The only problem with a great book, is once you have finished it you already know the ending! The Night Before is one of those books you don’t want to put down, but I also didn’t want it to end! 💙 .

The story is told from two sisters. Laura has never been lucky in love and just had a hard break up. She decided to leave NYC and move in with her sister. Though she has had tragedy in her past she is determined to meet someone new and joins a dating website. Rosie is the sister that is happily married, has a son and lives in the neighborhood they grew up in. She is always worried about Laura but is glad to have her home. When Laura goes on her date and doesn’t return that night or early the next morning, Rosie fears the worst. She isn’t worried what this blind date might have done to Laura, she is worried what Laura might have done to him! .

You guys this one was so good! It had me guessing right up until the twist! 🤔😱I thought I had it figured it out early on but then Walker does such a good job writing this one that I kept changing my mind! I really enjoyed her novel Emma in the Night so I knew I needed to get my hands on this one when it came out! .

I want to thank Netgalley, Wendy Walker and St, Martin Press for the chance to read this book for an honest review.

I really liked it! The author kept us guessing until the end.

Laura has recently returned from New York City to her small hometown in Connecticut to stay with her sister after a bad breakup. Her sister encourages Laura to get back out there, so she agrees to go out with a man she has met through a dating website. As the date progresses, she notices things that lead her to believe this man is not who he seems, and trauma from her childhood resurfaces to complicate matters. The next morning, her sister discovers that Laura never came home from her date.

The Night Before is a fairly typical psychological thriller. It alternates between Laura's perspective from the night of her date and her sister's perspective the next day. The format and storyline pull you through the action, and there is a pretty good twist at the end. It's a fun, quick read for fans of this genre.

This is the first book I have read by this author. I enjoyed it and it left me guessing until the end. There were some things that seemed more confusing than they needed to be because of the way the story was told but it gave you both sides of the story without giving anything away. I liked the character of Rosie but Laura was not as compelling. I know that is on purpose, and I changed my mind by the end of the book but it still left a mark. Overall, a good read.

A well written thriller that was filled with twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. Great book by a favorite author.

Great book and i love the author. This is certainly a must read for all the bookish bibliophiles out there. I high ly recommend this to people. Thank you for the approval. Just love Ms. Walker

I enjoyed previous books by this author so it's no surprise that I also enjoyed this one. Walker has a talent for keeping the reader engaged, addicted, & on the edge of their reading seats for the duration of her page turning thrillers. I'm looking forward to more from this author as I always enjoy the thrilling experience of reading her books.

Twelve hours earlier, she was...

Hopeful.

Excited.

Safe.

Now she's gone.

The Night Before tells the story of Laura, a woman with a troubled past going on a date with a man she met on a dating site. The book alternates narratives between Laura and her sister Rosie and "sessions" with her therapist that took place months before the current day. Through these accounts we try to piece together why is Laura missing? And who is the one really in danger?

While I did enjoy the unreliable narrator aspect of this book, the plot fell a little flat and dragged out for me. I very much enjoyed Wendy Walker's previous book "Emma In The Night", and hope to read more from this author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Wendy Walker for this ARC of The Night Before. All opinions are my own

I loved All Is Not Forgotten and Emma In The Night by Wendy Walker. Her writing is captivating and fun to read.
The Night Before is told in three different perspectives. The main character's story from the night before, another character's perspective from the present and a transcript with a therapist. They were woven together which kept my attention, not wanting to put the book down.
I was engrossed in the interesting cast of characters the author created and their intricate relationship with one another.
A fast-paced, entertaining read!

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

Not so thrilled

Damn, I’m back in mediocre-ville. This time it’s a domestic thriller that for the most part failed to thrill. One messed-up sister looking for love disappears when she goes out with a guy from a dating site. The un-messed-up sister frantically searches for her. Yada yada yada.

So here’s the deal: The Complaint Board is way bigger (it’s longer and it’s also louder in my head) than the Joy Jar. I really just want to whine, but I’ll do the balancing act and try to be nice first.

Joy Jar

-The ending is snazzy, and finally there is some suspense. A couple of really good twists woke me up and made me go with 3 stars instead of 2 (man, what a backhanded compliment that is!).

-The telling is cool. We hear what’s happening to both sisters, in alternating chapters. Usually you don’t get to hear from the missing person, so I appreciated hearing what was happening here and now with the disappear-ee.

-I didn’t think of jumping ship (ha, another backhanded compliment!). I did want to see how it played out.

Complaint Board

-Dead language. Too simple and stiff.

