Fractured is Slaughter’s second novel featuring Will Trent, the dyslexic detective from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
When wealthy Abigail Campano returns home early from her lunch date, she finds the window by her front door smashed and her teenage daughter lying dead at the top of the stairs with her apparent attacker standing over her holding a knife. In the resulting struggle, Abigail and the man with the knife both fall downstairs, and Abigail manages to kill him.
The Atlanta police have trampled all over the crime scene before Will Trent arrives to determine whether the GBI should be involved in the case. It’s Will who discovers the young man had been stabbed before Abigail arrived and was trying to help the girl. Then Paul Campano arrives and realizes the girl is not his daughter Emma at all but probably Kayla, her best friend.
Unfortunately, Will grew up with Paul in a children’s home. Paul was a bully then and is extremely aggressive now.
The Atlanta police are taken off the case, but Will’s boss attaches Faith Mitchell from the APD to work with Will. It takes him a while to realize that she is the granddaughter of a woman who was forced to retire after Will caught six of her APD officers stealing drug money.
The case becomes a kidnapping case, beginning with a search to identify the dead man. The Campanos have never seen him before. What was he doing in their house and where is Emma?
This novel is another exciting entry in this well-written and carefully plotted series. Will is an interesting character, and Faith begins to respect his abilities.
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