Karin Slaughter writes disturbing psychological thrillers, of which The Kept Woman is a good example.

Karin Slaughter writes disturbing psychological thrillers that invariably feature strong female characters, complex criminal behavior, and a sometimes cringeworthy level of violence. Her work includes two series of mystery novels and several critically acclaimed standalone thrillers. Slaughter is one of America’s best-selling authors in the genre.

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

The Kept Woman is the tenth novel in Slaughter’s series featuring dyslexic Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Once again, she has brought Will together with Dr. Sara Linton, the pediatrician and pathologist who is the protagonist of the earlier Grant County series. Linton had moved to Atlanta after the death of her husband in Grant County. She recently signed on with the GBI as a coroner. And now she and Trent are lovers.

The case that draws both Trent and Linton into a deeply unsettling investigation involves two top stars in the NBA, their unscrupulous agent, two crooked cops, a thug from Boston, Trent and Linton’s boss at the GBI, and Angie Polaski. Of all these characters, Polaski is the most disturbing. She has been the bane of Will’s existence since he was eleven years old. They’ve been married for many years, although Polaski only occasionally drops back into Will’s life to cause more trouble. They’d met in an orphanage. “Kids like that didn’t live the lives they wanted,” Slaughter writes. “They survived the lives they had.” The troubling relationship between Will and Angie is the central thread in the novel. And that helps make this one of the most distressing books I’ve read in recent years.

The Kept Woman (Will Trent #10) by Karin Slaughter (2016) 485 pages ★★★★☆

For related reading

I’ve read and reviewed a great many of Karin Slaughter‘s novels. You might check out Karin Slaughter’s well-crafted series of Grant County thrillers, which includes capsule reviews (and links to the full reviews) of the six books in that series. You’ll find my reviews of other Will Trent novels and of some of Slaughter’s standalone thrillers by typing her name into the search box in the upper left-hand corner of this site’s home page.

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