Unfortunately, I didn't like this. I found the plot to be implausible - and confusing. Usually, I love a good mystery but this just didn't hit the right buttons for me. Thanks for the opportunity to read!

This is a book that will keep you reading and keep you wondering. I went back and forth between whom I believe and what I thought had happened, and I truly couldn't put the book down until I was done. Walker is a great writer, and I highly recommend this book.

This is about as twisty as it gets, the story begins when a sister returns home after three years of her and her sister being missing. She meets with the detectives that handled her and her sisters case and the case begins to slowly unfolds as you watch the family dynamic with Cassie's return. Lacking the return of her sister Emma. We also get flashbacks to how life was at home when the girls were growing up. It's not necessarily that the story is suspenseful or nerve wracking, you are just watching the elements of the story build. I was pleasantly surprised at how the story was written as well as the ending. It is heart wrenching and you do fear for the characters at certain points. Dreading where the story is going. I also loved that the characters were unreliable and you never knew who you can trust. All in all it was well written and kept me guessing until the end. Amust read mystery in my opinion.

I downloaded this back in August before it was published but lost track of it. Found it last weekend and boy am I sorry I neglected Emma in the Night. It was fantastic. And now I'm reading Social Lives, one of her previous novels. Wendy Walker is the best thing I've discovered (belatedly) this year.

My Takeaway

So right off the top, I didn't enjoy Emma in the Night like I thought I would. I felt the story dragged and I struggled a bit to finish it. I absolutely loved All is Not Forgotten and found it unputdownable! But Emma in the Night lacked some of the oomph I most look forward to in psychological thrillers. I also did not care for any of the characters and felt they were all kind of blah. So even though this wasn't a favorite, I still believe Walker is talented and one heck of a writer (yup, I'm still a fan).

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Cass and Emma are products of a blended marriage raised primarily by their narcissistic Mother. Their Mother pitted the two against each other as punishment for Cass requesting to live with her father after the divorce. That is until they both disappear without a trace.
Three years later Cass reappears without Emma. Her tale unfolds slowly and intensely. It is the best kind of twisted psychological thriller. If you enjoyed Gillian Flynn's books, particularly Sharp Objects, you are going to want to read this. Even when you figure out the person behind their disappearance, the end is going to blindside you.

This was the first novel by Walker that I have read. That being said, I will definitely be reading more by her! I loved how she grabbed ahold of the reader and dragged us through this insane plot- both through Cass’ memories and in real time. The family drama was so much to take in, but made the story the best seller I think it could be. Dr. Winter’s detailed perspective on the case yielded a completely fresh take on the situation as well. Walker’s storytelling skills are second to none and the whole of the novel was intriguing and surprising. It was impossible to put down and the perfect thriller to keep you up at night- it’s that good!!!!

Very suspenseful read. I wasn’t entirely sure where it was going until the very end!

While this book took me quite awhile to finish, it wasn't because it was bad. I had to keep guessing at what was going on. The book starts with the return of a girl who had been missing for three years and the desperate search for her Emma who is still missing. Cass struggles to give the team clues to help the find the island where she had been held and where her Emma still was. This book will keep you guessing. Will they find Emma or not? I thought this was a great read and really liked the part the that Dr Winter played into it. Her history and the way she researches and interviews Cass is quite interesting.

I received this via Netgalley for review purposes. Pretty good psychological thriller, but a bit confusing trying to keep track of everyone and everything. The ending was great and I really liked Cass and Emma's storyline.

This book was hard to put down, but also hard to read. The deception and cruelty throughout made it difficult. I found it hard to like most of the characters, but I could understand where Cass was coming from with her lies. When Cass comes back without her sister she has a plan to not only find her, but to right the wrongs of the years before. It takes her tale with its twists and turns to get it done.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this one. This was my first Wendy Walker book, (though I've heard that her debut is pretty fantastic, so I hope you read that one soon too!) and I was immediately captivated by her writing style. I loved the questions, assumptions, and confusion I was forced to have. When I neared the end of this book I was shocked and quite satisfied with the way this story played out. I'm definitely interested in reading more of Wendy Walker's work in the future.

This book had me hooked from the very beginning, following Emma and her sister Cass in the disappearance from their hometown.

Once I entered the lives of Emma and Cass I couldn’t put it down. The writing was so captivating and it was so easy to connect with some of the characters, even if you didn’t want to.

I’m not going to give much away, but this book is going to be my most recommended this year! So thrilling - all I’m going to say is when you read this, you will never guess what is coming.

