Book Review: A Faint Cold Fear (Karin Slaughter)

Plot: 

Sara Linton 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 eager 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. (via Karin Slaugter)

Rating: 7/10 

Well, 2015 is already a highly successful year for me because I’ve finally managed to finish A Faint Cold Fear. This book has probably sat on my bookshelf for the last year, judging me constantly, but I finally picked it up and finished it like it was nobody’s business.

Okay, no for an actual book review and not a brag about HOW I FINISHED THIS MOFO BOOK:

I enjoyed it. It is well written, something I’ve come to expect and enjoy about Slaughter. I never even considered reading material (hint: her name is SLAUGHTER) but my best friend in the universe kept telling me how amazing this woman is and I knew I had to try. This is the third book in the series and you can read the first two here and here.

Slaughter is always highly imaginative in her ways of killing victims. Her killers are ruthless and very insane. I found what happened to Tess so horrible, and eventually for the most insignificant reason, but other than that I found the murdered way tamer than Kisscut and Blindsighted.

Slaughter writes characters that are realistic, so realistic that you may not always like them. There are times that I just want to shake Sarah and Jeffrey so that they can get over their childish bullshit and focus on each other. Jeffrey is too proud and Sarah too stubborn for anything to really work between them in my opinion. Lena makes me want to cry in frustration. I truly get why she is reacting the way she reacts but it feels like you have a friend that is in a toxic phase and you can’t get her out no matter how hard you try.

I do think that there were questions not completely answered at the last final pages – I mean would Jeffrey realistically believe Lena after all she’s been up to? Ethan White clearly needs some help – maybe that comes at a later stage or he becomes a villain again? Was Richard responsible for all those deaths except the one? I was a bit confused for a few seconds, to be perfectly honest.

Overall, A Faint Cold Fear is a good book, but you do need a strong stomach to deal with what goes down.

 

January 14, 2015January 13, 2015 by Natasha Categories: Books, ReviewsTags: A FAint cold fear, Books, Jeffrey Tolliver, Reviews, Sara Linton 6 Comments