whitneydaniell

by: Karin Slaughter
published: August 12, 2025
genre: Thriller, Mystery
448 Pages, E-Book ARC Courtesy of NetGalley
Goodreads | Amazon

Summary

Twelve years ago, in small-town Georgia, the North Falls Sheriff’s Department was investigating the disappearance of two young girls. While the whole town watched the Fourth of July fireworks, some deranged person abducted best friends Cheyenne Baker and Madison Dalrymple, both fifteen years old.

Officer Emmy Clifton was working under the tutelage of her father, Sheriff Gerald Clifton, as they turned over every stone and followed every clue in an effort to find the girls—one of whom happened to be the stepdaughter of Emmy’s best friend. Emmy had to find Madison and vowed to exhaust every effort to do so. But in a town where everyone and no one could be a suspect, Emmy might have been in over her head.

She couldn’t save them. After both Madison and Cheyenne’s bodies were found, Emmy carried the weight of guilt for twelve years. And now, with the convicted murderer set free due to changes in evidence and circumstances surrounding the original trial, the entire town is thrust back into the unresolved pain and frustration of their deaths. Before long, another young girl goes missing, and Emmy finds herself reliving those events from twelve years ago—only now, she’s in a race against time to bring this new girl home.

Everyone in town is hiding something, and the list of suspects keeps growing. With Emmy now serving as acting sheriff, can she manage her personal struggles long enough to finally close the case?

Character Summary

In a town where everyone knows everyone, and generations of the Clifton family have lived for decades, there’s plenty of drama to go around. Gerald and Myrna Clifton are the parents of Tommy, Henry, Martha, and Emmy. Henry died young, followed by Martha not long after. Emmy, a later-in-life baby, is some twenty-four years younger than her oldest brother, Tommy, who now teaches at the local high school where his wife, Celia, was principal.

Emmy marries her middle-school sweetheart, Jonah, and together they have a son named Cole. Emmy practically grows up in the Sheriff’s Department and eventually joins the force under her father, alongside her mentor Virgil (the former Chief Deputy) and Officer Brett Temple.

Because this is a small town, there are plenty of background characters who float in and out of the story, some playing larger roles at key times. Hannah, Emmy’s childhood best friend, is married to Paul and is the stepmother of Madison Dalrymple. Adam Huntsinger is the town screw-up. Wesley Woodrow is the town’s street pharmacist. And Father Nate is the one everyone confesses their sins to on Sunday mornings. The gang’s all here—and none of them are innocent.

My Thoughts

This was a lot. There is a lot going on, and there are a lot of words on every page. I truly don’t know how I feel about it, but I’m going to write it all out and hope it makes sense.

This is my second Karin Slaughter novel, and I couldn’t wait for this one to end. She is very long-winded here. The writing itself is fine—easy to get through, with clear context and dialogue—but there’s just so much writing—LOL. Everything is overly descriptive, the dialogue is repetitive, and there’s a lot of information that seems important but ends up going nowhere. Slaughter also includes a ton of statistical data on abductions and kidnappers that could have been left in the drafts.

The pacing is what did me in. At times, the plot moves along, then it stalls. Then it picks back up, then stalls again. There’s even a big shift when a San Francisco FBI agent shows up in North Falls, which briefly injects some new energy—but things slow down again shortly after. The uneven pacing made it hard for me to stay engaged.

Another issue: there are just too many people on every page. It feels like every townsperson needs a line or two, and while I understand the importance of misdirection in a mystery, when there are fifty-leven characters—all with shady behavior—it becomes exhausting to keep track of them all. Some are obvious red herrings, some are actually guilty, but by the end it was just too much. The idea behind the story is a solid one, but the execution didn’t land for me.

Since this is book #1 in a new series—Slaughter is also the author of the Will Trent series—I’m assuming this book is laying the groundwork for future installments. But this one was overwhelming. I’m a fast reader and usually breeze through 300–400 pages in a day, but this one was painful to finish. The final four chapters drag ass.

Final Verdict

Despite my complaints, I didn’t hate it. I was intrigued and wanted to know whodunit. And by the 80% mark, I’d come too far to quit (even though I really wanted to throw in the towel).

If you enjoy a slow burn and tend to sit with books for several days, this might be your kind of read. If you’re like me—someone who likes to read, consume, and move on to the next—you may struggle with this one. It’s a book meant to be savored. A few pages a day, then sit with it and let your mind wander. Then read a few more pages the next day, only to have everything you thought you knew turned upside down. Then you’re intrigued enough to keep going. I hope that makes sense.

Acknowledgment

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for the advanced reader copy of We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter in exchange for an honest review.