It's clear that Wendy Walker is a talented writer, and I'm always drawn to books told from multiple perspectives. I would like to read All is Not Forgotten to see if I'm better able to connect with those characters, as Dr. Walker and Cass were difficult characters for me to empathize with. Having just finished Megan Miranda's The Perfect Stranger, and beginning Mary Kubica's The Good Girl, I'm drawing a lot of comparisons and contrasts between the three, and it seems that while Walker definitely holds her own in terms of her literary prowess, her characters lack a sense of invitation.

Wendy Walker is the kind of thriller writer who seems to have been personally born to write books for me. I love the "psychological" part of psychological thrillers, and Walker's work provides just that. While the twist at the end of this one didn't grab me in quite the same way ALL IS NOT FORGOTTEN, Walker's writing is gripping, fast-paced, and engaging. I'll read her next book immediately-- I'm officially a fan.

My absolute favorite genre or type of book to read is a psychological suspense/thriller novel as I am totally fascinated in the way that some people think, feel, or behave.  I also like to challenge myself to see if I can figure out the why and who.  EMMA IN THE NIGHT was an intriguing look at Narcissist Personality Disorder and how a family is ultimately affected by it.
 
Why I wanted to read this one…….I was really excited and jumped at the chance to read an advanced copy of WENDY WALKER’S new book, EMMA IN THE NIGHT, as I ABSOLUTELY LOVED her previous novel, ALL IS NOT FORGOTTEN, and it was one of my favourite reads of 2016.

What it’s all about…...One night two teenage girls, Emma and her younger sister Cass go missing in the middle of the night and three years later one comes back and tells her story.
 
Why I actually enjoyed this one…The wonderful narration throughout this story.
 
What happened then for just 3 stars…...I really tried to get involved in the storyline but it just didn’t happen for me.  I don’t know if it was just because I couldn’t fully get into this story because there were quite a few distractions surrounding me while I was reading this, as I was away on vacation, or if it was just because I did get the feel of the novel early on and it started to get a little monotonous for me and just didn’t hold my interest like I would have liked.
 
EMMA IN THE NIGHT by WENDY WALKER is a disturbing, insightful, captivating, and a twisted psychological thriller that is filled with dysfunctional and manipulative characters.
 
WENDY WALKER delivers an extremely well-written read here with an interesting and unique storyline told from two different perspectives which focuses mainly on Cass and her story of what happened to her during those missing three years and Dr. Abby Winter who questions what really happened while searching for the still missing sister, Emma.
 
Overall, it was a mostly enjoyable, quick and easy read with a satisfying and neat ending. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.  Would recommend!  
 
Publication date: August 8, 2017
 
Thank you so much to NetGalley, Wendy Walker, and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book for a fair and honest review.
 
All of my reviews can be found on my sister blog:
http://www.twogirlslostinacouleereading.wordpress.com

*3.5 stars*

Three years ago, Cass and her sister Emma went missing on the same night. Now Cass is back, but the agents on the case aren't sure that she's telling the truth about what really happened.

We get two POVs in this novel, Cass and Abby, one of the detectives in charge of the case. Abby has always been sympathetic to the girls. She recognizes that their situation at home, particularly with their mother, is very similar to that of her own past. Yet she was reluctant to pursue the matter when the girls first went missing. But when Cass arrives on her mother's front porch, Abby is ready to solve the mystery, once and for all.

I've read a lot of psychological thrillers this year alone. A lot of books about teenage girls disappearing, and detectives trying (and sometimes failing) to find them. There's such a fascination in our society about the subject matter, there's literally hundreds of books with plots at least loosely similar to this one.

So a novel of this kind has to be both inventive and impeccable for me to give it a high rating. I did enjoy "Emma in the Night," and I was invested in finding out 1) why the girls disappeared, 2) why Cass came back, and 3) where Emma was. But I did spoil the surprise ending by figuring it out halfway through the book.

