Triptych

Set in Atlanta, Georgia, and originally published in 2006, Triptych marks the first installment of Karin Slaughter’s popular Will Trent series. The novel follows three main characters: Michael Ormewood, a seasoned but troubled detective; Will Trent, a special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation who harbors his own secrets; and John Shelley, a formerly incarcerated man who is trying to rebuild his life after being accused of a heinous crime. As a brutal new murder echoes the details of John’s past conviction, the paths of these three men cross in unexpected ways, revealing deep-seated Corruption in the American Justice System, and the protagonists must also battle The Long-Term Impact of Trauma as they confront The Tension Between Outward Appearances and Hidden Realities.

This guide refers to the 2016 edition published by Karin Slaughter Publishing.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, death, child death, rape, child sexual abuse, addiction, substance use, physical abuse, mental illness, anti-gay bias, and cursing.

Language Note: Because the source is designed to evoke the gritty, cynical perspective of law enforcement officers who have become somewhat jaded, the text employs derogatory terms like “prostitutes” to refer to sex workers and “gangbangers” to refer to gang members. This study guide reproduces such terms only in quotations.

Plot Summary

The narrative is told from a third-person limited perspective, shifting between various characters and including periodic newspaper clippings about a murder that took place decades before the novel’s primary plotline.

As the novel opens, a June 1985 newspaper clipping reveals that a 15-year-old Decatur resident named Mary Alice Feeney was found murdered in her home. The article states that she was a very popular girl from an affluent family. Throughout the novel, the various news clippings reveal that on the night Mary Alice died, she went to a mall, attended a neighborhood party, and then was later seen leaving the party with a 15-year-old boy named John Shelley. John was later arrested, tried as an adult, and convicted of Mary Alice’s murder. He served 20 years in prison.

After the first 1985 news clipping announcing Mary Alice’s murder, the narrative shifts to 2006 as Detective Michael Ormewood drives to Grady Homes, an impoverished area of Atlanta. His task is to investigate the murder of Aleesha Monroe. When he spots gang members driving expensive cars, he becomes enraged, especially when he thinks of his own meager salary as a police officer. As Michael arrives at the crime scene, his colleague warns him that the murder is particularly violent; the murdered woman’s tongue has been bitten off. Michael questions the building’s residents.

Michael still experiences war-related flashbacks from his time fighting in the Gulf War, and these experiences complicate his family relationships. Because his son, Tim, has an intellectual disability, Michael and his wife, Gina, a nurse, must contend with additional financial difficulties to provide Tim with additional support. One morning, Gina asks Michael to help their neighbor, Cynthia, since Phil isn’t home with Cynthia at the moment. (The narrative reveals that Michael and Cynthia are having an affair but does not yet reveal that Phil is Cynthia’s father, not her husband.)

At work, Michael is frustrated to learn that Detective Will Trent from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is joining Aleesha’s case; because Will is tight-lipped about his background, Michael does not trust him. Now, Will shows Michael a string of cases that he believes are connected to Aleesha’s murder; all the cases feature young girls who were assaulted and had their tongues bitten off. Will and Michael then speak with Angie Polaski, who works in Vice and is reluctant to divulge her relationship with either of the men. (The narrative later reveals that she grew up with Will in foster care and had a sexual relationship with Michael in the more recent past.) Michael takes Will to Grady Homes, where they meet Aleesha’s pimp, Baby G. Will receives a call and tells Michael that he needs to go home because Cynthia has died in Michael’s yard. When Michael assesses Cynthia’s body and sees that her tongue has been cut out, he tells the medical examiner that Cynthia is 15 years old.

The narrative shifts to focus on John. While attempting to buy a television, John learns that he has excellent credit, but he does not understand how or why since he has been in prison for 20 years, having been convicted of raping and murdering Mary Alice in 1985. John grew up in a conventional, affluent family, and although his mother, Emily, always supported him, his father, Richard, disowned him after John became addicted to drugs. Mary Alice was John’s friend, but even she grew frustrated with his drug use. One night in 1985, he invited her to a party hosted by his cousin Woody Carson, who encouraged John’s drug use. The next morning, John woke up next to Mary Alice’s mutilated body. Her tongue had been bitten off.

After spending 20 years in prison, John is now struggling to acclimate to life as a free man. He works at a car wash with another ex-con named Ray Ray. John meets a sex worker calling herself Robin (who is really Angie, working undercover) and immediately becomes infatuated with her. As he talks with her, he realizes just how much he misses human connection. John’s activities are constantly monitored by his parole officer, Martha Lam. Having obtained his credit report from the electronics store from which he meant to buy a television, he realizes that someone has stolen his identity, so he takes a bus to the PO box listed on the credit report and confirms the true identity of the person as his cousin Woody.

