Karin Slaughter | Criminal (Will Trent #6)

Book spoilers ahead–if you haven’t yet read Criminal, I suggest you turn back now.

Pete Hanson, the Atlanta ME, found out he had small cell lung cancer and not long to live. He offered his job to Sara once he was no longer able to work.

Amanda’s father was a KKK member of German descent.

Past: Amanda (25) and Evelyn are sent to investigate a rape in a bad part of town. When they arrive, they find no one was raped–just a prostitute living in her friend’s apartment. The next day, someone in the same apartment dies. The homicide detectives assumed it was Lucy Bennett, but Amanda and Evelyn knew it was Jane, the woman they had spoken to the day before. Lucy’s brother falsely identified Jane as Lucy, but he hadn’t seen Lucy in years.

Present Day: Will’s father has recently been released from prison, and Will is all messed up about it. A student named Ashley Snider was found with injuries that closely mimicked those of the past victims–including Will’s mother. Will’s father had just been released from prison. Will said something to Amanda along the lines of “you know what he does, he kills one and keeps one”. So the reader is led to believe that Will’s father is the serial killer in both timelines. We don’t yet know the identity of either his mother or his father.

Past: When Mary the student was found dead and posed as Ophelia, Amanda and Evelyn suspected the man that ran the mission, Trey Callahan. When they went to speak to him, though, he had skipped town. A priest was there that suggested they speak to James Ulster at the soup kitchen. Callahan had stolen money from donors.

They followed Ulster home and heard a woman screaming. It was Lucy giving birth. Ulster attacked them, but Amanda was able to fight her way out and overpower him just in time for backup to show up. They made it inside just in time to comfort Lucy as she died. They found Will in the trash can, and Amanda fell in love with him. She would have adopted him, but as a single 25-year-old woman, it wouldn’t have been allowed at the time. So she named him, clothed him, and kept an eye on him his whole life. Trent was Amanda’s mother’s maiden name, and Wilbur was Duke’s real name. They also had the foresight to save the DNA evidence from the dead girls in case technology improved in the future.

Present: Amanda calls Will to bring him to the hotel where his father was staying, so Will assumes Ulster has killed again. When they arrive, they find Ulster dead in his hotel bed. Something is off, though, and that’s when they find Suzanna in the basement. Luckily she’s still alive.

The Ending:

Later, Amanda takes Will to meet his uncle: Hank Bennett, the brother of Lucy. Hank is married to Kitty (who now goes by Eliza), who was never found by Amanda and Evelyn after Ulster was arrested. Will has vague memories of spending time in their house as a child. Amanda had figured out that Hank and Ulster had a deal. Hank had paid for Ulster’s lawyer. She knew that Jane had been killed by someone else, not Ulster. And his current wife was Kitty, who he’d kept as his prisoner all those years. She was the one that hid Will from Ulster.

Angie was the “prostitute” that killed Will’s father and made it look like suicide. She left a letter in Will’s house to let him know. Will and Sara were just about to head off on vacation together.