I also felt that Abby's character wasn't three dimensional enough. I really like the books where you get to know the detectives as much as the victims and suspects. Here, I knew things about Abby, but I didn't really feel them. I couldn't get a sense of what her daily life was like, outside detective work. And because Abby's voice was 50% of the narrative, it make less on an impact on me.

There was also quite a lot of textbook-esque discussion about narcissism and what it means to have a narcissistic parent. I think this would be interesting to people who know nothing about the disorder, but I've read quite a bit about it, and found myself nodding my head and wishing we could hurry through the explanations.

I did feel very sad for Cass. She had a difficult life, and was constantly surrounded by unlikable, inhospitable people.

All in all, I thought this was a fun read, and I did find the ending to be satisfying.

I never thought of myself as a reader of thrillers, but lately I've been picking them up more and more often, and weirdly they've been working out for me. I think I requested Emma in the Night, by Wendy Walker, from Netgalley because I liked the title, and maybe the cover. And it was one of those many "girl comes back from her mysterious disappearance, but where has she been?" stories that seems so popular lately.

The funny thing is, the only way to make a story like that work is for there to be a decent amount of characters hiding information from the reader, which frequently drives me up the wall (see my opinions on Jodi Picoult). Secrets may be kept for a reason from other characters, but if you're inside a character's head and they're thinking about The Truth but not telling you what that truth is, well, that's cheap dramatics.

So it's a fine line to walk for me, this kind of psychological thriller where we're finding out what happened, rather than watching it happen. Emma in the Night, I'm pleased to say, walked that tightrope and kept me reading to the point where I finished it in a day, which is not a thing that I am known for.

Cass and Emma are sisters in a messed up family, and three years ago they disappeared on the same night. Now Cass is back home and begging her parents and the police and anyone who will listen to find Emma.

Abby Winters is the forensic psychologist who worked on the missing person's case three years ago, and she's never been able to shake it. She recognized that this family had some ugly secrets, but she was never able to dig them all out or convince her superiors that they were relevant to the disappearance. With Cass's return and the hunt for Emma, she can finally find out the truth.

What unfolds is told from two points of view. Cass's parts are in first person, and her careful, deliberate personality--the product of a lifetime spent jumping through the many hoops required in her family--means that we know full well that we're not being told everything. Every thought that Cass has is deliberate and specific, and we will follow the investigation with her, but the past will unfold when she's ready to tell it.

With Abby, though, we can follow the investigation and see how Cass's clues play out in the real world. I think the biggest flaw in the book, actually, was how Abby's psychological expertise was treated by those around her--the rest of law enforcement was very dismissive of her theories about the family, which seems like the opposite of my understanding of how any criminal investigation works; aren't the family the first set of suspects? Don't you bring in a forensic psychologist to listen to their opinions on the psychology of the parties involved?

I suspect that some of the psychology behind this is also a little loosey-goosey, but I don't expect much from a thriller. And I have barely put the book down all day, which is what you ask from this book, so in that respect, it's incredibly successful at what it's trying to do. Highly readable.

EMMA IN THE NIGHT WRITTEN BY WENDY WALKER

"We believe what we want to believe. We believe what we need to believe. Maybe there's no difference between wanting and needing. I don't know. What I do know is that the truth can evade us, hiding behind our blind spots, our preconception's, our hungry hearts that long for quiet. Still, it is always there if we open our eyes and try to see it. If we really try to see."

I really loved Wendy Walker's "All is Not Forgotten," that came out last year about a real drug that is being tested right now that gives you the ability to forget a serious trauma that you suffer. I don't know if clinical trials of the drug are being tested on soldiers who have been suffering with PTSD after experiencing horrific flashbacks after coming back from serving our country with PTSD or if is being tested on the mainstream population. Wendy Walker made it very clear that at the time her book was published that the trauma clinical testing of the pill to erase one's memory of an event was true and real. I also loved the unreliable narrator psychiatrist spin his tangled web and manipulate the other character's as if he were the puppet master and they were his puppets'.

