With few major characters, this is a rough sell to hide a suspect. Although the characters are well developed, the actions are guessed early on.

This book had me from the first page and never let go. Once you start reading you won't be able to put it down. An unstoppable freight train that gives you the ride of your life. And an ending no one cou,d have predicted. Don't miss reading this book!

Hmmm. The plot was twisty and The Who done it was good. The book itself felt a little hysterical and full of mania. I just wanted everyone to calm down. But it is a good story and I see many people have enjoyed the book. So maybe it’s me. Worth a read if you like suspense and mystery. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC.

I was blown away by this book. I am a Wendy Walker fan but I had no idea what was to come.

This is the blurb I read going into the book:
“Twelve hours earlier, she was...
Hopeful.
Excited.
Safe.
Now she's gone.”

WHAT?! That alone had me digging through the chapters as fast as I could. This was a gripping and suspenseful read, so beautifully written and I am almost jealous of those who will get to experience reading this - it's THAT GOOD!
The characters came to life and more than once I thought I had this all figured out. You will not figure it out at all. The pace is fast and that is what makes this story so brilliant. You don't want to put it down and there is no good place to stop reading. There are a ton of suspenseful reads out there but this one, hands down, is among the best of the best for 2019.
Run, don't walk, to preorder! Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martins Press and Wendy Walker for an e-ARC of this incredible story. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a weird one, and ultimately a disappointment for it. I had high hopes based on the extremely provocative blurb, and the opening bits. The writing was good, the mysteries and suspense thick on the ground, and the characters seemed promisingly dark and uncertain. Unfortunately, it turned scattered all too quickly and I found myself rolling my eyes at the choices the characters made right up to the Big Reveal - and then I just sighed. I kept reading - Walker's writing style is engaging, and I'll admit I was still curious to see how on earth she'd close all the gaps, but things just felt like they were trying too hard to be mind-blastingly original in a genre that I'm starting to think needs to slow down a bit, publication-wise...

It must be exceptionally tough to write psychological thrillers with unreliable narrators these days - there are SO MANY, and the options for suspenseful yet believable twists are not infinite, particularly given that every reader KNOWS they're coming. Maybe I am just burned out on the genre/concept. If I hadn't read so many, I might have found this one less eye-rolling- and sigh-worthy. As I said, the writing wasn't the issue, the plot was. But as it is, I have to admit that this was not one of my favorites...

Laura's been desperate for love her entire life. A father who paid her no attention, a mother who is overheard saying she's hard to love "with fists for hands", she struggles to find self-confidence and to tame her anger. She's come home from New York after a breakup with a man no-one has met, blaming herself for not seeing the signals.......again. And returning to her hometown is hard. To do so means to face her past and the belief of some that she killed her first boyfriend as a teen, though a man was found, tried and convicted of the crime. The tight-knit group she had throughout brings her back into the fold and supports her: her sister, Rosie; Rosie's husband, Joe; and their best friend, Gabe. But when she disappears after a first date through an on-line dating site, Rosie is frantic to find her, terrified of what might have happened to her.....or what she might have done. The truth ends up worse than those fears.
Could not put this down......read it in one sitting!

I haven't read a book I couldn't put down in a long time. I will definitely watch for new books from this author. A great mystery with some family/friendship saga mixed in. Thank you to netgalley for letting me preview this book for honest feedback. Loved it.

Call me crazy, BUT "All is Not Forgotten", Wendy walker's first novel, was a 4
star read. I gave "Emma in the Night 5 stars because it was THAT awesome. BUT her third novel knocks it out of the park!!! Obviously Wendy Walker just gets better!! Sister drama! LOVE it! No spoilers. just READ IT!!! Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC!

Excellent book. Very satisfying to read and absorb yourself I to the story. The characters are stro g and well de developed. I just wanted to read and read to see what happened at the end . Highly recommend it.

The childhood traumas, that Wendy Walker brings to light in TheNight Before, is horrific and mind shattering for one of her of her characters.
I almost immediately became involved so emotionally with Laura, that I cried a couple of times due to her distress.
This is enthralling!

Laura can't seem to forgive herself for the death of her boyfriend back in high school. She was found clutching the bloody bat, with blood all over her clothes. She doesn't think she killed him.
Now she has left everything behind and moved in with her sister, Rosie. Rosie's husband and their baby son. She has to get her life together. Thank goodness for her sister, and brother in law and her best friend, Gabe. They were always together, the four of them growing up. Joe and Rosie married each other. Gabe married someone named Melissa. Now they are together again. Finding a match on a web site can be challenging. You never know if they are really who they say they are. Laura decides to take a change. With her sister, Joe and Gabe by her side, she feels she can accomplish anything. Thank goodness for family and for best friends.
This is a terrific read. I didn't want it to end. And, what an ending! Great characters, incredible storyline. A definite must-read!

I'm not usually into mystery or suspense. I read this one because I loved Emma in the Night, and it was recommended to me. I do have to say that I was very caught up in the story, did not predict where it was going, and definitely was surprised quite a bit. I'd definitely recommend this to people who love mystery (or Wendy Walker); I was anxious as I sped through the story and definitely got caught up in the book. I read this one quickly so I could find out what happened.

I will read ANYTHING Wendy Walker writes... And I think I've read EVERYTHING she's published! Even her women's fiction from years ago. So... I might be a bit biased bc I think she's a truly gifted storyteller. There's a sharpness to her stories—a really keen eye for detail and brilliant bids of wisdom that makes me devour her books even as I want to savor them. The Night Before is no different- I wanted to immerse myself in the story but I couldn't help myself from racing through each page. I am not surprised at all that Wendy Walker has written yet another fabulous novel—and I am so grateful to have read it early!! Thank you!!!

