After That Night

The hardest decision when reading a Karin Slaughter book is whether to stay up all night to finish it or to pause after each chapter to absorb and reflect on what you've just read. Her latest Will Trent book, After That Night, certainly presents that dilemma.
Sara Linton is on call in the ER at Grady Memorial Hospital when a girl, Dani, comes in after a brutal attack. Sara makes a promise to the girl that she will stop the man who'd done this to her. As Sara's fiance, GBI investigator Will Trent and Will's partner Faith investigate, it appears there is a link between the assault and Sara's rape 15 years earlier. To keep her promise, she's going to have to dredge up memories of the worst thing that's ever happened to her.

It turns out show more that the car that Dani was driving belongs to the son of one of Sara's med school colleagues from 15 years ago. As both a doctor and the only witness to Dani's dying declaration, Sara is the star witness in the civil trial against him. When the boy's mother, Britt McAllister, confronts Sara in the restroom, Britt tells her that what happened to Dani is linked to a mixer that they all attended on the night of Sara's rape. Now it's up to Sara, Will, and Faith to discover the connection and determine which of Sara's fellow med school colleagues is responsible.

The trio discovers what they describe as a "Rape Club", which is even more horrible and despicable than it sounds. The first emotional impact is reading about the devastating impact that rape has on its victims and the course of their lives. The second impact is realizing that it happens all the time. Slaughter describes these events in unflinching detail and with a great deal of compassion. The characters all feel like real, complicated people. The ability to understand and sometimes relate to them draws your admiration, your sympathy, and your revulsion respectively. The effect on the investigators investigating these crimes is its own sort of devastation.

Will and Faith do a great deal of the leg work without official sanction of the GBI. Since the crimes range back as far as 15 years, hard evidence is in short supply and they know they'll need a strong case before the investigation will be approved. The people being investigated have the resources to make problems go away. Given Sara's relationship with them, she is integral to the investigation. The mystery comes together piece by hard-won piece. When you think you've plumbed the depths of depravity and cruel indifference, Slaughter still has more surprises in store.

After That Night is an intense page-turner and one of the best books of the year. This is a must-read for any fan of thrillers and suspense novels. Slaughter is as good as they come.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. show less

I have only read one other Will Trent book, and it was OK, but I thought this one was very good. It gives a back story on Sara, the medical examiner, and Will's relationship. It also tells of an incident in Sara's past that changed her life.
When Sara gets a new patient in the ER, she is horrified to learn the woman was raped. She promises the woman that she will find justice for her. This sets off an investigation to find out who is raping young women, and what the connection is between them.
A fascinating look at obsession and control and strange power relationships.
I will likely read more Will Trent novels.

The opening exchange of text messages between Dani and someone she doesn’t know, but who clearly knows a lot of intimate details about her, feels immediately chilling and disturbing. This very effectively sets the scene for a prologue which reveals that shortly after receiving them she was admitted to the hospital emergency department with serious injuries having crashed her car. Sara Linton is the doctor on duty and as she examines Dani the young woman claims that she’d been drugged and raped, and that although she had no recollection of how she’d ended up behind the wheel of the car, what she does know is that she was trying to escape when she had the accident. Dani’s distress triggers visceral memories for Sara of when she show more was raped fifteen years earlier and, as she fights to save Dani’s life, she makes an unspoken promise to her that she ‘would do everything possible to stop the man who’d raped her’.
The story then fast-forwards three years, when Sara is called as an expert witness in a civil court case in which Dani’s family are trying to bring her alleged rapist to account. However, they find themselves up against a powerful family determined to use their considerable social and financial influence to protect their twenty-two-year-old son from being held accountable. Although Sara has known the parents, Mac & Britt, for more than twenty years, from when they were all medical students together, for reasons which gradually emerge, she hasn’t kept in touch with them and her feelings towards them are, to put it mildly, rather less than positive! However, after giving her evidence she has a chance encounter with Britt who suggests that there is a connection between the assault on Dani and what happened to Sara all those years ago. Although there’s no evidence to trigger an official enquiry, Will and his work-partner, Faith, begin to investigate, gradually uncovering a deeply-disturbing pattern of assaults which have taken place over many years. These have been carried out by a group of privileged white men who are arrogantly confident that their wealth and social position not only entitles them to behave in this way, but also to believe that they will never have to face being held accountable for their actions.
Because of some of the dark places this fast-paced story takes the reader into, I found that there were many moments as I was reading when the highly-evocative descriptions of assaults, and their aftermaths, felt almost unbearable to read. This wasn’t because I felt that the author was exaggerating the horrors faced by victims of rape, rather it was because what she was describing felt all too credible. With her sensitive portrayals what she did was put a ‘human face’ on the shocking statistics about why so few perpetrators are brought to justice, the many reasons why this is the case, and the impact this has on the women involved. Her explorations of misogyny, toxic masculinity, sexual violence, abuse of power and coercive behaviour were central to the story and I imagine that this would be an even more difficult read for anyone who has faced sexual assault.
I thought that the many twists and turns in the team’s complex investigations always felt credible, never requiring the sort of suspension of disbelief that can spoil a ‘seamless’ reading experience … and I loved that my suspicion about one of the characters was confirmed towards the end of the story! Her multi-layered character portrayals (of ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’!) were equally convincing, making it easy to understand the reasons behind their reactions and interactions, as well as what motivated their decision-making.
Although I’ve read, and enjoyed, a few of Karin Slaughter’s stand-alone stories, as I hadn’t read any of the earlier books in her Will Trent series, I did wonder whether my lack of knowledge about the dynamics of the backstories of such well-established characters would be a frustrating distraction, perhaps interfering with my ability to fully-engage with the unfolding story. However, although there were moments when I realised that some prior knowledge would probably have enhanced my reading experience, ultimately I found that there were enough clues to enable me to begin to understand why these main characters had come to forge such strong, supportive relationships. show less

