Sara Linton's back and Slaughter makes up for all the damage that she did with triptych (Skin Privilege - Karin Slaughter)

Member Name: sparkymarky1973

Product:	Skin Privilege - Karin Slaughter
Date:	31/08/07 (468 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Grips you hard and doesn't let go with much emphasis on Lena's past and Sara's one true love

Disadvantages: could this be the last Grant County novel? I certainly hope not......

After the abysmal last book which took us away from Grant County- Triptych? More like craptych- Karin Slaughter sees sense and returns back to the series she does best thankfully not falling into the Patricia Cornwell trap and managing to breathe new life into characters we love instead of making us forget why we liked them to start with. (Kay Scarpetta = Kay Who?)

Starting with a medical malpractice suit being brought against paediatrician Sara Linton (now Tolliver scince she re-married her husband) over her diagnosis of a young child's lukemia, the opening chapters kind of serve the purpose of recapping past events for those who are new to the series or for those who may have forgotten what happened back in the first book. Recalling much of what happened in Blindsighted (so if you are new and intending to read the rest of the series you may not want to start here) the preliminary question and answer session ends unconclusively leaving Sara doubting her medical ability and feeling like an outcast by the way the other locals are treating her.

Hoping to spend some time with her husband then, Sara is a little dismayed when Jeffrey informs her that his long-time friend and colleague, the estranged detective Lena Adams with whom Sara has not always got along, is once again in trouble. This time she is over in the neighbouring town of Reece where she has been arrested on suspicion of torching someone in their car. Following her past history over the last few novels, Jeffrey doesn't feel he can just abandon her and so takes Sara along with him for the ride as they go off in an atempt to piece together the whole story and work out how, if at all, Lena's ex-boyfriend Ethan Greene is involved.

Things become more complicated when Lena escapes from custody; they discover that Lena's uncle, Hank, is using drugs again; that somewhere around Reece there is a big business in Meth being dealt and that an Aryan brotherhood of nazi skinheads are more than just a little bit involved in all thats been going on in and around the town. Add to this the fact that Jeffrey and the local Police Chief struggle to see eye-to-eye and you get a potential explosive powder keg just waiting to go off.

Focusing for the most part on the women of the novel, we get a good,hard look at Lena's past and much of what we know of her and her family is turned on its head both for the reader and for Lena herself; Sara's love and dedication for her husband Jeffrey after all they have been through is also put under the microscope and allthough this is a wee bit tiresome at times it is never enough to truly spoil the novel and is fully justified by the time you get to the end.

Once again Slaughter proves she can spin a complex tale and still manage to successfully pull it all together in the final scenes. If you assume that craptych was no more than a temporary blip, then this is her back writing at her very best. One of the best books she has written since her debut thriller, Blindsighted, it is a real treat to see this very talented crime novellist back where she rightfully deserves to be..... on top-notch form!!

With one of the most dramatic endings she has ever written, it is hard to see where the series will go from here but hopefully she will give the fans what they want and write more novels yet in Grant County as this is where the strength in her writing is strongest.

If you're looking for one of the best female crime writers currently on the market then look no further- Karin Slaughter pulls no punches with this latest installment in what has rightfully become a consistently best-selling series!!!

Summary: Racist Nazi skinheads, drug dealing and small town bigotry all add up to trouble