Book review: We Are All Guilty Here

We Are All Guilty Here

Karin Slaughter

HarperCollins

Review: Lauren O’Connor-May

Just when I decide that I may not be able to forgive Karin Slaughter for not writing about my book boyfriend, Will Trent, ever again, she pulls out a masterpiece like this.

The twists, turns and surprises in this book never end, and the story made my jaw drop right up until the last page.

This novel, which launches a new North Falls series, centres around Emmy Lou Clifton, the sheriff’s daughter in a small fictional town. Two teen girls are kidnapped, one of whom is the daughter of Emmy’s best friend, and as police race to find them, Emmy’s friendship and marriage spiral apart.

Twelve years later, the man arrested for Madison’s kidnapping is released from jail due to new evidence, which makes the town a hotbed of animosity between those convinced of his innocence and those who are baying for his blood. When another girl is kidnapped under similar circumstances as before, a powder keg of emotions goes off outside his house, and Emmy and her father suffer the biggest brunt of it.

This, in turn, draws out long-buried skeletons, but not the ones the reader or the main characters are expecting.

Slaughter’s books are mostly centred around law enforcement leads, and in every one of her novels that I’ve read so far, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and FBI almost always also make an appearance. 

Every time the GBI was mentioned, my heart leapt in the hopes of seeing Will again, but I will not divulge if Slaughter treats us to a cameo. 

This book will give Slaughter fans more of the same mildly gory, drama-fueled, twisty storytelling that we've been spoiled with before.