The Silent Wife: A Novel

Karin Slaughter

Aug 2020 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

WATCH WILL TRENT ON ABC!

“If you’re into mystery thrillers, then you’re into Karin Slaughter.” —THESKIMM

He watches. He waits. He takes. Who will be next . . .

THE SILENT WIFE

Investigating the killing of a prisoner during a riot inside a state penitentiary, GBI investigator Will Trent is confronted with disturbing information. One of the inmates claims that he is innocent of a brutal attack for which he has always been the prime suspect. The man insists that he was framed by a corrupt law enforcement team led by Jeffrey Tolliver and that the real culprit is still out there—a serial killer who has systematically been preying on women across the state for years. If Will reopens the investigation and implicates the dead police officer with a hero’s reputation of wrongdoing, the opportunistic convict is willing to provide the information GBI needs about the riot murder.

Only days ago, another young woman was viciously murdered in a state park in northern Georgia. Is it a fluke, or could there be a serial killer on the loose?

As Will Trent digs into both crimes it becomes clear that he must solve the cold case in order to find the answer. Yet nearly a decade has passed—time for memories to fade, witnesses to vanish, evidence to disappear, and lies to become truth. But Will can’t crack either mystery without the help of the one person he doesn’t want involved: his girlfriend and Jeffrey Tolliver’s widow, medical examiner Sara Linton.

When the past and present begin to collide, Will realizes that everything he values is at stake . . .

Ratings and reviews

I absolutely loved The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter. Karin Slaughter has once again shown that she is a master storyteller. The Silent Wife is the tenth book in the Will Trent series and this one is my favorite book in the series. The Silent Wife is the story of Sara Linton, medical examiner and Will Trent, an investigator with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI). The Silent Wife takes places in current day Atlanta and eight years ago in Grant County. After a murder takes place at the local prison, an inmate, Daryl Nesbitt, tells Will and Faith Mitchell, his partner that he was proof that the murders that he is suspected of committing eight years ago are still occurring in other areas in Georgia. I loved that flashback scenes from eight years ago, because I have always loved Jeffrey Tolliver. I enjoyed reading the history about what happened between Sara and Jeffrey that lead to their divorce. I loved all the interactions between Sara and Jeffrey. The GBI investigates the cases that Daryl had given them and have concluded the similarities between a current case and those committed eight years ago. All the deaths were listed as accidental deaths. Sara retrieves Jeffrey's notebooks hoping to find a clue. Sara and Will are having some issues with their relationship, Sara did not like the way Will asked her to marry him. Sara's memories of Jeffrey and the Grant County victims, is adding additional tension to their relationship. I love how the title to The Silent Wife is incorporated into the story. I was totally surprised by the identity of the serial rapist/murderer. Would never have guessed his identify until his first victim's remembers a detail from the of her attack and a statement made by the guilty party. The Silent Wife is filled with all the characters that I have grown to love and all the bittersweet and poignant moments as well as the surprise plot twists that I have come to love and expect in Karin Slaughter's books. The Silent Wife did not disappoint. I loved the surprise between Sara and Will, but my favorite part was the Author's Note and all the details and spoilers that Karin Slaughter shared. I especially loved her remark about Jeffrey and Will. Another incredible Karin Slaughter book.

