Karin Slaughter - Genesis

Synopsis

As a tortured woman staggers out of a forest, barely clinging to life, the only question on anyone's mind is 'Who could have done this?'. When a second woman is found in eerily similar conditions, it becomes clear that there is a sick individual lurking amongst the people of Alabama. Once news hits of a third woman's abduction, detectives are in a race against time as they search for the perpetrator before another woman is taken

Likes

I was immediately immersed when I first started reading the book. The author is very descriptive in her writing, allowing me to clearly visualise the events and feel the gravity of the situation. I was on edge along with Faith and Will and wanted to find the answers as much as they did, if not more. As the events unfolded, there wasn’t a moment where I felt that I could predict what would happen next and was always caught off guard. Even once the pieces fell into place, I still couldn’t believe it and was left feeling shocked among other mixed emotions

Dislikes

Although I liked the storyline, I felt that the execution could have been better. It’s quite a long book which I don’t mind, but not everything felt like it added value to the story and could have been omitted. For example, there was a lot of dialogue, some of which I felt was forced such as when Faith lashed out at Sara for apparently trying to involve herself in the investigation – it didn’t have the appropriate build up to warrant that kind of reaction and it seemed to be for the aim of revealing that it was Sara’s way of staying connected to her deceased police officer husband. But Sara had mentioned earlier in the story that her husband would tell her about his work so the reader could already figure out that being close to the investigation affected her in a greater way because of this. There didn’t really need to be a section for this revelation, but it can be argued that it was used to explain why Faith was always so cold towards Sara. Nonetheless, I felt that it was unnecessary and parts like these made it seem as though there was a word count that needed to be reached

As mentioned in the like, I was engrossed when I initially started reading as everything was exciting and I wanted to know what was going on. I was unable to put the book down for the first couple of chapters until then. But as the story progressed, the suspense started to wane, which is understandable as there will always be moments of highs and lows, but it got to the point where I soon lost interest. I think this was also due to what I felt were unnecessary forced and awkward dialogues slowing down the pace of the story. It got to the point where I just wanted to finish the book because I had already started but wasn’t too invested in how it would end

Despite the book being so long with a few things having happened, I didn’t feel as though I got to know the characters too well. I knew that Will was orphaned, had dyslexia and grew to be a tender man in a tumultuous relationship; I was aware of Faith, her diabetes, pregnancy and on-and-off relationship with Sam; and Sara’s relationship with her husband and how his loss affected her was frequently referenced, but I didn’t feel as though I had gotten to know them. I knew a little of them which I felt I could read in a fact sheet, but I didn’t get a sense of their personalities which prevented me from developing much of an affinity for them. They were just the main characters I unfortunately didn’t care very much about

In addition to the above, there wasn’t very much character development. Everyone was pretty much the same from the beginning until the end, except from when Will beat up Smirkov which was very out of character. I understand that there was a baby involved but the reaction seemed to come from nowhere, especially from Will, and it just didn’t make much sense. Other than this, the characters felt stagnant, uninteresting, and predictable, contrary to the events

I hated the ending. The letter was made out to be a big deal from the start, but we never got to know its contents – all we got was a Sara saying that it was written on the confession paper that is often used so she deemed it to be as such. The ending was incredibly disappointing; I wasn’t necessarily hoping for a happy ending, but I was expecting something more

General Thoughts

Tom is such a massive weirdo

What came of the white car? Was it a lie for the Coldfield’s to protect their son? But then Pauline said that her dad wouldn’t have been aware of what his son was up to because he was rarely home. There was a silver car that was spotted outside of Pauline’s home during the drug party but the white car that Henry referenced seemed to have been mentioned once and then not again. Instead of finding leads regarding the car, they were more concerned with finding Jake Bernam and put a lot of resources into doing so, which although I understand, it seemed like the white car stopped being on people’s minds?

Will was quite a sad character, but I couldn’t find it within me to feel sorry for him. I wish he had wanted better for himself

I understand that there are unpleasant people in the world, but Pauline and the other women seemed to have no off button. I believe this was done to make it difficult for the reader to express much sympathy towards them despite the ordeal they had been through, but it left me feeling confused as the reactions seemed over the top. For example, Pauline kicking Olivia so that she would be the first one out was beyond bizarre. Even if you are a b*tch, that’s a pretty over the top reaction, especially when you’re both trying to escape such a terrible situation

Rating

Genesis has an interesting storyline which captivated me in the beginning, but it unfortunately wasn’t able to hold my interest for long. However, I appreciate the author’s descriptive writing and ability to surprise me at every turn

Based on this, I would give this book a 2.5/5

Would I recommend?

I unfortunately would not recommend this book as most of my interest was held in the first couple of chapters as I found myself quickly losing interest thereafter. Additionally, the lack of character development, drawled out dialogues, and ending made it difficult for me to enjoy. I would also warn that the book discusses sexual assault, abuse, and torture which may be difficult to read

Favourite Quotes

‘He was getting laugh lines around his eyes, and she used to kiss them and think about how wonderful it was to be growing older with this man’

‘Her ass was so tight it squeaked when she walked’