Will Trent Books in Order
Part ofKarin Slaughter Books in OrderThe Will Trent series by Karin Slaughter, featuring the GBI special agent and his investigations in Atlanta.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
15 books
Triptych
by Karin Slaughter
2006
The introduction to Will Trent. In Atlanta, a serial killer is targeting women, and GBI agent Will Trent is brought in to investigate. He must navigate a hostile police department and his own difficult past to stop a murderer who leaves a gruesome signature.
Fractured
by Karin Slaughter
2008
Will Trent investigates a murder in an upscale Atlanta neighborhood where a teenage girl is found dead. As he digs deeper, he realizes the crime scene has been staged and the victim’s family is hiding secrets that complicate the case.
Genesis / Undone
by Karin Slaughter
2009
A sadistic killer is torturing victims in Atlanta, and Will Trent is on the case. This novel brings Dr. Sara Linton into the fold as she joins the investigation, marking the collision of the Grant County and Will Trent worlds.
Broken
by Karin Slaughter
2010
When a prisoner dies in custody in Grant County, Sara Linton asks Will Trent to investigate. Will arrives in the small town to find a police force closing ranks, led by a detective who will do anything to protect her secrets.
Fallen
by Karin Slaughter
2011
Faith Mitchell returns home to find her baby hidden in the shed and her mother missing. With a hostage situation unfolding, Will Trent and Sara Linton must help Faith find her mother before a corruption scandal from the past turns deadly.
Criminal
by Karin Slaughter
2012
Will Trent discovers that a current case is linked to his own troubled origins. The story alternates between the present and the 1970s, revealing how Amanda Wagner and Evelyn Mitchell fought to make their mark in the police force and solve a series of murders.
Snatched
by Karin Slaughter
2012
A Will Trent novella. While waiting at the airport, Will witnesses a girl being abducted. Without his badge or gun, he must rely on his instincts to track the kidnapper and save the child.
Busted
by Karin Slaughter
2013
A Will Trent novella. Will goes undercover at a gas station to catch a suspect, but the simple surveillance job turns complicated when a robbery occurs. It sets the stage for the novel *Unseen*.
Unseen
by Karin Slaughter
2013
Will Trent goes undercover as a biker to bring down a drug ring, cutting off contact with Sara Linton. When Sara is brought into the same case unaware of his identity, the danger escalates for both of them.
The Kept Woman
by Karin Slaughter
2016
A body is found at a construction site owned by a wealthy athlete, and the investigation leads Will Trent back to his estranged wife, Angie Polaski. Will must uncover the truth while his personal life threatens to derail the case.
Cleaning the Gold
by Lee Child
2019
A crossover short story where Will Trent meets Jack Reacher. Both men are undercover at Fort Knox—Will investigating a murder, and Reacher looking into a gold ring. They must team up to take down a criminal conspiracy.
The Last Widow
by Karin Slaughter
2019
A scientist from the CDC is kidnapped in a brazen attack, and Will Trent and Sara Linton are caught in the aftermath. They must go undercover to stop a radical group planning a devastating biological attack on American soil.
The Silent Wife
by Karin Slaughter
2020
A brutal murder in Atlanta mirrors a series of attacks from Grant County years ago. Will Trent reopens the old case, investigating the possibility that the man Jeffery Tolliver put in prison was innocent—and that a serial killer is still out there.
After That Night
by Karin Slaughter
2023
Fifteen years after a life-changing attack, Sara Linton’s past resurfaces when a young woman is brought into the ER with similar injuries. Will Trent leads the investigation, hoping to finally bring justice to a case that has haunted Sara for years.
This is Why We Lied
by Karin Slaughter
2024
Will Trent and Sara Linton head to a remote mountain lodge for their honeymoon, hoping to unplug. But when a guest is murdered during a storm, they become trapped with a killer and a family full of liars.
Series background & context
Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent series introduces readers to one of the most compelling and distinct protagonists in modern crime fiction. Set against the sweltering, busy backdrop of Atlanta, the books follow the career and personal life of Will Trent, a Special Agent for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). While many police procedurals feature hard-boiled detectives with a drinking problem, Will is a different kind of broken. He is a man defined by a traumatic past that he fights desperately to keep hidden.
Abandoned as a baby and raised in the brutal environment of Atlanta’s foster care system, Will carries significant baggage. He is physically scarred from the abuse he endured as a child, and he suffers from severe dyslexia. In a profession that relies heavily on paperwork and case files, Will’s inability to read fluently is a secret he guards with his life. To compensate, he has developed a unique way of looking at crime scenes, noticing details that others miss because he has to rely on visual cues and intuition rather than written reports.
Will presents himself to the world wearing immaculate three-piece suits, using his professional appearance as a suit of armor to keep people at a distance. Underneath the sharp dressing, however, is a man who is deeply insecure and socially awkward, often struggling to connect with the people around him. This includes his partner, Faith Mitchell. Their relationship often begins with friction, as Faith has her own history with the police force and initially views Will as an outsider and a threat. Over time, however, they form a formidable team, balancing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
The most difficult relationship in Will’s life is with Angie Polaski. Angie is his childhood friend from the foster home, and she is the only person who truly knows the horrors of his upbringing. Their bond is intense, toxic, and strictly on-and-off. While she is a link to his past, she is often an anchor that prevents him from moving forward, creating a painful dynamic that runs through much of the series.
The stories themselves are gritty and visceral. Slaughter does not shy away from the darker sides of human nature, and the cases often involve complex, violent crimes that test the agents' limits. Beyond the mystery elements, the series frequently explores the bureaucratic friction between the state-level GBI and the local Atlanta Police Department. Ultimately, these books are about survival and evolution, watching a man who was thrown away by society slowly learn how to trust, how to love, and how to accept himself.
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