-Didn’t feel a thing for any of the characters. Both sisters emote, but they didn’t make me emote.

-I take it back. I did feel something toward both sisters—annoyance! The frantically searching sister was, well, frantic. Forever. And it got on my nerves. That really is the only thing we get to see about her; she has no personality. Stop searching already and say something interesting! But it was the missing sis that really drove me crazy. She whined non-stop (in her head, mostly), and it was a broken record—she felt unloved and unloveable, she made bad choices in men, etcetera ad nauseum etcetera. And her self-analysis seemed trite and sophomoric. I thought she would never shut up.

-Don’t you hate those Internet headlines that say things like “Here’s the One Food You Must NEVER Eat!” and then you click on it and there are thirty zillion pages of junky text you have to read before you get to the answer? What’s the damn food already? (Please don’t tell me it’s bananas.) Well, that’s what it was like here. I kept having to read read read through a bunch of uninteresting pages before I got to the answer. I know the plan was to build suspense, like every thriller tries to do, but here, it didn’t work. The book was more irritating than thrilling.

-Scattered throughout are these super-blah shrink sessions. They are so superficial and have such pat insights, I couldn’t stand it.

-Hey! Where did your kid go? Okay, the searcher sis and her hubby have a toddler. They go on a mission and the kid’s not with them. They mention no sitter. OMG, did they leave the kid at home alone? Of course not; it’s just a logistical problem that the writer and editor missed. This book has at least four logistical misses (only one involved the kid). If there are more than two, I cry Sloppy! Which I do here, of course.

Despite all my whining, I didn’t hate this thriller. The twists at the end saved it from hate-land. Most people loved it, so be sure to check out their reviews.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

I have just finished The Night Before and it was trying to killing me (in a wonderful way)!!! This is one of the best books that I have ever read. The people are great...and surprising. I couldn't put it down. I found myself sneaking off (and hiding) just in order to read another chapter. The book jumped back and forth between now and then, and it just fed my anxiety. I fell in love with Laura...maybe even identified with her a little. I was definitely surprised by the ending. This is the second book of Wendy's that I have read. The other, Emma in the Night, was also wonderful.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

The Night Before centers around sisters Laura and Rosie. Laura is back in town, staying with Rosie, and goes out on a first date with someone she met online. The next morning, Rosie wakes up to find that Laura never came home. While trying to find her, Rosie is also questioning why her sister really came back to their hometown after staying away for so many years after the tragic even involving Laura so many years ago.

Told in alternating perspectives from Laura, the night of her date, and Rosie, the next morning, this book certainly kept me guessing and kept me turning pages long after my normal bed time. I really liked the premise of an online date gone wrong because it felt so realistic and so pertinent in today's dating society (I met my fiancée on Tinder ha!). I loved Laura's point of view because it was like an in-depth character study on perceptions, past events shaping who you are today, and paranoia among other mental health issues.

The final twist was a little far-fetched and out-of-nowhere but I think it would have made more sense if the secondary characters were better developed. Overall, this makes for a good summer thriller read that can be finished in a day at the beach or by the pool.

Wow! I finished this book in 2 hours one Sunday. I was so engrossed in the book I needed to finish it.

I was looking at everyone as the suspect but kept picking the wrong characters as the bad guy.

Wendy did a great job of writing Laura. You wavered between is she crazy or isn't she? Even her own family thinks she is crazy so she must be, right?

I thought Laura gave a great back story on everyone but Gabe needs to be a little more developed. He was introduced but then you don't really see him to much till later.

Great summer thriller. I think this would make the perfect Beach Read.

What a thrilling ride!! I managed to read The Night Before by Wendy Walker in one sitting. I literally could not put it down and stayed up way too late reading this one. I know that’s a whole lot of cliches, but they are totally true. I don’t want to say to much, but just when I thought I had this book figured out, I didn’t. This book had all the elements of a great read. Interesting chapters. Fast paced writing. Complicated relationships. Twists and turns. Interesting narration. Short chapters.

I loved both Lauren and Rosie. They had an interesting relationship as sisters and both had great back stories. I love how the author slowly shared just enough information as I needed it. And I just heard this one will be a tv series! Definitely read this one!! This is a perfect summer beach read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Having read Wendy Walker’s previous books I have been looking forward to The Night Before and thankfully was not disappointed at all. This one is told mainly from the points of view of Laura and her sister Rosie with Rosie’s coming from the now and Laura’s looking back into what happened.

