After That Night

When an author has written 23 books, and the majority of them are over two interlinked series, I think you can be forgiven for wondering if their latest offering is going to stand up to scrutiny. In the case of After That Night, the eleventh book in Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent series, the answer is a resounding, ‘YES!’

There is no doubt this novel is going to be a difficult read for a lot of people; the main themes of the book are rape and sexual assault. Although Slaughter deals with the victims of these aberrations with care and sensitivity, she is unapologetic in her approach.

From the very first chapter, After That Night, is tense and unrelenting. The description of the live-saving measures attempted by one of the main characters, Dr Sarah Linton, had this reader holding her breath and racing over the words at an unrelenting pace. There is something particularly beautiful about Sarah’s promise to a dying woman, despite the chaos and trauma surrounding them both.

New readers, or readers returning to this brilliant series, shouldn’t be put off by reading the series out of order. I was particularly in awe of how Slaughter wove each character’s back story into the current narrative at the relevant time and place. There is no info-dumping in the first few chapters, as is often the case in long-running series, instead the reader is reminded of or learns of the salient facts when the narrative deems it necessary.

If you like your psychological fiction fast paced and brutally honest, then After That Night is a book you’re going to want to read!