Skin Privilege

Whew! I finally got around to finishing the Grant County series. This last entry had much less Sara than I wanted, but it makes sense that Lena and Jeffery get more of the shine. If I could describe the book in two words, I would choose panic-inducing. It's not so much the mystery aspect that is pretty easy to figure out from the get-go; it's the classic Karen Slaughter downtrodden character arcs. Just when you think someone cannot suffer enough, more terse and unrelenting catastrophes are thrown their way.

The story is simple. A car is found engulfed in flames on the 50-yard line at the local high school. Lena, our tortured police detective, is involved, but she is not talking about the victim, who was trapped inside the vehicle. Jeffery and Sara come to the rescue. From here, we follow the investigation to the thrilling end. The pages flew by, and it touches on all the necessary small town happenings to the thrilling conclusion. It's not complex, but it's not supposed to be. We get to be a fly on the wall as certain character arcs end. Saying more would be a spoiler.

Overall, the series was exciting. It's incredibly dark and unsettling, but that's sort of Karen's brand of writing. I'd probably recommend starting with some of her stand alone novels (looking at you, The Good Daughter), but if you are in the mood for a police procedural with tortured characters that are injected into uncouth situations, this series is for you.

Question to anyone who has read the Will Trent series: Does it pick up after this and carry on? I feel like if I Google the information, it will spoil things.