Lit with Leigh's Reviews > After That Night

Writing: tbh her worst lol but fine | Plot: okay | Ending: hmmmmmmm

TW: stalking, sexual violence, domestic abuse, graphic descriptions

SYNOPSIS

A recent rape case may have ties to Sara's own rape from 15 years ago. Also, rich white people be wildin.

MY OPINION

GUYS I FINALLY DID IT!!!! I FINISHED AN ENTIRE KARIN SLAUGHTER BOOK!!!!!!! I've had a couple false starts with False Witness: The stunning crime mystery suspense thriller from the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author of AFTER THAT NIGHT, GIRL FORGOTTEN and PIECES OF HER, Girl, Forgotten, and Pretty Girls but I overcame the odds and finished this one.

My beef with Karin Slaughter was never her prose. I know homegirl can write. My issue was her storytelling is akin to a senior citizen with nowhere to be. Pick up the pace. This time, the storytelling was a lot tighter, but the writing was rather lacklustre. There was lots of awkward: "He opened the door. He pulled out his keys and locked the car. He walked up to Faith and said hi." It low-key felt like she slapped this one together to attract more interest for the Will Trent TV adaptation. Also... I've seen the commercials and TV Will Trent does not seem anything like book Will Trent? Of course this was my first Trent book, so what do I know.

This was truly a middle of the road read. There was some spookiness factor that Slaughter is renowned for, but overall it was pretty tame. I found it wholly predictable (but I read A LOT of this genre, so take that with a grain of salt) and I was waiting for a shocking twisty twist that never came. Also, what in the teenage love story is going on with Sara and Will? They were soooo cheesy together. The dialogue with Eliza felt like it was straight out of a Disney movie. Much corny. And Faith? JFC. She took helicopter mom to a new level: space satellite mom. Even my Filipina mom cut the cord when I was in college. Anyways, if you're looking for 'wow' factor, I heard Pretty Girls is up to the ears in it. But this? Nah this was your run-of-the-mill police procedural with a dash of weird romance.



SPOILERS ALERT. SCROLL TO BOTTOM.







My biggest issue with this book was basic police work was left until the last 10% of the book to force suspense. It's my understanding that if you have multiple victims of the same perpetrator, you would try to establish a link between them because that will most likely lead you toward the baddie. Did super agents Faith and Will do this from the jump? Nope. Instead they ran around in a circle until the last 10% when lo and behold, they decided to call the victims' family/friends and ask about their medical history. *Face palm*.






SPOILERS DONE




Again, this is my first Will Trent, so I can't compare this book to the rest of the series. But from reading other reviews, it seems that Slaughter fans will enjoy this latest instalment.

PROS AND CONS

Pros: yes, it's long, but most of the descriptions are focused on things pertinent to the plot/central story, a lil spooky (mostly the texts)

Cons: too much virtue signalling for my tastes, corny romance between Will and Sara, writing was robotic and subpar compared to her other books, extremely predictable, no twist in sight, Faith takes helicopter parent to a new level: space satellite parent

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