A Faint Cold Fear

By: Karin Slaughter

Narrated by: Kathleen Early

Gillian Flynn says, "Karin Slaughter is simply one of the best thriller writers working today."

An apparent student suicide has brought medical examiner Sara Linton to the local college campus, along with her ex-husband, police chief Jeffrey Tolliver. But a horribly mutilated corpse yields up few answers. And a suspicious rash of subsequent "suicides" suggests that a different kind of terror is stalking the youth of Heartsdale, Georgia - a nightmare that is coming to prey on Sara Linton's loved ones.

A small town is being transformed into a killing ground. And the key to a sadistic murderer's motive and identity may be held in the unsteady hands of a campus security guard - a former police detective driven from the force by the hellish memories that will never leave her. Lena Adams survived the unthinkable and has paid a devastating price. Now the survival of future victims may depend upon her - when she can barely protect herself.

©2003 Karin Slaughter (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers

Some things left unfinished

A lot of reviews mentioned that the book was primarily about Lena Adams, but that wasn’t entirely true. Slaughter does seem to attempt to help Lena process her trauma, which I think previous reviewers have neglected to notice. One of the things about trauma like Lena’s is that it doesn’t just go away when other people think it should. Yes., she is self destructive, but only because prior to the rape she didn’t/couldn’t understand why anyone would continue to have lasting grief over a sexual assault. The truth is Lena is changing/learning gradually how to cope. As for the book, it’s not the best, I hate what happens to Tessa, but I think part of Slaughters success in thrillers is that no character is immune to the horrors of what could happen. One review even mentioned that they hated how main characters always ended up victims in Slaughters’ books. My response to that...no one is immune to something just because you may wish they were. I didn’t love this, but it has its place.

Another Dark & Gritty Slaughter Masterpiece!

The third installment in the Grant County series, A Faint Cold Fear, does not disappoint! It begins with the murder of a college student on the local college campus that at first appears to be a suicide. Summoned to the scene, Sara feels things look a bit off. While they are combing the crime scene, another horrific crime occurs that hits too close to home. The repercussions of this will damage her burgeoning relationship with Jeffrey as well as with her family.

Lena Adams, former police detective, is now a campus security guard and on the sidelines of the case infuriating Jeffrey, who has not forgiven her for leaving the force. Lena is her usual angry and disruptive self, but she wants to earn her way back by solving the case. Unfortunately, she is still in a vulnerable place from earlier tragedies and most likely suffering from PTSD and related mental health issues. Lena is more likely to need rescuing herself than to be of any meaningful help.

More questionable suicides follow, and the race is on to find the brutal killer. As usual, this book was a nice mix of dark, gritty crime, brilliant detective work, and ongoing relationship issues. In other words, it was an excellent read. I listened to this via Audible, and once again, the narrator, Kathleen Early, did an exceptional job. I gave it four stars.

Another great book!

I've enjoyed every book by Karin Slaughter that I've read so far except "Necessary Women ". She's an exceptional writer and I am very impressed with the many different topics that she comes up with.

Keep it up!

Incredible

Karin is an amazing author!!! She keeps you hanging on the edge of your seat!!!

Very good book

This was a very enticing book. Kept you reading . Only problem is, I do not like cliffhangers

Great story!

I’m addicted to this series. Very suspenseful and well written, there’s a surprise around every corner….

kept me vested

I liked this story. I enjoyed the plot twists. overall, a good listen. need to finish the rest of the books in the series to give a more accurate review.

Another page turner!

Enjoyed the book however it was not one of my favorites by Karin Slaughter. Needs a bit more character development but that may be coming in subsequent books.

Leena

What a great story; I enjoyed all the twists and turns of the story; Kathleen does such a great job of explaining everything; I loved all of it so much.

Good story but an annoying flaw

The story was good and held my interest but she kept calling a Remington 870 a rifle. It is a pump action shotgun!