As a warning, this review reveals a major storyline. The book was interesting but slow. It did not involve the suspense of the author's previous writings.. My main disappointment in this book was that the primary content of the story was a dream. Then all of a sudden in the last few pages there was a 'story'. The ending itself was satisfying. Sorry I could not say that about the rest of the book.

Mary Kubica is one of my all-time favorite authors and I actually have one of her books in our staff picks section of the library where I work. I was thrilled to receive this as an ARC through Netgalley.

I found When the Lights Go Out to be different from Kubica’s other books in that there was an atypical major plot twist. Also, there definitely was suspense and many questions throughout the book that needed answering, but it was not a typical psychological thriller. Along the same lines, there was no real villain. This was more of an extremely well-written character study of a woman grappling with who she is and the mystery that surrounds her past, while dealing with crippling insomnia. Kubica portrays main character Jessica Sloan in such a way that I actually felt like I was inside her suffering head. Kubica fans will be delighted by this refreshing new domestic drama.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin for providing me with a complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jessica Slone’s mother is dying. Her last words to Jessica were “find yourself “. She sets out to do just that. She applies for college and is told her Social Security number is that of a 3 year old girl who is dead. She finds herself in a mystery that makes her doubt everything she knows. Insomnia causes Jessica to have delusions and she’s having a difficult time discerning between that and reality. A woman 20 miles away might unlock the secrets of her past.

I absolutely love Mary Kubica’s books. I had a little trouble with this one. I caught myself skimming thru some of it.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Square Press for allowing me to read the ARC

I love me a good thriller, and especially a thriller that explores thoughtful themes and raises good questions. Mary Kubica’s book When The Lights Go Out does exactly this. An intricately plotted thriller with likeable characters warring with their individual obsessions and their interior needs, this was an easy book to read that I finished in just one day because I couldn’t put it down.

After Jessie’s mother dies from cancer she enrols in college in an attempt to start rebuilding her life. But when the college tells her that her social security number has raised a red flag, she discovers something that causes her to doubt everything she’s ever known. Unable to sleep since her mother’s death, Jessie feels like she’s going mad. As her insomnia worsens, Jesse begins to question what’s real and what’s only imagined.

I loved how the story explored how a desire taken to the extreme becomes an obsession, and how obsessions can drive you mad, as well as that sometimes you get what you want, but you’ve made so many compromises along the way your happiness can never be complete.

Going between Jessie’s present to her mother, Eden’s, past, this story adeptly explores the pain of infertility, identity, trust and grief. It’s a great roller coaster of a book with a nonlinear structure to create suspense that will give you your own brand of insomnia as you try to find out what’s really going on.

I really liked The Good Girl and was really looking forward to reading Ms. Kubica’s new novel. The plot kept me interested and involved and then there was a final twist and… I’m very sorry to say this but I hated it. Out of the entire overused, unimaginative plot devices ever created, this one is the most clichéd. There are two storylines. Jessie’s is set in the present. Her Mom just died, her life is falling apart and, on top of it, she can’t sleep. Eden’s is set in the past and tells her obsession and inability to have a baby. I thought I knew where it was going, but I was still invested in the story. I didn’t really like the characters all that much but, to the author’s credit, I still cared about them. But then the twist happened and it made me mad. Seriously. I love to be surprised and to have to revisit the story from a new perspective but sometimes it’s just better to have a good solid plot with competent character development and let the readers enjoy that.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/HARLEQUIN - Hanover Square Press (U.S. & Canada) Park Row!

Thank you so much for this ARC!

I am so sad that I cannot give this book 5 stars! I love Mary Kubica and have always enjoyed her past novels, but this just wasn't up to par.

I enjoyed the beginning and middle of this story, the back and forth between mother and daughter in different periods of time. It really described the pain of losing a loved one, the sadness of being unable to conceive and the heartbreak of a lost relationship, beautifully. However, the end was a total let down. Not only do I feel confused (did anything really happen?) but I feel like I wasted time investing in the missing birth certificate and the real Jessie Sloane.

Hoping for a 5 star review on the next book!

The story was well told but the ending wasn't for me. I feel like I wasted my time trying to figure out something that was just stalling till the book was long enough.

On the bedside of her dying mother, Jessie Sloan struggles to get meaningful sleep. After being given medication to help her sleep, Jessie sleeps through her mother's death. Upon waking she goes down a long winding path of questioning who she is and who her mother is. Through many longs days of no sleep, we watch Jessie unravel trying to make sense of a life that doesn't seem to make sense.
Told through the perspective of Jessie and another character set 20 years earlier we race to discover the mysteries that these women carry.
This book kept me on my toes until the very end! Highly recommended!

*I received an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

Mary Kubica is such a nice person. She is interactive in several online book clubs I am in but unfortunately, I just do not care for her novels. I felt cheated by this book with the big reveal at the end and felt it was a waste of time.

I always love Mary Kubica's work. This book did not disappoint. While I feel the insomnia, "I can't remember what happened" theme seems to be frequent in current fiction, I do not think this book felt redundant or familiar. I liked how the story unfolded. It was suspenseful and full of twists and turns. The ending left some to be desired for me personally, but I think that may be a personal taste.

Being my first book by Mary Kubica, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Some of the book was very good and very realistic, such as the extraordinary pain of infertility. Having experience in this trauma, I can say that Kubica portrayed this extremely well. Coupled with that is the unbridled disgust the infertile feel with mothers who don’t seem to appreciate the blessings of having children. She beautifully described the pain of watching a loved one suffer and die. The pain of never having learned one’s true heritage was well fleshed out and deeply felt as well.

