REVIEW: Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter

by Avid Reader on 07.25.2007

Beyond Reach by Karin SlaughterBeyond Reach by Karin Slaugh­ter, July 31, 2007 release. Avail­able for­mats include hard­cover, audio CD and cas­sette and ebook. Beyond Reach is the 6th book in the pop­u­lar Grant County series fea­tur­ing Dr. Sara Linton, pedi­a­tri­cian and part-​time coro­ner set in a fic­tional town out­side Georgia.

The story opens with a taunt ten­sion and a vio­lent death. The reader is offered a glimpse into a seri­ous sit­u­a­tion that is about to go down and only has one omi­nous ending and that Lena is involved.  Flash for­ward to the present, Jef­frey and Sara learn that Lena has been arrested in a small town out­side Grant County and is held as a person of inter­est. There was a dead body found at the scene and Lena may or may not have been involved.  So Sara and Jeffrey travel from Grant County to Reese, Geor­gia in hopes of help­ing Lena untan­gle her­self from what­ever prob­lems she is facing within this small rural town.

Before Lena’s trouble’s inter­fered, Sara Linton had been facing a nasty mal­prac­tice suit. She is being sued by a parent for delay­ing therapy for their ter­mi­nally ill child. Sara’s wor­ried that her insur­ance car­rier will cave and pay the family thereby paint­ing her as a neg­li­gent doctor. The law­suit has far reach­ing effects in the com­mu­nity. Most of the res­i­dents of Hearts­dale shun or avoid Sara and there­fore Sara has closed her clinic pend­ing the out­come of the law­suit. How­ever, Lena’s trou­bles are now front and center and this pro­vides Sara with a tem­po­rary dis­trac­tion from her own problems.

The author does an excel­lent job going back and forth between the present and past to bring the two threads together for the climax of the story. Alas, I was com­pletely unpre­pared for the unex­pected plot twist for this story, too. As usual, Beyond Reach was a sus­pense­ful story, well plot­ted with the high­light for me being the con­tin­ued devel­op­ment of Jef­fery and Sara’s rela­tion­ship. Of course Sara doesn’t care for Jef­fery gal­lop­ing to Lena’s rescue but they both stay in Reese and figure out what’s going on. In Lena’s usual fash­ion she dis­tances her­self from the very people who want to help her by using them to help her escape and elude the author­i­ties. This causes fric­tion ini­tially between Jef­frey and the local sheriff.

We learn that Lena was on vacation, checking on her uncle, Hank Norton, a former drug addict who raised Lena and her twin sister, Sybil. Lena learns that he recently fell off the wagon and started using again. Lena decides to check around and talk to the local folks to find out what trig­gered his relapse. Mean­while, Jef­frey learns that some skin­heads have inun­dated the small rural town with metham­phet­a­mine. The local sher­iff seems elu­sive and laid back despite the recent increase in crime. There are quite a few red her­rings the author throws around. How­ever,  Jeffrey does get to the bottom of the problems that Lena is faced with that leads to a very unex­pected plot twist to the story. 

As a reader who was emotionally as well as financially invested in this series I must state that I am dis­ap­pointed that Ms. Slaugh­ter has decided to go in a direc­tion I find some­what vexing. Just to recap and this infor­ma­tion may be spoil­ers for those who’ve never read this series: through­out this series we’ve had to deal with Sara’s pain from her brutal rape that has resulted in her inabil­ity to have chil­dren. We watched rekindle her relationship with her phi­lan­der­ing ex-​husband, Jef­frey Tol­liver, who cheated on her but ultimately regains her trust.

We’ve had to endure Lena’s self-​destructive per­son­al­ity and her lengthy recov­ery from being a victim of a rape and deal­ing with the murder of her twin sister. I’ve had to sus­pend dis­be­lief for and stom­ach a lot of the vio­lence in such a small town with a high body count. Grant County has had its share of vio­lent crimes that con­sisted of rape, incest and murder from perps who some­times remain elu­sive from the law. I could accept the end­ings of most of her books that ended with jus­tice never ful­filled because it is a real­is­tic outcome.

