Cover image of "Blindsighted" by Karin Slaughter, one of the Grant County thrillers

Karin Slaughter‘s first novel in the Grant County series, Blindsighted, was published in almost 30 languages and made the Crime Writers’ Association’s Dagger Award shortlist for “Best Thriller Debut” of 2001. In addition to the six-book Grant County series of thrillers, Slaughter writes a series featuring Georgia Bureau of Investigation officer Will Trent. That series consists of twelve novels to date. She has also written six standalone crime thrillers, the most recently published of which is due to be published in July 2021.

This post was updated on September 8, 2023.

Blindsighted (2001) —Homophobia, rape, murder in the New South

This heart-stopping novel, the first of the Grant County thrillers, was an international best-seller, and understandably so. It introduced the first of two overlapping casts of fascinating characters that people all the succeeding books. Blindsighted, set in rural Grant County in Southern Georgia, focuses on Dr. Sara Linton, the 30-something town pediatrician and part-time coroner; her ex-husband, Jeffrey Tolliver, who is Chief of Police; and Lena Adams, a young detective . . . Read the full review.

Kisscut (2002) — Criminals abound in Karin Slaughter’s Grant County series

In Kisscut, the second of six novels in Slaughter’s Grant County series, Dr. Sara Linton and her once-and-future husband, Jeffrey Tolliver, come face-to-face with the ugliness of pedophilia and child sexual abuse. Linton is the local pediatrician who moonlights as the county coroner for extra money. Tolliver is chief of police. The two are a good match, both attractive, intelligent, and well-respected by nearly all those around them. Together, Linton and Tolliver top the list of recurring characters in the Grant County thrillers . . . Read the full review.

A Faint Cold Fear (2003) — Violence on the loose in Karin Slaughter’s Grant County series

A student at the technical college in town has been found at the base of a bridge on the edge of the campus, dead from an apparent suicide. When Sara arrives to examine the body with her very pregnant younger sister Tessa along for the ride, the story quickly grows more complicated when Tessa is brutally attacked in the adjoining woods, where she has gone to pee. Is there some connection between the attack and what may or may not be a suicide? . . . Read the full review.

Indelible (2004) — Finally, the Grant County backstory

Indelible takes Dr. Sara Linton and Chief Jeffrey Tolliver back more than a decade to the time before they married. Though the contemporary action is set in Grant County after their divorce, flashbacks to that earlier time are the key to understanding their difficult and complicated relationship, their distinctive personalities, and the action that takes place in the present . . . Read the full review.

Faithless (2005) — In rural Georgia, a gruesome murder and a religious cult

A young woman has been discovered dead in a grave in the woods. She was buried alive, left in a coffin with water, food, and a vertical pipe that allows air to enter. As Jeffrey, Sara, and Lena investigate the peculiar crime, suspicion quickly centers on a religious cult that operates a nearby factory farm . . . Read the full review.

Beyond Reach (2007) — Karin Slaughter’s tale of neo-Nazis and meth in rural Georgia

Detective Lena Adams of the Grant County Police is in trouble again. On a visit to her home town, she witnesses the gruesome murder of a friend on the back seat of a car she has been forced to drive. While sitting in shock near the scene of the murder, she is arrested for the crime. The man who was responsible is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, back in Grant County, Dr. Sara Linton is facing her own brand of trouble. She is facing a malpractice suit by the grief-ridden parents of a young boy whose leukemia had killed him despite all Sara’s efforts . . . Read the full review.

About the author

Photo of Karin Slaughter, author of the Grant County thrillers

Georgia-based crime writer Karin Slaughter (born 1971) founded Save the Libraries, a nonprofit organization through which she has contributed $300,000 to the DeKalb County Public Library in Atlanta. Television series based on her standalone novel Pieces of Her and her Will Trent novels are presently in development.

I’ve also reviewed several of the author’s standalone mysteries. The most recent of these is Girl, Forgotten (Andrea Oliver #2) by Karin Slaughter (Shocks abound in the newest Karin Slaughter thriller).

You’ll also find reviews here of some books in the Will Trent series, including:

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And you can always find my most popular reviews, and the most recent ones, on the Home Page.