Beyond Reach

July 30, 2007
Slaughter's newest novel to feature perennially distressed pediatrician/coroner Sara Linton; her ultra-macho, guilt-ridden husband, Police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver; and self-destructive loose cannon detective Lena Adams is so dark at times one gets lost in the shadows, especially with the changing points of view and a shifting timeline. The audio begins with dirge-like music fading into Bean's anxiety-filled voice as she describes a drugged woman being driven to a desolate place to be burned alive. But even this does not quite prepare listeners for the grim events to come as Linton and Tolliver travel to rescue Adams from a trumped-up murder charge. Bean has a clear understanding of the material and its appeal to Slaughter's fans, moving unhesitatingly through multiple homicides, chopped limbs and detailed autopsies. She also provides the proper vocals for the author's large cast of characters, the females exhibiting the more natural-sounding good-old-girl accents, while the males seem a little gruffer than life. The vivid descriptions of the horrifying effects of crystal meth addiction, emotionally rendered by Bean, make the audio required listening for anyone tempted to sample the drug. "Simultaneous release with the Delacorte Press hardcover (Reviews, June 11). (Aug.)" .

Starred review from June 11, 2007
At the start of bestseller Slaughter's bone-chilling sixth thriller in her Grant County, Ga., crime series (after 2005's Faithless
), Dr. Sara Linton, the county's resident pediatrician and medical examiner, is mired in a devastating lawsuit, accused by grieving parents of indirectly causing the death of their terminally ill son. Then Sara and her husband, police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, must travel to rural Reese, Ga., where Lena Adams, Jeffrey's often reckless detective, has been injured in an explosion that killed a local woman. Lena's mysterious escape from the hospital plunges her, Sara and Jeffrey into a dangerous web of meth trafficking, white supremacy groups and long-buried family secrets. Expertly shifting back and forth in both time and point of view, Slaughter builds the suspense to a perfect crescendo, connecting every loose plot strand in a devastating and unforgettable climax. With methamphetamine use on the rise in the country, Slaughter's unflinching portrayal of lives ruined by the drug make her latest a timely and unsettling read.

June 1, 2007
After producinglast yearsstand-alone thriller TripTych, Slaughter returns with the sixth entry in theseries that has propelled her onto best-seller lists. The Grant County novels, featuring pediatrician/medical examinerSara Linton, her police chief husband, Jeffrey Tolliver, and Detective Lena Adams, combine suspenseful plots, gritty social realism, and graphic forensic detail. Here Lena returns to the poverty-stricken rural backwater where she was raised to check on her uncle Hank, the tactiturn reformed junkie who raised her after her mother died. What she findsis atown decimated by methamphetamine addiction (including her long sober uncle), with the drugdealing controlled byskinheads and abetted by a corruptsheriffs department. When she isforced to watch as her former childhood friend and neighbor, who has long battled addiction, is set on fire, she shuts down, convinced that her best recourse is to keep her mouth shut even as the local sheriff tries to get her to talk. Thats when Jeffrey gets the call that his detective has been arrested.He and Sara, who is drained from fighting a grueling medical malpractice suit, are immediately drawn into the investigation, which leads to surprising revelations about some of the towns most upstanding citizens. In addition, Slaughter throws in a shocker of an ending that has serious implications for the future of the series. Slaughters latest page-turner offers bothwrenching emotional highs and lows andagripping plot, but what gives itemotional heft isitsunwaveringfocuson the grim socialills of the rural South.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)