This is the first book I've read by Wendy Walker, however, after this one I'm looking forward to reading another. There were a lot of twists in this book and the suspense had me hooked. It is told from a few different perspectives - Laura from 4 months ago talking to her therapist, Laura from the night before, and Rosie (Laura's sister) from present day.

The author keeps the reader on edge about not only what happened 'the night before' but also what happened to Laura in the past. Memories from her past are sporadic and she can't remember everything that happened to her, or to all her failed relationships.

I definitely didn't expect some of the revelations at the end and I found how the author dealt with traumatic events and how they impact our memories to be very insightful. It's scary think how easily people can play with our emotions and need for love, but often the minds of disturbed individuals remain a mystery. This book hooks you from the beginning and keeps you guessing until the end.

I am utterly convinced St. Martins Press has the best thrillers! I was not disappointed when I read this book by new to me author Wendy Walker. The blurb appeals and the story teller is careful in only revealing as much information as is entirely necessary each chapter in order to leave you utterly clueless until the very end! Well done!

When the book begins, Laura is in her late twenties and has recently moved into her sister’s suburban house leaving her career and an apartment in the city. Rosie, the sister, has been dating the same guy since high school, who is now her husband and the father of their son.

Rosie is also the “pretty” one and while I get the impression that Laura is also attractive, from her perspective all that mattered growing up was that Rosie was seen as more attractive and desirable. Together with Rosie’s husband their friend, Gabe, they form a tight-knit group of friends who have had each other’s backs for the past fifteen years.

Sounds pretty normal, right? Well, I didn’t mention everything. Years ago, in high school, something pretty traumatic happened to Laura. And trouble has seemed to follow her since then. Having failed at her last relationship, she is trying internet dating. But of course, things are not always as they seem there.

I wanted to love this one. But it felt a little thin to me. I think maybe I needed more development of the backstory throughout the book? I think Walker alluded to it throughout and tried to release the story slowly, but it just didn’t quite work for me. I felt like my lack of knowledge just made me dislike Laura and fail to have a deep connection to her story.

I did finish the book and the end felt a little forced, or seemed to come out of nowhere. I like a good twist, but this one felt more like a scooby-doo ending.

Wendy Walker is an amazing writer, I just didn’t love this one. But, special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced e-galley of the book in exchange for my honest review. My review will appear on my blog, Women in Trouble Book Blog on April 15, 2019,

Wow! Just wow! Wendy Walker has proven once again that she knows how to hook her readers and bring them in to shore. Rosie and Laura are sisters, but they are very different. Rosie is married with a husband and child and a very stable lifestyle. Laura, on the other hand, has just moved in with Rosie and family, and she seems to have a multitude of problems, not the least of which is maintaining a relationship. Unfortunately, the one thing that Laura really wants in her life is love, but it is more than a little elusive for her. When the book begins, Laura is getting ready for a blind date with a man that she “met” on a dating site.. When Laura doesn’t come back from her date, the real suspense of the book begins. The novel is told from the viewpoints of the sisters, and from the time of the night before Laura’s date and the day after. It also includes vignettes with Laura talking to a therapist, so we know that she has problems that are revealed slowly throughout the book. This is a wild ride of a psychological suspense! Several times I thought I had things figured out, only to be proven wrong. That’s the way I like my suspense novels...with enough secrets to keep me guessing until the shocking conclusion. This is a creepy but realistic novel about relationships and damages that may never go away. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers because this is one of the best I have ever read!

Wendy Walker is one outstanding author!! <i>The Night Before</i> takes psychological thrillers to a whole new level with its intelligent, engrossing writing and shrewd twists! I loved this book in a way that I almost can't describe and couldn't put it down--the hours just flew by as I flipped pages of this fast-paced book to get to the shocking ending that I never, ever saw coming!

My full review will be posted closer to publication in May, but I'm telling you this 5 plus star read is one you definitely want to add to your TBR list!!

Thank you, NetGalley and St, Martin's Press for an ARC to read in exchange for my fair and honest review.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of THE NIGHT BEFORE by Wendy Walker in exchange for my honest review.***

Oh Wendy Walker, I’m beginning to fall in love with you, in a literary kinda way. THE NIGHT BEFORE has everything I look for in a thriller. The compelling, complex characters were easy to embrace. Walker’s crisp writing kept me curious and engaged as points of view shifted from Laura’s first person, Rosie’s third person and therapy sessions. Each twist and turn caught me surprised, but made so much sense. Walker dropped ambiguous clues, not one shocker felt random.

Is Laura in danger? Or is her online date the one who should be worried? Laura has no memory of beating her high school boyfriend to death, a homeless man was deemed the culprit, but everyone still suspects her, even big sister Rosie.

Don’t read too many reviews for risk of being spoiler but DO read THE NIGHT BEFORE.

