A twist on the perils of online dating. Laura is just out of a relationship and moves in with her sisters family for a fresh start. She tries online dating and meets the “perfect” man, and on their first date things go from bad to worse and Laura goes missing. Just when you think you have everything figured out, the story twists and you have nothing figured out! Interesting and suspenseful

The Night Before by Wendy Walker is about Laura, who've gone missing after going on a date with a man she met on an online dating site. Her sister, Rosie, realizes she is still not home the next morning and goes on a search for her with her husband, Joe, and friend, Gabe. Many questions about where and what happened to Laura arises. Rosie fears that Laura's date might be in more danger than she is because of Laura's childhood. Family secrets come out. Read the book to find out what happened to Laura.

This story is told in multiple narrations (Dialogue between Laura and Dr. Brody; Rosie in present day; and Laura in present day and the night before). I really liked that the author chose this style of narration, because it adds to the suspense. Then later as the truth unfolds, the pieces slowly fall into place in my head. I thought it was a brilliant way to tell it.

This was a fairly easy read and was quite entertaining. There are red herrings but I thought the suspect was obvious from the start. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Not the most well written thriller I’ve read this year, but a solid book. The pacing at the beginning is slow and the main character, Laura, is difficult to like. I wish a little more time had been spent on the friendship between the four characters who had been friends since they were children. Even a single flashback at the beginning of the book would have made those bonds more real and would have made the rest of the book a much more exciting read. The way it’s written, I had figured out the twist long before it was revealed but by then I was connected to The characters and wanted to see how it played out. A good read.

This book was just OK for me. I never really got sucked into it and it took me a lot longer than usual to finish the book. I didn’t really identify with any of the characters or felt that they were very realistic. I did like alternating chapters with the events that happened the night before and then those the day after. I did end up liking the last 20% of the book, but at that point it just seemed rushed and not so much of that dramatic finish that you usually expect from psychological thrillers.

I read "Emma in the Night" in 2017 when it came out as for my Book of the Month pick. It was memorable and wonderful! So when I was given the chance to read "The Night Before" as an ARC, I was thrilled. "The Night Before" did not disappoint! There are SO MANY THINGS that Wendy Walker does right in her writing:
1. Well-developed characters
2. Interesting plot
3. Fast-paced
4. Believable/fun plot twists

"The Night Before" follows two timelines- "the night before" and "the day after"-- everything came together seamlessly, and I finished this book quite quickly.There was one scene towards the end of the book that I didn't like and felt a character acted completely irrationally, but it did not spoil my enjoyment of this book :)

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC copy of this book. Thank you to Wendy Walker for making such a wonderful novel!

A fiercely suspenseful and powerfully original novel of psychological suspense, where the characters have real depth and the premise is irresistible.

Unfortunately, for me this was not one of my top books of 2018. Reading this I kept thinking, how can this be the same author as Emma in the Night? That book I loved so much and I was shocked at the end. This book just seemed so predictable. I enjoyed the pacing and how it flipped back and forth between the two sisters. The dialogue and writing was just awkward. 3 stars!
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an unbiased review.

The story starts out with a run-of-the-mill premise: a girl gets ready for her first meetup with someone that she "met" on an online dating site. But the story is much more than about a typical first date. It pulled me in rapidly and delves into a mysterious, complex, and layered plot. The entire book is a dark, twisty, unexpected ride.

What happened to Laura? Has her past caught up with her? Is she in trouble, or causing trouble? Who is the predator, and who is the prey? The twists happen so fast and so often that every theory that I came up with was proven incorrect.

There are multiple unreliable narrators and I didn't know which narrator reflected the most accurate account of the events. I pride myself on being a good judge of character, but these characters are not who they are portrayed to be and they kept me guessing. My first impressions of each character changed as more of their traits, habits, and personalities are revealed. Each character is hiding something, and what they are hiding changes in the story. I liked the surprises. The tension and suspense increase as the book progresses, which makes it hard to put down.

This story is about childhood memories, home, family, friendship, betrayal, love, siblings, obsession, first dates, relationships, and mental health. This book is fast paced and I read it quickly. This book has one twist after another and they blew me away! I enjoyed the twists and it ended up where I didn't expect it.

This is my first read of Wendy Walker's books and now I'm compelled to seek out the others. Her writing style is unique, engaging, compelling, and very suspense driven.

This book was a decent read though I really didn't enjoy the characters and that makes it difficult to really love a book. Laura had a lot of issues and I just found her difficult to relate to and would have liked to hear more about her childhood and see some more character development. This book is definitely a quick read, though I wasn't thrilled with it I was unable to put it down because I wanted to see what happened. When I finished the book I just felt like it was an odd book and I couldn't shake that feeling. The characters were just odd, her date was just odd- I mean who just gets in a car with a stranger after talking to them less than a minute? I felt there was great potential, just something about it including the lack of character development just made it not for me. Seems to be a popular book though! Thanks for the ARC copy.

