August 6, 2012

  • The Criminal

    The book I am reviewing in this post is The Criminal by Karin Slaughter which is an excellent book which I bought from Kindle. This is quite a gritty novel about a serial killer who is murdering a pimp called Juices hookers and the story travels back and forth between when Lucy became a prostitute in 1974 and the present day when there's a police investigation. The story is set in Atlanta Georgia  and I think captures the downward spiral of someone getting hooked on cocaine and then heroin particularly well. In the present someone has died and has Lucy's purse which triggers the investigation. There's no criminal record for Lucy which seems strange because normally prostitutes get arrested on purpose so as to avoid their pimp who may be in a temper. There's a lady who works in the hospital who helps the policelady for the bulk of the investigation. The case concludes because someone wanted the serial killer to get caught and took something from each victim which because the murderer has it proves he is the murderer. I've read a couple of Karin's books and think out of the ones I've read this is her best one. Her knowledge of the seedier side of Atlanta is impressive. In the story Lucy starts by going with someone at the garage despite having powerful parents who try to get him the sack. She then moves to Atlanta where she is taking amphetamines and moves onto coke which she gets off the bikers and then heroin which she gets from the blacks. Gradually then she becomes a prostitute and works for a pimp but she has been having sex for drugs for some time by then. Particularly the parts about Lucy are quite sad.

oldscratbag

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