Reading in the Mountains

The first electrifying mystery in Karin Slaughter’s new North Falls series, and damn, what a start.

Welcome to North Falls — that quiet little town where everyone swears they know everyone… until fireworks night, when two teenage girls vanish and panic spreads like wildfire.

Officer Emmy Clifton takes it personally — one of the girls was her best friend’s daughter, and Emmy wasn’t there when it mattered. Now she’s got one shot to fix that. Except, the more she digs, the more it’s clear she never really knew these girls at all. Nobody did.

And when their bodies turn up, things get darker fast. The town pins it on the local creep — the guy with Cheyenne’s necklace buried in his yard (because of course). But Cheyenne’s also got sixteen grand stashed away, drugs hidden in her room, and a side hustle that screams too much, too soon. Her friend Madison? Clean record, straight-A daughter of Emmy’s best friend Hannah. Except now both are dead, Emmy’s found the bodies, Hannah’s stopped speaking to her, and the town perv is behind bars.

Twelve years later, he’s out.

A new girl goes missing.

Emmy’s dad — a detective — gets shot right in front of her.

Her mom’s unraveling. The whole town’s falling apart.

And guess what? The skeletons in North Falls didn’t stay buried.

Then there’s Jude, the high-profile FBI agent on the brink of retirement, who sees Emmy’s tragedy splashed across the news and decides to dive back in. One last case — one that refuses to stay cold.

I started this book last night and read 50% in one sitting. It’s that good. Karin Slaughter has that unnerving way of making you feel disgusted, sad, and obsessed all at once. Her writing is cinematic, violent in truth, and her characters? Messy, real, broken — just how I like them

The chapters are long (painfully long sometimes), but not boring — which says a lot, because I get bored of everything lately.

I ended up reading it curled under a blanket, feeling like autumn decided to cosplay as winter. I was supposed to watch a horror movie — instead, I lived one in North Falls.

It’s dark, heavy, and impossible to look away from. Everyone’s hiding something. Everyone’s guilty of something.

Not a spoiler — just the truth.

Highly recommend this one.