Extract: 'Abby had not forgotten the Tanner sisters. Not for one minute of one day. The facts of the investigation had lain dormant in the shadowed corners of her mind. But that was not the same as forgetting. They were with her, even after a year of being off the case. They were in her bones. In her flesh. She breathed them in and out with every breath. The missing girls. And the theory of the case that no one else would believe. '

THE BLURB: 'From the bestselling author of All Is Not Forgotten comes a thriller about two missing sisters, a twisted family, and what happens when one girl comes back...

One night three years ago, the Tanner sisters disappeared: fifteen-year-old Cass and seventeen-year-old Emma. Three years later, Cass returns, without her sister Emma. Her story is one of kidnapping and betrayal, of a mysterious island where the two were held. But to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winter, something doesn't add up. Looking deep within this dysfunctional family Dr. Winter uncovers a life where boundaries were violated and a narcissistic parent held sway. And where one sister's return might just be the beginning of the crime.'

Following are two quotes from Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker which to me describe the problems I had with this book.

'A story is more than the recounting of events.' Yet this is exactly how the book is written, a simple recounting of the events.

'Her voice was steady, as if she were explaining a term paper she'd written in school.' Again to me, that is how the book read.

Imagine if you will, sitting down to a meal you have been looking forward to. It is your favorite meal. In front of you, it looks delicious. It smells wonderful. Yet, when you take a bite, it is bland. Occasionally you get a taste of the flavors that should be there, but overall the meal is tasteless, and you feel disappointed, cheated almost.

That sums up how I felt about Emma in the Night. It was bland. Disappointing. Flat.

I am a voracious reader. Yet it took me four days to chew my way through this book. One chapter at a time. Sometimes not even that. It was a tough read.

2.5 reluctant stars - the extra half star because the premise and promise of the plot was great. I just feel that the way it was written and delivered left a lot to be desired.

Thank you to St Martins Press via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Oh, my! Wendy Walker's Emma in the Night is such a fun, twisty mystery!

It's been three years since teenaged sisters Emma and Cass disappeared. There was no sign of where they might have gone, no clues to why they left or who may have taken them. Then one early morning Cass shows up on her mother's front steps. She won't speak about where she's been until the FBI agents who had been in charge of the investigation come to hear her story. And what a story it is! It's all pretty unbelievable and the craziest parts aren't all confined to her disappearance. No matter what anyone thinks or has to say, Cass has one goal- for everyone to find her sister, Emma. She is desperate that no time is wasted and that the people responsible for the terrible situation be found.

This book will hook you as soon as you start. With alternating points of view between Cass (in first person) and Dr. Winter, the forensic psychologist working for the FBI (in third person), we learn little bits at a time. What is especially interesting is the topic in which Dr. Winter specializes: narcissistic personality disorder. This book is a fascinating look into how different families can be and how the way a child is raised will influence whom she trusts as she grows older, what she can see in other people.

I really liked this book and I would love to re-read it to see all the little things I might have missed along the way. I hope you'll pick it up. You won't be sorry.

While I found this book had some intriguing elements, I'm not sure that I could say I enjoyed reading it. The part that was most interesting to me is the author's use of perspective to slowly lead the reader through the twists in the story. The story is told through the altering perspectives of Cass, one of the missing sisters who returns, and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winters who was one of the initial investigators on the case. The author slowly reveals pieces of information, which are sometimes incomplete or out of chronology, to keep the reader guessing and acts out a sort of cat and mouse game between all the characters as they are in pursuit of the truth. What I didn't like about this book is that the characters that narrate the story, possibly because of their psychological states, seem to have very little emotional connection to the events they are retelling, so it is difficult to really emotionally connect to them or the story and makes for a hard read.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my opinion.

An extraordinarily well-written thriller which kept me wedded to the page throughout. Ms. Walker is a strong writer, who very quickly managed to get me invested in the plot intricacies and the fate of the characters. I was grateful for the experience.

Wendy Walker did a great job of captivating me. Trying to figure out what happened to the two sister's. Was Cass telling the truth, did she dream this, was this to get attention. Questions that kept me reading. The horrible way they were treated reminds me of so many families who do not put priority on each other. This book is a must read if you like mystery and suspense. Not for young ages. Thank you to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley, SheSpeaksup for the digital copy given to me to read for an honest review.

