Karin Slaughter: Kisscut (used)

Kisscut is the second book in the Grant County series and it may be Slaughter’s most character centric novel I’ve read to date. Slaughter spends a significant amount of time digging into Lena’s character, more specifically her current mindset after the trauma of the previous novel, Blindsighted.

Kisscut also happens to be one of Slaughter’s most disturbing novels. Slaughter’s work is always dark, but Kisscut’s plot deals directly with child abuse and exploitation. So, trigger warnings for child abuse and exploitation and suicide.

As mentioned previously, Kisscut is very character centric. I was never the biggest fan of Lena. She’s brash and not an easily likeable character, but when you juxtapose her with Sara, it’s easy for readers to side with Sara over Lena.

For most of the novel, Lena is working through her trauma in the only way she knows how: throwing herself into work and avoiding anything that can be considered self-care. It’s like watching a particularly slow car wreck. There’s also a sequence of events that Lena goes through that is absolutely heart shattering and difficult to read (trigger warning). My heart almost stopped reading this sequence of events as I happened to be reading aloud to my husband at the time.

The ending of Kisscut plays out like a television show. It’s hard to explain without giving away too many spoilers, but it’s an accurate depiction of a less than successful conclusion of a case.