44. Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter

Slaughter returns to her popular Grant County mystery series after her stand alone novel last year. Beyond Reach is the sixth novel of the Georgian series that features pediatrician/medical examiner Sara Linton, Detective Lena Adams, and Sara’s husband, police chief Jeffrey Tolliver. Sara Linton is fighting a malpractice lawsuit when her husband gets a call that his detective Lena has been involved in a possible crime in her hometown of Reese, Georgia. When Sara and Jeffrey go to interview Lena, who isn’t speaking after being involved in a car explosion that killed a local woman, they find a small town riddled with problems. There is a major methamphetamine problem, drug dealing run by skinheads, and Lena’s uncle who raised her and has fought addiction for years is now back on meth. When Lena escapes from the hospital and is on the run, Sara and Jeffrey must sift through not only Lena’s secrets, but also the secrets the town is hiding.

This is a mystery series that keeps getting better and better with each entry. While extremely dark and graphic at times, the characters are very realistic and gritty. The rural Georgia setting adds to the dark atmosphere and sucks readers in to the story. This is one of the few American mystery series I read and I loved the timeliness of the meth and skinhead story line. Slaughter also offers readers a major shock at the end of this mystery that I truly did not see coming and it will be interesting to see how she continues the series.