The back and forth between the mom’s diary and Jessie’s thoughts/actions was a good literary device and served this plot well.

So there’s a lot to recommend in the first 2/3 of the book.

The ending, however, was a slap in the face. It destroyed all the previous mystique and suspense. It completely ruined all that came before for me. Also all the mystique and energy (and pages) wasted on the missing birth certificate were a sham and made no sense at all. Why not have a birth certificate? Why not have a valid social security number? Why not be a dependent on the tax return? In light of the ending, none of that was valid.

I’m appreciative to NetGalley and Hanover Square Press for an early digital copy of this book for an honest review. This review will be published on GoodReads immediately and on Amazon and Barnes & Noble following publication. It will also be published on the website of the Anniston-Calhoun County Public Library after they shelve the book.

Thanks to author Mary Kubica, Park Row Publishers, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jessie Sloane's mother has passed away after a long battle with Cancer. She decides to try and get her life together and go to college, but is alarmed when she finds out her social security number seemingly belongs to a dead girl. While trying to track down her personal information, many questions arise as to who she is and where she came from. Insomnia kicks in, and Jessie starts to see and hear things that may or may not be there. She is suddenly not sure what is real and what isn't.

In alternate chapters, we meet Eden and her husband Aaron, who are recently married. They face some emotional trouble early on in their marriage, and it only gets more intense. Something in their lives might explain all of the secrets that Jessie needs to know.

I can't really say much more due to possible spoilers. I will say that I've always liked Mary Kubica's books, and this is no exception. I was debating on how many stars to give because even though this one is suspenseful and kept me reading to figure out what happens, I felt a bit gypped by how everything played out. If you read this book, you will surely know what I mean. The ending was also a bit too abrupt, and I wanted to know more. Other than that, this is a wonderfully written thriller that builds slowly and made me anticipate getting to the climax. I will definitely keep reading Kubica's novels.

How in the world should I rate this? At the beginning of this book, I thought of it as psycho-suspense (is that a word?) and really enjoyed the style of writing. I would have rated it highly.

But then the writing dragged on and on and became a tug of war between the present, the past, years in between, Jessie, Eden, reality, imaginings, dreams vs. reality, reality vs. dreams – what on earth was real? – and an ending that is absolutely forced, and er, ah, not the best.

The ending made me feel betrayed and tricked by the author and that she was thumbing her nose at my intelligence. Are you kidding me? THIS is your ending? The ending was preposterous.

I appreciate NetGalley’s generosity in allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review. It’s honest, but unfortunately, not favorable.

I have read all of Mary Kubica's other books and have really liked them. I look forward to the suspense and the twists that occur. However, this book seemed different. While I thought it might be suspenseful, it ended very flatly. The twists that I was anticipating, never came. The book alternated between Eden's and Jessie's stories, and while I enjoyed Eden's, I hated (yes, hated) Jessie's. At the end, the stories converged, and it just wasn't a good ending, in my opinion.

Honest and haunting for anyone who has experienced loss or insomnia, this is a solid novel. I did find one character a bit saccharine and the other shallowly rendered, but the plot is fine--the problem is that the psychological thriller market is packed with gone girls, mistaken identities, amnesia due to drugs or insomnia, and it takes a lot for a novel to stand out from that pack.

I've been a fan of Mary Kubica's ever since I read The Good Girl several years ago, so was really looking forward to reading her newest thriller. And this one once again kept me up until the wee hours because I just had to finish and find out what happens! I love a book that keeps me turning the pages where I'm completely absorbed in the story.

The story alternates between current day Jessie and the past of Eden. Jessie's mom is dying from cancer, dies, and Jessie then tries to cope with her grief. She becomes an insomniac to the point of not sleeping whatsoever for days on end. Because of this, she becomes an an unreliable narrator, which is not my favorite, but I still couldn't put the book down. Eden is happily married and her and her husband Aaron decide they want to have a baby. She then slowly goes down the rabbit hole as a year passes with no baby. It was hard to watch her delve so deep into despair.

I was sure I knew what the ending would be and then the author completely throws the readers under the bus with such a bizarre ending, that I'm still reeling from it 12 hours later. I wasn't happy with the ending of this or it would have been a 5 star read for me. Overall, I did really enjoy the ride though. To be honest, except for that HUGE twist, I was okay with where the characters ended up at the end, even if it was such a roundabout way to get there.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harlequin Publishers for the advance copy!*

Kubica has a knacknfor writing fast-paced novels that engage readers. That is true for this book as well....until the end. The ending was, well, ridiculous and leaves the reader feeling duped, not in a good way.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for this early copy!

I would recommend this to anyone who loves a well-written thriller. I've read other thrillers from this author in the past and like this one they have been enjoyable.

Mary Kubica has done it AGAIN! This is one of those books that is really hard to talk about, without giving too much away. It is full of twists and turns, a story of love, a story of disappointment and so much more. I guarantee that you will not figure out the ending until it is revealed!

My thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin - Trade Publishing for this advanced readers copy.

An eARC of When the Lights Go Out was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
When the Lights Go Out is another successful psychological thriller by Mary Kubica that will keep readers coming back for more. The book is told from the perspective of Jessie and Eden and follows their stories after Jessie's mother dies of cancer and Eden and her husband move into a new home and try to have a baby. Jessie applied to college and she is told that her social security # belongs to someone who died 17 years ago. The story starts out slow and gets to the big mystery half way through. It was slightly confusing coming form one of the narrators who is hallucinating due to not sleeping for days on end. I recommend this book for fans of adult mysteries.