In the promotional video for Fallen, the voiceover guy touts the author as the boldest name in crime fiction. With a name like Karin Slaughter, it would be hard to disagree. The latest novel by Karin Slaughter lives up to the billing and her name.
Faith Mitchell is a character with some of the real-world problems that lots of parents face these days. The care of her four-month-old child, Emma, is left to her mother, Evelyn, who just happens to be a retired police commander. Faith is on her way home after and trying to reach her mother on her cell phone, but all she gets is static and the forgotten sound of a busy signal.
Faith drives some more and tries again. No luck. No response. No one wants to think the worst at first, so she ponders something more logical like a walk or a trip to the store. But as she arrives on the scene, all logical explanations cease to be relevant when she finds a bloody handprint above the door.
After surveying the home, Faith jogs back to her car and calls for back up. As an agent for the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, she has been trained for these situations. There is a protocol to follow, but when it comes to family, a whole other level of adrenaline kicks in, heightening the tension because this makes it personal.
Plenty more unforeseen plot twists (subplots, too) and excitement abound in this fantastic work of fiction that is exhilarating, tightly woven, and moves at a good clip without being too fast or too slow. Most importantly to some, it delivers an interesting and satisfying conclusion. If you’ve read and enjoyed Karin Slaughter’s works before, then you must get this one. If you are new to the author, this is a great place to start and perhaps a reason to go back and pick up her other titles.
As for this unabridged audio edition of Fallen, the production quality is very good. The story itself runs for thirteen hours and twenty-one minutes on eleven CDs narrated by Shannon Cochran, who does an excellent job with her natural speaking voice. It’s very easy on the ears and she makes the story believable with her delivery. The only negative is her voice alterations for different characters don’t always work. Other than that, Fallen is a fine audio production.