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1.87k reviews for:

Gray After Dark

Noelle W. Ihli

4.08 AVERAGE

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
challenging dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I dare you to read or listen to this whilst camping out in the woods. 

This was on-the-edge-of-your-seat, tense, high-strung. 

This was based on a true story of Kari Swenson, an Olympian who was kidnapped in Montana in 1984. While Miley's fictional ordeal differs from Kari's in many respects (especially in length – Kari's abduction lasted less than 24 hours while Miley's lasted for weeks), the basic details are very similar.

That made this all the more horrifying. 

The bad guys are full of unspent violence and glaring misogyny. I can totally imagine them as real people. The quality of life, the style of life, the dynamics…

Miley is resilient and stubborn which makes this book bearable and gritty. 
The content is dark, but the details are not graphic or descriptive. 

It isn’t twisty, but it is darkly addicting. 

If you are a fan of Karin Slaughter, but want something faster and shorter - this is for you! 
dark tense medium-paced
dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous dark tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

This was a first from Noelle for me and it wasn’t horrible. But, I did feel the first 13 chapters were repetitive and a waste. I did appreciate the fast pace once it started to pick up!

I don’t care about Miley’s running, training, shoulder, or back and forth with her co-workers at the lodge. It was pointless to me!

I could not stand how Brent made it about himself in the early stages of their search for Miley. Dude, she’s missing!!!! Why are you worried about how YOU feel right now on how you left things?!

Anyway! It did pick up eventually and those parts were good but, I don’t think we should’ve waited that long for it. 

I felt for Rayna “Mary” because she had been through so much while being held captive by Fred and Hamish. I feel her talk about God’s will and her faith was so strong because well, that seemed to be the only certain thing in her life. 

I hated Fred so much and honestly, I wish he would’ve suffered more in this book, than just a gunshot. 

Hamish was such a coward and although he was belittled by his own father, he was still a POS up until he was about to lose his life. 

I found the counting Miley and Brent did to be so annoying!! It drove me insane!

Now on to Wes. Oh, Wes. He was a good friend although he and Miley had only known each other a short time. He didn’t second guess himself going out to help search for Miley and up until the end, he never lost his hope! 

Jennifer was an ass! I’m glad we didn’t get much of her in this book.  

I guess I’ll leave it at this. Would I recommend this? Eh, possibly since I’m sure other readers won’t mind the slowness of the first part of the book.
dark emotional tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: No