Her family has been torn apart by a horrible accident that has mired her in guilt, but did Molly Clarke really just walk away from her family with only a note telling them not to look for her? When Molly runs out of gas on her way home in the middle of a hurricane-related storm, she’s not far from the gas station. After finding it’s closed, she decides to walk toward town, already drenched. While walking left with no real options, When she is offered a ride by a man and his young child, she accepts, after all what could be safer? It turns out, not them. By the time she realizes, her clothes and bag disappear and without her phone, she is left at their mercy. What will her family think? Will they come looking for her? Why did the man and his daughter pick her?
Things have deteriorated so badly at home that Molly’s husband and daughter Nicole don’t notice she’s missing until the next day and her car is found. After a couple days of searching. Would Molly really have walked away from her two children, despite her guilt and grief at her role in the accident and the results. Despite her own guilt and grief, Nicole isn’t convinced, despite the evidence. When someone contacts her with more evidence, she heads back to the town to try and figure out what happened to her mother.
Told from the alternating viewpoints of both Molly and Nicole, we are treated to their guilt, anguish, remorse, and grief as each works through Molly’s disappearance. The characters are well-developed, as is the plot. Navigating through the town with it’s myriad of suspects, Walker has us twisting and turning, while she keeps us guessing. I stayed up way past my bedtime because I didn’t want to put it down and had to know what happened next. This was my first experience with Walker’s novels and I will be adding her previous ones to my TBR shelf to catch up.
Thanks to the Publisher for an advanced copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.
#dontlookforme #wendywalker #stmartinspress

Don’t Look For Me, by Wendy Walker, is an intense, twisty mystery-thriller that weaves in strong elements of family drama. It is a quick read, mostly attributable to the lightning speed at which the plot advances. Walker populates her story with quirky characters that develop over time. Neither of the two female characters initially evoked much sympathy. As the story catapults forward, both evolve, and their increasingly evident strength and resilience become almost heroic.

Walker’s writing is straight-forward and yet, still conveys the dreariness of a dying rural town, the desperation of a trapped woman, and the trauma of a fractured family. I highly recommend this novel. Treat yourself to some well-deserved couch time and enjoy this book!

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wendy Walker for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. It was my pleasure.

#NetGalley
#StMartin’sPress
#WendyWalker

Thank you so much netgalley for this copy .This book was damn well amazing!!
I was on the edge of my seat with this one.
This will be an auto buy author for me from now on.

5 stars!

Pulse-pounding suspense. Edge-of-your-seat tension. Dark, foreboding atmosphere. Secretive and suspicious characters. This was one of the best psychological thrillers I’ve read in a long time!

Molly Clarke is a wife and mother of three who disappears while driving home from watching her son’s college football game two hours away. Her car is found with her cell phone inside on the side of a desolate highway road near a small town gas station. Molly is no where to be found. Did she walk away from her life? Did something happen to her?

This book grabbed me from the very start and didn’t let up one bit. I was completely glued to these pages from start to finish. I am a huge fan of this authors work and have read and loved all of her books. Sometimes that can create expectations that sit too high for an author to consistently achieve. I’m thrilled to say that this book surpassed my hopes and expectations. It was brilliant, shocking, unique, twisty, terrifying and completely unputdownable! Easily makes it on my Best Of 2020 List!

If you enjoy psychological thrillers, this is a must read! Highly recommended!

Thank you to St Martin Press for my review copy!

This is a very intriguing book. I had to continue reading it because I needed to know why Molly Clarke disappeared. Alice gave me the creeps.

I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley for an honest review.

Well, Well, HOT Diggity DANG!!! This is one heart-pounding, intense, thrilling and terrifying suspenseful story!! Grap some mitts, you are going to need them because you will be turning the pages so fast your fingers will be on fire!

Wendy Walker is at the top of the genre, and it's easy to see why, with this psychology suspense, that is intense from start to finish!!

Molly Clark is one strong, fierce, loving mother!! Her character is one of the best representations of a mother’s love and bond with her children I have read. And in a thriller yet!! Themes of grieve and guilt drive the plot here, making this one not only the entertaining read it is but an emotional one as the power of love shines through.

With all Wendy Walker’s books, it’s all in the skillfully layered suspense and clues; however, here with this one, she kicks it up by adding a sense of terrifying dread. The tension is high right from the start and increases with the climax to the story. I was so engrossed in the ending the noisy room I was in felt like I was alone with the only sound was my heart pounding. The clues are layered for you to figure out a few things before our characters do, and some are layered deeper and you might be shocked with some of the perfectly paced twists and turns to the story.

Wendy Walker creates an intense character here with Alice, who is just a child, and I loved her and Molly’s dynamics. I was put right into Molly’s shoes with the inner conflicts she had with Molly.

I could go on and on about this one, but I am going to stick with just read it!! You are in for a thrilling treat!!

