Absolutely gripping and filled with terror. I devoured this in 24 hours. Miley is a fantastic character who faced down depravity. 5 stars.

This author has a real talent for building suspense and creating perilous storylines that keep your heart pounding from start to finish. I loved the main character Miley with her humble background and drive to succeed. Those traits lend perfectly to the horrifying circumstances she finds herself in while held captive deep in the wilderness with a slim chance of being rescued. Fair warning, once you start reading this book, you won't be able to put it down.

This book is an absolute masterpiece. I could probably write a whole novella on how good I think Noelle Ihli is. This is the third Ihli book I have read as I'm working my way through her list and I'm speechless every time.

Survival thrillers are my favorite subgenre of thrillers, and it's exactly for reasons like Gray After Dark. It's a pulse-pounding, gut-wrenching, heart-breaking story and action that you just cannot put down. This one was darker than the other ones I've read from Ihli so far, but I absolutely loved it more for that. I kept telling myself, okay, she's not going to do that right? It's not going to go that dark right? But she did. And it does. And it's so freaking good I legit can't stop talking about it.

She writes such good female characters. Do they sometimes make bad decisions? For SURE, that's how they get into these predicaments in the first place, but through it all, these are some of the most well-written, strong-willed females I've ever read. Miley is no different in Gray After Dark, and I found myself continuously impressed on how she just wouldn't give up, even when they tried to take everything from her, and even when they did take everything from her. I was so dialed in to Miley and her story, I cried when she cried. I cried when she didnt cry.

The character development as a whole is top tier. Miley and Brent were very consistent throughout, but some standout characters for me were my sweet baby Wes and Mary. My heart just ached for them. Even Hamish had character development, unfortunately. In the beginning at least, I found myself almost having sympathy for him. But Fred has three abuse victims, not just two, and I really like the way the book highlighted that so well, but then takes it further from there, until Hamish is almost unrecognizable.

I'll stop myself or I'll be here all day. Noelle Ihli is an instant buy author for me, the ONLY thriller author I've ever given five stars to (twice!) and has absolutely cemented a place on my favorite authors of all-time list.

Thank you for blessing us with your talent 😌

Happy Pub Day to Noelle Ihli and Gray After Dark!

Summary:
Miley is an Olympic skier, recovering from an injury, who takes a job at a mountain guest lodge for the summer. While on a run, Miley is abducted and brought to a secluded cabin by her two attackers. Told in alternating POVs of Miley and her best friend Brent, who is searching for her. Gray After Dark is a high stakes and super intense thriller that will have your heart pounding!

Review:
4.5 stars
Gray After Dark is based on a true story with fiction elements and just knowing that made this story even more high stakes for me. I felt so connected to Miley's character and could feel her drive and determination to escape from her captures. There was an element of "kept woman syndrome" that was very well done in this story. This is the second Noelle Ihli book that I have read and she does a fantastic job at creating high pressure and high stakes woods scene that have your heart pounding. I found myself holding my breath and even cried at the end! The way I was rooting for these characters is a testament to how well Noelle wrote them. I highly recommend picking up this book today!

Thank you to NetGalley, Dynamite Books, and Noelle Ihli for this ARC of Gray After Dark in exchange for an honest review!

💥 HAPPY PUB DAY!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

• fast-paced thriller
• dual perspectives
• remote setting

A heart-pounding story of survival! I really enjoy the author's writing because it's so captivating. I went through so many emotions while reading. Don't miss the Author's Note!

🗣 Thank you to Noelle for the opportunity to read and review your book via gifted eARC, and also to @netgalley! All opinions are honest and my own.

WHAT A BOOK!

Absolutely fantastic! This book took me on a whole rollercoaster with my emotions and kept me gripped throughout.

Highly recommend!

Fantastic book! Its filled with so much twists, thrills and tension your heart will beat fast with butterflies in your stomach and until you know what happens next! Definitely a page turner! Well written with short chapters too! I highly recommend to all thriller lovers! You won't want to miss this one!

This author is an automatic buy for me. This book kept my attention from beginning to end. Probably one of my favorites from this author!

