Read every series in the right order
North Falls Thriller Books in Chronological Order – Complete Reading Guide
Table of Contents
Quick Answer (TL;DR)
Short, sweet, and spoiler-safe: to read North Falls Thriller Books in Chronrological Order, follow publication order:
- We Are All Guilty Here (North Falls #1)
- The New Novel (North Falls #2, forthcoming)
That’s it—start with book one, then continue straight into book two when available. You’ll experience Officer Emmy Clifton’s arc, the town’s secrets, and the series-defining case in the intended sequence.
Introduction
At Books in Chronological Order, we’re your expert librarians and SEO-savvy book nerds. Our job is keeping your series reading smooth, spoiler-savvy, and satisfying. With Karin Slaughter’s North Falls—a new small-town thriller line from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Girls and the Will Trent series—you’re stepping into a place where fireworks light the sky and secrets light the fuse.
This guide walks you through North Falls Thriller Books in Chronological Order, gives you clean buy links, content notes, edition tips, and a spoiler-light look at how Officer Emmy Clifton anchors a story about consequence and community. If you love taut pacing, knotty relationships, and mysteries that expose the brittle edges of “we’re all fine here,” you’re in the right town.
Quick Facts
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Series | North Falls Thriller |
| Author | Karin Slaughter |
| Core Installments | 2 (and growing): We Are All Guilty Here (out now), The New Novel (next) |
| Average Length | Novel-length thrillers; exact page counts vary by edition (Book 1: standard hardcover length) |
| Approx. Read Time | ~10–13 hours each at 300 wpm (estimate) |
| Difficulty | Accessible (modern crime/thriller prose; mature themes) |
| Primary Genres | Mystery & Thriller, Crime, Police Procedural, Small-Town Suspense |
| Series Lead | Officer Emmy Clifton (North Falls PD) |
| Content Warnings (series-level) | Violence; murder; missing persons; threats/endangerment of teens; trauma; language; small-town corruption dynamics |
| Ideal Age Range | Adult |
| Media Adaptations | None announced for North Falls (author’s other works have TV/film adaptations) |
Note: We keep blurbs spoiler-light and rely only on the information shared for this series.
About the North Falls Thriller Book Series
North Falls looks idyllic—until the night of the fireworks, when two teen girls vanish and the town’s “we all know each other” veneer shatters. The series opening, We Are All Guilty Here, centers on Emmy Clifton, an officer with a personal stake: she turned away when help was needed most. That choice becomes the moral engine of book one. As Emmy follows a breadcrumb trail left by the girls, she discovers that North Falls’ strongest bonds—friendships, families, institutions—are also the most brittle.
Karin Slaughter has long been beloved for gritty realism, characters who feel lived-in, and plots that take sharp turns without losing credibility. In North Falls, she deploys those strengths inside a pressure-cooker small-town frame: secrets multiply, loyalties clash, and the past won’t stay buried just because everyone agrees not to talk about it.
North Falls Thriller Books at a Glance
| # | Title | Amazon Link |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | We Are All Guilty Here (A North Falls Thriller, 1) | Buy On Amazon |
| 2 | The New Novel (A North Falls Thriller, 2) | Buy On Amazon |
North Falls Thriller Books in Chronological Order
1) We Are All Guilty Here (North Falls #1)
Premise in one line: On the night North Falls celebrates, two teenage girls vanish—pulling Officer Emmy Clifton into a case that’s both public spectacle and private penance.
The hook: A town that believes it knows its children discovers it did not. The girls leave behind a puzzle; Emmy must decode it while reconciling her own failure to act. Slaughter uses small-town intimacy as both a clue network and a minefield—every interview risks detonating buried resentments.
Vibe check: Tight-wound, morally thorny, and emotionally immediate. Emmy isn’t a flawless cop; she’s a human being forced to work the case her conscience already lost once.
Why Book 1 matters for the series:
- Establishes North Falls as a character in its own right.
- Grounds Emmy’s arc in consequence—her drive in later books makes sense only if you’ve seen the moment she turned away.
- Introduces the “everyone has secrets” throughline; in North Falls, secrecy isn’t a plot twist—it’s a culture.
2) The New Novel (North Falls #2)
What we know: It’s the next North Falls mystery from Karin Slaughter. Given the series DNA, expect a new central crime and fresh pressure on the fault lines exposed in book one—families, law enforcement, and the town’s appetite for the “right” kind of truth.
How to read it: As soon as it’s available, go straight from Book 1 to Book 2. You’ll carry forward the emotional context (Emmy’s history, the town’s reputational scrapes, and the social politics that determine whose pain gets believed). Even if the case is standalone-friendly, the character arc isn’t—continuity magnifies payoff.
Series Timeline & Character Development
Emmy Clifton — the series fulcrum
- Starting tension: A cop who, at a critical moment, looked away. That single action (or inaction) becomes a gravitational force—pulling her toward the missing girls’ trail and toward a reckoning with herself and her town.
- Professional vs personal: In small towns, there’s no neat line between who you are in uniform and who you’ve been since grade school. Emmy’s legwork is procedural; her motivation is intimate.
- Thematic weight she carries: Responsibility, complicity, and the cost of silence. In North Falls, guilt isn’t just something bad people feel after crimes—it’s the ambient weather of the place.
North Falls — a living organism
- Culture of proximity: Everyone knows everyone—or assumes they do. That assumption creates investigative shortcuts and investigative blind spots.
- Public image vs private truth: July fireworks, school fundraisers, “we take care of our own.” But who is included in “our own,” and who is left outside the circle? The series keeps asking.
