You won’t put it down!

I’m glad I read this book whilst I was on holiday because I literally couldn’t put it down until I found out what had happened to Kat’s daughter Amy!

This novel taps into some of our darkest fears as parents, there were times when my stomach twisted in fear, others when I cried in recognition of the feelings of loss Kat experienced at letting go of her daughter as she left for university.

Sue Watson cleverly weaves a cast of potential suspects into this story which ensures you never know how it will end.

Absolutely loved it.

This book started a bit a bit slow for me but it definitely picked up as the story went on. It was a twisty thrillers in all the best ways! Would definitely recommend to a friend.

To say that Kat is over protective and overly possessive of her eighteen year old daughter, Amy, would be a bit of an understatement. They share all their secrets and every day stuff and are the best of friends. So when Amy goes to an out of town university, it hits Kat hard and she’s struggling with missing her. But when Amy promises to go home for the weekend, Kat is delighted until the days go by and there’s no sign of Amy. Kat is devastated because she knows Amy would be in touch with her if she had changed her mind about going home. She just knows something is wrong but no one will listen to her.
This was a really good story that kept my interest from beginning to end. I thought I had it figured out...then off we went in another direction. It was a slow beginning but it played out exactly as a missing persons case would - looking for witnesses, screening out the false leads. A very satisfying read.
Thanks to Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review

I got a free advance reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

Parenting is tough. Any parent knows that we’re basically just winging it, learning as we go along. Some parents end up becoming helicopter parents, hovering over every single move their child makes, much to their chagrin. So we’re often left unsurprised when the child runs away as far and as quickly as possible to escape. Honestly when I started reading this book, that is actually what I thought happened. What actually happened turned out to be quite a shocker.

In The Empty Nest, Kat is the textbook definition of a helicopter parent to her only child, Amy. Amy is in university two hours away from home *insert my not very shocked shockface here*. Kat talks to her nearly every minute of everyday. They are planning for Amy to come home for a weekend. All of a sudden, Amy drops off the face of the planet seemingly. Kat is devastated. Her family and close friends are convinced that Amy is out enjoying her time with friends. But Kat believes something is wrong. The only other option is that Amy ran away and she does not think that is possible. Or is it?

This book revolves around the bane of every parent’s existence. Teenagers! I should know. I have one of my own. As much as we love them, we all have to admit that teenagers, regardless of how well-adjusted they are, are an enigma. They think and behave so differently from everyone else. They keep secrets from their parents. They do not answer their phones! The list goes on and on.

Amy is, at eighteen, a typical teen. She is now in university while her mother, Kat stays home and worries about her endlessly. And when I say endlessly, I mean it. Most of the first half this book is about Kat obsessing about Amy and her life in university. As someone who has never understood helicopter parenting, I found Kat exceedingly irritating. She rose an alarm because Amy was a few minutes late in texting her back. During the book, we see that this is a normal thing with her and we even get an explanation for her maddenig behavior. It was still annoying though.

The second half, however, picked up the pace considerably. Quite a few surprises were revealed, with some being more shocking than others. A lot of the second half seemed focused on showing us the secret lives that all teenagers lead. Of course I cannot talk about what happened in the second half too much without revealing all the juicy surprises but I will say the ending was excellently crafted. The epilogue for me was the cherry on the cake.

There was a little cursing in this book. There was not much violence and just a few sexual references. This book can be read by teenagers and adults who enjoy mysteries / thrillers. The best thing for me about doing book reviews is that I have been finding ton of superb authors I would not have found by myself. Sue Watson is one of them. This is a well done book.

Kat and her eighteen-year-old daughter Amy are the best of friends. They share secrets and tell each other everything. When Amy goes away to college, Kat is devastated and is finding it very hard to cope with her absence. The only thing keeping her from falling apart is Amy's promise to come home for the weekend. But she never shows up. She's not answering her phone, and no one has heard from her. Everyone is convinced that Amy is just taking advantage of her new freedom and is off somewhere enjoying herself. But Kat knows something is seriously wrong and is willing to do whatever it takes to prove it. The Empty Nest is an addictive, suspenseful thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. We follow Kat's heart-wrenching journey as she tries to piece together what really happened to her daughter and is forced to confront the fact that maybe she doesn't know her daughter as well as she thought she did. This story is filled with lies, betrayal, and shocking secrets. The author does a wonderful job building the tension and the ending was clever and satisfying. I highly recommend this twisty thriller. Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story centred around Kat and her daughter Amy who has just started university. Amy has always had a very close relationship with her mother and when she doesn’t show up on a planned weekend home Kat is frantic . Amy doesn’t answer her phone ,hasn’t text or been active on her social media which leaves Kat imaging the worst. Everyone around Kat feels she is overreacting but eventually they too begin to become concerned when no one can contact Amy.

