Review: A Faint Cold Fear:

A Faint Cold Fear: by Karin Slaughter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I fear I’m about to enter a Karin Slaughter slump. I’ve been playing catch up, working through her Grant County series, and have reached the end of the few I have sitting at my bedside. I want to carry on so badly, but before I can do such a thing I need to do some ordering of books. Of course, we all saw this coming.
 
I’m terrible when it comes to reading series in the correct order, at least when it comes to crime thrillers, and my biggest mistake probably sits with Karin Slaughter’s work.

Those people who have been fans of Karin Slaughter from the very start say to read her books in order. Unfortunately, I ignored this advice. No, not ignored – I was ignorant of this advice. I jumped on the Karin Slaughter bandwagon extremely late (read ‘over ten years late’). When I found Unseen and Fallen in a cheap combo pack in a store, I picked them up and decided to read them. At this point in time, I was oblivious to how they were parts of a series. It became obvious extremely quickly – yet I was able to enjoy them without the other books. Nevertheless, I went out and brought the other Will Trent books. I tried to read them all in order, but it didn’t go as planned. I was so excited to find out more about the characters that I read the books as I received them, not caring that the order was all wrong. Despite this, I really enjoyed them. Upon finishing, I told myself I would get hold of her Grant County series. I needed to know what came before Will Trent.

Then came Cop Town and Pretty Girls. I got distracted by the two of these and the Grant County series got pushed down my to-read list. Then The Kept Woman was announced. By this point, I’d managed to find the first couple of Grant County books going cheap in the second-hand university bookstore. I told myself I would read them prior to the release of the eighth Will Trent book… Only NetGalley got in the way. I was accepted to read the book, and I jumped right in. I told myself, upon finishing it, that I had to read the Grant County series. I couldn’t put it off any longer.

Thus, I jumped in.

I was pulled in from book one, but not as much as I had been with the Will Trent series. By the end of book two, I’d concluded that I wasn’t as in love with this series as I am the Will Trent series. Whilst this remains true after the third book, the gap is slowly being bridged. I still stand by the statement I made with Kisscut – that your first love will probably be your bigger love when it comes to Slaughter’s two series – but I cannot deny that both series are wonderful reads.
 
As always, Slaughter delivers all you could hope for in a great thriller read. Of the first three Grant County books, this one is certainly my favourite. It has everything that Slaughter has to offer in abundance. A dark storyline, filled with twists and turns to connect everything together, leaving us questioning everyone and everything throughout. It is classic Slaughter. It is exactly what you expect of the woman. If you’re a fan of the series, you will not be disappointed with this read.
 
I really need to get my hands on the next books. Even though I know how things end due to having read the Will Trent books (see, reading her releases in order is beneficial), I still want to read the specifics. No, not want, need. I need to read the specifics, and I need to read them soon.

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