Really enjoyed this book! Its gripping and emotional and I struggled putting it down. I liked that the chapters switched between Dahlia and James as I feel like I got to know and understand both characters. Both of which I loved! The twist at the end was great,didn't see it coming and that rarely happens!

Would definitely recommend reading

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I think I went in hoping to find some sort of female version of Peter Swanson, from the description alone. I also really liked the cover design, so my expectations were really high.

It's a nice book. It does actually feel like a friend after some time, but it did not keep me up at night, gripping my screen, wanting more.

The pace is really slow, at least at times. And because of the female protagonist, it quickly starts feeling chatty and women's fiction-like.

In all honesty, I probably would've enjoyed this book a lot more if I hadn't read at least a dozen similar voices this year alone. So if you're a lazy reader who only picks a few mysteries a year, this is a great book. If you've read a ton and want something completely shocking and new - this might turn out to be a disappointment.

I will look out for more from writer, though.

Took me a little to get into this book.. Revenge is sweet sometimes. Was rooting for her all the way through. A tough subject matter. Good read!




Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an early release of this book

I absolutely enjoyed this title. How the characters were introduced, their relationship to Dahlia kept me engaged and wanting more. I especially enjoyed how her setbacks and faults were shown through what had happened to her and how she dealt with the issues. I'm excited to read more from Sandra Block in the future!

Trigger Warning: rape, suicide
I have very mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed a lot, but I really didn't like some of it.
I come away feeling like I liked the story a lot. Dahlia is a sweet Jewish girl on her way to becoming a lawyer when she is drugged and raped at a party. She tries to kill herself and tries to move on, but a recording of the rape surfaces and those guys have to answer for what they did. I haven't read a good revenge story in a minute and Block does a pretty good job setting it up.
The set up was great, the story was great. The first guy revenge was great. The others felt rushed and she never really faced them and punished them to make the ending feel satisfactory for her character. The "punishments" were pretty eye roll worthy. Dahlia became so strong through the book, but we never got to see her use it.
It was also fairly repetitively graphic about her rape. I understand it's important, but I feel bogged down. Personally it was a bit much.
I really enjoyed Block's book on the way it addresses this rape culture in colleges and among fraternities. It poses some interesting discussion that I enjoyed already with my husband.
I feel strongly that it is a good book with a good story. I also feel strongly that it is only an OK book. I bumped it up in the end because I really enjoyed the second half (despite predictability).

Expected Publication: June 5th!

Whoa! This book was packed with a ton of content, and the story had layers upon layers. I loved it!

Disclaimer: There are some (graphic) depictions of sexual assault, and some topics that may be hard for people to read. But, it was done in a way that enhanced the story, made it heartbreakingly real, and captured the reader.

The issues raised by Sandra Block ranged from sexual assault, suicide, mental illness, and Asperger's to relationship struggles between friends, family, and lovers. I could not believe how she delivered this much heavy content, and somehow the story wasn't incredibly depressing. If anything, it provided a message of hope.

Five years ago, Dahlia was the victim of a brutal assault, waking up bruised, battered, and bleeding. As a result, she finds herself utterly broken. But making matters worse is the fact that she can't remember exactly what happened that night. Fast forward to present day and a horrifying video of the assault is uploaded to the internet, graphically detailing the attack as well as her photographically identifying her attackers. Filled with rage, Dahlia finds herself planning the ultimate revenge.

Meanwhile Dahlia's coworker, James, finds it hard to connect with others. His Asperger's always makes it difficult. But when he runs into Dahlia at a Survivors of Suicide support group, they quickly find themselves developing a friendship, one that ultimately leads to James assisting in the plot for revenge.

Sandra Block nailed this storyline. I read all 352 pages in 2 days. I couldn't put it down. It gave me a slightly "Revenge" feel at times (i.e. the TV show we all binge watched on Netflix a few years ago) which I loved.