Naturally when I learned that Wendy Walker's new book "Emma in the Night," was coming available I jumped at the chance to read it. I really loved "Emma in the Night," equally as well. I would have loved to give this one five stars, too, because the story and plot were both BRILLIANT! The reason I took off one star from making this a five star read was because, in my humble opinion, I had to suspend belief in a couple of scenes as I did not think two highly trained, skilled FBI agents would outright do a few things ethically speaking that they did towards the wind down of the book. Don't throw rotten tomatoes at me yet, because I didn't name what they did so I truly hope I didn't just ruin your reading experience by adding a spoiler.

Emma and Cassandra disappear one night taking no clothes, money or any of the kinds of things one might take if planning to go off the grid. Emma's car is left abandoned at the beach. Cass is fifteen and Emma is eighteen. Did the two sister's drown? Were they abducted? Gone. Missing. Without a trace of evidence to go on besides finding Emma's keys and purse and trace evidence of Cass's hair inside the car.

Dr. Abigail Winter, forensic psychologist who specializes in narcissistic personality disorder receives a telephone call on a Sunday morning from Special Agent Leo Strauss who worked the case of the missing Tanner girls three years ago with her. Abby had always thought Cass and Emma's mother, Mrs. Judy Martin, had an extreme case of narcissism and thought there was something off about the family. Her own mother suffered from narcissistic behavior to a lesser degree but deep inside her core she knew Mrs. Martin was a full blown narcissist and that she was hiding behind her stories about her family life and something still haunted her to this day about this case.

Leo tells Abby that Cass Tanner showed up at the Martin's that morning. Cass came home alone without Emma after three years of being missing. Leo tells Abby that she will be getting a call from the New Haven, Connecticut field office he just wanted to clear it with her first. Abby asks Leo what do they know and he say's Cass just showed up, took a shower and she is just resting until they can get there.

The narrative is told in that good old common device that many suspense/thrillers/psychological thrillers today use alternating chapter's with Cass's point of view with Dr. Abigail Winter's and it totally works in this novel masterly. Cass is now three years older and a bit of an unreliable narrator touched by the dysfunction of her parent's divorce, being the one that was pushed aside by Judy Martin's wedge she drove between Emma and Cass, by favoring Emma. Let me tell you about Judy Martin. She used to ask Emma and Cass if she was the prettiest girl they've ever seen when the girls were younger, Was Mrs. Martin the smartest woman they've ever known? Was she a good mother? The best mother they could ever want? When the girls were younger they would reply "yes, mother." At other times when Mrs. Martin was in a dark mood or thought that the world conspired against her or was cruel to her, for not seeing how special she was. The girls would would say together "You're the best mother in the whole wide world!" And they both believed it until they got to a certain age and Emma would whisper to Cass that none of that were true and when they were older they wouldn't need Mrs. Martin and they would have each other.

The dysfunction in the family touched everybody. Mr. Martin used to watch his son watch Emma as she grew more beautiful and an outward hard shell. Mrs. Martin used to watch Mr. Martin watch his son Hunter watch Emma. The author did a fantastic job fleshing out all of the character's to make this book a character study of all of the character's. They come to vivid life on the page as each one plays their role of the heartbreaking toxic effects they all have interacting with one another. Cass tells us herself how during the custody battle between the girls biological father Owen Tanner, how Emma sealed her fate as her mother's favorite by telling Cass to tell the court that she thought her and Emma should live with their father because he is sad. Cass gets rewarded by her mother telling her that she can never call her mother again. From now on Cass is told by her mother to call her Mrs. Martin.

