Domestic terrorism rocks ‘The Last Widow’

Netflix to film 8-part series based on 2018 book ‘Pieces of Her.’

The success of Atlanta crime writer Karin Slaughter proves that people still want to read books, as long as you give them what they want. The global publishing phenom has sold 35 million books translated into 37 languages and available in 120 countries. She produces one tautly paced, actionpacked crime thriller annually and spends half the year touring the world to promote it. As big as she is in the U.S., she’s a rock star in Scandinavia.

Slaughter’s 19th novel, “The Last Widow,” comes out Aug. 20 and pairs the dogged, dyslexic GBI agent from her Will Trent series with pediatrician and medical examiner Sara Linton from the Grant County series. When Sara is kidnapped by domestic terrorists plotting a diabolical act, Will goes undercover to try to save her. As usual, the events play out against a backdrop of familiar settings, including Druid Hills, Emory Hospital, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and the North Georgia mountains.

Now Slaughter is poised to tap into a whole new audience. In January, the talent behind “Big Little Lies” and “Homeland” begins filming an eight-part series for Netflix based on Slaughter’s 2018 standalone book “Pieces of Her.” Slaughter is executive producer.

Slaughter had known she wanted to be a writer since she was a kid growing up in Jonesboro and Morrow.

“I was always writing stories. My father would pay me a quarter for each one, so that incentivized me to work,” she said.

Slaughter parlayed that work ethic into a variety of jobs after high school, including exterminator, house painter and movie projectionist. At night, she attended Georgia State University but dropped out after three years.

“I had taken all the English classes I could, and they wanted me to do math and science, and I just couldn’t do it. I wasn’t a particularly good student,” she said.

After college, Slaughter tried to join the police force but couldn’t pass the vision test. She eventually ended up owning a sign company. And in her spare time, she pursued her dream.

“The entire time I was always writing, trying to find my voice, trying to work on a story, trying to find something that was publishable,” Slaughter said. She eventu