The Kept Woman (Will Trent Series #8)

by Karin Slaughter Narrated by Kathleen Early

Overview

It's the most dangerous case of Will Trent's career. He knows this from the moment he sets foot in the abandoned Atlanta warehouse where a body lies on the floor-the body of an ex-cop. Bloody footprints leading away from the scene reveal that another victim, evidently a woman, was carried away ... and has vanished into thin air. And, worst of all, the warehouse belongs to the city's biggest and most high-profile athlete-a local hero protected by the world's most expensive lawyers. A hero married to Will's ex-wife. A hero whom Will's superiors at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation have spent the last six months investigating for rape.

But for Will-and also for Sara Linton, the GBI's newest medical examiner-the case is about to get even worse. Because an unexpected discovery at the scene reveals a personal link to Will's troubled past ... and the consequences will wreak havoc on his life and the lives of those he loves, those he works with, and those he pursues.

Relentlessly suspenseful and furiously paced, peopled with characters who leap from the page, The Kept Woman marks Karin Slaughter's triumphant return to her most popular series.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

07/25/2016
Dale Harding, the murder victim at the center of bestseller Slaughter’s exciting if flawed sixth novel starring Will Trent and Dr. Sara Linton (after 2013’s Unseen), was a retired (and dirty) Atlanta cop. Harding’s body turns up in a nightclub belonging to a celebrity athlete who recently beat a rape charge in a case handled by Will, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agent. A gun at the crime scene ties the whole mess to Angie Polaski, Will’s dangerously off-kilter wife, who frequently leaves him for long periods but always returns. Further complications follow after Sara, Will’s current girlfriend, who’s now a GBI medical examiner, tells him that Harding wasn’t the only one who suffered—and bled a lot—in the club. The case becomes almost too large for Slaughter to contain, which could explain her choice to rely on an awkward extended flashback sequence, but she mostly manages to wrangle this installment into an intense look at the nature of loss and control, and how love can taint both. Five-city author tour. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Associates. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

Exciting...an intense look at the nature of loss and control, and how love can taint both.” — Publishers Weekly

“Suspense that continually ratchets upward, a revealing look at domestic violence in all levels of society, and the continued development of a tight-knit cast of characters. This is prime Slaughter, must-read fare for thriller fans.” — Booklist (starred review)

“A thriller that’s part ‘True Detective,’ part ‘The Girl On The Train.’ All parts gripping.” — The Skimm

The Skimm

A thriller that’s part ‘True Detective,’ part ‘The Girl On The Train.’ All parts gripping.

Booklist (starred review)

Suspense that continually ratchets upward, a revealing look at domestic violence in all levels of society, and the continued development of a tight-knit cast of characters. This is prime Slaughter, must-read fare for thriller fans.

Library Journal

★ 08/01/2016
After a stand-alone title (Pretty Girls), Slaughter returns with a new Will Trent thriller. As the book opens Will is just coming off a failed attempt at getting a conviction in the case of basketball superstar Marcus Rippy, who was acquitted of rape charges. Now he's called out to investigate the death of Dale Harding, whose body was discovered at an abandoned construction site. Dale was a retired, and reportedly dirty, cop, which is complication No. 1. Complication No. 2 is the site itself. The construction of this nightclub was halted because the owner, Rippy, was on trial for rape. And complication No. 3: Dale may not have been the only victim. The blood and other evidence at the scene suggests the presence of a woman, who may be mortally injured and personally connected to Will. VERDICT Slaughter excels at complications—both for her characters and in the mysteries they're investigating. This is a page-turner, of course, but it's also a multilayered exploration of choices and consequences and the lasting effects of damage done. [See Prepub Alert, 3/7/16]—Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI

OCTOBER 2016 - AudioFile

Will Trent is back, and narrator Kathleen Early delivers the Georgia investigator and series regulars with every one of Karin Slaughter’s convoluted plot twists and emotional complexities in place. Nightclub owner and All-Star basketball player Marcus Rippy has already been acquitted of one rape when he’s accused of another. An unstable, estranged wife who won’t leave him alone, the gruesome murder of a dirty cop, and a new boss who’s out to get him are only a few of the complications Will faces as this thriller unfolds. Early is especially effective in the lengthy flashback explaining the events that occurred in the week before the murder. As she keeps the characters real and the tension high, she never misses the nuances packed into this clever, gripping mystery. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2016-07-03
After two intense stand-alones (Pretty Girls, 2015, etc.), Slaughter brings back the regulars whose personal problems are just as dark, urgent, and potentially violent as those of the criminals they investigate.In the two weeks since medical examiner Dr. Sara Linton joined her lover, agent Will Trent, on the payroll of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, everything’s been fine, except of course for Will’s uneasy sense that Angie Polaski, the long-estranged wife he just can’t get around to divorcing, will never let him alone. How right he is. A Glock found near the scene of a grisly murder is quickly traced to Angie. Now Amanda Wagner, the GBI deputy director who mercilessly rides Will and his partner, Faith Mitchell, wants to know what Angie had to do with the death of Dale Harding, a thoroughly miserable human being who was a detective with the Atlanta PD. The case is already a minefield: the murder scene, drenched in blood that isn’t Harding’s, is the construction site of the All Star, a nightclub owned by basketball star Marcus Rippy, who’s well-known to Will as the man who raped Keisha Miscavage and, thanks to his feral manager, Kip Kilpatrick, and an army of lawyers, walked away two weeks ago without so much as a summons. The forensic evidence indicates that at least one other person was seriously wounded at the murder scene before vanishing. Forget about indicting Rippy for the crime; Will would be lucky to interview him. Just when it seems that Will’s ties to the case couldn’t become more fraught, Slaughter interrupts the action for a hundred-page flashback to the week before the killing. Things get clearer but no less tense.Middling for a matchless series (Unseen, 2013, etc.) in which, just as in grand opera, nothing ordinary ever happens.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169635409
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	09/20/2016
Series:	Will Trent Series
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	373,816

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