Triptych (Will Trent, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Aug 01, 2010 Ra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I will first start with the title of the book. This is the first time I remember when I look up a title in the dictionary. My digital Collins says:
triptych [ˈtrɪptɪk:]
n 1. a set of three pictures or panels, usually hinged so that the two wing panels fold over the larger central one: often used as an altarpiece
2. a set of three hinged writing tablets
From Greek triptukhos, from tri- + ptux plate.

One of the story's characters has a triptych on her mantelpiece. When the two side panels fold over I will first start with the title of the book. This is the first time I remember when I look up a title in the dictionary. My digital Collins says:
triptych [ˈtrɪptɪk:]
n 1. a set of three pictures or panels, usually hinged so that the two wing panels fold over the larger central one: often used as an altarpiece
2. a set of three hinged writing tablets
From Greek triptukhos, from tri- + ptux plate.

One of the story's characters has a triptych on her mantelpiece. When the two side panels fold over the central one a new image or canvas is formed. There is a blurb on the book cover: Three people with something to hide. One killer with nothing to lose. I believe the Triptych reference is to these three people and the way their deception makes things take different forms at different times.

I bought this book after I read Fractured by the same author because I liked the character of Special Agent Will Trent and wanted to read more about his personal story. This book did not disappoint, as the plot moved at a cracking pace. There were plenty of unexpected twists that kept me turning the pages, and re-reading some parts to discover how the author expertly wove the pattern of deception.

I love the way Karin Slaughter handles her characters. Unlike clean predictable sleuths such as Temperance Brennan (Kathy Reich's forensic anthropologist), Karin Slaughter comes up with more vulnerable and gritty characters for her police force. They show many human frailties that anyone can relate to and sympathize with. Her characters fight their private battles as they are fighting crime, and this makes them all the more appealing.

The story starts with the murder and mutilation of Aleesha Munroe, a prostitute and a drug addict living in one of Atlanta's rough neighborhood. Detective Michael Ormwood is in charge, but he soon finds out that he needs to work with Special Agent Will Trent from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). Will Trent is helping out because the murder has some similarities with other attacks around the state. Within 24 hours Michael's next door neighbor is found dead in his backyard and in order to solve the mystery the two men need to look back into a past that refuses to stay buried.

I will not elaborate more on this excellent thriller in order not to spoil it for future readers. More than just a good thriller the story challenges the perceptions of right and wrong, justice and injustice. It showed the grim reality of prison and why a convicted felon almost always ends up back in prison.

I will remember many characters in this book. For example there was the mother character who fought bravely and unrelentingly for her son, it was a character I related to. She stands in contrast to the mother who fought blindly for her son doing a lot of damage to people's lives in the process.
Another character later in the book speaks poignantly about her children: "It's the most wonderful blessing God has given us, our ability to bring a child into the world. You hold them in our arms that first time, and they are more precious than gold. Every breath you take after that is only for your child". This is so very true.

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May 31, 2021 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: unreliable-narrator, audio, mystery

I wasn’t so sure about this book when I started, it seemed needlessly lurid. I still think it is needlessly lurid, but I also eventually found it completely riveting. At the end of each part, Slaughter coyly lets the reader peek inside and find the secret inside the story, and she keeps doing this, and it's kind of addicting, it made me want to keep reading.

I listened to the audiobook (Michael Kramer is always fantastic), and I didn't realize at first that this is told in two time periods, swit I wasn’t so sure about this book when I started, it seemed needlessly lurid. I still think it is needlessly lurid, but I also eventually found it completely riveting. At the end of each part, Slaughter coyly lets the reader peek inside and find the secret inside the story, and she keeps doing this, and it's kind of addicting, it made me want to keep reading.

I listened to the audiobook (Michael Kramer is always fantastic), and I didn't realize at first that this is told in two time periods, switching back and forth between 1985 and 2005/2006 (and sometimes throwing little news articles in from mid-line dates like 1995), because those sorts of details don't always "stick" for me when I'm just listening. So that was a little confusing.

I still couldn't get past all of the incredibly graphic details of how multiple women and girls and boys in this story were violently raped, and how their bodies were brutally assaulted both before and after death. A few times, women were stripped naked and I just saw no reason for it. It just felt like an excuse to describe another woman's naked body, another woman's fear and humiliation. I did enjoy the mystery a lot, but I was so put-off by the gratuitous details that I can't rate this higher than 3 stars.

I was curious about the title. A triptych is a three-piece painting, and I thought maybe the title indicated the three different men this book followed: Part 1 is Detective Michael Ormwood, Part 2 is ex-con John Shelley, and Part 3 is Detective Will Trent. But they weren't really three parts of a whole, they were just three main characters in this story, so it struck me as odd that they chose "Triptych" for the title. At one point we get this little explanation:

Will turned his back to her, looking at the painting over the mantle. It was a triptych: three canvases hinged together to make one image when it was open, another image when it was closed. He'd always assumed she liked the duplicity of the piece. It was just like Angie, one thing inside, another out.

So I guess that's what Slaughter was aiming for? I don't know, it feels like a reach. ...more

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Jan 19, 2019 Cherylcali "turn the page" rated it liked it

First book of the Will Trent series. No, I didn't read these in the order. They are very good books and I have needed to read them in order. This was a great book loved learning about the story and how Will and Angie have this very strange relationship.

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