Miley has had a hard life. She has always dreamed of being an Olympic medalist, and she has been training for the day. In preparation for Winter Olympics 2026, she is training and running, building stamina while also taking a summer job at a vacationer's resort. One day while out on a run and a swim in her favorite alpine lake, things go bad quickly and her life as she knows it will change forever. Forest mountain men kidnap her and take her back to their rustic cabin. "Preppers" think they are saving her from the end of the civilization as we know it, but in reality they are ruining her life. Will she escape? Are her chances of competing in the 2026 Olympics over? This is not my first read from this author, and it definitely won't be my last! Thank you NetGalley for giving me this opportunity to read and review this ARC!

Gray After Dark is a thrilling new book by Ask For Andrea author, Noelle W. Ihli.
Miley is an Olympian athlete who was injured in a tragic accident. Now in an attempt to get back on her feet and on the road to recovery and training, she takes a seasonal job at a mountain guest lodge.
During a routine run, Miley is abducted and held captive in an off-grid cabin in the middle of the Frank Church wilderness. Will Miley survive or will she become part of the local lore?
Gray After Dark kept me up late into the night, turning page after page to find out what happens next. It is a fast-paced thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Please be aware of trigger warnings listed in the beginning of the book. Thank you Noelle and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC!

Reading Gray After Dark, felt so much like Noelle W. Ihli's book Run on Red which I did enjoy. When reviewing mystery/thriller novels, I try to keep my synopsis as simple as possible to let other readers piece together the clues as they read because that is my favorite thing about reading this genre and why it is my favorite genre.

In this book, we meet Miley, who is an Olympic athlete recovering from some emotional and physical injuries while working at a "resort" in the wilderness of Frank Church, Idaho. Given that she competes in the biathlon, what better place could she choose to work so that she can train for the next Olympics? Or is it?

Everyone at the "resort" warns her of a young woman who was working there 4 years prior and was attacked by a bear and never found. Miley is a strong young woman who has overcome such adversity, but she is also incredibly stubborn; pushing away someone who cares very deeply for her and not heeding the warnings given to her, ultimately leading to her abduction. Will Miley be able to escape her captors?

I truly enjoyed this book and now want to do some research into the true story this book was based on (the description is in the author's note at the end) because I am a huge fan of true crime. I went through a rollercoaster of emotions reading this book and felt like I could relate to the main character; her determination, stubbornness, and wit. The character development in this book was very well done, and the ending was not rushed, which I greatly appreciate in a thriller novel. There are some trigger warnings I feel are important: Stockholm Syndrome, violence, murder, animal cruelty, and SA. That being said, I do recommend grabbing this book as it is a riveting read and very well crafted, despite the difficult subjects that are addressed in this book.

I give this book 4 stars, only because the storyline felt all too similar to Run on Red, by the same author.

A huge thank you to Dynamite Books for allowing me the opportunity to review an ARC of this book!

⚠ search for tws
⚠ contains spoilers

𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘆, 𝗮 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗢𝗹𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀, 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗖𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀. 𝗛𝗼𝘄𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿, 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗻. 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘄𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀.

I just learned that this is based on a true story from reading the author's note 🥶 Reading this made me shudder and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Every chapter ends on a cliffhanger, which makes me want to read it more (+ it has SHORT chapters) 🤓 It has been awhile since I read a thriller/mystery book because I'm always left alone at home (not complaining tho bcs I'm an introvert 🤸‍♀️) and being alone brings flashbacks to the books I've read in the past (bcs my mind ALWAYS plays me like that - ALWAYS anxious 😃). This book made me want to read Run on Red more!!

I used to silently wonder in the beginning of the book why she didn't tell Brent how she felt since she was already in love with him, but by the middle of the book, it all made sense. Rayna's constant criticism of Miley, which was also addressed in the middle, made me upset as well. 😅 Surely now I can relate because being in the woods for 4 years surely would alter my brain also. She has flight of ideas, delusion and dissociative identity disordee. She is also denial. (lol why am I incorporating psych here).

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒈𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝑶𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚! 🥳

"Opening up your heart is messy-and risky. But keeping your heart spotless is risky too."

Ihli brings you a devastatingly skin tingling layered story of survival against the elements and a story of survival against human evil while spotlighting the unyielding strength that determination and love can spark inside someone. A truly thrilling and powerful tribute.

This book was so much more than what I was expecting.Its so much more than just a thriller chalked full of jaw dropping twists and turns. Ihli brings grit, struggles, and raw and real emotions.I almost couldn't handle it. The combination of survival and fighting human evil just had me feeling some sort of way.

