Indelible by Karin Slaughter

Indelible is by far the best book in the Grant County series so far. I always get hesitant when I reach this part of a series because more times than not, I feel like the book is being written just to put money in the authors pocket and no one really cares if the book is good and the plot makes sense. However, Indelible is one of the exceptions to the rule.

(Source: Kelsey Darling)

It has been three months since spree of killings at the college campus and Lena is about to have her second first day as a police detective for Heartsdale, while Jeffrey and Sara are in a very rocky place after Sara refused Jeffrey's proposal. On the morning of Lena's first day back, Jeffrey and Sara are at the station when two gunmen shoot one officer point blank and wound Jeffrey. It is up to Lena and Frank, along with GBI, to neutralize the situation, while Sara is inside trying to save Jeffrey's life. But the answer to the puzzle is something from Jeffrey and Sara's past, something they never imagined coming back all these years later.

Just like the previous three books, Indelible has a very dark plot that has child abuse and rape throughout it. Unlike the other books, it is told not just back and forth between characters, but past and present. While I enjoyed this, I would get annoyed because the present chapters were almost always from Lena and I needed know what was going on inside the station.

(Source: Giphy)

This book delves not only into the beginning of Jeffrey and Sara, but pre-Jeffrey-and-Sara. Jeffrey had planned on taking Sara to Florida, but ended up in his hometown of Sylacauga, Alabama, where Sara meets his childhood friends, mother, and more. This was shocking enough, and hard enough, but Sara is pushed even further when one of Jeffrey's friends, Robert, supposedly shoots a man who was breaking into his house, although Sara can tell there is more to the story. This is not enough hoopla going on though, because Sara and Jeffrey also uncover the remains of girl Jeffrey went to school with and who accused him and Robert of raping her. While Jeffrey has not learned about Sara's rape at this point, the reader knows, and understands how this accusation is incredibly hard for her to hear. I liked the past part of the story, as drama-filled as it was, because not only do we learn what the characters were like at the start of their relationship, but we learn that their relationship started pretty tumultuously, which explains the unbalance of their relationship that we have seen in the previous novels, and not just with the insane crimes, but the back and forth of love and indecision they both experience.

"Every warning Sara had heard over the last few months came flooding into her brain, and she bit back the raging impulse to throw her arms around him and declare her love. Instinctively, she knew that part of the reason Jeffrey was saying this to her now was because he had no idea how she felt. Sara was not foolish enough to tell him." (p. 108)

(Source: Giphy)

The present story was amazing as well. You spend a good part of it trying to figure out which characters from the past are the ones holding the station hostage, wondering how Jeffrey is doing, and if the status of the other hostages. Lena questions herself a lot through the book, but it is understandable. She has gone through a lot, and changed a lot. She is not the same person she was in the beginning of book one. But when she is tested, she is still able to be the badass that we have come to love. I am disappointed that she is still dating Ethan from the previous novel. Each time he is mentioned (which luckily isn't often), all I can think is that he is a pretentious, racist, sexist, abusive asshole and I really want Jeffrey and Frank to beat his ass so he knows how it feels. I really don't understand how Lena dates him, especially after everything she has been through. We have never seen any redeeming qualities in him; he consistently abuses Lena verbally, emotionally, and physically. If this were the real world, I would not only be doing anything to get her out of this situation, but also fearing for the day that I got the call he had killed her. I really need this relationship to end. But I also know that Karin Slaughter writes about things that really happen, and this is a perfect example.

There is a character that each book I love more and more, and that would be Brad. In the first book, he's a joke. He is just a patrol officer who takes the "cat stuck in tree" calls, but he is definitely having a glow up. In this novel, he not only spends his time being held hostage protecting the three children that were in the station and could not get out, he helps take down one of the gunmen in the end. I am really hoping that in the next two books, he continues to grow as a police officer and character in the book, because this man deserves more respect that he's been getting.

(Source: Giphy)

Between the action, the characters, and the unknowing of the book, Indelible is truly amazing. I know I keep saying this, but I am so glad I was introduced to this series and author, and I cannot wait to dive into the next book!

Rating: 9/10
Author: Karin Slaughter
Series: Grant County (Book 4 of 6)
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Crime
Dates Read: February 6-8, 2020