In this Review: Will Trent Books vs TV Series, I will look at the Will Trent books by Karin Slaughter and discuss the changes made between the Will Trent book series and the ABC adaptation of the books. Which is better, which will you like more, and is Sara Linton going to be in the show?
Written and edited by Jen Ryland. Last updated on:
Review: Will Trent Books vs TV Series
The Will Trent series of books features GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) special agent Will Trent; his GBI partner, Faith Mitchell; and his childhood friend Angie Polaski.
After the first two books in the series (Triptych and Fractured), Sara Linton of the 2001-2007 Grant County book series became a character in the Will Trent book series. She’s appeared in Undone, Broken, Fallen, Criminal, Unseen, The Kept Woman, The Last Widow and The Silent Wife, as well as three novellas.
Season one of Will Trent aired on ABC on January 2023 and season two is coming in February 2024. So far it’s featured most of the early characters, including Will, Angie, Amanda, Faith, Michael and Betty the dog.
Jen’s Quick Take on Book vs Series
I watched four Will Trent episodes and then jumped on the Will Trent subreddit and was glad that most everyone agreed with me:
- The dark tone of the book is much more quirky/comic in the movie
- The characters have been flattened and simplified
- The mysteries on the show are solved too fast
- Most fans of the book aren’t loving the series
- Most fans of the series aren’t interested in the books
General Thoughts on Book to Series Adaptations
I’ve discussed a lot of book to series adaptations. Adapting a book always involves decisions with pros and cons. Sometimes books are adapted too literally (like Harlan Coben’s) other times they are unrecognizable, upsetting loyal readers. Here are all of my Page to Screen discussions.
Fans discussing the Will Trent Books Vs Movie on Reddit agree with me: these books were changed a LOT, possibly to fit the lighter vibe and older audience of network TV.
Difference in Tone: Will Trent series vs books
I will admit to often finding Karin Slaughter’s books much too dark, and the characters deeply unlikeable, so I wasn’t unhappy that the show made things a bit less gritty and depressing.
But did the show go too far? Dark humor is fine, but the many Will Trent fans were bothered by the relentless emphasis on quirkiness. The show is fast paced with lots of humor.
Differences in Will Trent Characters: series vs books
All Slaughter’s books are DARK in tone and the characters have gone through a lot of trauma in their lives. Slaughter doesn’t try to make them likeable. In fact, many of them are pretty horrible.
While the ABC series definitely leans into Trent’s rough childhood experiences in group homes, the show also makes him seem like a crime-solving savant. I was getting Enclyopedia Brown boy genius vibes. If you’re an 80s or 90s kids maybe you remember how he’d listen to the facts, close his eyes, and solve the crime.
But many Will Trent fans on Reddit thought his on-screen portrayal was inspired by Monk. Monk’s character had OCD, which gave him many phobias but also helped him see patterns and details that other detectives missed.
Will Trent book fans also found fault with other characters, like Amanda, Angie, and Faith. Yes, all the characters are all made more likeable in the show, which I didn’t mind.
Differences in Will Trent books vs. ABC Series: the writing
The very uneven writing was my main issue with the adaptation of the Will Trent books to the ABC shows.
Those episodes (like one and two) that were based on actual books had better writing. Those that I think were not (like the football star getting robbed of his necklace or the triplet murder suspects) were … not good.
A police procedural that I think was successful in adapting a long book series to the screen is Bosch on Amazon Prime. That show used more than one book over an entire season, but combined them into one cohesive, multi-episode plot line rather than one book covering two episodes, like Will Trent.
Are fans of police procedurals who watch network TV committed to a shorter timeline, where a case is wrapped up in one (or in the case of Will Trent, two) episode?
The fast pace of the crime-solving in Will Trent was something that bothered me and most of the fans of the book on Reddit. Will Trent just walks in, “reads” the scene, and solves the case.
Will Sara Linton Appear in Will Trent on ABC?
This is the MAIN question that fans of the Will Trent books are asking.
Those who haven’t read the books are saying, “we like Angie!”
I like Angie on the show too, and am a fan of Erika Christensen, the actor who portrays her. Some fans of the books feel like Angie could be an amalgam of Sara and Angie. The show runner of Will Trent did an interview in February 2023 in which she said “the plan is that we will bring Sara in, but not this season.”
I checked the cast list of Season Two on IMDB and did not see Sara listed, so I guess we will see.
I am not a fan of (book) Sara AT ALL so I’m fine if they leave her out. (Sorry, Sara fans…) Also, I’m not a fan of love triangles, so I hope they don’t go that direction.
If You’re a Fan of Book to Series Discussions, check out these posts!
The Pieces of Her series by Karin Slaughter on Netflix
The Lincoln Lawyer series by Michael Connelly on Netflix
Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben on Netflix
Hold Tight by Harlan Coben on Netflix
Anatomy of a Scandal on Netflix
A Nearly Normal Family on Netflix
The Luckiest Girl Alive on Netflix
I watched the first season of the series before starting to read the books. So far, the thing I REALLY like about the series is that the majority of the main characters are not white. When I started reading the books, in my mind, Amanda, Faith, Evelyn are Black and Will is Latinx.
I agree. Iantha Richardson (Faith) is AMAZING and so is Sonja Sohn (Amanda). And I’m a Lisa Gay Hamilton fan from way back when she was on The Practice. They really did assemble a great cast.