RATING: 4 STARS
(I received an ARC from the PUBLISHERS via NETGALLEY)
(Review Not on Blog)

"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." (From Amazon)

Sorry, I had to use the synopsis given, as I couldn't think of how to describe this one. I enjoyed Walker's last books was excited to read this new one. It was even better than All is Not Forgotten, the psychological twisty dark story had me from the beginning. I was on edge not wanting to believe anything until the truth came out. I definitely recommend this one!

Wendy Walker's ALL IS NOT FORGOTTEN is a great psychological thriller, but EMMA IN THE NIGHT exceeds even that. It's wonderfully gothic, starring missed-up families with hidden agendas. The big reveals, along with the attention to detail (the counting!), make this a thriller not to be missed. I'm eager to read whatever Wendy Walker publishes next - two five-star novels in a row make her a must-read author.

I honestly could tell by the writing of the first 2 chapters that it wouldn't be a good fit for our box and had to put it down. I may read it again in the future!

This is one to keep you guessing. Once started, the reader has to rush to the end to obtain the answers to so many questions. Very good mystery.

Sisters Emma and Cass disappeared one night 3 years ago. Now Cass has reappeared at the house of her narcissistic mother and step father. The story is told from the point of view of Cass, and occasionally from the point of view of Dr. Abby Winter of the FBI (who coincidentally also had a narcissist mother). There are few characters in this book who wouldn't fit neatly into the pages of a clinical psychology text book. They were seriously unpleasant people - manipulative, dishonest, mean, envious and that's just for starters. They also all seem to have weaponized sex. Personally, I would have found the text book more interesting and believable. As the plot grew more and more convoluted it became more implausible.

In addition to the plot my major problem with the book was the way in which it was written. It's basically a Cass monologue, all tell and no show. The details of the dysfunctional family were doled out laboriously. Really, I got the point that the family was a complete mess pretty early on and I didn't have to be hammered over the head with that fact for chapter after chapter. Once you're told that you are required to refer to your mother as "Mrs. Martin" you pretty much know everything you need to know. I got to about the midway point of the book and begin to skim to the end and I wish that I had just skipped to the last two or three chapters which is where anything at all happened.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Three years ago, sisters Emma and Cassandra Tanner disappeared. Doctor Abby Winter was the FBI’s forensic psychiatrist on the case, and although she thought she was getting somewhere by focusing on the girls’ deeply dysfunctional family, the case remained stubbornly unsolved. Now, Cassandra Tanner has returned alone, desperate for Emma to be found – but the story she tells might not be the whole truth.

I read and loathed Wendy Walker’s novel, All Is Not Forgotten, and I was somewhat… unhappy to learn that I’d inadvertently requested and received another of her novels on Netgalley – I didn’t connect the author name, just went “ooh, that sounds interesting” and clicked. But having just finished Emma in the Night, I’m glad I decided to read it anyway because it was an excellent read.

It’s fast-paced and it’s so easy just to read one more chapter, then another, another. The twists keep coming, the drama levels are high and I was so not expecting that ending. It was seriously addictive.

What I also liked too was that Walker’s take on Cass. She was someone that could have easily been alienating. There was something about her that reminded me a little bit of reading an excerpt of The Virgin Suicides – an unnatural, stifled but beautiful woman. And, yes, there are things she does in the story that are polarising, but in the end Walker gave her so much humanity that I couldn’t help but sympathise with her. Not necessarily excusing her actions, but understanding why she acted the way she did.

This, however, wasn’t a perfect book – it’s a bit expositional in parts, with the POV characters of Abby and Cass frequently just retelling or recalling what was said or done at an earlier date. There is a lot of summary in this book – and in some ways, that makes sense because neither Cass or Abby are necessarily on the frontline of things. But it also feels like we’re missing out on a lot of the immediacy and action of the story.

I also felt that the characters were sort of flat – I would’ve loved to get a bit more of Abby’s personality outside her reacting to the case, and, in light of the final reveals, more of Cass’s reaction to what had happened to her and how she feels about it (I’m sorry this is very vague, but spoilers!).

All up, Emma in the Night is an addictive thriller with a few “holy crap” moments. There’s room for improvement but I’m really just happy because of how much I wanted to read this and how surprising the twists were.

Another psychological thriller which kept me interested from page one to the end. This one in particular with a lot of unexpected twists and definitely an unexpected ending, did not see that coming. Very complex characters which have to deal with a lot of internal struggles, family relationships can be hard at times and Emma in the Night shows us a very clear example of that. With a refreshing writing Wendy Walker gives us a story full of suspense, complicated, very self-centered but reliable characters, unexpected twists and an ending which will be hard to forget.