Comments on: REVIEW: Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter

By: Josie

Josie — Sat, 12 May 2012 07:23:21 +0000

@Laura: I have just finished reading the book and it so depressed me with her killing off Jeffery just as they were going to get a baby can't find if there is a book to follow to make things a bit better has anyone heard. Josie

By: dphilblack

dphilblack — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:05:53 +0000

Some time has passed since this post was created… but I thought I’d add to it to see if there is fresh perspective and if any of the angry postee’s have broken their resolve and read some more of KS’s books. The first Karin Slaughter book I read was indeed Beyond Reach and despite not knowing the back story about Jeffrey & Sara I loved their romance, the connection and the realistic twist of a relationship. I was shocked at the ending as any reader would be and yet I faithfully read all the previous books to that one and now as an avid fan early await her yearly new release. Initially I too felt that psychological block of reading any other of her books but overcame and loved the Atlanta series too. I guess I love her writing and story telling more than the characters themselves… because the characters are there to reflect real life situations (one of them is death obviously).
The books following Beyond Reach are just as good and I would say that the last one in particular Fallen nearly matches my love for Blindsighted.
So, I am curious to see if the readers have gotten past their grieving stage for Jeffrey and are reading now about what’s happening with the characters that carried on to live in the next stories…

By: Lorhainne Eckhart

Lorhainne Eckhart — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:31:46 +0000

Karin Slaughter is one of my favorite authors. I have read this series, and I realize the ending may have upset many fans. It really made me think.
The subject and genre this series is based–the ending was realistic. And really this series is not targeted to romance readers who need that happily ever after. If that’s the type of book you’re looking for. This novel will piss you off.
I will not hesitate to read all of Karin Slaughters novels, because I know to expect the unexpected. I don’t want to read easy predictable novels. And I do get emotionally involved with my characters like Sara and Jeffrey–great characters. When I read a novel, I love authors who really delve into difficult subjects, and Karin Slaughter does this quite well.

By: toni

toni — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:33:13 +0000

i love all of your books and in response to the angry bitter letter above, i personally think that if you dont read the atlanta series such as triptych you are not going to understand the new atlanta series in which sara is featured, but saying that i do understand where u are coming from as i was quite reluctant to read the atlanta series after finishing the grant series, but you are missing out as triptych and fractured are also just as amazing as the others. keep wrighting karin coz im dying to find out how sara and wills relationship turn out, im deffinitely rooting for them both :) xxx

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By: Barb

Barb — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:22:51 +0000

I totally agree with Jane. As I’ve reread the Grant County series just recently I thought much the same thing. Why can’t these characters have some peace and happiness? Why does everyone have to go through these tragic personal losses ALL the time? I liked reading about Jeffrey and Sara and their struggle to fit back together becaused they really loved each other. I liked that they had remarried and were adopting. Killing off Jeffrey killed the series. Other writers have done a wonderful job of bringing two people together through alot of struggles and still continued writing a good series. Look at Patricia Cornwell with Bentley and Kay. I think Slaughter copped out at the end of Beyond Reach. I don’t think she knows how to write about happiness, not corniness, happiness with struggles of life. I’ve noticed she also leaves alot of things hanging. Like what did Jeffrey want to discuss with Sara at the end of Beyond Reach? In Undone she tells about a letter Sara carries around from Lena for months and then finally reads but we don’t know what’s in the letter. Now that Jeffrey is gone she is dividing her books between Will Trent, Sara, Faith Mitchell and some Lena. They lack acontunuity of a series. I admit I’ve continued to read because of Sara but each book leaves me depressed. I will no longer read Slaughter’s books. I love to read and do so voraciously. I can handle struglles in people’s lives but I can no longer emotionally invest in Slaughter’s books. The characters just have too many problems and can’t seem to find happiness without it being smashed to pieces. So no morew money spent on her books and no more time reading them. I’ll stick with Paricia Cornwell, Dana Stabenow, Lee Child, an d others.

By: Sue

Sue — Wed, 25 May 2011 00:56:51 +0000

I stumbled across KS, with Faithless, and read Indelible and A Faint Cold Fear. Couldn’t put the books down. Unfortunately, I just read Undone, and found that she had killed off Jeffrey (!!!) in Beyond Reach (which I haven’t read yet, and am not sure if I ever will). What I’m confused about is Sara’s age. In Undone, KS says Sara will be 40 the next year, and she has been married to Jeffrey for 15 years + she has been grieving for 3+ years after Jeffrey’s death. How does the Math add up?? Did Sara and Jeffrey get married when Sara was only 22??

By: Becca

Becca — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 13:16:23 +0000

My first Karin Slaughter book was “Fractured.” I picked it up at a truck stop because I ran out of books in my truck. I am glad that it was the first Slaughter book I read. I knew nothing about the Grant County series. I found out about it after reading “Undone” (which I thoroughly enjoyed, by the way) and proceeded to buy all the Grant County books and “Triptych.” I think Jeffrey’s death didn’t affect me as much because I knew from the beginning that he was going to die. I agree that Lena had almost no character growth during the entire series. I agree that Sara and Jeffrey were a fun couple to read about. But honestly, the Grant County series was getting a little stale. Maybe because I read the entire series in about a week, but that’s how I felt. For me, the character I like the best is Will Trent, so unless she kills him off, I’m okay. In fact, I’m about to pre-order “Fallen.”