What an engaging and thrilling read. Fans of Emma in the Night will love this book! Walker does a great job at character building and uses a unique storyline. I didn't want to stop reading!!

Laura Lochner returns to her hometown after a bad breakup. She had fled after the murder of a love interest, Mitch, when she was a teen. She moves in with her sister, Rosie, her husband Joe, and of course, another childhood friend, Gabe, is married and lives apart from them, but he is still in the picture, as they were all close since they were kids.
But returning home, has stirred up a lot of emotions in everyone, and so many secrets that they all have kept and wondered about for so many years.
Laura is a messed up Woman, and so desperate for love. She goes on a date after meeting someone on a dating site. The date turns into Laura spilling so many secrets to this man she hardly knows, and she never returns from her date.
Her sister, always the Mother figure for Laura is scared to death, wondering if her sister is dead, or did something go wrong, and Laura herself commit a crime, after all, the group of tight friends have always wondered about the murder of Laura's boyfriend when she was a teen.
During this time, so many shocking secrets are revealed and of course where is Laura? The book is a like a roller coaster of suspense!!
I will do a more detailed review later, as the book is not released until May 2019, and will do a more in depth review. But the book was great, and I could not put it down!!! I have read all of Wendy Walker's books, and loved them all, this one probably being my favorite. Its an awesome thriller written with the present and past in each chapter. Thanks @Netgalley for letting me read this book!!!!!

I was able to read an advanced copy of this novel thanks to Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book is filled with a lot of twists and turns. Altough the reader may figure these out early on, it was still an enjoyable read. Nothing that left me with a shocked feeling or wow factor, but overall a good plot.

The Night Before is an engaging, psychological mystery, though to be honest, I feel it will be quite forgettable for me as well. I was intrigued as I read it, but even as I write this review, details have grown hazy. I didn't really connect with the characters and the ending didn't surprise me as much as I hoped it would. That being said, it was well written and not boring. I would definitely read this author again int he future.

Thanks to Netgalley for supplying me with a copy of The Night Before in exchange for an honest review.

Three stars. This book was fine, but definitely not an edge-of-my-seat read. The writing could have been tighter in places, and everything came together pretty predictably in the end. I kept picking up and putting down this book, starting and finishing other books in the interim.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — The Night Before by Wendy Walker (Out May 14, 2019)
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Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
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After having a traumatizing childhood and not a great adulthood, Laura is living with her sister Rosie. Laura has a date for the night, but when Rosie wakes up, Laura is gone. Wendy Walker, author of Emma in the Night, writes suspense novels that keep those pages turning. I can’t turn them fast enough.
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What I loved:
- the suspense of what happened in Laura’s past.
- How Walker told the story in multiple time lines but did it seamlessly.
- The sisters— I really enjoyed the relationship between the sisters and how it affected their present day relationship.
- Laura— she is a complex character who struggles to get a grip on her reality— not unreliable narrator style, but just enough that I still cared.
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What I did not like:
- Without spoiling anything I didn’t like the storyline of the husband. It felt forced just to keep him involved.
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Overall, I was a fan of this newest from Walker— out next year!

This book was very captivating. I was hooked from the first chapter. Five starts. I enjoyed the characters and the story so very much.

Walker's latest, The Night Before, definitely keeps readers on their toes. Can they trust Laura? Did she really hurt all the men in her life? Is she reliable? When Laura leaves her important, big-city job in New York City because of a breakup and moves in with her sister's family, everything in her life feels off-kilter. You know from the get-go that Laura is seeing a therapist, but the details unfold throughout the novel. I appreciated Walker's time codes on each chapter, which alternate between Laura and her sister Rosie. When she starts receiving anonymous notes that seem to reveal that someone in her life knows more about the death of a teenage boy that she was almost in legal trouble for, her life takes a little bit of a tail-spin. Surrounded by Rosie, her husband Joe, and their other best friend Gabe, Laura hopes she can get her life back on track. But when she goes on a blind date with someone from the internet and doesn't come home, no one knows what to think. The fast pace of this novel will have readers ploughing through it quickly!

I’m struggling to find the words to describe a book that was really beyond exceptional. Any good book will get inside your head, but this book grabbed me and squeezed.

The writing was great but that wasn’t the thing that stood out the most. The storyline and the way it was written was absolutely meticulous. I’ve never seen anything like it.

I won’t say anything because I don’t want to give anything away but this is a must read.

Thank you to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this amazing ARC.

Great on the edge of your seat thriller! Wondering what will be happening next.. love the twists it took you on. Put this one on your list to read!



Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an early release of this book.

I am a huge fan of Wendy Walker and her new novel does not disappoint. The twists, turns and suspense is epic, making me second guess the cast of characters until the very end. A page turner, who done it, that will leave you guessing until the very end. A solid 4 star read.