After an absence of three years, Karin Slaughter brings back reader favorites Will Trent and Sara Linton in The Last Widow, both with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation

A young mother who works at the CDC is kidnapped at a shopping mall. A month later, there’s no sign of Michelle Spivey, leaving her wife and young child bewildered and grieving.

Sara, a medical examiner and pediatrician, is getting ready to have lunch with Will, a Georgia agent, at the home of her aunt when emergency sirens fill the air and explosions are heard coming from Emory University.

Running toward the emergency, they come across a horrific car accident with disastrous consequences for them both. Will watches helplessly as Sara is taken away but recognizes that Michelle Spivey was in one of the cars.

The events force Will to go undercover to find the mountain lair of the Invisible Patriot Army, whose leader, Dash, has a diabolical scheme planned. Readers who expect awful things to happen will still be shocked at what does happen.

While Sara fights to treat the children on the compound, Will tries to insinuate himself into the IPA. Neither can imagine just how badly things will go awry. Racing to stop the plan that will affect the nation, the horrific ending is still shocking in its intensity.

A timely and scary plot make this a what Publishers Weekly calls a “…visceral, gratifying entry.”