For me, this was a 3.5 star book, rounded up to 4 stars. Laura is 28 year old single woman who has just moved into the home of her sister and brother-in-law, after being dumped by text, by Kevin, a man she loved and who has professed to love her. Having a string of bad relationships behind her, a devastated Laura takes leave from her job and never tries to contact Kevin. She feels like a failure at love and with men yet she has a constant need to be loved my men and to please men, stemming from the lack of attention and love from her father, as a child.

Laura goes on a date with a man she met through an online dating service and doesn't come home the next morning. Laura's sister, Rosie, is out of her mind with worry because she is afraid something happened to Laura or that Laura has hurt someone. As a teenager, Laura was found standing over the body of a dead boyfriend, with a bloody bat in her hand. A homeless man was charged with the crime but Rosie is aware that Laura has anger issues and even wonders if Laura killed the boyfriend, all those years ago.

The cast of characters includes Gabe, a lifelong friend of Laura, Rosie, and Rosie's husband Joe, and these three people embark on a mission to find Laura and the man she met that night. We also get to see the date from Laura's point of view, as the story plays out. Almost everybody has some suspicion thrown on them and we can't even be sure that Laura didn't murder her boyfriend, because of the way the book is written.

Early on, I guessed the villain in this story although so much is thrown at us that it's hard to be sure just what is going on. At times I felt manipulated by all the information we get but manipulation is what one of the characters is doing on purpose. I got very lost for a time with the names of two men (and aliases) but at no time did I ever want to put down the book. I wanted to know what was going to happen next and why it was happening although once I guessed the villain, early on, I had a good idea of why things happened the way they happened.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this advance read copy.

Superb read! With all the twists and turns, kept me guessing until the end! Well written with good character and plot development.

Well that is the way to start my 2019! 4 stars!

Wendy Walker delivers a gripping, mind-numbing psychological thriller in this one! I found myself not only questioning Laura's sanity, but my own! This book is filled with realistic events and questions, as well as relatable characters.

Laura's exes her whole life have been 'wolves'. Wrong men that she insists on choosing, due to her childhood and the fact that she has deemed herself 'unlovable.'

They have also all been pronounced dead.

But now she's moved back home and into the online dating scene determined to find herself and love.. until she goes missing.

The story is told by two sisters, Laura and Rosie, and flip-flops between the present day and THE NIGHT BEFORE, while referring back to past therapy sessions between Laura and her doctor. The characters are thoughtfully constructed and keep you in a guessing game about who is really who they say, and who is keeping what kind of secrets. Laura is a genuinely interesting character who keeps you engaged, and you will find yourself continuously questioning her mindset and motives.

But is Laura really a killer? Is she really unlovable?

Is anyone really who they say they are?

For fans of psychological thrillers, this one will be a gem! Shockers throughout the whole book and the ending strikes hard!

A huge thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an egalley of this novel in exchange for an honest review. These thoughts and opinions are unbiased and my own.

After a bad breakup Lara has moved in with her sister Rosie and her husband but now she is ready to enter the dating world. She signs up on a dating service online and goes out on a blind date but never returns home. Rosie begins searching for her sister but soon discovers that she didn't know all her sisters secrets after all.

The Night Before by Wendy Walker is a fast paced psychological thriller with a clever engaging plot. Told in different POV’s and alternate timelines with a few twists and turns and in depth characters makes this a compulsive read

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

This and more reviews at https://chloesbooksblog.wordpress.com/

For me, this was a middle-of-the-road psychological thriller with a twisty plot. It definitely kept my interest but I didn't fully connect with the characters and the ending didn't surprise me as much as I hoped it would. I do appreciate that the author was able to write a thriller that felt "fresh" and different and it certainly was an enjoyable and fast-paced read.

This book just didn't have the same effect on me as a lot of other readers but we all have different reactions and perspectives. I enjoyed that the second half of the book gave us more insight into why Laura was the way she was and why she kept picking the wrong kind of people to date but it came a little late for me. Her sister Rosie was sweet but her character development was just kind of flat. Whenever I feel engaged with the main characters, it is a lot easier for me to feel really engrossed with a thriller type book and I just didn't get there with this one.

All in all, I recommend this book for a quick and engaging weekend read, it just didn't stick with me for long after I read it. A big thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was such an addictive and gripping read that I could not put it down! I was glued to his book and read most of the book in one day. I just had to know what was going to happen next. Walker did not disappoint; the action was consistent and the twits and revelations came at the right intervals to keep me on the edge of my seat wanting more!

Laura is an woman who just cannot seem to find the love from a man that she desperately is seeking. Her sister, Rosie, has a loving husband and toddler and Laura hopes to find this joy one day. Eleven years ago Laura experienced a horrible trauma and since then has been choosing the wrong men and has been disappointed with her love life. Her recent break up has brought her back home to be with Rosie and her family while she tries to get her life back on track.
Laura tries an internet dating site in the hopes of meeting someone special. That first date was not what she expected and Laura does not return home. Her sister is frantic and the suspenseful search for Laura is on.
This is a fast moving and quick to read thriller. I was not able to solve the mystery of Laura’s disappearance until the very end while I quickly turned each page. I did enjoy the suspense and I certainly would read more books by this author.

Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker was one of my favorite books I read in 2017. When I saw that she had a new book coming out, I was so excited to have a chance to read an ARC.

The synopsis of this book is fairly brief but I would like to keep it that way. The book is told from dual timelines, both from our main character who is missing, Laura and her sister Rosie. There are also chapters in between that are conversations before Laura and her therapist from the months before she went missing. This was one of those books where almost every chapter I would come up with a new theory about what was happening. And every single time I was wrong. I love Walker's writing and just like her last book, I never saw the ending coming. The ending of the book is filled with a lot of revelations that not only tie the story together, but also answered many of my questions about events in Laura's past. I loved The Night Before and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Thank you to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, for sending me an ARC of this book.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

Wow. I loved this book.

The description I got did not give much detail so I wasn't sure what to expect. I read the first paragraph and was hooked and read it in one go.

There are dangling tidbits which keep you guessing on how the whole thing will end. I started to figure it out toward the end but that in no way limited my enjoyment of this read.

I need to head over to Goodreads and add other titles by this author.

Check this one out for sure!

The Night Before was an addictive read and I could not put it down! I was glued to his book and read it in 2 days, because I had to see what would happen next. Telling the story from two different points of view was great and really kept me guessing about who is telling the truth and who is reliable. Many times, I can figure the story out before the end, but I have to say, I didn’t this time. And Nicola Harrison didn’t leave any hanging questions unanswered, which I love. This is a great book and very worth the read!!!

A quick read—but still not the best. I don’t think it will be particularly memorable for me. The story is told in alternating chapters between two sisters-Laura and Rosie. Laura is getting ready for a date from an online dating site. She has a bad history with men and has recently had a bad breakup. At first, I found myself intrigued by the premise. I wanted to see what happened to Laura, but by the 50% mark, I was a little annoyed by her countless worrying about her date and things in his story not adding up and about her past. Laura’s chapters seemed to drag on. Now, Rosie’s chapters were good. Things were happening and being discovered. Some things did seem a little far-fetched, though. I did do an eye roll during one part regarding Rosie’s husband, Joe.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Not completely badly written but close.

Laura might or might not be a murderer; but she is made out to sound like bad news, at least, because her trail of bad men in her relationships (as she claims, not that I actually read it).

So Laura is the bad sister and Rosie is the good one. One night, Laura goes out with a man she met online and doesn't come back home that night so Rosie starts going crazy worried about the date because, holy shit! What if Laura killed the poor guy (because...)? So now I wonder if Laura is some type of psychopath.

Rosie goes on to find out why her sister hasn't come back (because, you know, having sex on a first date would be as impossible as being abducted by aliens).

Laura and this guy go out and the whole fucking date is about them baring their souls to each other because apparently, that is what people do when on an first online date.

Even more, tough girl Laura cries her heart out to this unknown man (real tears people, real tears). Their whole conversation was "blah blah blah; and then what happened?; and then what did you do?" Weird conversation; it was like forcing a story out of a mental patient.

At the same time, throughout the date, Laura just keeps thinking about her life and her parents, which I guess was an attempt to show how "bad girl" Laura is, but I couldn't see this.

So the only thing to find out for me was: did she kill that boy back in her teens? And, is she really a psychopath or not? Oh! Also, was she going to kill her date?

I really liked Walker's previous book "Not all is forgotten" and found "Emma in the night" okay. But "The night before" was a big disappointment. I didn't like the characters and found the writing... Complicated.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this title.

Laura is missing. Her sister, Rosie is looking for her. Laura has just come back to her hometown after a bad breakup. She's left everything behind. Laura is fragile. She's had a rough childhood. Her father never seemed to love her, but she never knew why. Secrets run rampant in this small town from long ago. For example, many people think Laura killed a teenager long ago. After all, she was found screaming over his dead body holding a bat covered in his blood. Slowly, the plot is revealed as the past is revealed along with the events of the night of Laura's disappearance. This is a book where you think you know what will happen, but you're wrong. You make another guess. You're wrong again. It truly keeps you guessing. Things really heat up at the end!
I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All Opinions are my Own.

The Night Before title refers to a night when the main character, Laura, goes out on an internet date with a stranger. She does not come home that night and her frantic sister and friends begin an investigation into what happened on that date. Laura has a complicated history dating back to high school when her boyfriend was murdered. Her story of the incident was questionable which adds layers to her present-day disappearance.

This story jumps around from the present day to the past with many twists and turns along the way. It really held my interest and I did not see the last twist coming at all.

I recommend this book!