Indelible by Karin Slaughter
Series: Grant County #4
Published by Random House on February 7, 2011
Narrator: Deborah Hazlett
Length: 11 hours and 34 minutes
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 445
Format: Audiobook
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When medical examiner Sara Linton and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver take a trip away from the small town of Heartsdale, it should be a straightforward weekend at the beach. But they decide to take a detour via Jeffrey's hometown and things go violently wrong when Jeffrey's best friend Robert shoots dead an intruder who breaks into his home. Jeffrey and Sara are first on the scene and Jeffrey's keen to clear his friend's name, but for Sara things aren't so simple. And when Jeffrey appears to change the crime scene, Sara no longer knows who to trust.

Twelve years later, Sara and Jeffrey are caught up in a shockingly brutal attack which threatens to destroy both their lives. But they're not random victims. They've been targeted. And it seems the past is catching up with both of them...

I am a huge fan of Karin Slaughter, I only discovered her books last year and I’m now trying to work my way through her backlog. This book is the 4th in her Grant County series. These generally aren’t books for the faint hearted but this one was pretty tame compared to all of the previous books by Slaughter that I’ve read.

Much of the story in this book takes part in the past, and you’re actually hard pressed to call it action. It’s providing a lot of backstory around Sara and Jeffrey’s relationship. The exploits of the past are very relevant to the present storyline but I felt they were very drawn out. There isn’t a great deal of anything happening, although we do have a better understanding of the nature of Sara and Jeffrey’s relationship at the end of it and an appreciation of how they’ve got to the point that they’re currently at.

I did much prefer the present story line where the the police station is under siege by two gunmen, who are the gunmen and why are they out to kill police officers – particularly Jeffrey? The clues are in the parallel story line of the past.

Karin Slaughter has said that because this is the Sara and Jeffrey origin story that it is possible to read this book before the other three, however, I have to respectfully disagree. While the majority of the story line will work well this way however, Lena is returning to work today and I think in order for you to understand her actions and reactions to the current situation, you need to understand her back story and what she’s been through.

One area where I did struggle quite a lot is the homophobia. I know this was written 10 years ago and the story line featuring homophobia was set 12 years prior to that but there were times when I was screaming at the book for such backwards thinking. The sensible part of me is saying I know that this thinking does still exist in some places in the present day, it’s just not as prevalent as it was then and although Sara and Jeffrey were not part of the homophobia it still stuck in my throat. I think I’ve become so used to the Schitt’s Creek was of thinking whereby your sexuality is just accepted, that anything other than this is just hard to comprehend.

I’m hoping to buddy read the next book in the series, look out for reviews from myself and Charlie at Read, Watch and Drink Coffee