Blindsighted

Rating:
Summary: Crapfest
Review: I found this book bothersome because it relies on sensationalized violence to grip its readers over smart plotting or interesting characters. Do we really need to read about a killer raping wounds or knocking out the front teeth of his victims to enhance his sexual gratification? This level of detail would be acceptable if it were an integral part of the plot or characters. While it's predictable who the killer is and how he is going to die, his motivations come out of left field, rendering all the detective work of the protagonists moot.

I'm not a prude, but it just seems that Slaughter had an agenda to out-gruesome Thomas Harris. She succeeded.

Rating:
Summary: A "No Putting Downer"
Review: This was a wonderful book. It grabbed me from start to finish and kept me guessing. It had a great story line and characters were well developed.

I enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it to others. Plan to be glued to it and not want to put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Bloody well Done!
Review: This book is the first novel that Ms. Karin Slaughter had written, but it has a level of character development, tension, and plot that can be found in seasoned writers' work. This novel is one gripping read. I am pleased with the level of skill that this novel was written with. Having finished this book, I have her second one "KissCut" on order. I have a feeling that Karin Slaughter will soon rank up there with big names like Cornwell, Patterson, Iles, Deaver, and Koontz. She is that good! Amazing actually.
This novel starts with the action from the get-go, and it doesnt release you until the last page...and even that will leave you hungering for more. Her characters are beleivable, and the struggles/obstacles that they face only make them more so. I am most impressed with her level of suspense and plot within this book. The culprit isnt readily apparent, and some false leads are thrown into the mix...making you think one thing...only to be surprised by the opposite. Great novel! I reccomend this book to those that are a fan of Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta books, and those that also like the Lincoln Rhyme series done by Jeffery Deaver. This novel is great, and if it is any indication of future releases, Ms. Slaughter will soon become a regular on the bestseller lists.

Rating:
Summary: 3.5 stars
Review: Even though I picked out the killer before it was shown to the readers I still thought this book was good. It had to be, because half of me wanted to stop reading it and the other half couldn't let it go. I took an early lunch today so I could finish it. After finishing the book I felt as if something had been missing in it, but I can't figure out what it was. I would recommend this author, but I don't consider Blindsighted a keeper.

Rating:
Summary: Pure satisfaction
Review: Both Blindsighted and the author's other released book, Kisscut, are outstanding reads in every way: complex, intelligent, vulnerable yet strong characters; unique, terrifying storylines; great pacing. I really think Slaughter is up there with the exceptional authors in this genre: Harris, Cornwell, Pearson. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Exciting Debut
Review: First-timer Slaughter lives up to her name in this graphically violent thriller. Ms. Slaughter has all the dexterity of a seasoned pro in fast pacing, good characterization and a fine sense of place in sleepy Heartsdale, Georgia.

"Blindsighted" opens with peditrician/cororner Sara Linton meeting her sister for lunch in a local diner. In the restroom, Sara discovers hideously butchered Sibyl Adams, a young, blind professor at the college. The quiet little town is rocked by the mindless violence of the crime. Racial lines that have been quiescent for thirty years come into play. Police chief Jeffery Tolliver, Sara's ex-husband, believes a local person who had detailed knowledge of the victim's habits must have committed the crime. To ratchet up the horror quotient, Lena Adams, Tolliver's lead detective, is the victim's twin sister.

I cannot say enough good about the never faltering pace of this novel. Ms. Slaughter is right up there with Greg Iles in creating a fascinating plot matched by a relentless drive that keeps the reader mesmerized. My only criticism of the plot is the premature disclosure of the killer. I think Ms. Slaughter could have kept us guessing for quite a few more pages. The characters are well drawn, particularly Lena, the grief stricken detective. I hope that Sara Linton is less internalized in the future. Her ambivalence toward her ex-husband gets exasperating, and one hopes she does not take the same road as Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta who began life as a tough dedicated professional and veered off into a mass of neuroses. Either Ms. Slaughter is going to have to make Chief Tolliver a lot less lovable, loyal and faithful, or this reader will conclude Dr. Sara has a screw loose for keeping him dangling.

If the graphic gore is not a stumbling block, this is a book not to be missed.
-sweetmolly-Amazon.com Reviewer

Rating:
Summary: Great first book--
Review: Even though this is not Karin's first book, it is the first one published. It's a great way to start a series...and I hear that she's planning on at least 5 books with these characters. There are a few loose ends, and I am sure they'll be resolved in the next book.

Rating:
Summary: Great late-night reading
Review: I picked up Blindsighted on a whim. The cover blurbs sounded interesting, and I love to read a good, gory, mystery. This one does not disappoint.

