Cop Town

Karin Slaughter

Century

Random House

ISBN: 9781780890012

 

Description:

Karin Slaughter, author of the New York Times bestselling Will Trent novels, is widely acclaimed as “one of the best crime novelists in America” (The Washington Post). Now she delivers her first stand-alone novel: an epic story of a city in the midst of seismic upheaval, a serial killer targeting cops, and a divided police force tasked with bringing a madman to justice.

 

Atlanta, 1974: As a brutal murder and a furious manhunt rock the city’s police department, Kate Murphy wonders if her first day on the job will also be her last. She’s determined to defy her privileged background by making her own way—wearing a badge and carrying a gun. But for a beautiful young woman, life will be anything but easy in the macho world of the Atlanta PD, where even the female cops have little mercy for rookies. It’s also the worst day possible to start given that a beloved cop has been gunned down, his brothers in blue are out for blood, and the city is on the edge of war.

 

Kate isn’t the only woman on the force who’s feeling the heat. Maggie Lawson followed her uncle and brother into the ranks to prove her worth in their cynical eyes. When she and Kate, her new partner, are pushed out of the citywide search for a cop killer, their fury, pain, and pride finally reach the boiling point. With a killer poised to strike again, they will pursue their own line of investigation, risking everything as they venture into the city’s darkest heart.

 

Relentlessly paced, acutely observed, wickedly funny, and often heartbreaking, Cop Town is Karin Slaughter’s most powerful novel yet—a tour de force of storytelling from our foremost master of character, atmosphere, and suspense.

 

 

My View:

How can I do justice to this work of the crime writing super star that is Karin Slaughter? Once again Ms Slaughter has provided the reader with an entrée, main course and dessert in the one sitting – if you have not eaten your fill of cordon blue crime fiction at the end of this novel I suggest you…are jesting.

 

This is another brilliantly written, evocative, deeply moving and exceptional read from the master of crime fiction – she is so good at her craft she makes writing and reading this seem easy. Well-developed empathetic protagonists and, bad guys – there are many – which you simply abhor. Slaughter captures the flavour of the 70’s and reduces it down to a piquant stock that flavours the entire narrative. The 70’s are a transforming time – not just in Atlanta but all over the world and Slaughter captures it so well.

This is a brilliant standalone novel or perhaps the start of another series? I could easily read more of the Lawson’s story or Kate’s story. Devote an evening to Ms Slaughter’s fare – you will not be sorry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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