Karin Slaughter is a well-established and highly respected force in the thriller genre for good reason. Her releases are predictably well-crafted, and her characters are engaging and fully fleshed. Her most recent novel, The Silent Wife is the tenth in a series that revisits the GBI in Atlanta with investigator Will Trent. In this outing, Trent is brought in to advise on a killing in the local prison. One of the prisoners claims to have information that he wants to trade in order to get his own case re-opened. With outside help, the inmate has been collecting articles about recent rapes and murders that resemble ones that he was suspected of committing. Trent is forced to re-examine the Caterino case, an assault that was reportedly botched by the original officers. One of those accused of incompetence is the deceased Chief of Police from a nearby town. Unfortunately, this man also happens to be the former husband of Sara, Will’s current girlfriend with whom he is having issues. Since Sara worked as part of the medical examiner’s team for Caterino’s case, the couple needs to work closely to look for any current connections despite their difficulties. The book spends a good deal of time delving into their romantic entanglement, and the delicate matters of jealousy and bereavement. Sara is also deeply affected by an undisclosed victim who survived a vicious attack from the same perpetrator, but who did not come forward at the time. Her own trauma history informs her decision to respect the girl’s privacy despite urgently needing her recollections to tie the serial cases together. The Silent Wife travels back and forth between the two time periods, essentially resurrecting the Chief character of Jeffrey Tolliver. His role in the mismanagement of past reverberates to the present, and his protection of his officers at the time likely led to continued attacks. Slaughter manages to describe Tolliver’s fatal flaws in ways that retain empathy for the man despite highlighting the damage resulting from his errors. The novel has a satisfying conclusion that draws logically from earlier hints in the plot but remains unpredictable and surprising. In this accomplished writer’s hands, The Silent Wife maintains a nice balance between a gripping page-turner and a deep exploration of beloved characters. It is a work that is sure to please Slaughter’s many ardent fans anxiously awaiting the next Will Trent installment. Thanks to the author, HarperCollins and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

'The Silent Wife' is the tenth book in the Will Trent series by internationally bestselling author, Karin Slaughter, slated for release on August 4th, 2020. Her previous novel, 'The Last Widow,' was a #1 Sunday Times bestseller. She's sold over 35 million copies across 120 countries worldwide.. and believe it or not, this is the first of them I've read. You have to forgive me, her first novel was being published in 2001.. at a time things in my life were getting just a bit wild. That only really began to come to a halt last year and now I'm just getting to a lot of great authors who were breaking at a time reading was just not happening. That being said, I've heard a ton of praise for her work and she absolutely lives up to the hype. The story follows Will Trent, a GBI investigator with demons of his own to wrangle, as he ends up at a state prison to look into a murder that occurs there during a riot. While he and his co-workers are beginning to piece together what might have happened and who may have been involved, another prisoner reaches out with information to trade. Claiming his innocence, the prisoner offers them a plethora of details in exchange for his request that they investigate a death that seems to mimic one he was accused of eight years earlier. He insists that the young woman who was brutally attacked and left for dead is the work of another and that he believes he has proof the attacker is still active. Slaughter's pacing is superb. She does a wonderful job of shifting between non-linear timelines and multiple narrators, giving the reader both the backstory and the current lay of the land simultaneously. Both timelines move with a steady, parallel rhythm that continues forward smoothly. Transitions are seamless, characters have their own distinct voices, and they're all fascinating in their own right. I definitely have a soft spot for characters like Will and I can see why he'd be part of a series with such longevity. I'm certainly interested in going back and reading some of the other titles. His childhood was rough and his relationships as an adult have mostly been toxic too. It's easy to see how badly he could have turned out, if not for second chances and a grim determination to make something of himself. He's still a little broken.. and he's not the only one. His girlfriend Sara has had some tough moments too. She didn't get the difficult start Will did, but there's absolutely a point in her life where everything changed for her.. and those changes have affected her daily life in long term ways. Through it all, she remains compassionate and incredibly likeable. None of Slaughter's characters are infallible. In fact, most of them feel very real. I found myself comparing them to people I know. Some of them try the reader's patience far more than others, however, and I had several theories as I made my way through this book. Ultimately, I enjoyed every step of the journey. I'm pretty solidly versed in procedural information and she still pulled out a few things I'd never heard before. There may be some triggers here if you're sensitive to violence. The assaults are vicious. The premeditation and methodology are the stuff of nightmares. But wow, what a read. If you want to pick up an intriguing mystery/suspense novel that will hold your interest all the way through, 'The Silent Wife' is a good choice. (More reviews like this at Betwixt The Sheets.) (I received this title as an ARC. All opinions are mine and freely given.)

About the author

Karin Slaughter is one of the world’s most popular storytellers. She is the author of more than twenty instant New York Times bestselling novels, including the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and standalone novels The Good Daughter and Pretty Girls. An international bestseller, Slaughter is published in 120 countries with more than 40 million copies sold across the globe. Pieces of Her is a #1 Netflix original series, Will Trent is a television series starring Ramón Rodríguez on ABC, and further projects are in development for television. Karin Slaughter is the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programming. A native of Georgia, she lives in Atlanta.