Dr. Abigail Winter wanted Psychological testing done on the Martin's when the girls first went missing. Abby thought whatever happened to them. Emma and Cass that lured them from their home was an acute traumatic event. Chronic neglect, abuse, instability, dysfunction or the dark void of an unfulfilled need. The perpetrator found a way to satisfy that need, to give it what it craved. According to Owen, Cass and Emma's father said Judy was capable but she was not willing. She slept twelve hours every night, then watched reality TV and shopped for clothes all day. She would open a bottle of wine at five o'clock and finish it by ten when she went to bed, words slurring, that magnetic personality suddenly repulsive. Allegedly she told him that she had done her part by giving birth.

Abby remembers her thoughts on the drive over to the Martin's to talk to Cass and find out what really happened. She is thinking about how Judy had seduced Owen Tanner. Neglected her children. Had an affair with Mr. Martin at the country club. About the bitter custody fight. And about the toxic home Judy had made for her daughter's with Jonathan Martin and his son, Hunter. The voice of Cass Tanner four years before she disappeared telling them all that something was not right in that house--something with Emma and Jonathan Martin and Hunter. When Abby and Leo arrive at the Martin's house to interview Cass she tells them that they have to find Emma.

Cass tells Leo and Abby that the night that they left the house she was hiding in the backseat under a blanket while Emma drove out of the driveway and down the road. Emma who was a senior was angry when she discovered Cass in the car. Cass doesn't remember how far or how long Emma was driving but she remembers meeting a really nice couple named Lucy and Bill who hired a man named Rick to take them to an Island off of the Atlantic coast surrounded by Pine trees and woods where there is a wooden dock and a row boat. Cass goes on to say that Emma was pregnant and Lucy and Bill living on that Island were nice to Emma and Cass for a long time and that Cass could leave whenever she wanted to and that nobody was holding them against their will. That Cass just decided three years later that she wanted to come home so she left.

Something doesn't sound right to Abby and Leo about Cass's story. Forensics are called in, there is a media circus. Since Cass already took a shower forensics figures out from the sand and shale in Cass's shoes and since the Island was surrounded by Evergreen trees and the Atlantic Ocean Cass let's it slip that she bought her train ticket in Bristol or Portland Maine. There are too many to count small islets off the coast of Maine for the FBI to search them all in the first few days. Cass can't emphasize enough how important it is to find Emma and her baby. Of course as the days pass public records are searched the department of motor vehicles and of course Bill and Lucy don't show up in any town records in Maine of owning any Island or drivers licence or any public records because that wasn't their real name and they are living totally off the grid.

More days have passed since Cass's mysterious return and she tells Abby and Leo that after Emma has had her baby Bill and Lucy only let Emma see the baby for small intervals of time and Emma is free to leave anytime she wants but she can't take her baby so Emma won't leave. Cass recounts a story where Emma and Cass were going to leave but on the dock Bill grabbed Emma'a baby and held her over the freezing black Atlantic dangling by one leg and he threatened to drop the baby in the freezing currents. Emma jumped into the icy water off the dock and every time she tried to put her hands on the dock Bill would step on Emma's hands and grind his boot bloodying her fingers on her hand. Every time Emma would sink then swim the frozen temperatures of the air and icy water Bill would grind his boot bloodying Emma's hands again and again until Emma was finally pulled onto the wooden dock.

Cass said that after that they both pretended that they loved Bill and Lucy and for about a year Cass and Emma played pretend but Emma would not leave her baby so she stayed and Cass left with the intentions of going back with help to rescue Emma and her baby. By the time the FBI found Bill and Lucy's Island and surrounded the area they found the house abandoned. They found under one of the single bed's Emma's necklace taped underneath the bed frame. They found a book of lullabies a few meager baby items, some fat women's clothes, again a few scant items.

Abby and Leo wanted a picture of Emma from the Martin's of every single year of her life so a sketch artist could draw a very realistic portrait of Emma. Cass sat with a sketch artist and described Lucy and Bill. The FBI were hoping that with the help of the media Bill and Lucy being on the run with Emma and a baby were more likely to draw attention to themselves with the four of them. Still there are a few inconsistencies with Cass's story that bother Abby and Leo and they come up with an ingenious plan. The idea is one that happily I am delighted that I never had a clue what would shake loose from the trees.