Also, I take offense to the people that say everyone should get a grip or get a life just because they are upset about a character’s death. When your read a series or an extremely long book, like Stephen King’s “Under the Dome” or the full version of “The Stand,” those characters aren’t just words on a page, they are your friends. You care about them. You wonder what they are up to now. Have you never laughed or cried or got emotional while reading a book? Because if you haven’t, what’s the point of you reading at all?

By: Jayne-emma

Jayne-emma — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 13:32:30 +0000

Dear bitter person.

Get a life!!!! stop moaning for heavens sake its just a book series!!! I happen to think that the books are chilling and I love the misery and horror that is conveyed in this book. Maybe you should go and read a book about pretty butterflies or something u obv can’t handle it lol

By: Elli

Elli — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 08:23:46 +0000

It’s 3:52am and I just finished Beyond Reach, Then I read KS’s letter which lead me to these reviews. I agree with all you “bitter” fans. The reason I just read Beyond Reach at this late date is that while I wait for favorite authors to hurry up and feed me a new book, (why are all the good authors so slow? lol) what was I saying? oh yes, while I wait, I’ll try out a “new” author, and if I like it, I’ll go back and buy up all the previous paperback versions of the series. If I find a series that I know I’ll read many times over, I’ll invest in the hardcovers. Elizabeth George and Dana Stebenow, among others, are in hardcover on my shelves. One of you said that they pulled the same stunt. I can’t remember what they did. I think this just shows how well they intergrated it into the story so believably. It made so much sense that I could accept it and continue on enjoying the series. Which I cannot say for KS. Two pages for the death of a beloved character? come on KS, really. That is no way near enough time to absorb the shock. I quickly picked up Undone to see if maybe the ending was a dream or a mistake but no, sadly, it wasn’t. I only read a bit of chapter one and don’t feel like finishing it. Can someone just tell me if Sara gets her baby? I doubt it. Double d…m. Needless to say, you will not be seeing harcover copies of this series on my shelves. In fact, I feel a real need to donate my copies to Goodwill and go back and read EG and DS over again.

By: Mac

Mac — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:50:05 +0000

@Mac: I guess killing Jeffrey paves way for another book wherein Sara and Lena will pursue Jeffrey's killer or something like that.

By: Mac

Mac — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:47:59 +0000

@Melanie: In my opinion Kim Slaughter's Grant County series especially Beyond Reach were very exciting to read but I must admit I was actually hoping that in the end, Chief Jeffrey Tolliver and Dr. Sara Linton would end up happy together with their newly adopted son. The death of Jeffrey was a negative twist but the novel was still very nice. Miss Slaughter is a very good writer.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 02:07:45 +0000

I am soooooo pissed off at Karin Slaughter for killing off Jeffery. This was the worst thing that she could have done, Lena could of died instead of Jeffery. I have read all of the books, this far and am not sure if I am going to cintinue following! This sucks soooo bad. She was becoming my favorite author, and then she had to go and FUCK UP!

By: Amanda

Amanda — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 21:18:37 +0000

I am going to disagree. Sometimes main characters have to die. They can’t continue on forever. You can feel free to blame this on the fact that I didn’t read the books in order. I knew Will Trent before Jeffrey Tolliver. And I also knew Jeffrey was going to die, because Undone was the first book I read. In fact I have enjoyed her later writings even more than the first ones!

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Kill the character? – Tess Gerritsen’s Blog — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:48:04 +0000

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By: Beverly

Beverly — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 16:26:57 +0000

I am also disappointed. I hope other authors like James PAtterson never take this path in his/their books

By: Angie

Angie — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:52:31 +0000

@GJean:
I agree. I just finished reading Beyond Reach and wished I had never read it. I feel like I wasted my time. Nothing was resolved in the end. Too many loose ends that weren’t tied up. I’ll never read another one of her books because even though I do like thrillers, I also want a resolution at the end. I don’t like to be left hanging like that after you’ve invested in the characters. So sad……..

By: KAREN

KAREN — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 04:24:38 +0000

And I just read her so-called “letter to my fans”, and it is nothing more than a plea to not hate her for what she’s done. She says Genesis will take place 3 years after Jeffery’s death, that is a coward’s way out from having to deal with writing a story about Sarah’s grief. I am so livid right now I can’t even fathom going to sleep, and I skipped dishes to finish the book before time to sleep b/c I had to know how it all ended. GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

By: karen

karen — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 04:13:40 +0000

I just finished reading Beyond Reach, I had read all the previous GC books but never followed up due to life getting in the way. I almost stopped reading her in the first one when she wrote that Lena was on her way from Macon to Atlanta on I-20. That interstate runs E-W, not N-S, and for KS to be a “GA native” this was offensive to me. But I loved the plot, it was very intriguing, esp the way that the perp ended up being exposed in an “OMG, are you serious???” way. So I kept reading and I liked all the others. But for her to make Sarah and Jeffery the main characters from the beginning and lead us up to the reunion of them, their growing up and acceptance of each other, to the potential adoption of a kid, just to end it in a very brutal way in two pages with no hope for an even semi-happy ending?!?!?! It is bordering on cruel and deceitful, because she made it where Sarah was having doubts and then realized how much she wanted a baby with Jeffery then had Jeffery blown apart while she had to hold him as he died!!!! I felt grieve that rivaled when my Granddaddy died and nothing has ever hurt me that deep. It is unfair as an author to write books with relationships in them that speak to the reader for so long, and at such a deep level, to just rip them apart in a matter of paragraphs. KS should be ashamed for calling herself an author.