Trouble follows Laura. Her past is so haunted, she has to change her last name. She second-guesses everything about her life, everything except for her lifelong friendships with her sister, her sister's husband, and their other close friend, Gabe.

Rosie, Laura's sister, is nothing like her. She has a stable life, a good marriage, and a young son she dotes on. But Rosie is very worried about Laura. Laura's about to go out on a date after a fresh start, and while it should be innocuous, Rosie is afraid that it won't be. Laura's relationships have a tendency to end in bloodshed ...

This is an exciting, twisty thriller shifting between Laura's POV during the date itself, and Rosie in the aftermath. It's almost immediately clear that something terrible has happened, but the readers are left to scramble for clues with Rosie, while Laura plumbs the depth of her past. There are shockers at the very end of the book, ones I had no idea were coming!

My only problem with this book is that there is too much going on. I don't want to spoil the plot for anyone, but there is an explanation for why a character is acting a certain (suspicious) way, and that explanation could easily provide material for a whole new book. It's a BIG deal. But here, it's thrown in as fodder, just another distraction.

I also wanted to feel more of a connection to the characters, especially the supporting ones. More importantly, I wanted to see how Laura and her band of friends behave around each other in non-traumatic times. There's a lot about everyone running around, trying to unravel the mystery of what has happened, but I think the real gems would be revealed in everyday interactions with each other.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an arc.

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The night before...and the nightmare after.

Even though Rosie and Laura are sisters, they are complete opposites. Rosie is happily married and stable whereas Laura is single and trying to break free from her troubled past.

Laura is getting ready for a blind date, not entirely sure if she's going to go through with it. She's intrigued by the man's photo and the exchanges they've had so far have been easy and enjoyable so she decides to give it a shot.

Only Laura doesn't come home from the date.

As Rosie searches for her sister, the past comes knocking and her greatest fears are validated. Is it Laura that's the danger, or is it the stranger? Is she even still alive?

Told in alternating perspectives and with dual timelines—the night before and the day after—The Night Before is a fast-paced, taut thriller about loyalty, love, and desire that boarders on obsession.

Walker ratchets the tension over the course of the narrative. Her pace is spot on and the dual timelines are the perfect vehicle to execute the story. Her writing is hypnotic, and the plot is just twisty enough to keep your turning the pages like mad. I polished this off in two sittings, staying up way too late, but I literally could not put it down. It's been a while since I have been gripped by such a compulsive read.

The alternating perspectives were incredibly effective. Walker utilizes this technique to reveal a little at a time, not only working the reader into a frenzy, but building on the momentum.

What was most impressive was how Walker made this book feel completely original. It was sharp, clever, and utterly captivating.

Wendy Walker wrote Emma in the Night and All Is Not Forgotten, both were fantastic! The Night Before is her new book, coming this spring. This story will have you turning pages quickly, especially as the plot heats up during the last half of the book. I did NOT expect the twist!

While I liked the story in the beginning, towards the end, I couldn’t stand the suspense and almost had to read the end before it was even over! I held off though, I did keep reading faster and faster and stayed up past my bedtime a few nights in a row.

I liked how the author alternated points of view and I always enjoy a character who is a little unreliable with some secrets.



SYNOPSIS:

Rosie and Laura are as different as two sisters can be. One is stable and has a perfect family. The other struggles to break free from her troubled past. When Laura disappears after going on a blind date, Rosie takes matters into her own hands.

But as Rosie begins to search for her sister, her greatest fears come to the surface. Could Laura be more of a danger than the stranger she meets or is the night before her last night alive?

Told in dual timelines—the night before and the day after—The Night Before is a riveting thriller about family loyalty, obsession, and what happens when the desire for love spins out of control.



Due out in May 2019

This one was good but it just didn't pull me in and keep me hooked as strongly as I had hoped it would. There are a couple different surprises throughout the book but for me the most surprising twist was earlier on in the book that somewhat overshadowed the surprise that took place in the end. It was hard for me to like any of the characters which could be why I was not pulled completely into this one. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 STARS ~ Full review closer to publication!

All the tension and tidbits of hidden secrets kept me invested in the story line and wanting to know more about Laura. Told in Before and After Timelines, the past secrets sprinkle out as the story unfolds. When I hit the last stretch, there was no slowing down…. I had to finish! Never saw that end coming!

Okay, so I've met Wendy Walker and she is lovely. Nothing at all like the dark, damaged characters she writes about, damaged from the horrific acts which form the basis for her stories. The Night Before is classic Walker - two sisters, one of them carrying all sorts of baggage and secrets, plopped into a disaster that may or may not be of her own making. The structure is brilliant, bouncing between before and after, each chapter narrated by the other sister and building steadily to a whopper of an ending. Push this one to the top of your TBR pile, you won't be sorry!

This is a read-in-one-sitting type of book. I think to set it aside for even a short time could ruin the tautness and unease Wendy Walker has masterfully created in this story.

I feel like I white-knuckled my way through this book like an addict needing a fix. I ate an entire bag of M&Ms, and I don't mean a single serving bag, I mean the giant bag with the red and green Christmas colors. So now not only do I have a headache caused by the tension in my neck, I'm pretty sure I'm heading for a diabetic coma.

This could have easily been a 5 star book for me had the ending been less cluttered. After enjoying a gradual escalation of foreboding anxiety, I found myself jarringly thrown into a rushed and muddled ending.

I don't know why this is a trend with thrillers as it ruins so many potentially exceptional novels. I much rather my finales like I enjoy my M&Ms, slow and deliberate until I feel like I might explode before I get to the end.



I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.