I LOVED THIS WHOLE BOOK FROM COVER TO COVER. Excluding the one detail I mentioned above that I just don't believe two seasoned agents would risk their career over. It was so interesting and well written and clever. I think Wendy Walker has firmly established herself as a writer who understands what motivates the psychological dynamics to create subtle and full blown psychological disorders that are real and credible to keep the reader engaged. The reveal or the tell of this story is so CAPTIVATING that what Leo and Abby are able to unravel is like a fine symphony playing it's final instruments chords with the whole band coming to their STUNNING conclusion.

I wish so much that I didn't have to deduct a whole star. I put my whole heart and soul in writing this review. It is more detailed and I spent probably the most time I have ever spent writing a review ever. I am already sorry that I may have to wait a year or longer to see what Wendy Walker writes about next. I can't wait until she writes another book, I would read her grocery lists. Remarkable, memorable, addictive taut suspenseful in both plotting and characterization.
I highly recommend this one and am grateful to Net Galley, the enigmatic, talented Wendy Walker thank you the pleasure was all mine and to St. Martin's Publishing for providing me with my digital copy for a fair and honest review. I am eternally grateful.


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Emma and Cass Tanner have been missing for 3 years when Cass shows up on her mother's doorstep one morning. She has quite the story to tell about why they disappeared and where they've been. The same detectives who were assigned to the missing person's case meet with Cass to hear her story. In the end Cass's ultimate objective is to find her sister and bring her home.

This was a tough book for me to get through. The story line was choppy for me and at times didn't make sense. The whole naming of Mrs. Martin and Mr. Martin thing drove me absolutely crazy and I cringed every time I read it. One of my main problems with the story was that I didn't care about any of the characters. Not one of them was likable. Since I didn't care about the characters, I really didn't care about the story or why the girls were missing. The "twist' at the end wasn't really a twist and was too predictable to be surprising. The mother-daughter relationships and the whole narcissism idea never convinced me. I didn't like the mom (AKA Mrs. Martin ughhhh) but I didn't loathe her like I think I was supposed to. It would have drawn me into the story more if I had liked Cass or Emma a little.

Sorry to be so negative! This book just wasn't for me.

This has been by far my favorite thriller of this year! this was a book that was very hard to put down because I had to know what happened to both girls! I usually hate when thrillers have so many pieces to a puzzle that it starts to become frustrating instead of interesting this book was very smooth with the puzzle pieces and left me curious for more instead having frustration over it. I liked how I really thought I knew what had happened to the girls up until they find the island and I was thrown off course then Bam! the twist! it was so worth the wait and very clever on Casses part I did like the cover it was ok but the book was fantastic I almost feel bad for the other thriller books I will read because it will be very hard to top this one I highly recommend this book!

4.5 stars! I was hooked from the word go with this one. Two sisters go missing one night, and three years later one of them returns, alone. Told from the alternating viewpoints of Cass (the girl who has returned home) and Abby (who is with the FBI and on the case) we slowly uncover the truth about the night that the girls originally went missing.

This is SUCH a well written book. Right from the start, you know something is off with this family. And as the book goes on, you think you've worked out a twist - you think you know what's going to happen. But you're wrong - you couldn't be more wrong. The plot is extremely unpredictable.

The plot moves at a really nice pace, keeps you engaged - it's definitely a page turner - I didn't want to put it down! At times I found myself a little confused. (Sometimes Abby is called Dr Winters and sometimes Judy is called Mrs Watkins etc) but I realised about halfway through that this is completely intentional and it's the authors intention to make the reader feel completely lost within the story.

It's a pretty dark and twisted story - and I learnt a lot about Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I'll definitely be seeking out more books by Wendy Walker - if you enjoy psychological thrillers, don't miss out on this one!