The empty nest is an addictive page turner. Anyone who has experienced their child leaving for university can relate to the worries that their new found freedom brings.

As Kats quest to find her daughter intensifies the fact that she may not know her daughter as well as she thought is evident. Kat also has her own secrets from the past but do they have any bearing on her daughters disappearance.?

Although I found this book a little slow to begin with it soon had me hooked and the excellent characters and fantastic storyline made up for its slow start. The twists along the way were fantastic and I found they kept me guessing right until the end. One minute I thought I had the plot figured out only to find I was completely wrong .

Two of my closest friends have just left their children at university recently and the emotions and empty nest syndrome they have experienced are so well portrayed in this book . I would throughly recommend this book (maybe not to the empty nesters yet for a while!!) Thank you to Sue Watson , the publishers and netgalley for my chance to read this fantastic thriller.

This is the first novel by Sue Watson I have read but it won't be the last! What a quick and wild read. Just when I thought I had it figured out....there would be another plot twist. Loved the writing style! I will definitely be looking for the author's previous books. Thank you for the advanced copy.

This book was fast paced. Hard to put down. It flowed well and it was very well written. It caught hold of me and had me hooked from the start . I was literally on the edge of my seat reading this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC.

I haven’t read any of this authors books before and this was the first one. I found this book difficult to read mainly because I couldn’t take to the main character Kat and didn’t really like her. Also felt the relationship between her and daughter Amy was a little unrealistic. At the start I felt the book was very slow, hard to get into, repetitive where Kat was either saying or thinking the same thing and it was told in many different ways. Wasn’t very keen on her friend and daughter either. I thought the book started to pick up a bit of pace about half way through and got a little easier to read. Things came to light about Amy’s character, things she had kept from her mum which led to a few twists in the story. I’d guessed a while before the end who was behind Amy’s disappearance and was right. I found this book an ok read, just not a great one and am not sure if I’ll read any more of this authors books.

Kat’s only child Amy went away to university almost two months ago and Kat still is not dealing well with her empty nest. She feels lost without her daughter and worries about her being on her own for the first time. Kat becomes frantic one weekend on which Amy planned to come home, but doesn’t show up, doesn’t call or text, and doesn’t post anything new on social media. Since Kat has overreacted in the past, nobody takes her concerns seriously. Eventually, her husband as well as the police think Amy could truly be missing, but think she may have run away. Kat wants her daughter found, but worries that secrets she has been keeping from her daughter and her husband could come to light during the search for Amy.

“The Empty Nest” is an excellent domestic thriller. Although Kat takes things to extremes, I could relate to the worries she had over her daughter and how much she missed her when Amy was away at school. Kat is like the boy who cried wolf because of how closely she hovers over Amy and a past incident in which Kat called the police over something silly and Amy was fine. When it looks like Amy is truly missing this time, Kat relies on the support of her husband, her best friend, her best friend’s daughter, and Amy’s ex-boyfriend.

The story starts out slowly with Kat fretting and her support group reassuring her. Some of Kat’s introspection is wordy and dampens instead of building the suspense of the story. However, as the book progresses, the tension builds and the reader isn’t sure who can be trusted. Once things got going, I didn’t want to put the book down. I could tell there were things a bit off about some of the characters, but there are so many viable suspects, I still wasn’t sure what had really happened to Amy. Kat herself is sitting on a lot of secrets, so nobody is perfect in this story. The truth comes out during a dramatic confrontation and then one final twist occurs for an unexpected ending. This is the first book I’ve read by Sue Watson, but I was impressed by her ability to surprise and look forward to reading other books by this author. I would rate this book 4.5 stars.

I received this book from NetGalley through the courtesy of Bookouture. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

Kat's daughter leaves home for university

To say that Kat is over protective is an understatement. But as I was reading, I thought there has to be something in the past that makes Kat neurotic over Amy and where she is at all times.

The bigger your child, the bigger the problems.

The author draws you slowly in to the story as it is confirmed that Amy is indeed missing.

You keep asking yourself, but why, am I missing something? Kat is not a bad person, nor is Amy.

