By: Karin Slaughter
Narrator: Kathleen Early
Blackstone Publishing
Series: Will Trent #11
ISBN: 978-0063157781
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: 08/22/2023
Format: Audiobook
My Rating: 5 Stars ++ (ARC)
WATCH WILL TRENT ON ABC!
Will Trent and Sara Linton are back! This is the 11th electrifying thriller featuring GBI investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton from New York Times bestselling author Karin Slaughter.
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 …
My Review
The Queen of crime thrillers Karin Slaughter (favorite) returns with her popular Will Trent Series with #11 AFTER THAT NIGHT featuring pediatrician/Medical examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Sara Linton. Sara takes center stage where the past and present collide in this emotional, electrifying thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat!
OUTSTANDING! Buckle up, the two heroes—Sara Linton and Will Trent, are back! I love this TV series and have read all the books. Sara and Will are planning their upcoming wedding, and things go off the rails, bringing Sara's horrific past to the present.
Dr. Sara Linton happened to be the attendant at Grady Memorial Hospital Atlanta in Emergency when patient 19-year-old Dani Cooper was brought in. She is an assault victim and tells Sara she was drugged and raped. Sara does everything to try and save her. Sara sympathizes with her since she was a victim of rape herself; however, little does she know how their cases will connect.
Since she is the only one to hear this confession, Sara is the star witness and has to testify at the trial. This is stressful because the rapist is the son of Sara's former colleague, who knows what happened to her fifteen years ago.
Michael McAllister IV is on trial for her assault. Pediatric surgeon Mac McAllister and his wife Britt hire a shark for an attorney to protect their son. Sara was raped fifteen years ago, resulting in an ectopic pregnancy that ended her chance for children in the future. What did this family have to do with her rape?
The trial is grueling, and in the process, the victim's family, whom Sara knows all too well, gets more complex when she discovers how sinister and far-reaching it goes.
Slaughter PULLS OUT ALL THE STOPS in this riveting horror of events, from misogyny, rape, and the atrocities from the monsters and law enforcement impacting innocent women. The restroom scene with Britt and Sara was jaw-dropping and shocking. The last play was wicked and satisfying! We also get appearances from Will and the gang to support Sara.
Matches made in heaven:
~Karin Slaughter and Kathleen Early: Always a given. Early's performance was award-winning for all voices. Highly recommend the audiobook!
~Will Trent and Sara Linton (sorry, Angie, you need to move on)
AUDIOBOOK: Kathleen Early is a favorite narrator and makes all the characters come alive. Years ago, I started pre-ordering the audiobook (Slaughter/Early) and was delighted to receive an ALC after I was declined the ARC. I was so excited I listened in one sitting. The emotion in Sara's character was exceptional—you will be hanging on her every word. Slaughter and Trent fans will devour AFTER THAT NIGHT!
A huge fan of Karin (having read all her books) and all TV series episodes (anxiously awaiting the next season)—AFTER THAT NIGHT is one of her BEST! A first-class thriller by a first-class author. Powerful, emotional, and gripping, yet told with compassion.
Dark, gritty, and horrifying. I cannot wait to see this one played out on screen and to see the casting choice for Sara. CASTING: I want to see LANA PARRILLA (from Michael Connelly's Lincoln Lawyer season two, who played Lisa Trammell). She and Will would be dazzling together.
Many thanks to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for an ALC for an honest review.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars ++
Pub Date: Aug 22, 2023
Top Books of 2023
Praise
“Enter the world of Karin Slaughter. Just be forewarned, there’s no going back.” —Lisa Gardner #1 NYT bestselling author
“[G]rueling, pitiless, yet compassionate…. It’s a signal achievement of Slaughter that the climactic revelations add still another layer of horror to her tale.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on After That Night
“Karin Slaughter always keeps me hooked and Girl, Forgotten is no exception. Totally worthy of a no interruptions, read-all-day bingeathon.”
— Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Karin Slaughter raises her game with every book. After That Night is compulsive reading.”