Emma and Cass never knew from one day to the next whether their mother would be in one of her phony affectionate moods or in a rage at some imagined injustice. She always ran hot and cold depending on who her audience was, who was watching, and the purpose for which she wanted to manipulate them.. When the sisters suddenly go missing one night their mother plays the part of devastated parent but as the years go by the investigation grows cold. Few people know the truth of what happened the night Cass and Emma disappeared but when Cass returns years later without her sister, and with a strange story to tell, investigators will have to take a fresh look. I was deeply engaged in most of the story as told by Cass though I found it to drag a bit during the parts told from the psychiatrist Abby's point of view.
This was a suspenseful, twisty, dramatic look into the lives of a dysfunctional family.
3 and a half stars rounded up to 4

Sister and her disappeared 3 years ago.
Sister and her grew up having to fight mother for her affection- needed admiration.
1 sister returns
FBI Agent has not gotten over the initial case, takes on this new case of the homecoming and continued disappearance of the other sister.
Story is told both from the sister who returned and FBI Psychologist - so we get both sides of the story.
As the case delves deeper you will become more deep in the case and trying to solve the case yourself.
Tension builds --to a surprise ending.

Emma in the Night is the newest story by Wendy Walker. The story goes back and forth in time and switches back and forth from two different points of view. Ms Walker has done an excellent job of merging it all together. Surprises and twists make this a page turner. I was given an early copy to review.

“I was never able to sit still when this thing was happening between them- my mother silently brooding and my father prancing around like a circus clown trying to cheer her up. It made me feel rage inside because he couldn’t see anything.”

The only thing I imagine that would be worse for a child with such a mother, would be if both parents were narcissists. Maybe their partners come off as ‘weaker’ or maybe they are just kinder beings that are used to wanting to please others, to make people happy and in such a spouse, they will never succeed. This novel is fictional, but it is a reality for some children to grow up with dysfunctional parents- some so used to the cruelty that they don’t know what normal looks like. If they’re lucky, they get away and are able to recover from their twisted upbringing. Just what does abuse look like when you don’t have bruises and all the violence is psychological warfare? Some children learn to move forward through the land mines that they know will set their parent off. Others can’t help but be themselves and are an easy target for punishment. Each child, however, is damaged in their own terrible way.

One night the Tanner sisters disappeared, years later only come comes back. Cass comes home without her sister with a crazy story of being taken and held captive on an island. She can’t quite say where it is, but she swears she must rescue her sister Emma. Dr. Winter must navigate the wild in her story and sort fact from fiction, solid order from the chaos in the tale Cass spins. Just what really happened to the Tanner sister the night they disappeared and the three years between? How much can she trust the story Cass tells, convoluted as it is? There is a baby, her sister’s and a couple who promised to help her. Dr. Winter knows something isn’t right, just as she intuitively feels something is sour with their mother, Judy Martin. She felt it for a long time, it was all there- something toxic in that home. With Cass back, she thinks she will finally have the truth, but the truth is slippery at best and we all have our reasons for lies.

Cass has a story to tell, one full of holes, half-truths, outright lies, swearing she is the only chance they have of finding Emma. She learned about the power of lies, subterfuge at her mother’s cold knee. The Tanner sister’s mother was between them always, poisoning the bond the two should have held fast to in order to survive their twisted mother. One learned to please, the other was punished for not knowing how. This was one of the most solid creations in the story. With narcissists, when children are involved, they know how to snub out one child and praise another. It is damaging and sickening, it is a power, a way to play God. People often wonder how in families one child can be tortured and others treated ‘normally’ but do the others truly escape the same abuse? Isn’t there cruelty in seeing a sibling humiliated, demeaned be it physically or psychologically? Some do what they have to do to dodge being victimized themselves, it’s so much harder for children to be brave, it’s why bullies on the school yard can get nice kids to go along with tormenting other children (at least it’s not me). Parents are the example, we learn how to treat not just the world but our siblings through their own actions. If a parent is a master manipulator, God help the children, because if they begin to become aware of the wrongness of their parent, no one would believe them anyway. If by some miracle someone does, these master’s of deception wear a beautiful face in public that other’s chose to see, rather than the darkness that lurks beneath. This is more real they we admit, this is why your next door neighbor can be a pillar of society and be beating their children behind closed doors. They know how to blend in, we are happy with the costumes people wear, it’s more comfortable than looking past the smiles. Cass just might be able to use this very blindness in people to survive.

