Karin Slaughter's reputation grows apace, and Indelible sports all the customary fingerprints. Over the space of a handful of novels, the author has built a reputation as one of the key crime novelists at work today. What's her secret? In some ways, Slaughter's work is a refining of the Southern Gothic idiom that has been the bedrock of so much atmospheric work in the past, but Slaughter's way with the form is entirely her own, and despite the lashings of atmosphere, … mehrshe never forgets that a crime novelist has to be rigorous in the arena of plotting--and that's her strongest suit. Medical examiner Sara Linton and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver take a trip from the pressures of Heartsdale (in the hope of straightening out their relationship), but a detour to Jeffrey's hometown lands them in the most difficult case of their career. Readers are probably growing weary of the inevitable comparison novels like Slaughter's draw with those of Thomas Harris--and rightly so. But the trouble is, such comparisons are right on the nail for Slaughter. She may not quite have the older writer's authority, but she is undoubtedly skilled at creating a delicious, unsettling tension in the reader--as is very much the case in Indelible . And she's careful, too, to ensure that the relationship between Sara Linton and Jeffrey Tolliver isn't sidelined by the accelerating tension--that relationship is moved on considerably here. The fulsome praise on the jacket from such fellow scribes as John Connolly and Michael Connelly is more than professional courtesy here--they're fully justified by the work on offer.-- Barry Forshaw weniger