Then things change, your begin to get suspicious!

I didn't see the twists and turns coming and to me that makes a great read !

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read The Empty Nest.

When I started this book, I almost DNFed it because it was slow and the protagonist is excruciatingly annoying. Kat was so overbearing and tiresome. I understood why she was overprotective though - she just loves her daughter. Never underestimate a mother's love!
Although this psychological thriller was incredibly slow-paced, it exceeded my expectations nonetheless! I am happy to say that I read this in one sitting!
The plot and storyline were clever and well thought out. I loved every twist and turn!

It's a thriller not to be missed! Kudos, Sue Watson!
Thank you so much to Bookouture and Netgalley for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review. This book comes out on November 1st.

Where to find me?
Instagram: @iqrareads
Goodreads: iqrareadsbooks

Never under estimate a Mum’s love, especially when her only child has left home for Uni
And now she has gone Missing
The 3rd psychological thriller by Sue Watson is as I expected it to be, a full on, straight into it thriller, with a banging twist and a satisfying end!
To say Kat misses Amy when she leaves for Uni is an understatement and the emotions she has are laid bare for us to see/read, so when Amy doesn’t return her texts or calls for 24 hours SHE KNOWS something is wrong, everyone else thinks she is neurotic and being ‘silly’
I wondered the same I have to admit but she had good reason to be worried, something has happened and once we all know this we are then led into a quickfire ever changing story of who has done what and why, various scenarios are given and its difficult to know which way the book will go, it had me foxed and I got it completely wrong and was tbh pleased to be fooled by the book, the actual reason is......well, I will leave you to find that out and also to make your own mind up about how you feel after the epilogue, to say more would spoil it
So well written, full of drama and just a perfect read
10/10
5 Stars

OMG I am so happy I decided to read this book by this author. This was the first book I read by this author and I couldn’t get enough of her. I can’t say enough good things about this author and her book.

This book is about a daughter who goes off to Uni and a mother who can not let go of her precious daughter. Kat’s daughter went off to Uni and was supposed to come home one weekend but she can not get ahold of her and her daughter never made it home. Did something bad happen to her or is she overreacting like she has in the past?

I want to start off by saying that I absolutely loved this book. At first I wasn’t sure what to make of the mother Kat. She was overbearing and very much a helicopter mom. She was always wanting her daughter to call her every minute to know what is going on. By the end of the book I was so so happy that she was this way and never gave up wanting to know what happened to her precious daughter. She would move mountains if she could just to find her her. I envied their mother daughter bond in the end. Also, I couldn’t believe the ending and what truly happened to Kat’s daughter. There were so many twists and turns in this book but the ending blew my mind. The whole book made sense and you felt bad for Kat who had everyone manipulating her. You couldn’t trust anyone even your closest friends. All I can is what a great book this was.

Between the plot, characters and all the twists in this book it made it an easy and fast read. I would definitely recommend it and happily give it 5 Hearts❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Whew! A more annoying, insufferable woman I've never encountered in a book. She's a mom who refuses to let go even though she's choking the life out of not only the daughter who left the nest for college, but everyone else around her. To that daughter, who chose a school a hundred miles or so from home, I scream, "Run, child - run like the wind. Go to Canada. To Australia. To the ends of the earth." Anywhere to get away from this hysterical woman who takes what I call "smothering mothering" to a whole new level.

In the interests of full disclosure, though, I must admit that it's virtually impossible for me to identify with Kat, mother to her "perfect" and only child Amy. When our firstborn left home for college just an hour away, my husband and I had repurposed his room before his car even left our driveway. Still, I gave Kat my best shot; but when I got to the near halfway point with nothing much happening except her incessant questioning and hand-wringing, I came close to giving up.

But I stuck with it, and I'm happy to say the story started to come alive in the second half. Not long after Amy got to college in Wales, she disappears; and because she and Kat are joined at the hip - as close to literally as humanly possible - Kat, who's already three-quarters bonkers at not seeing or hearing from Amy every single minute, goes off the deep end. Something awful has happened, Kat declares minutes after Amy's 20th text of the day is overdue. As the hours go by with no trace of Amy, just about everyone who ever knew her becomes a suspect, from her college roommates to her wayward birth father Tony to Richard, Kat's current husband and Amy's stepfather for most of her life.

