I’m a big fan of Karin Slaughters, and The Last Widow is now one of my favourites of hers. A fantastic, fast paced, thriller of a novel, very eerie and scary- lots of dark turns but ultimately a psychological mine field of a book. I loved it.

What an absolutely brilliant book. Loved it Karin Slaughter at her best. So very well written, plenty of tension. and suspense. One of the best crime writers there is.. Highly Recommended.

Although I've read Karin Slaughter books before this is my first of the Will Trent and Sara Linton books so I was going into this one a bit blind. However, it stands on it's own well anyway and what a book it was!
The plot is cleverly developed by switching characters each chapter with the characters giving their own perspective of what's happening and progressing the story. It was a clever and refreshing approach - once I knew this was how it was going to unravel from Will, Sara and Faith's view-points.
There's plenty of action with drama from the start and it was well paced leading up to the inevitable grand finale.
I got through this at speed as it was a good page-turner. Highly recommended.

Couldn’t read this book quick enough. I really enjoyed the Will Trent series and this is no exception. In a storyline that should feel alien and far fetched it is anything but with far right extremists forming cult worshipping style groups to bring about the destruction of all that they believe is wrong.
Karin Slaughter has done it again and I can’t wait for the next instalment for Will Trent and Sara Linton

If anyone ever argues to you that an author as prolific and productive as Karin Slaughter is surely phoning in her work and taking it easy, then I suggest you lead them off into a quiet corner, hand them a copy of this book and watch with satisfaction as their jaw slowly drops to the ground. This is a book by an author who has taken their writing to the next level and then some. Superbly plotted, with excellent characters and researched to a level that would put a lot of news channels to shame. Add to that the fact that this is a book with a LOT to say about the rise of the right wing in America and this becomes a real tour de force.

The long suffering Will Trent and Sara Linton get a brief moment of peace together before they’re thrown into what looks like a major terrorist incident. Before they even arrive at the scene they’re waylaid by what looks like a traffic accident only for Sara to be kidnapped and Will badly beaten. Sara finds herself captured by the IPA, self styled “saviours” of the white race, who require Sara’s medical expertise. Meanwhile Will goes undercover in a desperate attempt to rescue Sara and find out what the group’s master plan is.

The amount of research done for this book is staggering. There’s references to the events in Charlottesville and the author has obviously done plenty of research online to get inside the heads of wannabe soldiers who think the end of America is coming. There’s no sugar coating in this book, the bad guys are shown up for exactly what they are and it makes for scary reading at points when you think how close to the truth it is at the moment.

All credit to Karin Slaughter for keeping the tension ramped up throughout this book. She likes to throw the odd curveball and I certainly wouldn’t put it past her to jettison one of the key characters at any given point. She’s expert at keeping the reader on their toes and I really respect her for not treating her readers like idiots and pushing us as much as she must have pushed herself while writing this book. Grab a seat and set aside some time before reading this one. It’s a fantastic read and I cannot wait for her next book.

I went into this only knowing the basics. That someone was kidnapped. I found myself instantly interested when it started with drama and action from chapter one. I had so many questions due to this.
Who were the men?
Why were the women kidnapped?
What did the men want?
Who survives?
I needed answers and didn't want to put it down.
I did find myself needing a chapter or two to get back into it once I picked it back up again. But that didn't bother me too much.
The ending felt a little rushed. Considering the build up. I expected it to end a little differently.
Overall I really enjoyed this.

I love Karin Slaughter but after being disappointed by Pieces of Her I was a little bit wary. I had no need to be though because this was absolutely incredible. I’ve followed Sara Linton since the beginning and every book is just as exciting as the last.

The Last Widow is told from Sara, Will and Faiths (Wills partners) POV. The first few chapters were a bit repetitive as you read the same event from 3 different characters so there is an overlap but once things kick off the pace picks up and it gets a lot more exciting.

This book covers some important but dark topics such as racism and terrorism but it’s written extremely well. I was hooked from the get-go and had no idea where it was going. It’s packed full of tension and you never know who is going to die with Karin Slaughter. I loved getting to see more of Will and Sara’s relationship and getting to know Will even better. I now feel like I need to go and read all of the Sara and Will series again.

I received a copy of the ebook by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Excellant read from Karin Slaughter. Responding to an alarm Sara Linton is taken hostage by a terrorist group and Will Trent will have to go undercover to try and save her whilst working out what the Terrorists are targeting. Tight plotting and great pacing make this a thrilling read.

