The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter

Good morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC blog tour for Karin Slaughter's latest, The Kept Woman.

Will Trent's morning is about to get ugly. He and partner Faith have been called to the scene of a murder - an ex-cop's murder to be more specific. The scene: the currently-at-a-standstill construction site that is to be a star basketball player's future night club. Said basketball player's club has been held up thanks to Trent's most recent case, pursuing allegations this player raped and assaulted a woman at a New Year's party held in his own home. And yet the amount of money and lawyers on the side of the player have almost permanently squashed any validity on the victim's part. 

The case is a literal mess from the start. The empty building is full of evidence, most of it likely unconnected considering it appears to have become a den for junkies as well as a hang out for Atlanta's homeless. And while there's plenty of blood on the scene, it seems very little of it is from the victim. But when a gun found nearby traces back to Trent's own wife, things get really messy.

This latest in the Will Trent series is TWISTED! I've read enough of Slaughter's work that I should expect that by now, but that doesn't mean I was in any way prepared for the surprises The Kept Woman kept throwing out.

Fortunately, for me and any other readers who may be reading Slaughter out of order, The Kept Woman does work fairly well as a stand alone. I'm certain there are details about Will's background and relationships with coworkers and significant others that would be beneficial to know, but I was comfortable enough with the amount of history that was laid out in this particular installment that I never felt like I was wandering lost in the wilderness of the tale with no idea what was going on.

Will and his wife have, apparently, a complicated history. They're split and Will is involved with another woman (has been for quite some time) but they're not officially divorced - in spite of Will's efforts. And as it turns out, Angie (the wife) has been keeping tabs on Will in a way that definitely disturbs his current GF Sara.

From the start, the investigation splits in two directions: the discovered victim and Angie. The ex-cop, dirty by all accounts, had been selling himself as a PI with possible connections to the building's owners. But digging into the victim's history leads to a rabbit hole of bizarre and disturbing information. Meanwhile, Angie is deemed to have been injured quite badly (based on the amount of blood at the scene) that she couldn't possibly survive for long. And yet, there's one key piece of info the reader knows that the investigators don't: she wasn't the only other person at the scene!

Like I said, full of surprises! As for the twisted part, well you'll have to discover that yourself. Trust me, if you're ok with dark, this is one that will keep you reading into the wee hours and/or dropping all your commitments to get to the end!

If you're interested in starting the series from the beginning, (and trust me you don't need to in order to dive in with The Kept Woman), here's the full list of Will Trent titles, in order:

Tryptich
Fractured
Undone
Broken
Fallen
Criminal
Unseen
The Kept Woman

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Karin Slaughter and her work you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook.

Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble