Karin Slaughter Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Andrea Oliver Books
| Pieces of Her | (2018) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Girl, Forgotten | (2022) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Grant County Books
| Blindsighted | (2001) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Kisscut | (2002) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| A Faint Cold Fear | (2003) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Indelible | (2004) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Faithless | (2005) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Beyond Reach / Skin Privilege | (2007) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Genesis / Undone | (2009) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Short Story | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Will Trent Books
| Triptych | (2006) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Fractured | (2008) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Genesis / Undone | (2009) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Broken | (2010) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Fallen | (2011) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Snatched | (2012) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Criminal | (2012) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Busted | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Unseen | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Kept Woman | (2016) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Cleaning the Gold | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Last Widow | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Silent Wife | (2020) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| After That Night | (2023) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| This is Why We Lied | (2024) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Georgia Books
| Genesis / Undone | (2009) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Broken | (2010) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Fallen | (2011) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Good Daughter Books
| Last Breath | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Good Daughter | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Martin Misunderstood | (2008) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Cop Town | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Pretty Girls | (2015) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| False Witness | (2021) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| We Are All Guilty Here | (2025) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas
| Cold, Cold Heart | (2006) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Unremarkable Heart | (2010) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Necessary Women | (2010) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Thorn in My Side | (2011) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Go Deep | (2015) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes | (2015) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Collections
| Necessary Woman and The Mean Time | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Three Twisted Stories | (2015) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of The MatchUp Collection Books
| Honor & ... | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
| Deserves to Be Dead | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
| Getaway | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
| Midnight Flame | (2018) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
| Short Story | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
| Past Prologue | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
| Faking a Murderer | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
| Dig Here | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
| Taking the Veil | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
| Rambo on Their Minds | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
| Footloose | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
+ Show All Books in this Series | ||||
Publication Order of Anthologies
Karin Slaughter Biography:
Her last name really is Slaughter, and even as a small child, she was fascinated by the macabre. This interest set her apart from most of the other little girls in her small hometown of Jonesboro, Georgia, where her father ran a local car dealership. Karin Slaughter didn’t mind being different, though; even as a child, she was too busy reading to care what other people thought. Slaughter was different in other obvious ways, too.
She was expelled from her Christian primary school for tearing a Bible apart, for instance; and one of her first boyfriends was an undertaker-in-training. She was also influenced by the gruesome events occurring in the world around her. She grew up in the 70’s and 80’s, during a time when Atlanta, located just up the road from Jonesboro, was reeling from a string of child murders.
Slaughter says that her carefree childhood was interrupted by the changes brought about by the fear that spread through her community. The experience sparked an interest in how communities respond to crime. Slaughter is still a Southern girl: she lives in Atlanta and says that stereotypes about the South make her ‘absolutely furious’.
She sets most of her books in the South, apparently adhering to the old saw that writers should ‘write what they know’. In fact, one of her popular series of books, known as the Grant County Series, is set in a fictional Georgia town much like the one in which Slaughter grew up. Karin Slaughter confesses that she’s an avid fan of crime fiction and reads several books every week. She doesn’t read crime fiction when she’s writing, though, choosing to focus on other genres instead.
Some of her favorite non-crime fiction authors include Flannery O’Connor, John Steinbeck and Stephen King. One of her favorite books–ever– is Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi. She first read it as a young woman, and is still fascinated by the book’s insight into the inner workings of the Manson family.
Grant County Series:
According to Slaughter, Heartsdale, Georgia, the scene of her Grant County series, is a composite of all the southern towns she knew as a girl. The series begins with Slaughter’s first book, Blindsighted, which involves the experiences of part-time coroner Sara Linton and her ex-husband, Heartsdale Chief of Police Jeffery Tolliver. The book was a huge success, selling well and winning a place on the Crime Writer’s Association’s short list for the ‘Best Thriller Debut of 2001’.
The book’s action begins when a young professor is found dead and gruesomely mutilated. The horror grows as more women are murdered. Blindsighted also introduces Lena Adams, the town’s only female police officer–and the sister of the killer’s first victim. Lena, emotionally involved, favors vigilante justice, and complicates Chief Tolliver’s handling of the case.
Other books in the series continue to follow crimes investigated by Linton, Tolliver and Adams. They include Kisscut, A Faint Cold Fear, Indelible, Faithless, and Beyond Reach. Slaughter has commented that Kisscut was the hardest book she’s ever written because of the darkness of the subject matter.
The Will Trent Series:
Slaughter sticks with Georgia as the setting for the Will Trent Series, but moves the action to the big city of Atlanta, where Will Trent and his partner, Faith Mitchell, explore life’s seamy side as special agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Actually, Trent has been familiar with the seamy side since he was abandoned as an infant and raised in the emotionally-impoverished Atlanta Children’s Home.
Trent is a man with scars, and his long-term romantic relationship with Angie Polaski is flawed. Still, he’s a good agent, and so is his partner, Faith, who hated him until she was forced to work with him. Triptych, the first book in the series, features a woman-killer who leaves his calling-card by mutilating his victims in a specific way. Triptych’s characters are complex and flawed, and Slaughter’s unflinching tale of gore can be difficult to get through.
As crime author Tess Gerritsen said, Slaughter “takes us to the deep, dark places other novelists don’t dare to go”. The other books in the series, Fractured and Snatch, continue to develop the characters of Will Trent and Faith Mitchell as they confront chaos perpetrated on citizens of Atlanta by criminals and serial murderers.
Georgia On Her Mind:
The Georgia Series combines the worlds of Grant County and Will Trent. Sara Linton has moved from Heartsdale to the big city and encounters Faith Mitchell–and her partner Will Trent–in the hospital. This series presents the best of two worlds for Slaughter fans. Books in the Georgia series include Fallen, Broken, and Undone.
Slaughter’s Thriller Recipe:
Much has been made of the idea that Karin Slaughter ‘writes like a man’. Her writing is realistic and unsparing, and she goes out of her way to make sure that the details are true to life. Research is the key: Slaughter makes it a practice to read autopsy reports, and when she was writing the Will Trent series, she interviewed female law enforcement officers about their coming-of-age experiences in the 1970’s.
And because she is a native and long-time resident of Georgia, Slaughter’s ear for dialect and feel for place are unflinchingly realistic. Some reviewers have commented that her books have a political agenda, but Slaughter insists that she doesn’t use her fiction as a forum for ‘preaching’. Instead, she says that any agenda is imposed by the location in which her books are set. Much of her writing is set in the 1970’s, an era when times were changing. In fact, Maynard Jackson was elected the first mayor of Atlanta–a milestone for any Southern city–during this time period.
Television: A New Medium:
Soon Slaughter’s stories will be coming to television. Yellow Bird has acquired the rights to the Will Trent Series, and is planning to produce three films based on the books. Yellow Bird is the Swedish production company that produced television films based on Stieg Larsson’s book, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and its two sequels. Fittingly, Yellow Bird plans to produce the Will Trent films on location in Atlanta.
Book Series In Order » Authors »
Any issues with the book list you are seeing? Or is there an author or series we don’t have? Let me know!
I love Karin’s writing, and I was really looking forward to the TV series of the Will Trent books; however, I really don’t want to watch it as the casting of Will Trent is all wrong.
Love the TV show. Love the books more. Especially like the colaberation with Lee Child and Jack Reacher in the short story Cleaning the gold. i have read all of the Reacher books and short stories, Now that I have found you, It is my obsession to read all of your books Great Job
Loved the books love the show. Hooked and obsessed.
I started with the TV show. Then, I went nuts with the books. Love the TV show and the books more! I can understand why they changed the TV show around but the people are right, love the books more. BUT I’ll keep wTching the show it is soo good on it’s own!
At first, I was so excited to restart the series after reading Triptych until I did some research and learned that the first two episodes were based on Fractured. I read Fractured and then jumped into the series. I was, at first, perplexed. The TV series was so different. As I continued with the books and the show, I realized that I could enjoy them both as long as I kept in mind that (1) the books will ALWAYS be superior and (2) the stories seemed to be smashed together in a blender and parsed out into the weekly episodes. Now I watch the show and enjoy picking out the parts/characters of the actual stories that were changed for Television. It’s kind of like those “Spot the Difference” puzzles we used to play as children. My only regret is that I did not start with the Grant County series before I started down the Will Trent road. I made it to Fallen before stopping and going back to the beginning of the GC series with Blindsighted. I hope this helps someone who is torn between reading the books and watching the TV show. 🙂
I am torn. I really wanted to watch the Will Trent series, but just glancing at it gives me the fear as the casting is completely wrong. It’s like the original casting of Jack Reacher. Reacher is tall; Tom Cruise is not. Will Trent is quite clearly not Hispanic, yet the guy who plays him is.
Watch it and try to guess which book the episode is pulling from -don’t watch it and think the books are going to come to life…it will never happen and you will drive yourself crazy.
I could not sit through 10 minutes of the television show! The characters are nothing like in the books. It’s a terrible rendition of the a wonderfully written series.
Karin Slaughter is my favorite author. I truly enjoy reading her novels and find it difficult to wait for her next one; which I will read in two days. Then, start waiting again-
I can’t watch the TV series either! THAT is not Will Trent!! I was very disappointed. Her books are the best. When I get a new one, I just try to wait as long as I can to read it, because I know I was not have another one for a while.
I got hooked from watchng the show and then was obsessed with hunting out the books. With some minor pronlems, I figured out the chronological order to get me to where the show got me to. I actually love both. It does take another mindset to pick out a book to make it TV appropriate. Can’t wait until season 3 starts!
I love the show then realized it was based off a book series and the books have been amazing! I am hooked on both! They are different and live separately in their perfectly imperfect worlds.
Unfortunately TV has to pander to demands of the current coming into adulthood generation which men’s that the producer must cave to the latest EDI trends. Yes, was sad the characters were so modified. I like the show but I do not actually associate it with the books. They would have been better off just calling it something else
I couldn’t either, it is nothing like the books. I love this series, book 12 doesn’t come out till August. I don’t want the story to end.
I just read her current book “This is Why We Lied” OMG, I couldn’t put it down. Because it was a new release, there was only a 7 day rental. Well, let me tell you, I finished that book in 2 days. Can’t wait to add it to my collection. Karin does not disappoint in this book.
Just finished all the Will Trent series, very good. Although I enjoy the TV series. The books so much better why cannot Hollywood actually portray the characters.
My husband and I love the tv series. Hope it is renewed.
The tv show is NOT Will Trent! I am tired of the television writers changing the authors characters. As soon as I watched the first commercial I said no that is not Will Trent. Sorry, not watching that. I have all the books and have read them many times.
Actually, I like the Will Trent casts for the TV series. No, he isn’t tall like Lurch of the Adams family, but the content of the character is there. I also like the “Faith” character, although I don’t believe she comes off “southern” enough, she doesn’t have a southern accent. “Amanda” is larger than life, and intimidating, her TV character is tough talking but, not aggressive enough for my taste. However, I love the TV series and look forward to it returning.
I can’t get into the TV Will Trent either. The whole feel of how tortured Will is, is missing. And the look of the actor—it’s WAY off. Find someone similar to John Krasinski. How hard is it to find a thirty-something, tall, decent-to-good looking brown-haired actor??
Amen! I love the Will Trent series of novels, but the TV series doesn’t feel right. I didn’t finish the first season. Not saying its not good, just doesn’t have the same emotional depth of feeling I get from reading. Even the level of “snarkiness” is missing. I don’t feel Karin Slaughter!
I couldn’t get through the first half of the first episode. I will stick to reading the books.
Unfortunately, when books are put on television, there is so much lost in the translation that I truly find the books, more enjoyable than a series brought to television.
When reading a book that has been produced for Tv of a movie, it has to be kept in mind that once “production rights” of a book have been purchased, the production company can change things up. It is unfortunate, but it’s the way it is. Hence alot of movies not following the book as us avid readers would like to see happen.
Will Trent is so misrepresented in the new tv series…terrible.
It was only one show….give it a chance.
Now it’s two, and too many things about the characters is way off from the books.
I agree. It’s a shame that the amazing characters that Karin has created have turned into such laughable representations on tv. Will looks nothing as described and seriously, what is with his awkward accent?
In my mind that is not Will Trent. I really loved the books. May have too go back and read the beginning but very hard to relate the characters to the book(s) at this point in the tv adaptation.
while the series is different from the books, it is good in it’s own way…it is well written, and it’s easier to deal with then Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher…the characters in the books are so much more developed, that I don’t think they would work as well in a weekly series, but they have at least done a pretty good job of writing the series…it is rather entertaining to compare the books to the episodes and see the modifications.
Totally agree. I am enjoying the show even with its differences and I like the levity it has. Totally agree about the jack reacher thing, who on earth thought that using Tom cruise to represent that GREAT character was a good idea.
Jennifer, I agree. The ONLY one who thought Tom Cruise should/could portray Jack Reacher was Tom Cruise.
Love all Karin Slaughter’s books. Amanda Wagner is my favorite character. Love the interaction between Amanda and Will.
I love the will Trent series I’ve read the last book which is the silent wife and you promised us another where can I get it is it published yet I’m in love with this series thank you so much
I was wondering if there will be more in the will Trent series & if so, any idea how long it will be before release? I’m almost done with the last one & am anxious for more. Not sure where I’ll turn for good reading until it comes out.
I am a huge fan of the Will Trent series. Question. I just finished “The kept Woman” for the second time. Will Angie Polaski be in any more of the ‘Will Trent’ series. Thanks.
I just finished listening to stand alone novel False Witness as an audiobook, and found myself deep in its sympathetic yet unsentimental story of flawed but compelling protagonists. They are who they are, and come by their flaws honestly. It’s an amazing book, not the least for its gritty, honest portrayal of child sex abuse, child neglect, psychopathy, and addiction. Gripping to the last page.
Read every book – best series is Will Trent Please write more on this….
Thank you! I have read most of your books and wait breathlessly for your next. You keep us at the edge continually, waiting for the next twist, then finish with a satisfying ending that finally allows us breathe easily again. Please don’t stop writing!
Love all her books!!
I’m an avid Karin Slaughter fan – Pretty girls was my first book I read by the author , after that I simply had to read ever one of her novels .
She certainly keeps you so engrossed in her books that you simply cannot put it down till the end .
Love her gripping story telling !
I have read a number of Karin’s books and they have all be excellent reads. I look forward to reading more of her books. I like reading books that I don’t know how it will end.
I just finished False Witness and I can’t remember ever reading a book so scary. I had to put the book down at certain intervals to catch my breath. Karin, you did it again. This is a home run. Thanks
I am absolutely enchanted with Ms. Slaughter’s writing. Keeps one mesmerized. And Kathleen Earley (whose mother is a close friend of mine) is quite talented in her voice narrative and a pleasure to listen to.
I randomly read one of her books and was hooked.I read a couple more before I realised there was an order, so I had to go back to the beginning… I love her stories and the connection with some of her characters..Im a fan, bring on the Movie versions but I hope they dont spoil the stories by cutting a lot out..
Love all your books,totally hooked,can’t wait for the next one, love will trent
So far,”last widow”is the only book I’ve read by karin. I was blown away! I will soon gobble up her other works.
Cant wait to read the follow on from ‘The Kept woman’ Hurry up please Karen Gripping stuff
Great reads and great entertainment. Best to read them in order (by date). Don’t worry about jumping around each series. Karin Slaughter ties these books together & develops each character so well, you feel like you are part of the cast. Just finished Unseen, and I’m ready for the next one. Sax
I’ll look forward to the Will Trent Series to be produced by Yellow Bird. I’ve watched many of their Swedish productions and enjoy them very much. This is going to be fun!!!
Are “Snatched” and “Broken” available in written books or only audio and kindle? I Can’t find them.