After the first couple of agonizing days, it becomes clear that yes, something really has happened to Amy. For the most part, that only leads to even more hand-wringing and woeful discussions among Kat, her best friend Zoe and Zoe's daughter Jodie, who was Amy's best friend. But slowly, a different picture emerges: First and foremost, that all these characters may not be who they seem. Kat, for instance, has dark secrets all her own, mostly related to her ex-husband. As the story nears the end, secrets of those other characters are revealed, leading to a somewhat surprising conclusion that, given my intense dislike of Kat, I must say gave me enormous pleasure.

Overall, it's an emotional roller-coaster with Kat in the lead car every page of the way. Although it (she) isn't quite my cup of tea, it's definitely worth reading and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review it.

Sue Watson is an amazing storyteller… She perfectly wove together a web of lies, paranoia, deceit, and friendship that created a rollercoaster of a ride from start to finish. This really is such a compulsive read building the tension and a brilliant ending making it for me a real unputdownable book.

Kat, a devoted mother, is struggling with the departure of her only child, Amy, for university. She knows she has to let Amy go... at least to some extent. But when Amy fails to return for a planned visit home, and nobody apparently knows where she is, it seems all Kat’s worst fears are coming true. And of course, there are secrets in the past which she dreads coming to light.

The Empty Nest is an enjoyable enough read but it never really grabbed me to the point where I was desperate to carry on reading it. It did promise to become more intriguing at one point when Kat appeared about to start digging around in Amy’s life at university - that unravelling of initially baffling clues is more the kind of storytelling I enjoy. (Probably why I like police procedurals so much.) Unfortunately, it didn’t come to much.

Near the end, things suddenly ramped up, all was dramatically revealed and the whole thing was rather quickly polished off. To be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed by the “big reveal”.

Although I sympathised with Kat’s plight (I’m a parent and I’m certainly familiar with that horrible panic when your child isn’t where they are supposed to be), I couldn’t really warm to any of the characters and found it hard to get invested in finding out what had happened to Amy. Kat is absurdly overprotective and lacking in insight (apparently she writes articles on parenting, FFS), her friend Zoe is bossy and overbearing, and the missing Amy’s voice, when we hear it, mercifully briefly, at one point (no spoilers!) is 100% shallow, annoying, stereotypical teenage girl.

There are a few bits where some editing is needed - wrong names being used, and bloopers like “she was living with six strangers - three boys and two other girls”. However, this was an advance copy, so hopefully these issues will be corrected.

I don’t have children because I’d be exactly like Kat! Her almost neurotic obsession with her child and trying to keep her safe. I’m bad enough with my dog!
Great read. It’s a slow burner and mainly set in the confines of the main characters home. Enough twists to keep you guessing and a nice little curve ball at the end.
What I really liked about this book is that the ending isn’t rushed and ties up every loose end that is left unlike many I have read recently.

Kat and Amy have the best mother and daughter relationship but when Amy leaves for university Kat struggles with the loneliness. Her husband, Richard, thinks Kat is slightly over the top but knowing that Kat’s gutsy husband was awful to her and abandoned them he tolerates her obsession with Amy. One day Amy doesn’t come home and fingers are pointing at Richard as being involved.

Wow another fabulous read from Sue. Each of her books gets grittier and they are such a gripping read. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

The Empty Nest by Sue Watson was a great novel! I really liked it, I wasn’t sure which way the story was going to go. I thought maybe the mother was a little crazy, obsessive, depended on her daughter for too much. But the step-father might have been involved too…this book kept me guessing and I loved the uncertainty of it!

Kat remembers the days when her only daughter Amy wouldn’t leave her side. Amy was the baby who cried when you walked out of the room, the toddler who was too shy to speak to strangers, the small child who clung to Kat’s legs in the school playground.

But now Amy is grown up, and Amy is gone – to university in a town several hours away. Kat’s house – which once felt too full, too noisy, too busy – is deathly quiet, and Kat awaits the daily phone call to tell her that her beloved daughter is thriving and happy.

But one day Amy doesn’t call. Kat’s husband and friends think she is being paranoid – surely Amy is just out, having fun with her friends. But Kat knows right away that something is very wrong. Her daughter would never forget to call. She would never just disappear… After all, Amy has nothing to run from. Or does she?

Sue Watson is another author I have on my “To Watch” list! I will be eagerly awaiting whatever she writes next because she’s proven to be a very good suspense writer with this book and her other thrillers, Our Little Lies and The Woman Next Door -both were terrific!

Pre-order The Empty Nest here! Coming out on November first.