After That Night

In her 11th Will Trent novel (following The Silent Wife), Slaughter skillfully weaves misogyny, wealth, violence, power, and control into a thrilling police procedural while poignantly addressing the lasting effects of trauma and the toll cases take on investigators. Emergency-room doctor Sara Linton’s patient, raped and beaten, speaks her last words: “Stop him. Please stop him.” Three years later, Sara, now a medical examiner at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, is testifying at the civil trial of the man believed to be responsible, when the mother of the defendant (a former colleague of Sara’s) tells her that this case and Sara’s sexual assault years earlier are connected. With a renewed commitment to justice for her late patient, the abduction of another woman, and the need to know how the assaults are connected, Sara, her fiancé Will Trent, and Will’s partner Faith embark on an off-the-books investigation to stop a serial rapist. The case reveals a conspiracy of the rich and powerful intent on getting away with rape, forcing Sara, Will, and Faith to confront their pasts to move forward with the investigation and with their lives.