This latest installment of Will Trent and Sara Linton does not disappoint. From the opening abduction to the final proposal, this novel has you on the edge of your seat. Karin Slaughter writes with such clarity and pace that you are drawn in from the moment you begin to read. . Michelle Spivey , a doctor who works for the CDC, is abducted off the street whilst out on a shopping trip with her daughter. There are no sitings, no ransom demands, she appears to have vanished, that is until Will and Sara stop to help at the scene of a car accident. Then everything changes and time stops moving for Will as his whole being becomes focused on saving, not one but two abducted women.

Karin Slaughter has never shied away from difficult topics and this novel hits at the heart of mysognistic, racist groups that spew hate in the name of the American constitution. The last widow is an epic read that clearly shows that this writer only gets better and better and i look forward to reading what comes next

As you can see it’s taken me almost 3 months to read this book as I just wasn’t not gripped at all. In some ways I wish I had given up but I always like to give it a chance. In the end I couldn’t care less what happened to Sarah and Will I just wanted the book to end. I found it very repetitive with a predictable and boring story line. Sorry.

You can't go wrong with a Karin Slaughter book. As expected, The Last Widow is well-written, fast paced and twisty.

I was a little put off at the beginning as the first 3 chapters describe the same incident from 3 different points of view so seemed repetitive. After that the story really gets going. A female scientist is kidnapped, then a hospital and carpark are bombed. Will and Sara, law enforcement agents, rush to help but Sara is taken prisoner. Can Will rescue Sara and can the various law enforcement agencies stop the terrorist group before their ultimate act of destruction.


The Last Widow is a good read, but the raison d'etre of the terrorists is a bit far fetched.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for a copy of this book.

Ah Karin Slaughter, I love your books and this one is no exception!!

Just love Karin slaughter, her writing style is second to none and again she doesn’t disappoint. The Will and Sara saga continues but this time with a cult twist. Wonderfully written, thought evoking in places and a jolly good thrilling read. Can’t recommend it highly enough.

Karin Slaughter is my favourite crime and thriller writer as her plots are always gripping and meticulously plotted. The Will Trent series is particularly fantastic thanks to the incredibly complex characters with nuanced backstories that have been slowly revealed over numerous books.

The Last Widow is the latest Will and Sara book and definitely did not disappoint. I loved every moment of the well-paced plot and adored reading more about Will and Sara. My only complaint is that these books always end too soon - I just want them to be 1,000 pages at least!

I enjoyed reading this book. I found it exciting and a page turner. I liked the main characters and felt that there were a large number of other interesting characters too. It was a good plot and easy to follow, though it did keep you guessing as to the objectives of the kidnappers.

I did, however, find it rather violent and some of the descriptions of bodies gave a little too much detail for my liking.

A scientist with the Centre of Disease Control is kidnapped & all attempts to find her have so far been futile. A month later Will is enjoying some downtime with girlfriend Sara when a large explosion is heard nearby.They rush to help but a van appears & in a shootout Will is injured & Sara is taken. As an agent Will wants to be in the thick of it. In attempts to find her he goes undercover & they both find themselves in the thick of a dangerous conspiracy.

Although this is part of a series I had never read any of the Will Trent books before. This did not spoil the enjoyment of this fast paced thriller. Thanksto Netgalley & the publisher for lettingme read & review this book.

