Indelible by Karin Slaughter Series: Grant County #4
Published: 27 September 2005
Genre: Crime
Pages: 400
Format: eBook
Rating:
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 ...
Indelible is somewhat of a departure from the previous books in the Grant County series but it is a welcome change as Slaughter delves deeper into Jeffrey’s background. Sara and Jeffrey’s relationship is a complicated one as they divorced prior to the first novel as Jeffrey had been unfaithful, however neither have been able to completely let go. Over the course of the previous three novels, the couple have started dating again, although it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing. At the start of Indelible, Sara reveals Jeffrey wishes them to marry again but her reluctance has driven a wedge between them.
The events related in the past go a long way to explaining who Jeffrey is as a man and why he does a lot of the things he does. The son of an alcoholic mother and an abusive jailbird father, Jeffrey has remarkably been able to make something of his life but part of him still doesn’t really believe he deserves the things he has achieved and is waiting for the other shoe to drop. The people in Jeffrey’s hometown seem to have a very low opinion of him and are quick to lay the blame for almost everything at his feet. However, Jeffrey and his friends do have a dark secret, long buried, which is about to be blown wide open and will jeopardise their futures.
While the story in the past seems unconnected to what is going on with the hostage situation, it eventually becomes apparent they are connected as Slaughter skilfully weaves both plots together. I think this is also the book where I fell completely in love with Jeffrey because he’s overcome so much to become the good man he is today, even though he isn’t perfect and still makes stupid mistakes.
