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It is often possible with novels to describe them as either character-driven or plot-driven. Not so with the work of Karin Slaughter. She has lived with her central characters for years, even before writing her first novel, BLINDSIGHTED, having created them in a series of short stories. By the same token, her books are always chock-full of action and intricate plot. Her three protagonists are amongst the most vividly-drawn people in crime fiction today, as they attempt to protect themselves and their loved ones whilst being assailed by violence on all sides. INDELIBLE is told in two time frames: it begins in the present but a parallel narrative develops 12 years in the past. For those who are unfamiliar with the protagonists, Sara Linton is a paediatrician and medical examiner in Grant County. She is divorced from police chief Jeffrey Tolliver because of his infidelity but they remain friends -- and in love. Lena Adams was the first female cop in Grant County but after suffering horrendous trials and tortures in previous books, during which her beloved twin sister was murdered, she has spent some time as a security officer on the local university campus. At the beginning of the present narrative, she is about to resume her work for Jeffrey. Sara is at the police station to discuss the results of a post-mortem with Jeffrey. At the same time, a young patrol officer brings a group of children into the station to give them a tour of the premises and an insight into police work. A stranger calling himself Smith enters the station, demanding to speak to Jeffrey. He and an accomplice start shooting, killing and wounding people, then seize the children and the surviving adults as hostages. In the past, Jeffrey and Sara have not known each other for very long. He is despised and feared by the Linton parents who disapprove of his ways with women. Despite this, Sara goes off on holiday with him. To her displeasure, Jeffrey makes a detour to the small town where he grew up and Sara meets his two former best friends and their wives as well as his alcoholic and abusive mother. Clayton 'Hoss' Hollister is the town's sheriff and Jeffrey and his friends credit him with saving them from becoming criminals. Because of Hoss, both Jeffrey and Robert, his friend, have become policemen. To the horror of both Sara and Jeffrey, they chance on the scene of a murder moments after it occurs. A man has been shot dead in Robert's house and Robert himself has sustained a gunshot wound. He claims the man had broken into the house and shot him but Sara examines the scene and determines that the wounds do not tally with the story. Linton and Tolliver must, reluctantly, remain in the town , where everyone derides and disdains both Jeffrey and Robert. They must determine exactly what happened both with this murder and a crime involving the remains of a girl they discover in a cave. Sara is unwillingly confronted with aspects of Jeffrey's history which she would prefer not to have known. Needless to say, the past history is indirectly the cause of the present hostage situation. Slaughter is a past mistress at the art of suspense. She is also an artist in violence and the reader must be prepared for her usual gore-daubed scenes of extreme ferocity. If one can skip lightly through the horrid bits, the book is well and truly worth reading, unrelenting though the tension is.
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, August 2004
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