I understand that Will Trent is the lead character in a 10 previous thrillers by this author! But not having read any of the others has by no means diminished the pleasure I got from reading this book. It’s made me hungry to read some more, in fact!
Assaults on women is a challenging topic and not enjoyable to read about, but whilst this issue is central to the story the way it is dealt with and the outcomes, dilute the horror to a degree.

I found it an engrossing and riveting read. As a police procedural, it’s absolutely fascinating. As a tightly plotted thriller, it’s excellent. It’s an intelligent story where the reader has to concentrate fully to keep up and the way it’s written encourages the reader to solve the clues show more alongside our intrepid investigators. The medical sequences are also extremely realistic, so the research is impeccable on all sides.

I enjoyed all the characters Will, Sarah, Faith, and even Amanda! It’s wetted my appetite to find out if these characters are in the previous books, and what part they play there. There’s lots of tension in the climax the final denouement was mind blowing! I never suspected for a moment. This is consummate storytelling. This is a writer who understands her readers and how to craft an entertaining and thought-provoking novel. The pacing is perfect.

And whilst you can enjoy this simply as a good story, there’s also room for the reader to consider some of the issues contained within it. Quite harrowing at times, and I’m sure I’m not alone at feeling anger towards the perpetrators. But as well as the main story, there are also the stories of the characters, The book has much to say about parenting and relationships and the work life balance. Also about privilege and money and abuse of trusted positions. It’s a substantial work.

My thanks to Readers First for the copy that I won in their prize draw. show less

I won this book in a giveaway and had not read any of the previous books in the series, so I can only review it as a standalone story.
I found it easier to jump into than I expected, while the characters clearly had history before this point, it rarely felt like I needed more of the specifics. However, at the same time, in terms of character development through the course of the book, I didn’t have a deep sense of how these events were affecting most of the characters (maybe with the exception of Sara) or what their arcs were supposed to be. Perhaps that’s because this is one small segment in their ongoing evolutions as characters and a fan of the series would find it more impactful and less static.
The plot was decent, but not show more riveting. There were parts I had a hard time buying into and others where I was a bit bored. show less

I have many, many books to be read, but when I get one by Karin Slaughter, it almost always goes to the top of the pile. And so it was with AFTER THAT NIGHT, which proved that my decision was correct; it really did belong at the top of the pile

AFTER THAT NIGHT is another book in Slaughter's Will Trent/Sara Linton series. Trent is an investigator for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and Linton is a doctor and medical examiner for the GBI. Linton often gets herself involved in Trent's investigations.

In this case, Linton enlists Trent's help so she can keep a promise to a patient who was raped and killed. So Trent and his partner, Faith, along with Sara, investigate and find connections to two other rapes that occurred over the last 15 show more years. There may even be a connection to Sara's rape 15 years ago.

AFTER THAT NIGHT belongs at the top of your pile, really. But I did have one problem with the story. In order to insert himself into a group of doctors who have stayed in touch since they were in medical school together, Will poses as a doctor who also went to school with them. He now wants to be in their group, he says.They accept him, assuming they've just forgotten him.

That's hard for me to swallow. I still remembered classmates at a 50-year reunion and couldn't have been fooled like that. After only 15 years, I surely would know an imposter. Still, I recommend you accept that and just go with it. You'll be glad you did.

Although it's ideal if you can read the books in this series in order, it isn't necessary. If you, like me, read them as you find them, even if that is out of order, no problem. show less

First Will Trent novel I'd read but I watch the series. I was pulled into this thriller and kept coming back to it. The characters are well done, and the plot was compelling even though it was pretty dark disturbing subject.
It was interesting to compare to the series. The characters although different in descriptions, were very similar in personality to the TV ones and the tone and pace were smilar.