I don't know how much more I can say without giving away pieces of the plot, so I'll just say that if you are looking for a page turner, I would highly recommend What Happened That Night! There are surprises around every corner, and you won't be able to stop turning until the very end.

-I received this advance review copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Sandra Block, and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to review.-

Thanks to NetGalley for for the ARC ecopy for my Kindle.
This book had graphic scenes and deals with rape and suicide which are subjects I don't read. But I want to read other book by the author if they don't deal with these subjects.

A good read. I’d buy this and recommend. It’s a story about two people and their friendship built around traumatic experience. Not too heavy and definitely one for the beach.

I was excited to have the opportunity to obtain an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book from NetGalley.

“It’s like an itch that I need to scratch, even if it draws blood, even if I tear the scab off. Because now it’s out there, that night. Part of my life that I could never account for was finally given back to me. Like a gift, spiked with poison.”

During her time as an undergraduate at Harvard, Dahlia was gang raped. Unable to rebound from the brutal attack that she barely remembers, she attempted suicide, but survived. Years later, when she has a steady job as a paralegal and a solid support system in her friends Eli and Daisy, Dahlia discovers a recording of her rape posted online. She follows clues to discover the identity of her rapists and extract revenge on each of them. But the men work to destroy her before she can take them all down.

Block uses the points of view of Dahlia and James, her hot IT guy love interest and co-conspirator to tell the tale. The villain POV is provided in the form of chatroom conversation between the rapists.
WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT is a well-plotted thriller with solid characterization. Dahlia, from her “survivor” tattoo to her endless supply of moxie, is a protagonist that readers will cheer for. Like a phoenix, she rises from the ashes of despair, and takes charge. In James, she finds the perfect sidekick. He possesses the computer mojo Dahlia needs and, unable to deliver his own revenge, he’s ready to give her the tools to punish her rapists. Dahlia and James’s relationship makes for a great subplot and an opportunity to showcase their personalities.

WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT is a thriller with heart and soul.

This was a hard book for me to read, there were several times I wanted to quit reading it because the subject matter is not easy to read. I think the writing is so pure that I felt as if I was right there with Dahlia, and that is why I had a hard time getting through some of the scenes. I tend to try to figure out the twist at the end of the story and for the first time in a long time I hoped that I had it wrong. I may have had a hard time with the subject but I still could not put this book down. I could not figure out who to root for in this book and I am still not sure how I feel about the characters. This book will stay with me for a very long time and I'm intrigued to see what else Sandra Block has up her sleeve.

What Happened That Night surprised me with its emotional pull. The characters - particularly Dahlia and James - were well-formed, believable, likeable, had me cringing over what they planned and rooting for a just, safe outcome. A page-turner all the way, I finished this read with a lump in my throat and muttering 'good book' to myself.

A timely and relevant psychological thriller/character drama centred around two very different and quirky characters, one of whom is recovering from a suicide attempt following trauma and one who has suffered a horrible loss.

It is gripping and cleverly written, I love how the main protagonists worked out their issues, not following any one path but rather working through things as they went. The author manages to portray the realities of justice and the many layers of recovery really well and it was a bit of a page turner.

One of the huge strengths of this was the growing relationship between Dahlia and James, I loved them both in different ways and What Happened That Night doesn't follow a usual path, it has a resoundingly satisfactory ending and whilst if I had one bug bear it was that a certain twist was very obvious early on and not really required to my mind, overall this is a book that I will happily recommend.

I'll be reviewing it on Liz Loves Books nearer the time of publication.

This book was utter nonesense and juevenile for such a serious topic of gang rape/rape on college campus. 1 in 5 women will experience this at their school. And along comes this author who makes the serious subject matter a joke. Getting revenge on her accusers because law enforcement doesn’t take these allegations seriously? I hope this does not set back future victims, as there will unfortunately victims. The best advice is to work with the police. Immature and bad advice. Also, the writing, was mediocre at best. If you’re going to tackle a serious subject fiction or not, be responsible.