Cass and Emma are sisters. And like most sisters, some days they are best friends and some days they just aren't. But one thing that keeps them tethered to each other is their shared love/hate relationship with their mother. She is a narcissist and only praise of the utmost will allow her to bring her children any joy. Then the girls disappear and three years later Cass shows up at her mother's doorstep, demanding that they find Emma. Cass describes the place they had been living for the past three years and hopes that the FBI and investigators are able to find this mysterious island and Emma.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book started off a little slow for me. Hearing the background information about what happened before the disappearance, intertwined with what was going on now to describe the place the girls were being held, took up the first half of the book. After that, the reading went by much faster when the twists and turns started to take place.

Cass and Emma have a mother who constantly needs to be told how beautiful she is and how good of a mother she is. The only problem is that she's not. But hearing these things make her feel good about herself and keep her children on her good side. When things don't go the way she wants, she punishes the girls in unspeakable manners. Buying one a gift the other wanted, favoring one child and ignoring the other. This is a family that has a lot of issues going on inside of their home. They way things are handled are completely out of spite for another member of the family. Although this book had a slow start, it really had a great ending. So stick with it if you have to and it will be well worth it.

Wendy Walker also wrote, All is Not Forgotten which was also a great book released last year. I look forward to what else Ms. Walker has in store.

This thriller was gripping and exciting; I couldn’t put it down! The psychological twists had me on my toes and I turned the pages as fast as I could to see exactly where the story was headed. Though somewhat predictable at times, that didn’t diminish the hold the novel had on me as a reader - and I didn’t see the final twist coming at all! I didn’t view it so much as a puzzle to be solved, but more as a fascinating look into a family’s struggle with a personality disorder that had devastating consequences. This is a quick read simply because it’s impossible to walk away from - so when you pick it up, plan on disregarding all other responsibilities! It has a powerful hold on you from the first page to the last! If you’ve read it, what were your thoughts on Emma in the Night?

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.
Wendy Walker has written a great psychological thriller to follow her first book "All is Not Forgotten". She writes with great detail about psychological conditions which are carefully researched. I had to check to see if her background is in psychology and it is not. This is a well crafted book that kept me reading from the beginning and never had slow or boring or repetitious parts that made me wish it would move on. The plot stretches reality but really made her point about how narcissistic personalities operate in the world. In some places the writing could be better but still 4 stars because it had me enthralled.

My Highly Caffeinated Thought: A dark psychological thriller that pushes the boundaries of what we want to be true and what actually is.

EMMA IN THE NIGHT is a story of two missing girls and what happens when one returns in search of the other. The twists and turns, the lies and manipulations of the truth, and being able to seeing the psychological damage that one person can do to all those around them are all the reasons why I loved this book.

Wendy Walker’s ability to pervert and shine a light on the truth through the various eyes of the characters was so compelling that it made it impossible to put this book down. She was able to give the reader a plausible version of what happened and then carefully chip away at it. Page by page, the reader will begin to question everything while still holding out hope for Emma’s return.

I cannot express to you all how addictive this book was. My emotions are all over the place, put through it all I had Cass. Her voice was the one that I wanted to believe, but found the hardest to trust. What a brilliant book. LOVED IT!

I'm always torn on psychological thrillers because while they're always page-turners, in my experience, you're left hanging instead of with all the answers. Emma in the Night gives you ALL of the answers. You've just gotta be patient. This is well-paced and the everything is meted out appropriately. A very satisfying read.