I read Karin Slaughter’s first few novels years ago and enjoyed them, but then somehow fell out of the habit of reading her. I’m kind of regretting that lapse now, because her latest ‘The Last Widow’ is great. It’s a gripping, action-packed and emotionally charged thriller that mixes a solid plot¸ convincing characters and a breakneck pace. It reminded me a little of Lee Child, only with a greater focus on interpersonal relationships. It’s the ninth of Slaughter’s ‘Will Trent’ books, but can be read as a standalone. I went into it without having read any of the previous books and got on fine with it.
The plot is about a far-right terrorist group planning a domestic atrocity in Georgia (the US state, not the country). Georgia Bureau of Investigations officer Will Trent and his girlfriend, doctor Sara Linton, stumble into it right at the start, with Sara kidnapped by some of the terrorists and Will fighting to save her. That might sound like a hackneyed “boy saves girl” plot, but rest assured that Sara is every bit as much of an active player as Will.
The first third of the book night be the fastest paced, most gripping thing I’ve read in ages. It’s insanely tense and exciting. Unputdownable is a word that gets used to describe thrillers a lot, but it certainly applies here. It reads like an episode of TV show ‘24’, with a breakneck pace that is so unrelenting it’s exhausting to read. Slaughter uses long chapters, rather than the really short ones favoured by the likes of Dan Brown and James Patterson, meaning the reader gets no chance to come up for air. It works brilliantly, but boy is it gruelling to read, especially when you throw in Slaughter’s fondness for forensic detail.
It’s almost a relief when the pace slows down a bit for the middle third of the book, which focusses more on the investigation into the terrorists. Slaughter brings in a broader range of characters and the detail of how law enforcement works, inter agency rivalry and all, feels credible. The pace picks up again for the final act, which isn’t quite as tense as he first, but is still pretty blistering stuff.
Slaughter’s plotting and characters are spot on throughout. Will is appealingly fallible for a tough guy hero, and the villains are truly repellent. She works in topical detail on far right extremism in the US, which all adds to the effectiveness of the book.
What works less well is her decision to replay scenes from multiple viewpoints. At times this adds to the novel’s richness, but at others it borders on the tedious. Reading exactly the same conversation twice feels unnecessary and frustrating. When I say the same conversation, I mean word for word the same dialogue, it isn’t even paraphrased. Elmore Leonard wrote that authors should leave out the parts that readers tend to skip. Slaughter and her editor should have paid attention to that rule.
Fortunately, that habit is only really present near the start of the book, and it’s my only problem with what is otherwise an excellent thriller. It’s hellishly exciting, politically astute and emotionally engaging. Needless to say the first thing I did after finishing it was buy the first Will Trent book.

The Last Widow by Karin Slaughter

Michelle Pivey is out shopping with her daughter when a van comes to a stop right next to the young girl. As she’d been taught to do, the girl runs for her life. But the man doesn’t go after her. It’s Michelle he wants. A month later, Will Trent, an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, is having lunch with his girlfriend, medical examiner Sara Linton, and her family when the peace is shattered by the explosions of bombs.

Will and Trent run towards the sirens, stumbling across a road accident, with men injured, others acting suspiciously. Sara is grabbed. Sara’s family is desperate. Will feels both guilt and rage. He will do whatever he can to recover Sara but to do that he must go undercover. He will come up against a radical group, who live hidden away in the Appalachian mountains, plotting the end. Michelle Pivey, it seems is a scientist with the highest clearance at the Centre for Disease Control. The clock is ticking.

The Last Widow is the ninth novel in Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent series. Although I’ve read some of the author’s excellent stand alone books, this is the first Trent novel I’ve read. And so I read it as another stand alone mystery and there was no problem with that at all. The character of Will, and his situation, is so skilfully and thoroughly brought to life that it didn’t matter at all that I’d missed his past life up until now. There is one case from Will’s past, though, that is still on his mind as the court date draws nearer.

I was immersed in The Last Widow from the thrilling opening couple of chapters. The pace then does slow for a short while and that’s largely because the novel alternates chapters between the viewpoints of Will and Sara. While they’re together at the start of the book we’re given chapters which present the same events twice. But once Sara has been snatched and Will goes after her the two perspectives separate and follow their own paths at an exhilarating rate.

So for half of the time we’re with Will going undercover with all of the tension and anxiety you’d expect, whereas the other half follows Sara’s experiences in this extraordinary and lethal environment where one false word could lead to her death. Sara is now living on eggshells. Any moment it could all blow up. Will’s demons, however, are on the inside.

There are sinister undertones as Sara and Will learn more about the man in charge of the men who snatched her. This does lead us into dark territory and the reader is soon very concerned for the innocent. This is superb storytelling. Characters are not just black and white. Evil can hide. It isn’t easily overcome.

The Last Widow is a very good book indeed. It is thoroughly exciting and engrossing, as well as disturbing and shocking, and events are overshadowed by the dread of whatever it is that the kidnapper might be planning in his sinister camp, hidden away from the modern world. The character portraits – of the good and the evil – are excellent. I read The Last Widow in two sittings and most of it in one go. I couldn’t have been more caught up in these lives. Having read Karin Slaughter’s last three novels, I’m well and truly hooked.

Other reviews
The Good Daughter
Pieces of Her

Waited so long for another Will and Sara instalment and I wasn’t disappointed. This is one of the best books I’ve read for a long time. Very well written and I found it really interesting and gripping.