I better make myself clear. Generally, I think I have spent way too much time over the years reading bad crime novels. This is why I seldom read any now. I have been disappointed too often. But fortunately, there is still crime novel hope which Karin Slaughter’s The Last Widow is proof off. It’s been years since I have read such an excellent crime story.
But I better warn you.
The Last Widow is definitely not for the faint of heart. The plot is dark, violent, and horrible. Moreover, Karen Slaughter’s language is quite explicit. She doesn’t spare you any detail. But are you in for an intelligent, exciting, and alas also realistic plot you mustn’t miss the opportunity of reading this novel.
Karin Slaughter knows her métier and already after a few pages you are totally absorbed.
Michelle Spivey is a scientist at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. She is leaving a shopping mall with her eleven-year-old daughter. Suddenly a van drives up in front of them. In the beginning you think they want the little girl, but no, they want the mother. And from this moment on the reader is blown away. The questions are lining up and nobody seems to be able to answer any of them.
The local police are desperately looking for Michelle Privy but to no avail.
A month later one Sunday afternoon medical examiner Sara Linton and special agent Will Trent at Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) are having lunch. Suddenly they hear a loud explosion and a few seconds after they hear another ear shattering explosion. Two bombs have been detonated in one of the busiest areas in Atlanta. An area where Emory University, two major hospitals, the FBI headquarters and Center for Disease Control and Prevention are located.
The couple hurry off to the scene of the bomb explosions. They are met by the horrifying sight of dead people and numerous injured scattered all over the place. However, the perpetrators are still there. Will shoots at them and is able to kill and wound a couple of them. Will is wounded and gets hospitalized. Sara is amid all the mayhem abducted by the shooters and taken away to an unknown place. Now what? Well, that’s all you’ll get from me now. Sorry!
Karen Slaughter uses the storyteller trick that she changes perspective among some of the different characters in the book. This heightens the suspense throughout the story. Unfortunately, the plot and the themes in the book are not unrealistic. It would probably have been years ago but alas not today.
The Last Widow is a horrible and disgusting novel but also eminently written which makes it a true page turner. This was the first novel I have read by Karen Slaughter but definitely not the last.
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