False Witness by Karin Slaughter

I'm plugging away at the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge even though there's no way I'm going to finish it. False Witness by Karin Slaughter is a book that features a character with chronic pain AND the audiobook was available immediately for me on the Libby app when I was doing yet another road trip. Do we think Karin Slaughter is her real name or a pseudonym? 

In this thriller, Leigh and Calli are sisters. They are close as they both survived a childhood with their abusive mother. When they are young teens, they do something (sort of) bad 

(note: this is a morally grey area if you think what they did was bad and I honestly don't think it was, but I don't want to give away spoilers)

and they get away with it without any legal consequences. That is until years later when Leigh is a lawyer and Calli is a heroin addict and their past comes back to haunt them. Thriller things ensure.

Look, this is a good book. It's fast-paced and well-written. But maybe, just maybe, listening to a story about sisters who truly love one another and are devoted to each other was not the right choice for me at this exact moment in time. (If you're new around here, I have a tumultuous relationship with my sister, my mother died earlier this year, and so everything surrounding my family of origin is difficult.) ANYWAY. I found some scenes really hard to listen to. Really hard. There's graphic (GRAPHIC) depictions of sexual violence; violence violence, including guns; child abuse and neglect; pandemic stuff; and drug abuse. This is not for the faint of heart and I'm slowly coming to the realization that perhaps I *am* the faint of heart. 

 

4/5 stars, but be forewarned

Things I looked up:

Vince Dooley (Spring 2021 - Chapter 1) - an American college football coach. He was the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs from 1964 to 1988, as well as the University of Georgia's (UGA) athletic director from 1979 to 2004.

viviparous (Spring 2021 - Chapter 4) - there are two definitions, one in zoology and one in botany

• (of an animal) bringing forth live young that have developed inside the body of the parent.
• (of a plant) reproducing from buds that form plantlets while still attached to the parent plant, or from seeds that germinate within the fruit. 

Hat mentions (why hats?): 

his hat in his hand (Spring 2021 - Chapter 10)

colorful hat on her head (Spring 2021 - Chapter 11)

his hat in his hands (Summer 2005)

*******************

Are you the faint of heart? Do you read a lot of thrillers?