— Clare Mackintosh, author of I Let You Go
“It is a sign of Karin Slaughter’s skill that although there is far more talk than action this novel is never less than nail-biting…. The final twist — a touch of ironic genius — will make your jaw drop.” — London Times (UK)
“An irresistible thriller powered by righteous anger.”
— The Mail on Sunday
“It is a sign of Karin Slaughter’s skill that although there is far more talk than action this novel is never less than nail-biting … The final twist — a touch of ironic genius — will make your jaw drop.” — Times
“[Slaughter] brings her trademark intensity to every relationship she lays bare. Like touching a live wire that continues across three generations.”
— Kirkus Reviews on Girl, Forgotten
“Layer upon layer of mystery, a great cast of characters, and some genuinely startling twists. This is Slaughter at her best.”
— Booklist (starred review) on Girl, Forgotten
“Slaughter skillfully leads readers on a thrilling journey into the past to solve the murder that a small town wants to forget, yet is still haunted by.”
— Library Journal (starred review) on Girl, Forgotten
“Gripping.... Slaughter reliably entertains.”
— Publishers Weekly on Girl, Forgotten
“Cunningly conceived and written . . . Deeply satisfying.”
— Washington Post on False Witness
“Annnnd she does it again. Slaughter’s latest high-stakes thriller follows a defense attorney whose dark past is coming back to haunt her—all thanks to a new client she’s called in to represent days before his trial. There’s deception, sabotage, violence, family secrets . . . all the stuff you could want from a fictional page-turner, really.”
— theSkimm on False Witness
“Karin Slaughter’s False Witness is a twisty, searingly contemporary mystery steeped in a dark past, and she weaves a story that catches your breath and keeps you gasping and guessing until the end.”
— Stacey Abrams, author of While Justice Sleeps, on False Witness
“Slaughter offers us a high-stakes thriller that handles the tragedy of addiction with empathy and grace. Her heroines are believable, flawed and courageous.”
— Oyinkan Braithwaite, award-winning author of My Sister, The Serial Killer, on False Witness
“All of Slaughter’s books... are satisfyingly surprising and plausible, but it’s Slaughter’s prodigious gifts of characterization that make her stand out among thriller writers…Slaughter’s satirical touches are as deft as her grimmer renditions of real life.”
— Washington Post on Pieces of Her
“The ever-popular crime novelist is back with another pulse-pounding standalone, this one considering the twisted relationship between a mother and a daughter after the latter realizes she may not know the woman who gave birth to her at all.”
— Entertainment Weekly on Pieces of Her
“Expect from a Karin Slaughter crime thriller . . . just the right amount of twists, turns, shocks, surprises and domestic thrill and shrill.”
— Parade
“The success of writers like Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins and Karin Slaughter isn’t just due to the fact that they’re women. . . . It’s about writers comprehending why women are so compelled by stories about brutal, graphic violence in the first place.”
— The Atlantic
“Her talent is the equivalent of an Edgar Allan Poe or a Nathaniel Hawthorne . . . An exemplary storyteller, weaving her words with skill and intelligence. She will be recognized as one of the great talents of the 21st century and will hold an honored place in the realm of world literature.” — Huffington Post
“One of the boldest thriller writers working today.”
— Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author
“Her characters, plot, and pacing are unrivaled among thriller writers, and if you haven’t yet read her, this is the moment.”
— Michael Connelly, New York Times bestselling author
About the Author
Karin Slaughter is the author of more than twenty instant NEW YORK TIMES bestselling novels, including the Edgar–nominated COP TOWN and standalone novels THE GOOD DAUGHTER, PRETTY GIRLS, and GIRL, FORGOTTEN. She is published in 120 countries with more than 40 million copies sold across the globe. PIECES OF HER is a #1 Netflix original series starring Toni Collette. The Will Trent Series will air January 3rd, 2023 on ABC and streaming on Hulu. THE GOOD DAUGHTER and FALSE WITNESS are in development for film/tv. Slaughter is the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programming. A native of Georgia, she lives in Atlanta.
