From the bestselling author of The Good Neighbor comes a gripping thriller about an engagement party gone fatally awry.Imagine your closest friend utterly betraying you. Years later, when she seeks forgiveness, you invite her to your engagement party as a gesture of reconciliation. But seething hostilities rise to the surface, ruining everyone’s evening. After an awful night, your friend’s … night, your friend’s battered, lifeless body is found at the bottom of a rocky cliff.
Newly engaged Marissa Parlette is living this nightmare. She should be celebrating her upcoming wedding, but she can’t shake the image of her friend lying dead on the beach. Did she fall? Was she pushed? Or did she take a purposeful step into darkness? Desperate for answers, Marissa digs deep into the events of the party. But what she remembers happening after nightfall now carries sinister implications: the ugly sniping, the clandestine meetings, the drunken flirtations. The more she investigates, the more she questions everything she thought she knew about her friends, the man she once trusted, and even herself.
Bestselling author A. J. Banner keeps readers on a razor-sharp edge in this intricately plotted novel of psychological suspense…in which nothing is as it seems.
more
This story begins with a friendship that has a history of betrayal. One of the friends falls to her death on the night of the other’s engagement party. All the characters in the story are questionable, and it keeps you guessing. While I wouldn’t consider this riveting, it is well written, the pace maintains a good momentum, and the narrator for the audio was very good.
A fast paced mystery. I was entertained but didn’t have that “great book” feel for me. That said it was a quick read and nothing was wrong with the story. Made a wonderful distraction from housework. The narrator for this book is Teri Schnaubelt. Teri has a great voice and I really enjoyed listening to her read this book. I was gifted this book with the understanding that my review would be honest.
In After Nightfall by A. J. Banner we encounter a group of friends with enough secrets and lies to keep the pages turning into the night. Marissa, a speech pathologist who works with children, announces her engagement on an autumn night in her Seattle suburb, and in the morning her best friend’s body is at the bottom of a cliff. Everyone has a motive, including her. More crimes follow, and the killer, when finally revealed, is surprising.
I especially liked that this book did not bounce around between viewpoints, and it isn’t told through a series of what-ifs and suppositions. There is logic, and the main character, Marissa, keeps her head about her. The usual red herrings are entirely plausible and she never comes across as a damsel in distress.
The extra bit of drama at the end was not necessary, and rang hollow for me, but that was the only real flaw in an otherwise solid effort. There is tension, but the pace keeps the reader’s mind from wandering in slower parts. The ending comes quickly, but isn’t rushed. I found myself wanting to know a bit more about the characters and their lives before Laurens death, which, for me, is always a hallmark of a good book.
Get involved with After Nightfall. It is woryh losing those few hours sleep and you might discover a new author for your keeper shelf.
Marissa is celebrating her boyfriend Nick’s birthday by having a small dinner at his home. The evening does not go well due to Marissa’s childhood friend Lauren incessantly flirting with all the male guests. Marissa and Lauren’s friendship was recently restored when Lauren moved next door but this night she is acting strangely. The night weighs on the guests including Nick’s sister in law, Hedra, who is withdrawn throughout the evening. Nick’s tween daughter avoids the adults and spends the evening in her room texting. The evening would have been a disaster had Nick not proposed to Marissa at the end of the evening.
The next morning Marissa takes a walk on the beach near Nick’s home and finds one of her overnight guests dead. Everyone who attended the party becomes a suspect in Lauren’s eyes and their erratic behaviors are scrutinized. Was this death accidental or something premeditated? As Marissa searches for answers, she begins to suspect everyone, including her fiance.
After Nightfall is an engaging story full of twists and turns. A. J Banner continues to keep me guessing with her well-written thrillers. I look forward to her next book.
This was an enjoyable book. Lots of twists and turns. Just when you thought you knew who the villain was you turned the page and changed your mind. Not Until the end did you figure it out.