I have read many of Karin Slaughter’s full length novels and spotted that she has some ‘straight to ebook’ novella length stories available. I downloaded this and got stuck in straight away. Will Trent is a cop working under-cover but his policing instincts kick in when he’s involved in a store robbery. This has all Karin Slaughter’s trade-marks; an adrenaline inducing vehicle chase, a plot in which people are not what they seem to be on the surface, a dry wit. It’s classic stuff and very enjoyable.A big downside for me, though, was that Busted ended at 61% of the ‘book’. The rest was chapters from a forthcoming Will Trent novel. I feel used! This is cheap advertising and it doesn’t work. I never read disembodied chapters. They spoil the book for me as I’m rarely looking for my next read and prepared to go straight on and buy it. I also will not buy any more of these short books as I don’t wish to find the same disappointment and annoyance there too. It’s not a strategy that works for me and I feel short-changed. I like Karin Slaughter's Will Trent series. Slaughter's novels aren't great literature, but her writing is good, her characters are interesting and she tells a good story. Crime fiction has long been my choice for fluffy, escapist reading and Slaughter is one of the few contemporary American crime fiction writers whose works I enjoy. There's every chance I'll tire of the series at some point - as I have of other crime fiction series - but at the moment I'm a fan. That said, I'm not a fan of this particular work, which is more an advertisement for the next book in the series than anything else. I presume that in the e-book publishing world, a teaser short story or novella with an extract from the next novel in a series is a successful marketing strategy. However, it's a marketing strategy I can live without. Apart from the extraordinary implausibility of the plot, there's nothing inherently wrong with the novella, but I'm cross with myself for having paid to download what is essentially an advertisement. It won't stop me from reading the next novel in the series, but I'm going to resist falling for this strategy again.
What do You think about Busted (Kindle Single) (2013)?
This was a quick read, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the rest of the Will Trent series.
—Fredd
