What Happened That Night: A Novel

Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault
What Happened That Night is something that has haunted Dahlia for five years, especially since she can’t remember anything that happened. She was brutally gang raped at a party in college, but can’t remember any details. The once bright girl is gone and a troubled one has taken her place. She couldn’t even finish her degree because of it. Now she’s working as a paralegal, and one day in the office she hears her coworkers watching a video. It turns out it’s the video from that night, and it shows pretty clearly who raped her. Dahlia knows now who broke her, and now the only question is what exactly should she do to make them suffer as she has?

This was a great book. I don’t know that I agree with all that Dahlia does, but you can feel her get control of her life back after what those men did to her. Dahlia’s character and that of James were both perfect. She turned out how you would expect someone to after that ordeal, without being cliché. James’ character really brought Asperger’s to light, making you realize how much people with that diagnosis actually feel. Both characters were looked down on for different reasons, so it was perfect that they found each other and found a sense of belonging when together.

The whole premise of this story was horrifying, but mostly because this actually happens in real life and justice isn’t served. Yes, it probably isn’t the wisest choice to be high and drunk and go to a party, but that doesn’t mean anyone ever deserves to be treated like that. But the book itself was well written with fantastic characters. It is definitely worth your time, and I hope you check it out!