Monday, August 15, 2011

Fallen; Karin Slaughter


Title: Fallen
Author:  Karin Slaughter
Publication Year: 2011
Publisher: AudioGo
Edition: audio book 
Reader: Shannon Cochran (very good)
Source: Amazon Vine
Date Completed: 8/13/2011 
Setting: Georgia
Rating: 4/5
Recommend: yes

Fallen, is an action packed thriller featuring Special Agent, Faith Mitchell of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. The audio book, read by Shannon Cochran, opens with a frightening scene that pulled me in early on, and lovers of crime thrillers will most likely be pleased.

Faith's newborn daughter Emma is being cared for by Faith's mother, Evelyn, a former Atlanta police chief. Evelyn was forced into early retirement after corruption in her narcotics unit was discovered.  When Faith finds herself running late to pick up the baby, she tries calling her mother, but there is no answer after several attempts to make contact.  Faith's mind starts to wander first, being logical about when her mother and the baby might be, but then she starts to panic.

When she arrives at her mother's house, there is blood at the door steps, her baby is inside of the shed (but unharmed), she calls for backup.  Upon entering the house one man is dead, a confrontation with two others ensues, the house has been ransacked and her mother is nowhere in sight.  What happens next will prove to be Faith's worst nightmare.  Not only is her mother missing, but Faith's actions are questioned as a result of what occurred at her mother's home.

Will Trent, Faith's partner, is determined to help her find her mother, and to get to the bottom of why her mother was targeted.  Was it something related to what happened while she was police chief, or was something else going on?

Karin Slaughter does a great job with character development. Her characters are fully explored, and readers of her two earlier novels in this series: Undone and Broken, will see that secrets about the key characters pasts are fully explored. The details are revealed in such a way that I found even the most flawed characters seemed all the more sympathetic, with the exception of Will's wife, who was so unlikeable, that I wished her out of the story permanently.  In the end, it seemed pretty likely that another book in this series might follow.  Could you read this book without reading the other two? Yes, but in my opinion you will get a better feel for the characters if you were introduced to them beginning with Undone, and get to see how each character has evolved.  I thought this novel made for a very good listening experience.

11 comments:

  1. I just won this on audio and didn't realize it's part of a series. I'll have to look for the other books.

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  2. Re Will's wife: I know! I feel like Karin Slaughter fans should start a club: Fans Who Want to Kill Off Angie!

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  3. Wow! Those are strong female characters roles and the story promises lots of thrilling sequences. I'll if my book shop carries this book. :D

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  4. As a HUGE Slaughter fan, I would agree that you could read any of them as a standalone but...I really recommend someone read them in order.
    I had read the first...and then skipped ahead...and I missed a lot of the character development.
    I also agree she does flawed characters so well...yes, except Will's on/off wife.

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  5. I am listening to this on audio right now and it's pretty good so far. I haven't listened to any of the others in the series, but am not finding it hard to keep up at all.

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  6. I'll read anything Karin Slaughter writes. I think she's great at creating characters and stories.

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  7. I reviewed Undone a year or so ago and thought it was great although a bit graphically violent but I was very caugt up in the story and loved her writing. I'm happy to read how much you enjoyed Fallen. I'm thinking it might be fun and definitely a different experience for me to listen to this one. I really liked both Faith and Will and their relationship...I completely agree about Will's wife..how & why he married her mystifies me no matter what the reasons/excuses are!
    Great review, Diane!

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  8. I love Slaughter. She has been a favorite of mine for years. I didn't love the narrator, but thought she did a good job.

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  9. I just got Blindsighted from the library based on your recommendation, but I hope like Slaughter as much as you do!

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  10. I just received the audio in the mail, but haven't rad the first two. Now I think I might have to.

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  11. I keep hearing that this author is worth reading. Thanks for the advice on starting from the beginning of the series.

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