We Are All Guilty Here
45 pages • 1-hour read
Karin SlaughterWe Are All Guilty Here
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Background
Content Warning: This section of the guide discussion of death.
Authorial Context: Karin Slaughter
Karin Slaughter is an American crime writer. She has published over 25 novels, all in the crime and/or crime thriller genre. Slaughter grew up in Georgia, where many of her novels are set. She began a degree in literature at Georgia State University, but ultimately dropped out of her program before graduation. She went on to launch her authorial career without a formal education, penning her debut novel Blindsighted (2001) in just three months. Since its original publication, this title has been translated into almost 30 languages and has received several awards, including the Crime Writers’ Association’s Dagger Award shortlist for “Best Thriller Debut” of 2001. Blindsighted immediately established Slaughter in the literary world, and won her a widespread following.
Slaughter is best known for her Will Trent and Grant County Series. The Will Trent Series includes the titles Triptych (2006), Fractured (2008), Undone (2009), Broken (2010), Fallen (2011), Criminal (2012), Unseen (2013), The Kept Woman (2016), The Last Widow (2019), The Silent Wife (2020), After That Night (2023), and This is Why We Lied (2024). This series has also been adapted into an ABC television production. Slaughter’s Grant County Series includes the titles Blindsighted (2001), Kisscut (2002), A Faint Cold Fear (2003), Indelible (2004), Faithless (2005), and Beyond Reach (2007).
Slaughter has also received acclaim for her standalone novels, Pretty Girls (2015), The Good Daughter (2017), and Pieces of Her (2018). Pieces of Her is an international bestseller and a Netflix original series, which stars Toni Collette. Beyond her authorial work, Slaughter has founded the Save the Libraries project. Through this nonprofit, Slaughter supports libraries and library programming in rural areas around the United States.
Genre Context: Crime Thriller
We Are All Guilty Here is a crime thriller novel. Novels under this genre classification derive their primary conflict and action from a central mystery. Thriller narratives also blend elements from other genres, including action, horror, and crime. The protagonist typically “faces the embodiment of evil” as they attempt “unmasking an antagonist who has committed a crime” (“Thriller Genre: The Blending of Action, Crime, and Horror Stories.” Story Grid). If the protagonist fails to locate and apprehend the antagonist, they may become a victim of the villain, too.
Crime and crime thriller novels rely heavily on tropes to inspire their narrative structure, action, tension, and resolution. Popular crime thriller tropes include the history returns, closed cast of characters, locked room mystery, kidnapping, missing persons, unreliable narrator, fearful protagonist, intelligent psychopath, blackmail, red herring, framed, and isolated locale tropes. Employing such tropes allows the author to offer her reader familiar checkpoints as she navigates the otherwise mysterious and unpredictable narrative world. These tropes are also devices used to create tension, mystery, surprise, and horror. Some notable crime thrillers include The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005) by Stieg Larsson, The Long Goodbye (1953) by Raymond Chandler, Gone Girl (2012) by Gillian Flynn, and The Snowman (2007) by Jo Nesbø.
In We Are All Guilty Here, Slaughter employs the closed cast of characters, locked room mystery, kidnapping, missing persons, blackmail, framed, red herring, fearful protagonist, and isolated locale tropes, among others. The novel is set in the rural town of North Falls, Georgia. Everyone in this small town becomes a suspect in the Paisley Walker and Broken Angels cases. Meanwhile, teenagers disappear and bodies pile up as the primary characters try to uncover the truth. Slaughter’s use of tropes invites the reader to engage in the narrative world and to attempt solving the criminal cases along with Emmy Clifton and her colleagues.
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