Paromjit's Reviews > After That Night

This is a chillingly stomach turning and harrowing addition to Karin Slaughter's GBI Special Agent Will Trent and medical examiner Dr Sara Linton Atlanta based series with its echoes of worrying real life contemporary realities. When Dani Cooper died of her brutal injuries after telling her she had been raped, Sara is determined to get her justice. However, that was easier said than done as 3 years later she is testifying at the civil trial of the alleged rapist, Tommy McAllister, which hinges entirely on her testimony. An anguished Sara learns there are connections between what happened to Dani and the harrowing sexual assault she experienced 15 years ago which left her unable to have children. Furthermore, it appears they were far from the only victims.

There is nothing Sara would not do to stop the terror and emotional quagmire of revisiting what happened to her all those years ago, but she is haunted by Dani, which is how Will and his PTSD suffering GBI partner, Faith Mitchell, end up conducting a below the radar inquiry that ventures on Atlanta PD territory. It speaks volumes about their commitment to the case that they are willing to go behind their terrifying boss, Amanda Wagner's back. This is to bring Will face to face with the trauma of seeing his hated Aunt Eliza, now a dying woman, just so that he can go undercover at an exclusive country club, he is to find himself touching the very limits of what he can cope with. Sara, Will and Faith find themselves on the most twisty and suspenseful of personal inquiries where they encounter the most disturbing of misogyny, a ruthless and powerful rape club with the arrogance to believe they will never have to pay for their heinous crimes, corrupt cops, and more.

This is a nightmare of a case simultaneously drawing attention to just how close Will and Sara's relationship is in the run up to their marriage, they are everything to each other, this bodes well for their future together. Faith finds herself pushed to the brink when all the dreams she has had for her precious son, Jeremy, threaten to splinter apart, and Amanda once again proves just how ferociously able she is once she becomes involved. I am not going to lie, this is a tough read, we are not spared the details of the sexual assaults and the type of people who embark on committing such unspeakable crimes, but it is an important read. I will never forget Sara's conversation at a New York hotel with another rape survivor, Sloan Bauer, and the lens through which much of the world views and treats women who are raped. An unmissable addition to a brilliant series! Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.