Loved it, no one is surprised. Karin Slaughter is my favorite thriller author and this book didn't disappoint.

After reading so much of her backlist (I've read everything except the Grant County series at this point), it was really interesting to read her debut. It's obvious that her writing was a little rougher, but you'd expect anyone to improve after doing something for another twenty years. It wasn't bad by any means, just cool to see her growth.

I always love her characters, they're definitely the highlight of these books. I love the small town and the relationships that are built outside of the individual cases. I love the different perspectives. I love how brutal she's willing to go with her writing (and this book was extra brutal, so just a warning). I love everything.

The mystery was fine. I like the crimes in her books okay and there's nothing wrong with them, but they're generally not the reason I love her. I love everything else and the specific plots are just kind of serviceable to showcase her characters and her world.

Highly recommend if you like really brutal crime stories. She's forever one of my favorites.