The Last Widow: A Novel (Will Trent, 9)

The Last Widow is the ninth book in the Will Trent series by American author, Karin Slaughter. A month after Michelle Spivey is taken from a carpark in front of her daughter, Sara and Will rush out from a lazy Sunday family lunch to give aid after two explosions on the nearby Emory University campus. But before they can get anywhere near the site, they are assisting at an apparent traffic accident. Except that both soon realise that something is amiss. The presence of the kidnapped woman is less surprising than the fact that her kidnappers take Sara.

Sara may be captive, but she is determined to leave a trail for Will if there's even the slightest opportunity: she knows without doubt that he will be looking for her. She just has to stay alive until he finds her. While Will tries to convince his GBI boss, Amanda Wagner to let him infiltrate the group they believe has Sara, his partner, Faith Mitchell has been delegated to liaisons with FBI that Amanda doesn't want to attend (is Special Agent Aidan Van Zandt flirting with Faith? Or does he just want information?).

Once again, Slaughter gives the reader an action-packed page-turner. The narrative, running over just a few days, is from three perspectives: Sara, Will and Faith, with each view filling in details not covered by the previous, thus completing the picture. As well as featuring the possibility of biological terrorism, the story includes a semi-religious separatist group, white supremacists, paedophiles, and a nasty misogynist who gets just what he deserves.

Slaughter is expert at building the tension and then providing relief by way of the clever and often darkly funny banter between the characters. And if Will and Sara thought they knew it before now, this experience certainly distills what they feel for each other, and makes clear to her family just how important Will is to Sara. Will's final words will please many fans. Another excellent Will-and-Sara instalment.