“From the No.1 bestselling author comes a gripping new crime thriller featuring Will Trent and Sara Linton

It begins with an abduction. The routine of a family shopping trip is shattered when Michelle Spivey is snatched as she leaves the mall with her young daughter. The police search for her, her partner pleads for her release, but in the end…they find nothing. It’s as if she disappeared into thin air.

A month later, on a sleepy Sunday afternoon, medical examiner Sara Linton is at lunch with her boyfriend Will Trent, an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. But the serenity of the summer’s day is broken by the wail of sirens.

Sara and Will are trained to help in an emergency. Their jobs – their vocations – mean that they run towards a crisis, not away from it. But on this one terrible day that instinct betrays them both. Within hours the situation has spiralled out of control; Sara is taken prisoner; Will is forced undercover. And the fallout will lead them into the Appalachian mountains, to the terrible truth about what really happened to Michelle, and to a remote compound where a radical group has murder in mind…”

Welcome to the blog today and to my review of The Last Widow by the absolutely brilliant Karin Slaughter.  I received a free copy of The Last Widow via The Pigeonhole which I read in short sharp staves over the course of a week.  This is my second experience of reading a book via this particular provider and this time around I absolutely loved it.

It’s been a long time since I last read about regular Slaughter characters Sara Linton and Will Trent.  A loooong time.  I had the pleasure of reading one of Slaughter’s standalone novels earlier this year and it blew my mind.  I mentioned in that review how I used to be quite the Karin Slaughter fan and would ensure I read each and every new release as it hit the shelves.  And then I lost track of where I was.  And I haven’t read any of either series since.  So imagine my surprise when I discovered Sara Linton and Will Trent are now a couple! This is all kinds of marvellous for me, my first big ‘oh wow’ moment in this book (there were many, many more to come!).

This is one of the most gripping books I have read in a long time.  A brilliantly plotted and sublimely tense read! As I neared the end of the novel my heart rate had increased and I was on the very edge of my seat.  The Last Widow is impossible to put down so spare a thought for me as my copy arrived in daily staves from The Pigeonhole…gah!  I was both glad that I wasn’t able to rush this brilliant book and able to savour every word but I also found the waiting (seems I am not a patient person!) quite frustrating.  Nothing else happened in my house until I had sat down each morning with my coffee and read each day’s instalment.

Trouble seems to follow Will Trent and Sara Linton.  When explosions are heard in the direction of the local hospitals, Will and Sara rush to see what has happened and if they can help.  Will is a Special Agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Sara is a Paediatrician and Medical Examiner, so they’re exactly the right type of people for such a situation.  Along the way, they come across a road traffic accident.  Sara senses that something isn’t right.  The injuries suffered by some of the victims are more severe than she would expect from a small scale RTA.  Sara’s instinct proves correct and she is kidnapped at gunpoint before Will can stop them.  Will Will be able to save Sara before the unthinkable happens and at what cost?

When you first start this book you have no idea what sort of ride you’re going to be taken on or even what to expect.  All I’ll say is get comfy and buckle your seatbelt as it’s gonna get bumpy! Sara and Will are thrown head first into the darkest reaches of humanity, layer upon layer of the worst humankind has to offer, which can make for uncomfortable reading at times.  The author builds the story in the most marvellous way and I was completely entranced by Slaughter’s writing and her characters, as well as frequently appalled too.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, I would. This is another strong contender for my ‘books of 2019’ list (the way things are going it’s going to be my FIFTY books of the year!).  So brilliantly gripping, so wonderfully visual and I want to read the next Will Trent and Sara Linton novel NOW.  I loved this book.  A must-read for crime thriller fans! Highly recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of The Last Widow via The Pigeonhole.  The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

The Last Widow by Karin Slaughter was published in the UK by HarperCollins and is available in hardcover, audio and eBook formats (please note, some of the following links are affiliate links which mean I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | amazon.com | Waterstones | BookDepository | Goodreads |

Karin Slaughter is one of the world’s most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 37 languages, with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her eighteen novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and the instant New York Times bestselling novels Pretty Girls and The Good Daughter. A native of Georgia, Karin currently lives in Atlanta. Her novels Cop Town, The Good Daughter, and Pieces of Her are all in development for film and television.

Author Links: | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Website |

Author photo and bio © https://www.karinslaughter.com/