Snatched - Karin Slaughter

Will Trent, a dedicated agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for fifteen years, knows that there’s definitely such a thing as a cop’s intuition. Which is why he should have listened to his own.

While in an airport restroom at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International, Will overhears a girl’s pleading, plaintive voice: “Please, I wanna go home.” Something isn’t right here, thinks Will. He feels it in his gut. But he waits too long to act, and now the girl and the anxious, angry man she’s with have disappeared into the crowds at the busiest passenger airport in the world.

After a desperate search and with time running out, Will makes a call to his supervisor, Amanda Wagner. Will’s partner, Faith Mitchell, immediately sends out an abducted child alert. The entire airport will soon be grinding to a halt: Almost 100 million passengers a year. Five runways. Seven concourses. Six million square feet of space that sprawled across two counties, three cities, and five jurisdictions. All shut down on a dime because Will has a hunch that he is certain is true: a girl, maybe six or seven years old, has been snatched from God knows where. And he intends to bring her back—no matter what it takes.

Being the big Karin Slaughter fan that I am I just couldn't resist grabbing Snatched, a novella she wrote featuring Will Trent. I am always a bit wary when I start novellas as not every author can deliver a good story in a shorter format. Fortunately Slaughter is not one of those and I was quite happy with my reading.

The blurb above gives a very good idea of the beginning of the story. Once Will decides he is witnessing a crime he does everything he can to find the perpetrator and his victim. Slaughter keeps a fast pace as we follow Will on his manhunt. He finds and loses them several times in the crowd and when he finally gets his hands on the man he is alone.

What follows is a race against time to make the man confess where he left the girl before it's too late. Surprisingly, or maybe not, Slaughter manages to keep us as intrigued and on edge while Will questions the guy as she did when he was chasing him. The final twist was a complete surprise to me and very satisfying. Faith Mitchell and Amanda Wagner do make an appearance in this story but it definitely Will's book. Although it can be read as a standalone it is much better if you are already familiar with the characters. I can’t wait to get my hands on Criminal next.

Grade: 4/5