After That Night

• Author: Karin Slaughter
• Genre: Mystery/Suspense
• Publication Date: August 22, 2023
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Series: Will Trent #11

CONTENT WARNING: stalking, addiction, rape, blood, gore, brief mention of harm to animals, forced drugging, misogyny, domestic abuse, psychological and physical torture, PTSD, suicide

After that night, nothing was ever the same again

Fifteen years ago, Sara Linton’s life changed forever when a celebratory night out ended in a violent attack that tore her world apart. Since then, Sara has remade her life. A successful doctor, engaged to a man she loves, she has finally managed to leave the past behind her.

Until one evening, on call in the ER, everything changes. Sara battles to save a broken young woman who’s been brutally attacked. But as the investigation progresses, led by GBI Special Agent Will Trent, it becomes clear that Dani Cooper’s assault is uncannily linked to Sara’s.

And it seems the past isn’t going to stay buried forever.

It’s no secret that I’m a Karin Slaughter fan, and I have a soft spot for the Will Trent series. In the last book in this series (The Silent Wife), there was a lot of heavy material that came up, and it had a big impact on the characters in the story as well as the readers.

Slaughter continues on in that vein, always finding ways to keep her stories fresh and intriguing, while also following the lives of the main characters outside of their horrific cases. When we left off in the last book, Will and Sara are engaged and getting ready for a wedding, and Faith is dealing with one kid in college while her toddler basically rules her life, and she’s actively trying to navigate healthy relationships. 

Faith’s trauma response to their previous case has landed her on desk duty while Will is off doing other grunt work. Sara is working at the ER when she treats a rape victim who is savagely beaten. The woman, Dani, dies during surgery, but Sara made a promise to Dani that she would do everything she can to find the man who did this to her. 

Over the course of the investigation and subsequent trial, Sara is informed by someone close to the case that her own previous rape is linked to Dani’s. 

This kicks off an effort by Faith, Will, and Sara to investigate, although they’re forced to do so without the vast resources of the GBI or even police departments, since they’re doing this on their own. But what they discover will rock Sara’s world and shake her understanding of a past that she thought she had put behind her.

As always, Slaughter’s writing is perfect for this genre—concise and descriptive, providing all the basic information needed to put things together. While I normally can’t put things together on my own until Slaughter and the characters spell everything out for me, I was able to figure it out in advance this time, although not fully. 

Overall, this wasn’t Slaughter’s strongest mystery, but she made up for it with the character development. After all this time, you’d think we know the characters inside and out, but we get to see how Will and Sara’s relationships adjusts to manage the increased stress on it, and we also get to see Faith actively working to change her relationship patterns. There’s humor, emotional situations, and parts that are horrifying to read about. But ultimately it’s a book that I couldn’t stop reading and a series that I’ll be eagerly anticipating the next book in.

People who have sat around with me while I’m reading, especially when there’s a surprising reveal, a shocking plot twist, or an unexpected event often look up in alarm when I gasp audibly. The gasp factor is directly related to the number of times I audibly gasp during a reading, and there isn’t an upper limit.

Gasp Factor: 16