Criminal

Nurture. Fans of crime novels will be entertained by the grisly acts and diligent detection in Karin Slaughter’s novel, Criminal. Slaughter fans will enjoy the backstory of recurring protagonists Amanda Wagner and Will Trent as the novelist uses what happened in 1974 as an explanation of the present action. The result is two novels for the price of one. Trent’s anxiety that the genes inherited from his father might be too powerful of an evil force in his life becomes assuaged by the realization of how much his mentor nurtured him. It takes Slaughter over 400 pages to lay out all the plot threads from the past and present, and at times I found the level of exposition slowed down the novel too much for my taste. Readers who like character-driven crime novels are those most likely to enjoy this one. Rating: Three-star (Recommended) Click here to purchase Criminal from amazon.com.