Karin Slaughter
The Georgia series (combining Grant County and Atlanta)
Undone, (2009), Genesis (UK title)
Plot summary
Faith Mitchell is walking across the parking deck at the courthouse when she passes out. She wakes up in the emergency room of Atlanta’s Grady Hospital, where she was taken by her partner, Will Trent, who luckily was with her when it happened. It turns out Faith has two serious medical conditions, one she knew about and one she didn’t; both could end her nascent career as a special agent with the FBI almost before it’s gotten started. At the hospital Faith and Will meet Sara Linton, the doctor who examines Faith. Sara’s moved to Atlanta to recover from the explosive ending of Beyond Reach and now works in Grady’s ER. Right after seeing Faith, Sara rushes to the aid of a woman who was hit by a car after wandering naked onto a highway out in the middle of nowhere, and is peeved to find Will trying to question the victim. Sara quickly becomes aware of the same thing that caused Will to involve himself—the woman has suffered abominally cruel torture at the hands of a sadistic beast. Will and Faith take over the case and find themselves hobbled from the start by the local yokel law enforcement which seems more interested in grudge-bearing than in catching a deranged killer, and Sara eventually becomes involved by dint of her previous experience as one of the state’s top-notch coroners. But will their combined efforts be enough to end a decades-old swath of butchery?