What happened that night is a well written mystery. I loved the plot and the well developed characters. This author was new to me and I enjoyed her writing. I recommend to fans of a good whodunnit.

I absolutely loved this book! It’s refreshing to read something so different - such unusual characters. I loved reading further in to relationships between Dahlia & others as the ‘project’ unfolded.
There are very harrowing parts to this book, but well handled by the author - enough was said to understand the horrifying nature of what had happened to poor Dahlia, without reading pages of awful details like with some other authors.
I thought the twist at the end was brilliant, and to end with James’ poem was perfect!

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read What Happened That Night by Sandra Block. This is a tough story or any story dealing with physical abuse or rape. A young woman is assaulted one night and it is a tramatic event that leaves her devistated. Years later, she discovers a video of her assault and it brings back all her bad memories, fears, and sadness. She will fight back - and someone will pay.
This is a sad book, at least it was for me. Difficult to read, but will get you thinking.

Thank you to Netgalley for a preview read from this extraordinary author. Insanely good. Sweet. Intense. Relatable. Just a few of the emotions I felt reading What Happened That Night, the latest thriller from Sandra Block. And she’s definitely hit it out of the park this time.

Dahlia, a paralegal now, suffered a gang rape while at Harvard. Of course, that night continues to haunt her, but she can’t remember most of it because she’d been drinking and the boys also drugged her. Her memories of that awful time start to return when she finds her co-workers in the breakroom watching a video that was taken of it. Then she starts to piece together who her assailants were. She strikes out with a revenge plan, aided by one of her co-workers who is tech savvy times three.

I will stop there. Just know Block has become a force to be reckoned with. I’ve read all her books and the writing just gets better and better. I truly believe she’s taking the domestic thriller genre by storm. I would recommend this novel to anyone. It will be available on June 5, 2018.

Dahlia is a survivor - a rape survivor, a suicide survivor - a young woman much stronger than she knows. When tape of her rape surfaces on the internet, she is finally able to discover who the perpetrators were - and she decides to make them pay. Proving that revenge is a dish best served cold, she methodically tracks them down to make them pay. But the beauty of WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT is that this isn't some slick, hard-ass protagonist, but a well-drawn, deeply broken person, just wanting to make herself whole. Dahlia is helped in her efforts by James, an IT tech with Asperger's and some ghosts of his own. While some of the plot points are farfetched and the final reveal completely unnecessary, Block had me hooked from the beginning and more than willing to go along for the ride. Her strength is in her characters, the plot was just more of a device to allow you to get to know them better. I think Block could easily move away from suspense to literary fiction by focusing on her characters. In the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy her quick but juicy reads.

This book is very ambitious, it is obvious that the author wanted to deal with an array of issues - but unfortunately, that comes across as rather phony and spurious. The character of Dahlia, victim and heroine of this story, is a heavily tattooed paralegal with issues. Okay, as one reviewer put it, it is nice to have an interesting protagonist in a crime thriller, but Dahlia and in fact nearly all of the other important characters are deliberately DIFFERENT. To me, this book was just annoying (and in the case of the "autistic" character almost offensive to those who know what autism entails). Unfortunately, it was also badly written. I cannot recommend this book.

---- Possible spoilers! ----

This is a pretty good thriller.

You have two unconventional main characters and I really liked them. It was nice not reading about conventionally handsome man and ordinary Mary Jane Investigates! Instead, we have two people who don’t conform to social norms and who have each experienced true tragedy in their lives.

Unfortunately, I figured out the main secret of the book at about 30%. Regardless, I still enjoyed the read.

Readers should be aware that there are rather graphic descriptions of sexual assault. Some of this definitely isn’t the easiest thing to read, but the author handles it well. It never felt gratuitous. It did feel sickening, but that was the point.

I admit that I thought things would spiral out of control for our main character a bit quicker and a bit more intensely. However, the tension and suspense were still there.

A good, fast read!