John then goes to the prison during visiting hours to meet with his former cellmate, Ben Carver. Returning to the prison forces John to think about his earliest days there, when he was frequently targeted and raped. His mother visited him every other week, but his father only visited twice in 20 years. His mother died of breast cancer on the day before John’s parole was granted.

John borrows the car of Ben’s mother so that he can tail Woody. He reaches out to Robin and tells her that he cannot see her again because he is involved in something dangerous. John then follows Woody for two months, discovering that Woody is using John’s identity to cover his tracks as he commits a range of crimes against young girls. At one point, John reaches out to his sister, Joyce, who is an estate lawyer. In the process of following Woody, John also witnesses the man’s affair with the 15-year-old Cynthia and his murder of Aleesha. (This moment confirms that Woody is Michael.) John then breaks into Woody’s house to find evidence. There, he is confronted by Cynthia, who runs away from him and trips over the broken fence, suffering a fatal blow to the head during the fall. Determined to goad Woody and send the message that he is being watched, John cuts out Cynthia’s tongue and hides it in Woody’s toolbox.

Meanwhile, Will asks Angie for more information about Michael. She tells him that Michael exploited his position in Vice to coerce sex workers into having sex with him. Neither Will nor Angie trusts Michael. When Angie asks Will to investigate John, the narrative reveals that Angie and the sex worker “Robin” are one and the same.

Angie contemplates her relationship with Will, and the narrative reveals that the two grew up in foster care together and are like siblings. Sometimes they have a romantic relationship, but Angie is more often involved in short relationships with other men who treat her badly. Angie and Will are trauma bonded because of their similar histories of abuse. Angie deeply regrets having slept with Michael in the recent past.

Will has dyslexia, but he tries to hide his disability whenever he is at work. Now, at Grady Homes, he and Michael meet Cecil and Jasmine, a young brother and sister who witnessed something important about Aleesha’s murder but are reluctant to talk to the police. When Ms. Lam arrives to inspect John’s room, John realizes that Woody has planted a murder weapon in John’s living space. Ms. Lam tells him that a cop is after him and urges him to move.

Will receives a phone call from Cecil, who tells him that his sister, Jasmine, is missing. Will heads to Grady to investigate. He opens Aleesha’s mailbox and finds a letter that she wrote to her mother, Miriam; the letter was returned to her because it was too bulky. He takes the mail to Angie’s house.

Meanwhile, Angie goes to Gina’s place of work and learns that Gina has left Michael because he is physically abusive. Will interviews Aleesha’s mother and tells her that Aleesha has been killed. Aleesha’s mother explains that when Aleesha was a teenager, a neighbor whose mother was never home got her addicted to drugs. Upon interviewing Michael’s former partner, Ken, Angie learns that Michael lied about his whereabouts on the nights that some of the girls were murdered. She realizes that Michael is a violent pedophile and a sexual sadist.

The narrative shifts to John, who meets with Kathy, his sister Joyce’s partner. John learns that his mother, Emily, never gave up on trying to prove his innocence; she worked on his case until she died. Upon comparing notes, John and Joyce realize that their aunt Lydia (Woody’s mother) was protecting Woody when she was supposedly helping John; she took actions that contributed to John’s wrongful conviction for Mary Alice’s murder.

Will and Angie discuss their suspicions about Michael and John. They bring John in for questioning, believing him to be related to the murder case. Later, unbeknownst to Will, Angie goes to Michael’s house to confront him and finds Jasmine tied up in Michael’s garage. Suddenly, Michael hits Angie and then puts her and Jasmine in his car. (The narrative later reveals that he takes them to a mountain cabin in Tennessee, which he bought in John’s name.)

Will panics when he realizes that Angie has gone to Michael’s house. He demands that John help him track Angie down. Together, they head to Tennessee. Meanwhile, in the cabin that Michael bought under John’s name, Michael tortures Angie and then throws her and Jasmine into the cellar. Jasmine’s tongue has been bitten out, and she is barely breathing. Michael has lined the cellar floor with glass, and Angie uses these shards to cut the ropes that bind her. When Michael returns to rape her, they fight, and Angie manages to disarm him. She stabs Michael just as Will and John arrive. As Michael dies, John performs CPR on Jasmine, saving her life.

Later, John and Joyce go to Lydia’s house and confront her about her past actions against John. Lydia is still in denial about Michael/Woody’s true nature, and John points out that she owes him reparations.

Will and Angie discuss their complicated relationship, and Will decides to adopt the chihuahua that he has been caring for on behalf of an ill neighbor.