Karin Slaughter--a wonderful name for a crime/mystery writer--sets her novel in a small town in Georgia. Nothing much happens in Heartsdale, and the local pediatrician, Sara Linton, also works as the coroner. Sara meets her younger sister for lunch at the local diner one afternoon and stumbles upon a grisly scene. The twin sister of a local detective has been viciously attacked, mutilated, and raped. It's not long before another victim surfaces, and Sara works along with her ex-husband who also happens to be the Chief of Police to try to track down this sick killer. All the while, Sara has her own tortured past as well as her strained relationship with her ex-husband to deal with. In this small town where everyone knows everyone else, who could possibly be the twisted rapist murderer?

Slaughter seems to have done her research for this novel. The medical information alone is quite interesting, and the dialogue and characters are believable. The plot is a bit easy to figure out early on in the novel, but I think it's probably pretty difficult to write a totally original novel dealing with serial killers in this day and age. Overall, I enjoyed the story. It's well written, and it's a quick read that's perfect for the summer.

Rating:
Summary: An Author with Potential
Review: I love to read and spend way too much money on books monthly. My personal policy is not to spend money on a hardback by a new writer. I usually wait for paperback. Well, occasionally I gamble and break that policy hoping I won't get burnt. Thank goodness with Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter I didn't get burnt and now I have a promising author to add to my list of must read.

The first thing I found fascinating about Blindsighted was the realization the entire book was going to take place within a week. Secondly I loved the characters of Sara Linton, a pediatrician and part-time coroner, and her ex-husband Police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver. This is a couple who still belong together but can't seem to work through mistakes in their past.

A vicious rape takes place resulting in the death of Sibyl Adams, a local college professor who happens to be blind. Add to the suspense is she is the sister of Lena Adams, one of Jeffrey's detectives. The rapist carved a cross across her stomach. Then a college girl goes missing. When found, another religious symbolism is apparent. Who is committing these horrendous crimes and why is he targeting the small town of Heartsdale, Georgia?

Blindsighted is well written, fast-paced, with plenty of action and character development. For me, the descriptions of the assaults were too graphic, but it hit home how gruesome these crimes were. Probably the only complaint I had was it was a little too apparent who the bad guy was going to be. It's my understanding there will be another book featuring these lead characters. Well, put me on the list as someone who will be out there buying the next one by Karin Slaughter.

Rating:
Summary: Strange Synchronicities
Review: WARNING: I am discussing the similarities between two books, and thus am giving away major plot details. Please do not read this if you like your mysteries to remain mysterious.

I read. A lot. And while Foucault and Habermas languish on my shelves, I go to the library and scoop up anything new they have (easy to do because with the budget cuts, there's like 2 new books a week). So last week I got maybe 7 books out, read them in random order. So one day I read this book described as a medical thriller: The Surgeon by Tess Gerritson. Incredibly graphic, gory, and disturbing. So the next day I read a book described more as a small-town whodunnit: Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter. Incredibly graphic, gory, and disturbing. But as I'm reading the second book, I'm completely having a twilight zone experience. The only explanation I can think of for the similarities between the novels is that they were each loosely based on the same true events. But web searching turned up no originating crime. The synchronicity of me happening to pick up the books and read them back-to-back, at random, I have no explanation for. I suppose if you got all New Age, you could say I drew this certain, very specific energy into my life.

Both novels feature a serial rapist who tortures his victims. Both novels' heroines are women doctors who have a secret. Both themselves are rape victims who have totally uprooted their lives and started anew. Both woman end up treating the victims of the serial rapist/killer. It soon becomes apparant that the rapist intends this to happen, in fact knows a great deal about the doctor's schedule, about forensics, and is leaving little clues for her that refer back to her own rape. She, in fact, is the real target. Both novels mysteries bring the investigating hero to Atlanta, specifically to Emory University Medical Center. Both novels feature an obstreperous woman cop with a chip on her shoulder, abrasive and impulsive. In both, this woman cop makes a huge mistake in policework that jeopoardizes both the investigation and her career. Both perpetrators end up not being the doctor's original rapist, but an acquaintance from her past, a man who desperately wanted to be a doctor but had to settle for being a lab technician. Both novels climax in an abduction/torture/rape scene in a deserted house attic/basement. In one, it is the woman doctor who is in peril and the disgraced woman cop who saves her; in the other it is the cop who's the captive and the doctor who saves her. This is all so improbably coincidental, the level of graphic violence so outre, especially for woman writers (which is why I love Nicci French so much; she can write about similar subject matter without adopting the male-gaze conventional titillation and objectification; she writes feminist thrillers), that if I were one of the authors I'd suspect the other of having stolen an early draft of my book. The publishers are Ballantine and Morrow. Are they aware of this bizarre echoing? Are the authors? The jacket flaps are spun so differently you'd never know.