I want to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc to review. I'm always really grateful to read and review books early. This is going to be an honest review, like all of my reviews are, and all opinions are my own.
I'm just kind of meh about this book. I really enjoy mysteries and thrillers, and I really enjoyed the idea for this one. If I had to describe my feelings for this book in a couple words, they would be interesting, but dull.
Emma In the Night is very much a tell instead of a show. It's pretty much just Cass telling her story and experience in order to find her sister. All that telling made it a little dull. It definitely is not the most exciting mystery thriller I've ever read.
The story switches perspectives between the characters of Cass and a psychologist/therapist who works for the police named Dr. Winter. Neither character was a very exciting voice to follow.
Cass definitely gives that feeling of an unreliable narrator. What she's telling everyone is constantly referred to as a story, which made me question just what to believe.
Dr. Winter is kind of consumed by this case, mainly because of one aspect. She believes that Cass and Emma's mother suffers from a severe narcissistic personality disorder. Dr. Winter has a lot of bias in this assessment, because she believed her mother suffered from the same thing. I don't think Dr. Winter was able to separate her past from the case.
I thought the Narcissistic Personality Syndrome was interesting, but I do feel I got hit over the head with it. It seemed to be always mentioned, always brought up. I must have read the word Narcissistic at least 50 times.
I will applaud this for its twists and turns. I wasn't expecting how things were going to go, how it all was going to end. It did a great job with that.
I thought this book was okay. I enjoyed the mystery of it and not knowing who or what to trust. I wish it had done more showing and less telling, although, maybe the story Wendy Walker was trying to tell wouldn't have worked out like that. I did find parts of it a little dull. I'm interested in reading more from Wendy Walker, I think she can tell a good mystery. Thank you again St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for letting me read and review this!
BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3.5/5
Interesting, but a little Dull.

"A story is more than the recounting of events. The events are the sketch, the outline, but it is the colors and the landscape and the medium and the artist’s hand that make it what it is in the end"

From the first few paragraphs, "Emma in the night" had my curiosity peaked and my suspicions growing as to what really happened when two teenage sisters, Emma and Cass, disappeared and only Cass returns after being missing for three years. The reader as well as Dr Winter ( the forensic psychiatrist working on the case), is left wondering what happened to the two sisters and is left asking ' where on earth is Emma?'

As much as this unique premise tantalised my interests at first, it unfortunately didn't take long for the wheels to start falling off once I got past my initial intrigue.

Why?

*Being written from both Cass and Dr Winter's point of view, I have usually enjoyed this style of writing, however, not in this case. I found it disorienting at times when It still wasn't clear as to who's point of view I was reading. It felt disjointed too and I was not always sure if I was reading about events past or present, adding to my feelings of confusion.

*This story gave me quite the education on the topic of narcissist personality disorder. From those suffering from it as well as their loved ones, and how the cycle can carry on over through to the next generation. However much we were educated about the facts of the effects of narcissism though, it lacks the " colours and the landscape" and the deep emotion that must surely play a major role behind such a disorder. As a result I felt disengaged from every one of the characters and disconnected to the story as a whole.

*Because of its slow pace and it's long winded, sometimes repetitive descriptions of what happened, instead of each page feeding my curiosity, I found myself feeling frustrated and losing interest. I had to convince myself to finish, just in case all the hype about this book was in fact validated and the story would eventually redeem itself, but to no avail.

This read was sadly not my cup of tea. However as I've mentioned, there are plenty of readers who have thoroughly enjoyed this book, perhaps you will be one of them.

I would sincerely like to thank Netgalley, St Martin's Press and the author for a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Three years ago the teenage Tanner sisters, Cass and Emma, disappeared.  After three years Cass returns with a fascinating story about what happened to them that she slowly reveals throughout the book.  The mystery is why did only one girl return and where is her sister.  

It has been a long time since I read a mystery that had so many twists and turns and so many surprises.  It kept my attention and kept me turning pages.  I had to find out what happened to the two girls in the three years they were missing.  Right up to the end I was still engaged and discovering new reveals that I had not suspected.  I could see this story being made into a movie easily.

If you enjoy mysteries, this is the book for you.  

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel.

I had to put this down, unfortunately. I did not like the way this was written at all, and the characters and mystery were just not compelling enough to keep me going.

Emma in the Night
Wendy Walker
St. Martin’s Press, August 2017
ISBN 978-1-250-14143-9
Hardcover

From the publisher—

One night three years ago, the Tanner sisters disappeared: fifteen-year-old Cass and seventeen-year-old Emma. Three years later, Cass returns, without her sister Emma. Her story is one of kidnapping and betrayal, of a mysterious island where the two were held. But to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winter, something doesn’t add up. Looking deep within this dysfunctional family Dr. Winter uncovers a life where boundaries were violated and a narcissistic parent held sway. And where one sister’s return might just be the beginning of the crime.

