Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Another violent crime in Atlanta provokes another deep dive into the tormented past of Slaughter's regulars.Three years after Dani Cooper, 19, crashes into an ambulance, gets taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, mutters to pediatrician/medical examiner Sara Linton that she thinks she's been raped, and then dies, Thomas Michael McAllister IV is placed on trial for her assault. Since Sara's the only person who heard Dani's gasping recollection, she's the star witness, and she fully expects Douglas Fanning-the sharklike lawyer retained by pediatric surgeon Mac McAllister and his wife, Britt, to protect their well-sheltered son-to force her to testify about her own rape 15 years ago, which resulted in an ectopic pregnancy that ended any chance she might have had of bearing children. Fanning drills Sara unmercifully but doesn't bring up her history. Even more surprisingly, Britt McAllister, when Sara encounters her in the courthouse restroom, smugly informs her: "What happened to you. What happened to Dani. It's all connected." Indeed it is, and in order to work out the connections, Sara, who identified her rapist as janitor Jack Allen Wright, will have to work with her fiance, Will Trent, and his partner, Faith Mitchell of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, to dig deeper. Their goal: to figure out which fellow medical student who attended a fateful mixer all those years ago-a group Sara's now come to think of as the Rape Club-was behind the assault on Dani and a potentially endless list of other victims. These horrors may seem too unspeakable to pin down to any one perpetrator. It's a signal achievement of Slaughter that the climactic revelations add still another layer of horror to her tale.A grueling, pitiless, yet compassionate anatomy of rape for readers who can take it.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Another violent crime in Atlanta provokes another deep dive into the tormented past of Slaughter's regulars.Three years after Dani Cooper, 19, crashes into an ambulance, gets taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, mutters to pediatrician/medical examiner Sara Linton that she thinks she's been raped, and then dies, Thomas Michael McAllister IV is placed on trial for her assault. Since Sara's the only person who heard Dani's gasping recollection, she's the star witness, and she fully expects Douglas Fanning-the sharklike lawyer retained by pediatric surgeon Mac McAllister and his wife, Britt, to protect their well-sheltered son-to force her to testify about her own rape 15 years ago, which resulted in an ectopic pregnancy that ended any chance she might have had of bearing children. Fanning drills Sara unmercifully but doesn't bring up her history. Even more surprisingly, Britt McAllister, when Sara encounters her in the courthouse restroom, smugly informs her: "What happened to you. What happened to Dani. It's all connected." Indeed it is, and in order to work out the connections, Sara, who identified her rapist as janitor Jack Allen Wright, will have to work with her fiance, Will Trent, and his partner, Faith Mitchell of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, to dig deeper. Their goal: to figure out which fellow medical student who attended a fateful mixer all those years ago-a group Sara's now come to think of as the Rape Club-was behind the assault on Dani and a potentially endless list of other victims. These horrors may seem too unspeakable to pin down to any one perpetrator. It's a signal achievement of Slaughter that the climactic revelations add still another layer of horror to her tale.A grueling, pitiless, yet compassionate anatomy of rape for readers who can take it.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Bestseller Slaughter’s disappointing 11th entry featuring Georgia investigator Will Trent (after 2020’s The Silent Wife) traces the fallout from a sexual assault. Doctor Sara Linton (from Slaughter’s Grant County series) is working at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital when 19-year-old Dani Cooper is admitted with fatal injuries from a car accident. Sara also recognizes signs of rape, which Dani confirms with her dying breaths. Having been raped herself 15 years earlier, Sara vows to bring Dani’s assailant to justice. Three years later, Sara prepares to go on the stand in a case against Tommy McCallister, who’s been charged with Dani’s assault; meanwhile, Tommy’s parents, multimillionaire doctors Britt and Mac McCallister, pressure Dani’s family into accepting a settlement that will keep Tommy out of jail. Sara enlists Trent—her fiancé—and his investigative partner Faith Mitchell to dig up information about the McCallisters, and they stumble on a bombshell piece of information that may reframe Sara’s own assault. Slaughter is hardly in top form here: the repetitive, protracted plot hinges on too many coincidences and easy confessions. Fans will hope for a return to form the next time out. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Assoc. (Aug.)