- The rumor economy: In a town this dense with relationships, gossip is both an investigative accelerant and a toxin. Use it, and it burns; ignore it, and you miss how power actually moves.
Recurring threads likely to deepen in Book 2
- Intergenerational secrets: Adults choose silence; kids pay the price.
- Institutional protectionism: Who gets shielded because of last names, donations, or history?
- Emmy’s credibility: Book 1 tests it; Book 2 will likely exploit the cracks—professionally, politically, and emotionally.
Novels Sorted by In-Universe Events
For now, the North Falls timeline maps 1:1 with publication:
- We Are All Guilty Here
- The New Novel
Novels Sorted by Publication
- We Are All Guilty Here (North Falls #1)
- The New Novel (North Falls #2)
As additional titles are released, we’ll update both lists. Because the series is character-driven, we expect chronological = publication to remain the best experience.
Companion Works
Not required for North Falls, but if you enjoy Karin Slaughter’s blend of propulsive plotting + human stakes, consider:
- Will Trent series (procedural with complex character arcs; TV adaptation exists)
- Grant County novels (earlier work; small-town medical/legal crime)
- Standalone thrillers: Pretty Girls, The Good Daughter, Girl, Forgotten, False Witness
These aren’t the same universe as North Falls, but they share tonal DNA—moral ambiguity, survivors who refuse to be reduced to their worst day, and villains who are frightening because they’re plausible.
Editions & Formats (hardcover, collector, audio)
Hardcover
- Pros: Durable; often first to release; good for re-reads and annotation.
- Who it’s for: Collectors, book-club leaders, readers who want the latest ASAP.
Paperback
- Pros: Budget-friendly and portable.
- Who it’s for: Casual readers; those who like to lend copies.
Kindle / eBook
- Pros: Instant delivery; easy highlighting; discreet for tense scenes on the train.
- Who it’s for: Readers who binge; anyone who appreciates built-in dictionary/search.
Audiobook
- Pros: Performance can intensify suspense; great for commutes; useful for second passes to catch foreshadowing.
- Who it’s for: Multitaskers; re-readers.
- Tip: If offered, Whispersync lets you hop between Kindle and audio without losing place.
Collector tips
- First prints of a series opener can gain significance if the line becomes long-running. If you’re a collector, seek early runs or signed copies.
- Library lovers: ask your library to purchase the series in multiple formats—print + audio—so the whole reading group can keep pace.
Why Read North Falls Thriller Books in Chronological Order?
Because North Falls is new—and because Emmy Clifton’s motivation springs from specific events—you’ll get the cleanest emotional runway by reading North Falls Thriller Books in Chronological Order (which currently equals publication order). It ensures:
- Character continuity: Emmy’s credibility, choices, and scars make linear sense.
- Town memory: North Falls remembers. Reading in order lets events accrue weight in the community.
- Mystery momentum: Slaughter plants situational and relational seeds that bloom later—even when each case is self-contained.
Author Spotlight: Karin Slaughter
Karin Slaughter is the author of 20+ New York Times bestsellers published in 120 countries, with more than 40 million copies sold. Her range spans:
- Series mastery: Will Trent and Grant County built fervent fanbases with sophisticated procedurals and bruised-but-brave protagonists.
- Standalones with shockwaves: Pretty Girls, The Good Daughter, Girl, Forgotten, False Witness—all gritty, humane, and twist-rich.
- Screen presence: Pieces of Her (Netflix #1), and Will Trent (ABC/Hulu/Disney+) prove her stories translate to prestige TV.
She’s also the founder of Save the Libraries, advocating for the institutions that turned many of us into lifelong readers. A Georgia native living in Atlanta, Slaughter writes thrillers that refuse to look away from harm—but never look down on survivors.
Media Adaptations (films, TV, radio)
No adaptation has been announced for the North Falls line at the time of writing. Given Karin Slaughter’s strong track record on screen (and the cinematic hook of a fireworks-night disappearance), North Falls is a natural candidate. Watch the author’s official channels for news.
FAQs
Do I have to read any other Karin Slaughter books first?
No. North Falls is a fresh series. If you know Slaughter from Will Trent or Pretty Girls, you’ll recognize the tension and humanity—but prior reading isn’t required.
Is this more police procedural or domestic suspense?
Both flavors show up. Book 1 leans into investigative procedure through Emmy while tapping domestic/community currents where secrets live.
How dark is it?
Expect adult thriller content: violence, missing persons, threats, trauma. It’s intense without gratuitous cruelty; Slaughter writes for impact, not shock alone.
Is Book 2 a direct continuation of Book 1’s case?
The series is positioned as new mysteries in the same town with Emmy Clifton as our center of gravity. Even if the case shifts, the emotional continuity rewards reading in series order
Book-club friendly?
Yes. Themes of accountability, complicity, and small-town politics invite discussion. Content warnings above can help your group prep.
Audiobook or print?
Choose the format you’ll finish. Thrillers reward momentum. Many readers read in print and re-listen on audio to catch tells and foreshadowing.
Final Thoughts
Small towns are archives, not postcards. North Falls catalogues the things we keep and the costs of keeping them. Starting with We Are All Guilty Here, Karin Slaughter gives you a case that forces an officer—and a community—to stop pretending nothing happened. Following North Falls Thriller Books in Chronological Order ensures every shift in trust, every rumor, and every admission lands with full weight.
Clear your calendar. Silence your phone. And if your reading chair faces a window, maybe pull the shade—the fireworks are loud in North Falls, and the dark behind you can feel awfully close.
