Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter
Series: Grant County #6
Published by Delacorte Press on July 31, 2007
Pages: 528
Source: Library
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Sara Linton--resident medical examiner/pediatrician in Grant County, Georgia, --has plenty of hardship to deal with, including defending herself in a heartbreaking malpractice suit. So when her husband, Police chief Jeffery Tolliver, learns that his friend and coworker detective Lena Adams has been arrested for murder and needs Sara's help, she is not sure she can handle the pressure of it all.

But soon Sara and Jeffery are sitting through evidence, peeling back the layers of a mystery that grows darker by the day--until an intricate web of betrayal and vengeance begins to unravel. And suddenly the lives of Sara, Lena, and Jeffery are hanging by the slenderest of threads.

Review:

I have no idea how to talk coherently about how much I love the Grant County Series. It hasn’t been the crimes and solving them as much as it has been the character and their relationships that have made me gravitate toward these books and love them like I do. I’ve both been excited about this last book in the Grant County Series and I’ve dreaded it, and now that I’m done I almost feel empty. That might have something to do with a little something that happened in the book. Or it may just be because I miss these characters as a whole. I’m sure it’s a little of both.

Sara and Jeffrey have had a complicated relationship throughout the series, but by the end of Faithless, I was thrilled at where they were. I felt comfortable with their status and I was excited to see what was to come for them. In Beyond Reach, their relationship is doing well, they continue to work well together, and they have gone through the process of applying to adopt a child. Jeffrey gets pulled into an investigation in Reece, Georgia (Lena’s hometown) and brings Sara along for it – which means that Sara gets pulled into the investigation as well. This has happened before in a previous book and was fairly traumatic for the pair. But goodness gracious, it has never been as dramatic and dangerous and nerve-wrecking as it was for Sara and Jeffrey in this book. These two had me sweating and barely breathing the entire time. The stakes were just so high for them, which made me nearly crazy because I WAS FINALLY COMFORTABLE WITH SARA AND JEFFREY.

Now for Lena. Lena is known for getting herself into trouble and making awful decisions. She’s had such a hard time since the big thing that happened to her in Blindsighted (not spoiling it for those that haven’t read yet). I’ve found myself feeling literally every emotion at and for Lena, including frustrated with her and angry with her. In this book, I just wanted her to survive the mess she has gotten herself into this time, and to just make it out okay. I love that even though Lena is in what is probably her biggest mess yet, I can see her progress and character development over the series since the big thing that happened to her, and I’m really very proud of her. She still makes crappy decisions and she still puts the people she loves in danger, but she is such a great character and I’ve grown really fond of her. By the end of this book, I still feel every emotion toward Lena, but I’ve come to think that maybe she’s just one of those characters that attracts drama and conflict. (I certainly know people that are like that in real life.)

There are no relationships in any book like the ones in this series. I love the way Karin Slaughter weaves the complicated, tangible feelings that we all feel into the gritty, dark world of crime. I love that Sara, Jeffrey, and Lena can’t seem to not blur the lines between their private lives and their work. I love that they have all taken their time over the six years that these six books have occurred and (mostly) worked out their issues and made things okay – or as okay as they can be. I love the way these characters have a relationship with the small-town South too. I love this so, so much and this is written into these stories so doggone well – it’s so good that it’s almost tangible. I’ve said how much this means to me over and over, but it really drew me in to these books to begin with, and it is one of the reasons that I’ve stayed. I think the South that I know and love is fairly represented in this series– the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The best things about this entire series are three complicated relationships: 1 – the relationship between Sara and Jeffrey, 2 – the non-romantic relationship between Jeffrey and Lena, and 3 – the relationship between Lena and her Uncle Hank. Love love love. Love.

I know that I’ll revisit these books because these relationships are branded on my heart for various reasons, especially what exists between Lena and Hank. But it will take some time after what happened in this story. I understand why this book unfolded like it did, but FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, I cried throughout this story and especially when I finished with it, and I just need a little bit of time before moving on to the Will Trent Series. I know you understand, Karin Slaughter!

If you find yourself in a place like me – emotional and needing more time – Ms. Slaughter has written us this letter, which is a MAJOR SPOILER SO DON’T READ IT UNLESS YOU HAVE FINISHED THIS BOOK.

Check out my other reviews in the Grant County Series:

Blindsighted | Kisscut | A Faint Cold Fear | Indelible
Faithless | Beyond Reach

Audiobook Notes:

I didn’t even try the audiobook with this one, since Kathleen Early does not narrate it. It may be great – I don’t know – but I still maintain that Kathleen Early IS the Grant County Series.