of her books sold around the world, like Harlan Coben, her books are being turned into series for television. Her standalone book, Pieces of Her, has been released on Netfl ix as a limited series starring Toni Colle e. Her ‘Grant County’ and ‘Will Trent’ series are set for the small screen in the future.

Karin Slaughter is a big supporter of libraries, being the founder of Save the Libraries project which aims to cement the view of libraries being not a luxury, but a necessity.