Product Description

Sara Linton, medical examiner in the small town of Heartsdale, is called out to an apparent suicide on the local college campus. The mutilated body provides little in the way of clues - and the college authorities are keen to avoid a scandal - but for Sara and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, things don't add up. Two more suspicious suicides follow, and a young woman is brutally attacked. For Sara, the violence strikes far too close to home. And as Jeffrey pursues the sadistic killer, he discovers that ex-police detective Lena Adams, now a security guard on campus, may be in possession of crucial information. But, bruised and angered by her expulsion from the force, Lena seems to be barely capable of protecting herself, let alone saving the next victim...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5169 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 499 pages

From the Publisher
The stunning new thriller from international bestseller Karin Slaughter

About the Author
Karin Slaughter grew up in a small south Georgia town and has been writing short stories and novels since she was a child. She currently resides in Atlanta where she is working on Indelible, the follow-up to A Faint Cold Fear.

Customer Reviews

Pretty Good Read
This is the third novel in the Grant County series. The plot in this one, revolves around the investigation of a number of apparent suicides, in the local university campus.

I felt the storyline was pretty good, if not quite unputdownable. There is quite a bit of a 'whodunnit' about it. I thought the the books main characters of Sara Linton, and Jeffrey Tolliver, along with Lena Adams were quite believeable. The dialogue between them was good, as well. The book is certainly worth a read, if you are interested in the thriller genre.

Defends the need for new books
I started this series with the book next in line "Indelible". By chance I found this one in the library. Boy was it ever worth the read.

My favorite character is Lena. She is one complicated lady. Her prior history sure makes life difficult for her and she makes a couple of really bad choices, the main one being Ethan. God, what a "horrible little man" he is.

Sara and Jeffrey's thing is OK, but kind of overdone. I can't put my finger on it, but when they go into their "our relationship" mode, I just want them to get over it.

The crime itself was exciting. What a messed up person. Real life probably wouldn't be any different.

The ending was excellent - probably the best part of the book. I love it when authors do stuff like that - fun, fun, fun.

Go get this book or borrow it or anything. Just read it. You might even enjoy it yourself.

Not perfect but not awful
I like Karin Slaughters books but am slowly starting to wonder just how many issues the main characters can possibly be afflicted with? With very installment Sara, Jeffrey or Lena is landed with yet another flaw to add to their bow and I just don't know how long Slaughter can keep going with this particular plan. It works to a degree as with every book we're given a little more insight into the characters but I sometimes feel the rest of the story suffers slightly. Yes `A Faint Cold Fear' will still keep you intrigued but you may come away from it feeling like the characters were over-analysed and the story was somewhat brushed over. Tess Gerritsen is a shining example of how to balance character development and storyline into a winning mix. I think at the moment Karin Slaughter has it 70:30 in the character / story stakes and for me it needs a bit more balance to grip me. While I never felt the pace in this book was bombing along like early Patricia Cornwell novels I did enjoy the twists and turns and for that reason I'll be coming back for more.