So much dark­ness and sad­ness with only very little hap­pi­ness as it seems to me that as read­ers we’re left deal­ing with one tragedy after another. Was there any light in this series? I’d like to think so with Sara and Jeffrey’s rela­tion­ship because that was the one thing that anchored me to this series that has been con­sis­tently dark and bru­tally vio­lent. How much more trial and tribu­la­tion must the char­ac­ters and the read­ers endure? Alas, as sus­pense­ful and well writ­ten as this novel was for me, I’m unde­cided if I would want to con­tinue forth. The path that Ms. Slaugh­ter has decided to go seems to be more of the same. Alas, I hope she meets the chal­lenges she’s set forth for her and this series and wish her con­tin­ued success.

In the end, Beyond Reach was a cap­ti­vat­ing read for me despite the ending. I’ve had sev­eral days of review­ing my feel­ings about this book to accept the con­clu­sion but I strongly dis­agree with it. Over­all, I will give this book the B+ it deserves for the cap­ti­vat­ing, page turn­ing, taunt sus­pense novel that it is for me and an F for the emo­tional manip­u­la­tion you have forced your loyal read­er­ship to endure. I hope that it was worth it.

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{ 72 comments… read them below or add one }

Stephen 12.25.2008 at 5:14 pm

I loved this book. Yet another excel­lent adven­ture in the Grant County series. The ending was bril­liant, I really didn’t see that coming. Was almost close to tears.

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Tee 12.09.2008 at 7:48 am

For all of you who have sworn off Slaugh­ter for future books, I would seri­ously encour­age you to recon­sider. First of all, if you read her books because you enjoyed her par­tic­u­lar writ­ing style, that hasn’t changed. You are really deny­ing your­self some great future read­ing if you stay away. “Frac­tured” was an excel­lent book and con­tin­ues the adven­tures with Will of “Trip­tych.”

I guess I didn’t real­ize that another book will be coming out after “Beyond Reach” in the Grant County series. Even though I was one of those orig­i­nally that said I wouldn’t read more of her stuff, I’m glad I changed my mind and I know I will read this one if only just to see how she plans to go on. She’s the author; it’s her baby and she can do as she wants. She took a chance and only time will tell how suc­cess­ful that will be for her. And, the second point is, as Richard T posted earlier — it’s only fiction!

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elizabeth margosiak 11.12.2008 at 1:43 am

im in shock, i cant believe they killed jef­fery off i never thought they would ever do any­thing like that im sorry to say i wont be read­ing any more of your books this has up set me so bad sara and jef­fery were so good together its unfair to end it all like that, what ever made u decide to do that why couldnt it have been a hap­pier ending, maybe u can fix this and not really make him dead but it was so wrong to end the book like that

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Olive 10.28.2008 at 5:22 pm

Skin Privilege/Beyond Reach - what a breath of fresh air. I cried - yes - i was angry - well obvi­ously. I felt close to the char­ac­ters but, that’s what they are char­ac­ters and it takes a brave person to kill off one of their main char­ac­ters but i feel what it does is it makes for unpre­dictabil­ity, never really know­ing what will happen. I think of the genre of film and how, as view­ers, we all know that the main char­ac­ter won’t be killed off, and we quite like the com­fort of know­ing the char­ac­ters we like are safe. We are in our com­fort zone. Slaugh­ter keeps us on edge, never quite know­ing what’s round the corner. I think that’s brave. i think that she’s some­one who really cares about keep­ing things fresh. She knows that she could have con­tin­ued build­ing Jeff and Sara’s rela­tion­ship - churned out another few mon­eyspin­ners but she didn’t she made it a mem­o­rable book, remind­ing us life changes in an instant. I’m half way theough Tryp­tyct and WOW her best book so far - for me anyway.

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Avid Reader 06.17.2008 at 5:03 pm

Thanks Zoe, I will look for them.

Hi Wendy, thanks for shar­ing your thoughts. I am not curi­ous so you’ll have to tell me how Gen­e­sis works for you.

