I was initially disappointed with this book. The first couple of chapters had that sort of clumsy and obvious Romance trope of two lovers who had ended things badly but still longed for one another, and I really dislike Romance genre mixed into my mystery-thriller genre. But before long I was thoroughly engrossed in the story and the characters, so much so that I couldn't muster more than an occasional eye-roll for the terribly implausible medical stuff. 

It was good! It kept me on the edge of my seat to the very end, even though the plot twist wasn't very twisty. I'm sorry, I realize I'm not making this book sound very good, and objectively I guess there was a lot to complain about, but the author's strength as a storyteller somehow overcomes all those things. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. 

Audiobook via Audible, read by Kathleen Early. She's read almost all the other Slaughter books I've listened to, and I've enjoyed her performances, but for some reason she seemed a little stilted on this one. But I did like it! I don't know why. 

by Karin Slaughter

This started out sounding like something you would find under 'Womens Fiction' and I wondered if I had made a mistake. Andrea had chased her glamorous dreams to New York City and failed, winding up waiting tables. When her mother telephoned her with disturbing news, she leaves New York without looking back to go home to small town Georgia and help her mother through a fight with breast cancer.

After taking a job fielding 911 calls for the emergency services, her life looks very ordinary and at a dead end. However, when a crisis situation arises, some real drama enters the story and by the end of the first chapter, Andrea finds out there are aspects of her mother that she's never known and the story becomes very interesting indeed!

This is a Mystery story. I didn't like Andrea because she just freezes up in situations when a stronger person would react and she makes some seriously stupid decisions, like just kill her now and put her out of all of our misery stupid. The other female characters were also either pathetic or psychotic, yet for the most part it worked in the story. Paula got on my nerves pretty quick, not least of all because she reminds me of someone I met once, and Jane was too much like Andrea. To be fair, the male characters were mostly unpleasant as well, apart from Gordon, her step-father.

All this adds up to a pretty twisted situation that begins to get explained about a third through. There's a time flashback that takes us out of Andrea's story and gives us the background behind her mother's actions. Then it moves forward again to resolve the situation she manages to get herself into.

The characters do develop and the reason they had to be so weak becomes essential to the plot, so they're forgiven. I actually enjoyed the story quite a lot, despite the weaknesses in the main characters. I would read something else by this author.

Interesting premise of a cleaning job and lifting weigh in gold. 

Will is investigating an old case and Reacher is a suspect. A man was injured many years ago and now dead, changing the case from assault to murder. 

As I have read almost all the Jack Reacher stories, he is about doing what's right. 

The Jack Reacher is as expected, the other part, not so much. Will is not memorable guy. So when it comes to them discovered some dirty military personnel, they team up to try to get the truth. And they did. 

Some actions ensured as Jack Reacher is involved. And then it is over. This is a short book for a team up. Still enjoyable. 

Reading this for Genre: Suspense square. 

Jack Reacher and Will Trent

Twice the action
Twice the drama
Double the trouble

Will Trent is undercover at Fort Knox. His assignment: to investigate a twenty-two-year-old murder. His suspect's name: Jack Reacher.

Jack Reacher is in Fort Knox on his own mission: to bring down a dangerous criminal ring operating at the heart of America's military. Except now Will Trent is on the scene.

But there's a bigger conspiracy at play - one that neither the special agent nor the ex-military cop could have anticipated. And the only option is for Jack Reacher and Will Trent to team up and play nicely. If they can...

My take: I never read any Jack Reacher books but I am a big fan of Slaughter's Will Trent series. This was a let down. Too much machoism going on too and I am not really into that. The audio made it worse. The second narrator had no difference in his voice between the two leads so Will and Jack sounded exactly the same which made it hard to figure out who was talking. Was not impressed. :( 

Using this for Murder Most Foul. 

As this prequel novella tells the story of the missing girl from Slaughter’s excellent novel, “Pretty Girls”, it really should be read second. It’s compelling, and suspenseful, and especially poignant knowing how everything ends for her in the novel. But it also went on far too long. It should have been a short story, rather than a novella.

Audiobook, borrowed from my public library via Overdrive. Excellent performance by Kathleen Early, the same narrator that reads “Pretty Girls”.