I loved this book! Everything that Karin Slaughter writes is amazing. Even though this is the fifth book in her Grant County series, each book can stand alone. The chief of police, Jeffery Tolliver, and his ex wife, Sara Linton are trying to rekindle their relationship. When an innocent walk around the lake behind their house sends their professional as well as their personal lives spinning. On this walk Jeffery confesses to Sara that he might be sick. Several years earlier he had an affair which led to their divorce. Now it seems that affair, is coming back to haunt them, again.As Sara is trying to walk away from Jeffery, they stumble onto a pipe sticking out of the ground in the forest. Realizing what it might be they frantically start to dig. They find the body of a young girl, who has died in the box. She was left with food and water, but did not survive.When a missing persons report comes in for a young woman, Jeffery and detective Lena Adams, head out to get more information and possibly inform the family of the found body. The family of the missing girl, Abby, throws Jeffery and Lena a bit off kilter. They are a very religious family. They own a large farm where soy beans are grown, and the men and women working the farm, are all people in need of help. Drug addicts, alcoholics, and the homeless who just need a hand up. The women are very subservient, and refer to the men to answer all questions. All this being said, they seem to be a very strong, stable, loving family. Who have just lost one of their own.When Abby's younger sister, Becca, also goes missing, Jeffery starts to take a much closer look at the girls family. Starting with the reverend, and head of the family Lev. As it turns out, Sara may have her own connection to this strange family. One her mother is very reluctant to talk about.This book also has a small sub-plot about a young woman from the town, who Lena saw at a clinic in Atlanta. They were both their taking care of a problem neither one could handle. Both Terri and Lena are living with extremely abusive partners. And Terri is hiding more than her abusive husband, she is also connected to Abby's family. At the conclusion of the book, Lena makes a decision that will help her to get out of her abusive relationship. I have never been a big fan of her, but, in true Lena fashion, she makes a move that will have dire consequences down the road. (This is not my first time reading this series. I won't say more, as not to give anything away). But it is worth reading the rest of the series to find out what happens. :)
Jeffrey and Sara stumble upon a box buried in the woods with a metal pipe attached. When they unearth the box, they discover a young girl has died after being buried alive in it. Jeffrey is a detective and Sara is the county medical examiner (and a pediatrician). Thus their investigation ensues to determine the identity of the girl, how she ended up in the box and who buried her in the woods. The girl is identified as Abigail Bennett, a member of the Church for the Greater Good (established by her grandfather, Thomas Ward). Abigail's family also runs and works at the Holy Grown soybean cooperative and many of the workers are ex-cons and vagrants. Abigail was a good girl who loved the church and rarely left the farm or so her parents think. As Jeffery (and Sara) learn more about Abigail's life (including the fact that she was pregnant), the list of possible murder suspects gets longer. Spoilers follow.Normally, I like this type of book and I have no problems with the main story line in this one. However, there are way too many long detours off the main path. Rest stops along the way are okay, appreciated in fact. But these are "where were we and how do we steer back to the main story?". Jeffrey and Sara are divorced but seeing each other again. Jeffrey might have contracted hepatitis during an affair before they divorced. Lena (one of Jeffrey's detectives) has an abusive boyfriend (recently out of jail on parole), lives with her dead twin sister's girlfriend and has just had an abortion when she is called back to help with the investigation. Sara's mother had an affair before Sarah was born with the man who established the church. The church is now led by the man's son, Lev and Sara notices that she has the same hair and eyes as Lev causing her to wonder about her mother's long-ago affair. All of this is enough to deter me from reading any of the author's other books.
What do You think about Faithless (2006)?
The 5th book in Slaughter's Grant County series and I can say that I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Probably because this story isn't filled with wasted page upon page of the main characters, Sara and Jeffrey, bickering unnecessarily about how screwed up their relationship is (although the beginning does have a medical scare that Jeffrey brings up having to do with the affair he had 5 years previously, causing me to say "here we go again", but it turns out to be a minor part of the story). Instead, we are treated to a pretty well thought out mystery involving girls buried alive, religious cults, and spousal abuse. Oh, and if you like your endings to books filled with rainbows and kittens, don't read this one. Things never seem to end happily in Grant County, but now I have to go and read #6 in the series and I have a bad feeling about that one.
—Felts
Dr. Sara Linton and Police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver are carrying a lot of emotional baggage. These ex-spouses work together in solving crimes--mostly gory, brutal, unspeakable crimes. The latest is a young girl found buried, presumably, alive. There's a pipe protruding from her burial place which should have provided air, but an autopsy reveals that the young girl who happens to be a member of a religious cult did not suffocate but was killed by cyanide, which was poured down the breathing tube. Further investigation reveals that the cult welcomes ex-cons who apparently haven't been rehabilitated. This book is not for the weak of heart. There are very graphic descriptions of murder victims. There is a subplot on domestic violence which is very revealing and it may be difficult for the reader to comprehend how a seemingly rational woman would allow herself to be continually victimized. The relationship between the Sara and Jeffrey remains unresolved, leaving room for at least a couple more books revolving around the strained relationship between this couple. I enjoy Slaughter's writing style and her willingness to take the reader out of his/her comfort zone while she delivers blow after blow of gut wrenching horrors that humans--in this case--in the name of God--do unto each other.
—(´*•.¸ღBexღ¸.•*´)
I just finished ‘Faithless’ by Karin Slaughter tonight, and I don’t really have a strong feeling of good or bad. There are some good things about this novel and then there are some things that were bad. But funnily enough, this is the first woman writer that I’ve read. I posted about this a while back, and I have to say, contrary to popular belief, the gender of the writer doesn’t stand out much.‘Faithless’ is set in Slaughter’s imaginary, Grant Country where a grisly murder has been discovered by the police chief and her coroner girlfriend. They are then led to a church in a remote area where secrets are kept until the gripping climax where the truth is revealed to everyone.One of the main qualms I had was with balance of plot and sub-plot. The story is meant to be about a murder and finding out who did it, but it is very disconcerting when the writer spends lengthy amounts of time talking about the relationship between two of the main characters. This even came to the point where it took the bang out of the ending.But the crime scenes were great, they really engaged you and there were a lot of tension and a mass of twists. Slaughter proves herself as a great mystery writer with the way the plot reveals itself throughout the story. Though, part of it is undone in the ending.As I said, the sub-plot did a lot of that, but also pieces were not cleared up and the meat of the ending ended before the last chapter. The last chapter alluded to something beyond the last page. And even though it was sub-plot and you knew what was going to happen, I wanted to read it, and I couldn’t, seeing she left out that bit.Overall, good read, good writing, though the sub-plot tends to feature too much.http://www.benjaminsolah.com/blog/?p=223
—Benjamin Solah
