When the body of a young woman is discovered deep beneath the icy waters of Lake Grant, a note left under a rock by the shore points to suicide. But within minutes, it becomes clear that this is no suicide. It's a brutal, cold-blooded murder.
All too soon, former Grant County medical examiner Sara Linton - home for Thanksgiving after a long absence - finds herself unwittingly drawn into the case. The chief suspect is desperate to see her, but when she arrives at the local police station she is met with a horrifying sight - he lies dead in his cell, the words 'Not me' scrawled across the walls.
Something about his confession doesn't add up and, deeply suspicious of Lena Adams, the detective in charge, Sara immediately calls in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Shortly afterwards, Special Agent Will Trent is brought in from his vacation to investigate. But he is immediately confronted with a wall of silence. Grant County is a close-knit community with loyalties and ties that run deep. And the only person who can tell the truth about what really happened is dead...
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ALLISON SPOONER WANTED to leave town for the holiday, but there was nowhere to go. PROLOGUE
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(Cornerstone Digital, 8 July 2010, ebook, 528 pages, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @OverDriveLibs, # popsugarreadingchallenge, a book with something broken on the cover)
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I've started to get back into the author's work after not reading her for many years. I thought Broken was a terrific read. I like being back among familiar faces including Sara and Lena. I've always had a soft spot for Lena, unconventional, bad ass whose intentions are good even if this isn't always obvious. This also features Will Trent, a character I've only come across in a couple of books. As I haven't read the books for years, I have a lot of gaps to fill such as Jeffrey Tolliver's murder, but this didn't impact my enjoyment of the book. Broken ticks all the boxes for a good thriller and I had no idea who the killer was. I liked seeing Grant County through Will's eyes.