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Zoe 06.17.2008 at 2:13 pm

Dear Avid Reader

Just to let you know that I’ve just read Mo Hay­ders 3rd book in the Jack Caf­frey Series and it is bril­liant. Check out her other 2 books - Tokyo and Pig Island. As for Karin, I really do under­stand where your coming from with the trust issue. I’ll keep the faith and keep read­ing her stuff , but I must admit, I find it very hard to for­give her. Zoe

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wendy 06.13.2008 at 3:54 pm

hi,
I read the books in Dutch, and though I found the end hard to believe (I read it over and over to make sure I read it right), I can’t wait to read “Gen­e­sis”. Really want to know how it ends…

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Avid Reader 06.03.2008 at 6:06 pm

Hi Zoe! Thanks for your com­ments. Also, I’ll make sure to try Brian Free­man and as for Mo Hayder, I have those two books in my TBR pile so thank you very much for men­tion­ing these authors. She seems to have dis­ap­peared from the pub­lish­ing world at present.

As for Slaugh­ter, it’s a matter of trust for me - I don’t trust her. This series had so much dark­ness in it that killing off Jef­frey was adding insult to injury. I can under­stand want­ing clo­sure but I cannot bring myself to read Gen­e­sis because this series wasn’t just about Sarah but Sarah and Jef­frey for me and I per­son­ally don’t or can’t bring myself to read about how Sarah goes on with­out Jef­frey. Just can’t.

I think Karin Slaugh­ter is an awe­some writer, no doubt but I’ve moved on. One author I was really excited about was Jodi Comp­ton. She wrote The 37th Hour and Sym­pa­thy Between Humans. Ignore those reviews on Amazon as I read the first book and enjoyed it, rated it a B+/B. I am hoard­ing the second one. She is cur­rently MIA.

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Zoe Beresord 06.03.2008 at 10:06 am

Also, I would like to rec­om­mend Brian Freeman’s books, start­ing with Immoral. He has a lead male Detec­tive called Jonathan Stride and he reminds me of Jef­frey a little and the books are fan­tas­tic read­ing.

Another is Mo Hayder. Her first book with Detec­tive Inspec­tor Jack Caf­frey was bril­liant and her sequel, The Treat­ment was unputdownable!!!!!

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Zoe 06.03.2008 at 10:04 am

Like many of you, I have read all of the Grant County books and I was also sad­dened at the ending of Skin Priv­i­lege (UK). I cried for 3 days and I wrote to Karin via her web­site to tell her how the book had made me feel. When i read her letter, I felt that she wasnt so much as apol­o­gis­ing for her deci­sion but trying to jus­tify it to us, the reader.

Unlike many of you, I will be read­ing Gen­e­sis when it is released next year. I need to know what hap­pens to Sara, as it is impor­tant to me that she has started the heal­ing process. If i chose not to read it, she would always be unhappy to me and she deserves more. I dont think that Karin will carry on with Grant County after Gen­e­sis but will con­tinue with Will Trent from Tryp­tych.

One point I would like to make is this. You must all surely agree that Karin Slaugh­ter is an out­stand­ing writer. If she wasnt, none of us would feel so strongly about Jeffrey.

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Richard T 11.11.2007 at 6:32 am

I have enjoyed read­ing these posts.

I felt shocked and numb at the ending. I too re-​read it trying to under­stand.

That is the point.

Many of these posts start out with a com­ment on how they have devel­oped an emo­tional bond with the char­ac­ters.
As such, the climax to the book is illic­it­ing from its read­ers the nat­ural grief process:

Numb­ness and shock. Anger (in this case directed to the respon­si­ble party - Karin Slaugh­ter) Yearn­ing and bar­gain­ing (like the Dallas Bobby Ewing fiasco). We also see here denial (Cut­ting out the last two pages and pre­tend­ing they all thive hap­pily ever after).

Even­tu­ally will come accep­tance. I am on that road now :)
As such, I will be buying the next book. I am glad to hear that there will be one.

Life goes on.

Remem­ber as well……it’s only fic­tion!

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Sue R 11.04.2007 at 6:59 pm

I just fin­ished Beyond Reach in one after­noon. I sin­cerely wish I had stopped before the last few pages. I have loved this series even through all the dark­ness. Isn’t time that Lena get a grip. Isn’t it time for Ethan not to get so much ink. I can only take so much creepy. I could live with that, but I can’t live with what hap­pened to Jef­frey. I don’t know why authors think that their read­ers want to be depressed at the end of the story. If Jef­frey had to be killed, did it really have to be right after he learns that he will be a father. Talk about a double whammy. This is the last Karin Slaugh­ter book I’ll be reading.