When two sisters vanish one night, Cass watches the aftermath on TV, the interviews with her mother who, somehow, makes it all about herself. It has always been about Judy Martin and her need to be the center of attention is at the core of the emotional distance between the sisters. Given that distance, why were they both gone?

FBI forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winters and Special Agent Leo Strauss worked the case when the girls disappeared three years ago and they’re drawn back in now that Cass has returned out of the blue. She has a strange tale to tell and there are inconsistencies but, of course, the big question is where is Emma? Were the two girls together all those years or not? The answers that begin to trickle in are increasingly disturbing and you can’t help wondering what has really brought Cass back to her family.

Creepy, that’s the paramount feeling I had while reading this and the author’s evocation of the Narcissistic Personality Disorder brought to mind such infamous people as Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who drowned her kids in the car so she’d be unencumbered in her pursuit of a man. This disorder doesn’t get a lot of serious attention but perhaps it should. Nicely done, Ms. Walker!

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, August 2017.

Whew, I am glad that Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker wasn’t your typical missing girls novel. While I love missing person’s books, I’ve just read a rash of them in a row. So arriving at my TBR pile, I questioned reading yet another missing person themed book. I didn’t want to get burnt out on the topic. But, as fate would have it, Emma in the Night was its own particular kind of missing person book.

If you love unreliable narrators, then Wendy Walker has presented you a gift on a platter. Cass and Emma Turner both went missing three years ago. Emma was 17 and Cass, a mere 15-year-old.

It was a big deal. Emma and Cass’ narcissistic mother “Mrs. Martin” reveled in the fame of being the grieving mother of two lost children.

Then, three years later, Cass shows up at Mrs. Martin’s house. Without Emma. Cass is beside her self; she wants nothing more than for Emma to be found and saved.

Wendy Walker tells Emma in the Night in alternating views between Cass and Dr. Winter, a psychologist who consulted on the original missing person’s case.

At first, I was a little frustrated with Cass’s narrative. I thought, “Who talks like that?” Then, as if reading my mind, Dr. Winter says, “And what about her odd demeanor, the way she told her story with such precision, adding in depictions of her emotions like she was sprinkling salt on a plate of food?” AH, thank you, Dr. Winter, for noticing too.

From that point forward, there was no turning back; I became thoroughly sucked in. What DID happen to Emma? Where was she? Why didn’t she come back with Cass???

The other thing I loved about Emma in the Night, Cass had some good insight on life. There were a few pointed quotes I highlighted. One being the following:

“No matter where we are and what we are subjected to, we will eventually settle into the new reality and try to find pleasure, even if it is nothing more than a warm shower or food or even a glass of water.”

If I thought hard enough, I probably could have seen the ending coming. But I didn’t think that far ahead because I was so engrossed in what I was currently reading at the time. Kind of like mindfulness for reading. Be in the moment.

I give Emma in the Night 5 stars.

4.5 stars!
I love Wendy Walkers writing style! Emma in the Night is the type of book that you will not want to put down - you will want to turn the pages as fast as you can because you have no idea what is right around the corner. The story is perfectly layered and with each layer you will discover another secret or twist you never excepted to happen. The ending was fantastic! Highly Recommend!

Thank you to netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

A riveting psychological thriller with many twists & turns. Explores the narcissistic personality & its influence on family members. Also explores the bond between sisters & a mother with her child. Emma & Cass are sisters who unite to cope with their narcissistic mother. One night they both disappear. The truth of what happened that night is complex & is slowly uncovered after Cass reappears 3 years later. This book will keep you guessing until the end. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 Stars. Emma in the Night is a clever mystery. I very much enjoyed the premise and execution. Wendy Walker is talented but there was something lacking in her story that did not overcome my suspension of disbelief. Maybe that the story was a little to "tight". There were no bumps in the road and Cass spoke and acted like someone far older and more educated than her current age. If not for those issue it would have been elevated to 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wendy Walker for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC of Emma in the Night.

Teenaged sisters Emma and Cass have been missing for four years. When Cass returns without Emma and a huge story about where she is and how to find her, Agents Abby and Leo are immediately suspicious. Things in this family are not what they seem, and they have to dig deep to find the root of the dysfunction.

I definitely enjoyed this, I always love a book with twists and turns. Sometimes it felt a bit flat, or even contrived, but overall, fun summer thriller.