Laura Lochner had been living in New York and working at a job on Wall Street when she gets her heart broken. Not being able to handle losing the man she thought was the “one” Laura packs up and heads back to her home town of Connecticut to stay with her sister and her husband.

Six weeks later with no sign of wanting to head back to NY Laura tells her sister she has a date with a man she met on the internet. Rosie can’t seem to talk Laura out of the da te so she loans Laura her car and hopes for the best. Unfortunately Rosie wakes up to finding out her sister never returned.

The Night Before may sound like other thrillers out there but I actually found this one to be rather creative in a few ways. First thing that seemed a bit different was following the ladies basically a day apart, we weren’t jumping years back or even months but the split was still distinctive and entertaining. Then boy was I surprised where Rosie’s thoughts headed, a new twist for sure making this one very compelling and hard to put down leaving me to rate this one at 4 1/2 stars.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

There is no denying it, Wendy Walker is a master of her craft. There's something about her writing that is just so addictive and readable.

I always feel a little hesitant diving into thrillers, especially when I see them everywhere. I'm always afraid I'll be disappointed. I am pleased to say it was not that way for me with The Night Before!

This story is perfectly paced. I was equally entertained, while having no idea what was really going on. It plays games with your head, and I loved it. Most thrillers are filled to the brim with unlikable characters, but I actually became quite fond of the characters in this story, which is a nice change of pace! If you're looking for a fresh thriller that's easy to read and keeps you guessing I would recommend you give this one a try! I gave it ⭐⭐⭐⭐'s!

Let me start by saying I’m a huge Wendy Walker fan and have read and loved all her previously published novels. Even though, The Night Before is my least favorite of Walkers novels it was still a compulsive novel that you can easily fly through in one sitting. I was hoping for more of a dark and twisty read because that’s what Walker has given me in the past especially with All Is Not Forgotten and Emma in the Night.

Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for an e-arc copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Night Before is a fast paced psychological thriller about a woman who goes missing after going on a first date. The story is told from several perspectives, jumping back and forth in a way that forces you to keep reading. One perspective follows Laura on her date and the other follows her sister who discovers that she is missing the next day. There are also flashbacks to Laura's therapy sessions that happened months prior. It is really interesting to read a story that happens in such a short length of time and the alternating perspectives really intensify the suspense. The Night Before is a really suspenseful psychological thriller that I was unable to put down.

This book packed a powerful punch, and I think that's because of the way it is written. Through dialogue and therapy sessions Laura comes to life, partially because she was so aware of her feelings and her issues. The therapy sessions where she was working through her issues really gave insight to who she was and made her easy to relate to. I could also relate to how she could feel intimate with a stranger so quickly when sharing dark secrets and vulnerabilities with them. The story felt like a game of cat and mouse between Laura and her date, but it wasn't easy to tell who was toying with who. I couldn't guess what would happen next and I NEEDED to know, the plot drove me to keep reading and find out.

The plot kept me on the edge of mys eat and I never saw the twists coming. The Night Before really kept me guessing and I had to know what happened, so I finished the book in less than a day. I really like the inclusion of therapy sessions and how Laura was trying to work through her issues with men and love because it added this psychological component to the book that made me second guess everything and everyone. I think this was a really well done psychological thriller because it was so suspenseful, but I also never knew what to believe.

I was pretty impressed with The Night Before. I don't think I've ever read a full length novel where the whole story takes place in such a short period of time without the story getting boring. A lot of the suspense was built up in the dialogue of the story and the points of view switched at perfect times to keep you on the edge of your seat. The Night Before was hard to set down as the suspense that entered the book at the beginning only got more and more intense throughout the story. If you enjoy page turners or psychological thrillers you should give this book a chance.

This was an amazingly taut thriller. Usually, I can guess who the killer is in a lot of the thrillers I read because there's a certain formula to it and since I read so many I've grown accustomed to it. However, this novel isn't your ordinary thriller. There's twist upon twist upon twist and they actually work and aren't out of the left field. I read this in two days, it was very gripping. I totally recommend.

With many thrillers being hit or miss lately, I am glad to report this one was a hit for me. I loved Emma in the Night and was really looking forward to this one. I liked the back and forth time line and going between Laura and Rosie's point of view. I had multiple theories forming while reading and did not get it right. I loved the twist and how the author is able to make you feel paranoid along with Laura. Can you trust Jonathan Fields or not? Who can you trust? What are you suppose to do when all you want is just to be loved, but you don't know how to trust?

I will be looking forward to more books from this author.