I was holding my breath in anticipation and my stress level were through the roof for the entirety of this book. Ihli wrote the imagery and descriptions to where it all felt a little too real and I was so enamoured there was no way I could tear my eyes away.

With a chilling fast pace and the intensity building with the turn of every page you won't be able to put it down. Chalked full of the good, bad and the ugly, there's something for everyone to walk away with.

It defenitly resonated with me and will for a very long time to come especially after reading the authors note.

If you love high stakes thrills you should definitely pick this up

A huge thank you to Noelle W. Ihli and Netgalley for the advanced hike through Frank Church and to Wes for thinking ahead and leaving a trail of yellow to find the way back home.🖤

I am sitting here speechless with my jaw on the floor. 🫠 This book had my heart racing! I think the author did an amazing job at recreating a story that was true from the start.
I enjoyed being able to follow both sides of the story, between Miley and Brent. I think the author was very creative in the writing of this story and the twists just kept coming.

There was only one part of the story I was able to guess but I wasn't disappointed when it happened! If you like books that will keep you on your toes, this is the one for you.

This is easily my new favorite book by Noelle. Even though I would like to throat punch a couple of the characters! (You'll know who I'm talking about! 😂)

Huge thank you to Netgalley, Noelle Ihli and Xpresso Book Tours for the advanced copy.

This was a 6 star read for me. I absolutely loved everything about this book. I didn’t even feel like I was reading, more like I was watching a movie. This author will be an always read for me from here on out.

I’m… completely speechless with this one. I think I’ll need several days to process what I just read because WHAT. All I can say is that this book could be used to define the suspense thriller genre. Be prepared to read the whole thing in one sitting. And know that it’s not for the faint of heart. 5+++ stars.

Huge thank you to NetGalley, Noelle W. Ihli, and Dynamite Books for giving me a free e-ARC in exchange for this honest review!

Took a little while to get into the book, but once I did it was a fast-paced thriller. I loved the fact that Gray After Dark is loosely based off a true story.

Make sure you check trigger warnings. This wasn’t an easy read- lots of dark material. But I liked Noelle’s style of writing and look forward to what she puts out next.

Thanks NetGalley and Dynamite for the ARC!

Thank you to Noelle W Ihli and the publisher for the advanced copy. This was my third book by Ihli and it definitely will not be my last. Gray after Dark follows Miley, an Olympian Biathlete who took a summer job at a resort in the Frank Church Wilderness area. We follow along as Miley faces a challenge greater than any other that she has faced. The story was fast paced and I could not put it down.

i really enjoyed this thriller! it took me a little bit to get into the story, but the background is essential to understanding the motivation and psychology behind the main character, Miley. i thought she was very well-written and i was rooting for her! this book gets super tense and i couldn't put it down! if you want a book with a similar stress level to No Exit, i definitely recommend this one. Noelle W. Ihli is quickly becoming a go-to thriller author for me, as this book is tied with Ask for Andrea as my favorite. she writes characters well while serving up a fast-paced plot.

i enjoyed getting Miley's POV, as well as Brent, Miley's friend's POV. Brent sets out to find Miley in the depths of the forest. i did feel like some realizations he came to about her disappearance happened a little too quickly/conveniently, but i understand that it's probably not the most entertaining thing to have him meandering around the forest with no direction. i feel like he could have struggled a little more with figuring out the clues, so to speak.

i didn't feel like the villains in this book were caricatures, which is important for me when reading a thriller with a clear antagonist. they were awful people, and all of the characters felt like they could be real--which may be the scariest thing about the villains in this book.

this was a tense book with short chapters that you won't want to put down. i loved being in Miley's head the most and being with her as she discovers what she needs to do to survive. this book is very psychological and can be disturbing, especially since this was loosely inspired by a true story, which is so incredibly sad. i would recommend picking this up if you like:
- fast paced books
- characters with trauma & secrets
- the movie Split
- books set in the wilderness

Gray After Dark is available now. thank you to Dynamite Books, Noelle Ihli, and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This author knows how to keep me up at night. This book was so great. I love a book that has me thinking about how I can't wait to get home to keep reading. Adrenaline pumping thriller!!!