AJ Banner | AFTER NIGHTFALL

Plot (via Goodreads):

Beware of friends with secrets…

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 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.

Review:

I've been a fan of AJ Banner for a while. I binge-read her previous two novels last year and really enjoyed her style of writing and her stories. Another blogger that I follow refers to some lighter thrillers as popcorn reads. Reading an AJ Banner novel for me is like finding a really good and entertaining Lifetime movie. They aren't too grizzly or dark, the pacing is always spot-on, and the characters are down to earth and relatable. I can honestly say that when After Nightfall was announced, I just had to see what Banner came up with next. I wasn't disappointed.

To counteract what I've said before, I felt that this novel kind of set itself apart from Banner's previous efforts. This one dealt with a murder and the opening was just classic noir suspense. The opening dives right into the party that takes place the night of the murder and really sets the story up. I mean, when you're reading a 300+ page novel and the murder takes place right off the bat, you're setting yourself up for quite an exciting and fun journey to follow another fantastically written character into getting to the bottom of what really happened that night and finding out who is responsible. Talk about immersive!

Banner's writing really took a step up with this one in my opinion. The suspense was more imminent, the characters were not only realistic, but exceptionally introduced. Starting off with the party, we are quickly greeted with a number of new characters and Banner's way of building her characterization was not only flawless, but remarkably done. From their actions, their words, and the way they interacted with one another just really built this story in a beautiful way. My two favorite characters were our protagonist, Marissa and the victim (who I won't name to avoid spoiling anything). What I really thought was genuine with these characters was how Banner built this personality with the victim and you really got to know who they were (whether likable or not), so when the death happens, it really hits you and you're left with other characters that could be red herrings or simply those meant to tell their side of the story. With Marissa, not only is she strong, yet vulnerable, but Banner weaves the past and present into a story that is not only a whodunnit, but a story that is about friendship and the lengths we go to in either building or destroying relationships.

The plot to this one was a little bit faster paced with multiple layers to the story that really made the book so easy to get lost in, which was most effective for me as a reader. It's told in a realistic light, not veering from things that we deal with in our everyday life. It was interesting and addictive to watch Marissa cope with the death of the character who was killed and also try to navigate through her everyday life. What I mean when I say I loved this is that typically in a novel with a plot like this, it's all about who killed the victim and why. With this novel, you really follow Marissa with not only getting to the bottom of what happened, but seeing her deal with the aftermath and her relationships with the other characters involved.

Needless to say, this one was a great read and Banner's writing is only getting better. It was nice to see her go a more risky route with a darker plot and her characterization is only improving. A beautiful blend of murder mystery, loss, and brilliant characterization. I cannot wait to see what AJ Banner does next. I am officially declaring myself a fan for life.

Special thanks to Amazon Publishing for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 4/5