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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Triptych is the first book in the Will Trent crime thriller series by Karin Slaughter. The eBook version is 512 pages. I listened to the Books on Tape audiobook, which clocks in at thirteen hours and is narrated by Michael Kramer.
A triptych is a picture on three panels, typically hinged together side by side and used as an altarpiece. You see one image made up of all three pieces when it is open, and a different image when the side panels are closed.
Set in Atlanta, GA, the book is multi-POV and divided into three parts: Part I by veteran homicide detective Michael Ormewood, Part II by ex-con sex offender and murderer John Shelley, and Part III is further split between bisexual vice cop Angie Polaski and Georgia Bureau of Investigations Special Agent Will Trent. Not all of the narrators are reliable ones.
We are searching for a serial killer who targets teenage girls and leaves his calling card by removing their tongues. The book opens with the first victim who is a sex worker. Michael and Angie are both assigned to the case, and eventually Will Trent becomes involved as well. Will is dyslexic and has a mind that is good at connecting dots.
John is one of those ex-cons that deserves a second chance, but the world is stacked against him. He was convicted of murdering and raping a girl when he was only sixteen, and her tongue was bitten off as well. He insists that he was innocent of the crime, and is worried he is being framed for the new murders to send him back to prison. Someone had also stolen his identity while he was in prison, and instead of tanking his credit instead built up a good credit score. John’s POV in Part II is mostly out-of-order flashbacks, which got a little confusing to me.
CW: rape, attempted rape, pedophilia, murder, serial killer, gore, gruesome violence on page, infidelity, racism, ableism, homophobia, sexist and racist language (R-word, F-word, N-word)
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