Is Cass good? Is she bad? Something in between? Rage can be useful, a driving force- but is it something more she has to protect? What has she done to survive? Can the reader trust her? Can Dr. Winter? Will she be able to help them find her sister, one whom she longed to be and resented for her perfection and mother’s attention? You’ll have to read. This is a twisted, psychological tale.

Publication Date: August 8, 2017

St. Martin’s Press

Cass and her sister Emma go missing one night three years ago, but only one sister returns. Cass weaves a story about what happened to them, how they were held captive and how Cass was able to escape. Talking with her therapist, and an investigator, Cass reveals the truth about her narcissistic mother. The author Wendy Walker wove an intriguing tale with unexpected twists and turns. Great read. Thank you NetGalley for this advance reader copy.

I absolutely loved this thriller about two missing sisters, one of whom returns home after three years with a harrowing story of kidnapping and imprisonment for the two. But with a dysfunctional family at home including a narcissistic mother, stepfather, and stepbrother, nothing is easy getting to the truth as Cass weaves the story of her and her sister, Emma's abduction at the hands of a sociopathic couple. Told from alternating points of view, both present and past, we are slowly able to unravel the secrets and lies as the troubled psychologist and a special agent delve into the family's unusual dynamic to unearth the tenuous bond between sisters and family. Sacrifice, love, grief, and denial all play out in this fascinating look at a family in peril. A must-read if you love psychological thrillers!

Twist and Turns and Unreliable Narrator, OH MY!!

My brain hurts. I am not even sure how to write this review. I thought this was one thing and even with all of Cass's hints of a hidden truth, I was not expecting what happened. I am normally able to figure out books like this but it was so well written that I was shocked.

If you like mystery/thrillers you will love this book. I didn't want to put it down and read it in one afternoon.

So good! It has been a while since I've read a good mystery book (most of them end up being super predictable). The ending really took me by surprise, although it seemed a little unrealistic that Cass's plan would work THAT well. I suppose it is possible, if she had so much time to plan it, but it still seemed a little too weird to be true.

Other than that little detail, the book was very good and I would definitely recommend it to someone looking for a mystery book that doesn't give away the secret in the first chapter.

Emma in the Night is even more captivating than the authors debut novel, All is not Forgotten, and that's saying a lot because that book was really GOOD! Lately, I have been disinterested in this genre because they all follow the same type of mystery with similar characters and similar endings. But this one has changed my mind and I now want to dive back into the genre at full force. This is a spectacular novel, told in a fantastic way (alternating POV's are the way to go in these types of books) with a gripping storyline and an even better ending. I can't wait for others to read this one. I would highly recommend it to many!

** full review to be posted online during release week**

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher. What a great book with a great twist about 2 missing sisters and a very twisted family

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy of Emma in the Night.
Emma in the Night is a fast-paced mystery about the disappearance of Emma and Cass Tanner and the return of Cass three years later. The story alternates between the perspective of Cass (told in first person) and Dr. Abby Winter, FBI forensic psychologist (told in third person) after Cass shows up alone at her mother's house three years after disappearing with her sister. {I was intrigued that the author chose to use different types of narration for the two characters who were telling the story.}
In the chapters told by Cass, the events of the last three years slowly unfold over the course of a week. However, readers should never trust a first-person narrator. By the end of the novel, I felt as if I was reading a totally different story, and the first-person narration for Cass made complete sense.