There is a dark tone to Slaughter's writing that is reminiscent of Patricia Cornwell.
Her characters surprise you, and there is often much more to the people than you might think.
When I began her series, I did not care for the main characters, Sara Linton and her ex-husband Jeffrey Tolliver.
They didn't seem nearly as interesting as a secondary character, Jeffrey's deputy Lena Adams.
Lena loses her twin sister to a killer and loses most of her anchor in life as a result.
Her character is self-abusive, but allows someone else to do the abuse.
You find yourself pulling for her and hoping she will get her life back together.
Luckily Jeffrey, who grew up with alcoholic parents, believes in her and tries to help.
As the series progresses more layers of each character are exposed.
Sara is a pediatrician, who got her education in Atlanta.
She came back to her hometown to open a practice and be close to her family.
She was also the medical examiner and that is what kept her in contact with Jeffrey.
I find I like her better as a city doctor.
In Undone (a.
k.
a.
Genesis) she works in the emergency room, where she doesn't have to get that involved with her patients.
She misses her work as a medical examiner and tries to get involved when a patient arrives with injuries not conducive to a just a car accident.
Sara meets Will Trent when he brings in his partner, Faith Mitchell, who has passed out.
She mistakes them as a married couple and in this story we learn a lot more about Faith.
She is pregnant and has been diagnosed by Sara with diabetes.
Faith notices Will's attraction to Sara and does a background check, thus, filling in her background for those who have not read the previous books.
Will Trent first appeared in Triptych.
He is another interesting character with a rough background.
He was found in the trash at five months old and went through the foster system.
He is dyslexic and cannot read or write.
Angie, also a cop, grew up with him from the age of five and seems to control him.
Slaughter shows that men can be subjected to abuse despite their physical advantages.
Slaughter's books are not for the cozy-minded.
They are dark, yet intriguing studies of complex, three-dimensional characters.
We come to understand them through their past experiences and are allowed to make our own conclusions about their defects and foibles without the clinical analysis of a psychologist.
I couldn't put Undone down and it was over 500 pages in paperback.
I highly recommend Slaughter's books and her writing style, although she reveals aspects of human nature that are difficult to acknowledge.