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CindyS 11.02.2007 at 8:05 pm

One of my best buds read this while she was on vaca­tion and has a few pages to go. I didn’t know she read the series so we never talked about it. When she came for a visit she was telling me about this book where she was gutted with the last few pages. I knew imme­di­ately which book she was talk­ing about. She said she wished she could forget she ever read those pages and just end the series with that book and him alive.

I pointed her to the authors letter but she’s so not buying.

CindyS

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Dana 11.02.2007 at 11:45 am

It makes it easier for me to know that other people feel the same. It eases my pain a bit. I still won’t read Karin Slaugh­ter any­more, but I don’t feel as dev­as­tated because other people understand.

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Avid Reader 11.02.2007 at 10:27 am

Exactly. A lot of us felt manip­u­lated and betrayed. The author did only to evoke an emo­tional response from her read­ers. I won’t be fol­low­ing her. This series has ended for me.

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Dana 11.02.2007 at 10:06 am

Hi, thanks for get­ting back so quick! That’s awful…I’m so dis­ap­pointed. I don’t care how Sara and Lena deal with Jeffrey’s death - I want it to not have hap­pened. I felt like she ripped out my heart and stomped on it with that ending! Why make us care for Jef­frey so much and then have him die such a painful grue­some death?

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Avid Reader 11.02.2007 at 8:24 am

Hi Dana, the brief ver­sion: Ms. Slaugh­ter says that the events that hap­pened at the end of the book is not a dream sequence, it’s the real deal. The next Grant County book, Gen­e­sis, which won’t be out in another couple of years, is about Sara and Lena deal­ing with the events that hap­pened at the end of the book.

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Dana 11.01.2007 at 10:14 pm

The letter won’t load for me…I’m dying to know what she said. Can you give me the brief ver­sion? I’m so upset by the ending…I wish I didn’t finish it at night. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep.

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Rosemarie 10.03.2007 at 10:54 pm

Beyond Reach was the sixth book I read about lena, Sara and Jef­fery. To have this last book end with Jef­frey being blown up just took the life out of me. I will not read another slaugh­ter book. Thre was so much more that could have bee writ­ten in at least another three of four books., but you ended it………..

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Christie Sanders 10.02.2007 at 10:19 pm

All of my Karin Slaugh­ter books will be donated to the library now… won’t be buying any others either… Totally unnec­es­sary and dev­as­tat­ing to the future of the series. What a loss.

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SUSAN 09.30.2007 at 12:23 am

I HAVE READ ALL OF YOUR BOOKS AND ENJOYED THEM ALOT. THE ENDING WAS TOO HEART­BREAK­ING THOUGH. I READ THAT 5 TIMES NOT BELIEV­ING THAT I WAS READ­ING IT! ALL THE TROU­BLES THAT JEF­FREY AND SARA HAD TO GO THROUGH AND THEY FINALLY GET BACK TOGETHER, AND NOW THIS! IT WAS JUST TOO MUCH! I THINK IN THE BACK OF ALL OF OUR MINDS, EVERY­ONE WANTS TO SEE A HAPPY ENDING. KILLING OFF ONE OF THE MAIN KILLERS MADE THE WHOLE BOOK NOT WORTH READ­ING AGAIN.

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Avid Reader 09.23.2007 at 8:37 am

Does anyone know of any really great books like slaugh­ters with great char­ac­ters that I can read to get my mind of it?…

Wel­come Hannah. A author that I really love who has been con­sis­tently strong and writes with a female sleuth is Julia Spencer-​Fleming. The first book in the series(she has four or five out right now) is In the Bleak Mid­win­ter. Another author I really like is Clin­ton Mck­inzie, that fea­tures a rock-​climbing peace offi­cer in Wyoming, first book The Edge of Jus­tice.

Wel­come Pam, sorry to respond so late, com­ment #14 has the link to the infa­mous letter by Karin Slaughter.

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