The Book Frog

Will Trent is the flawed but effective--and deeply likable--Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent in Karin Slaughter's new book Fractured. Will has more baggage than most holding him back. An orphan, Will spent his childhood in care, that is to say, as an unwanted pawn in the Georgia state adoption system. Dyslexic but never diagnosed, he is functionally illiterate. However, since he is extremely intelligent Will, like many dyslexics, has found ways to compensate, and even to excel. In Fractured he is the lead investigator in an apparent home invasion gone terribly, terribly wrong. In an exclusive community a mother returns home to find her brutally murdered daughter and her apparent murderer. Enraged she attacks the man and kills him. It is the job of Will Trent and his reluctant partner on the case, Faith Mitchell of the Atlanta Police Department, to determine what really happened. Karin Slaughter is a capable writer, and her stories are fast-paced and intricate. This work particularly moved me in its portrayal of what life is like for someone who can't read. I was horrified, and made extremely grateful for my own literacy.