I am usually pretty anti-mainstream thrillers/mysteries because they just never live up to the hype for me. I need a thriller to be smart, full of twists that are shocking and believable, and to keep guessing. Most "bestsellers" are bland, basic, formulaic, and predictable. Yes, I'm jaded. That's why I don't request them, because I don't want to just keep writing bad reviews. However, I thought I'd give this one a try since I loved Emma in the Night (2017) and it was available as a "Read Now" option on Netgalley. Holding my breath, I jumped in and right away I was hooked! Wendy Walker totally delivered a book I did not want to put down in Don't Look for Me. I suspected everyone to be involved in Molly's disappearance at one point or another due to Walker's amazing ability to craft multiple complex, "unlikeable" characters. I don't think it's possible to provide examples without giving away any of the twists, so I'll simply say "⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️"

Who’s in the mood for an exciting psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat? If you are, then look no further that Wendy Walker’s new novel, Don’t Look for Me. This is my third read from Walker and it’s my favorite yet.

The story follows Molly Clark, whose life is just a mess. As soon as we meet her, we learn that one evening while driving through her neighborhood, she accidentally struck and killed her youngest daughter, who had unexpectedly darted into the street. Instead of the rest of Molly’s family coming together to grieve their loss, they choose to collectively give Molly the cold shoulder. Her other two children constantly say cruel things to her, and Molly is pretty sure, based on his standoffish behavior, that her husband is having an affair. One night while out driving, Molly’s car runs out of gas. As she sits there pondering what to do, she thinks about taking it as a sign that she should just walk away from everything in her life. No one will even miss her and in fact, they’ll probably consider themselves better off without her. The next morning, Molly’s car is found abandoned and a note is left behind indicating that Molly has done exactly that – left her family with no intention of returning. Is that really what happened though?

One of my favorite aspects of Don’t Look for Me is that the story comes to us from two points of view, one is Molly and the other is her eldest daughter, Nicole. Nicole doesn’t buy it for one second that her mother just took off and abandoned the family. Riddled with guilt over some of the awful things she has said to her mother recently, Nicole vows not to rest until she has found her mother and brought her back home. The story alternates between giving us glimpses of what has happened to Molly since we saw her in her car and Nicole’s amateur sleuthing to try to track down her mom. The journey is equal parts riveting and downright creepy, especially the deeper Nicole digs and the longer Molly stays missing. I was glued to my seat as it became more and more apparent that something way more sinister than a mom abandoning her responsibilities was afoot.

I don’t want to say anything else because you really need to experience these two women’s journeys for yourself, but if you’re looking for an excellent atmospheric thriller to kick off your fall reading, Don’t Look for Me is a great choice.

Don’t Look for Me focuses mainly on a woman named Molly Clark. Molly is so consumed with grief she considers disappearing one stormy night. Then she ends up disappearing, but not on her terms. She is picked up by an unfamiliar man and his daughter when they see her waiting in the rain after her vehicle had ran out of gas. It starts out innocent at first, then panic creeps in and she realizes she was taken captive. Her daughter Nicole (who is called Nic) has held a lot of anger towards her after a family tragedy, which has affected them for several years. Though after her mother’s appearance, Nic blamed herself and is set on finding her, even if it puts her in danger. Nic follows every lead she can to get closer to locating her.

This was a really intriguing read with many background stories built in. I loved how there were many twists and seeing the story from both mom/daughter’s perspective. It was creepy how the little girl Alice treated Molly. Then Nic’s shortcomings in how she processes her grief puts her in tricky situations. Ultimately, this is a story of the main characters working through their issues and finding strength to save each other. This review is an honest opinion. Thank you to Netgalley, Wendy Walker and St Martin Press for allowing me to read/review this title via Netgalley!

Molly disappears when on a trip home from her son's football game. There was a big storm, and her abandoned car was found, but no trace of Molly. What happened? Soon after, a note was found saying "Don't look for me," and we discover legitimate reasons why Molly would want to leave her family and disappear. But did she?

This was a fun thriller. It's told from two points of view, and I liked both of them. Boy, books like this though are hard to review without spoilers!. It has some (deserved) angst, some family dynamics, and a lot of twists and turns. I'd recommend it as a good page turner

Wendy Walker's writing is captivating and fun to read!
What happened to Molly Clarke? Her car was found abandoned miles from home. A note was discovered at a nearby hotel. Her family was destroyed after a devastating tragedy a few years earlier. Did she "walk away" desperate to leave her life behind?
I was engrossed in the interesting cast of characters the author created and their intricate relationship with one another.
Don't Look For Me is a fast-paced suspenseful story full of twists and turns.

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

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and author.
This is the story of Molly who is going thru the worst nightmare a mother can go through.
She thinks her children hate her and her husband is cheating. So she leaves a note one day and disappear.
What ensues is unbelievable, devastating, how many bad things can happen to a human being?
This story is told from the mother and daughter perspective.
Full of twist and turns, heart wrenching at times.
Well written and you will not be able to put this book down.
Bravo Wendy Walker.
Highly recommend 5 stars 🌟

After reading All Is Not Forgotten, Emma In The Night and The Night Before, I became a big Wendy Walker fan.
Having read this, she is now an auto buy author. This is one of the best thrillers I've read this year!
After visiting her son Evan at school to watch his football game, Molly Clark heads home through a remote route, a big storm approaching. She is upset that things didn't go well. Evan ignored her, and the situation at home isn't any better. She thinks the family would be better off without her after what she's done.
When Molly runs out of gas along the dark deserted road, she ponders just walking away.
When her abandoned car is found the next day, that's exactly what everyone thinks happened.
But did she?!
This exquisite thriller had me ramped up with anxiety throughout it.
I only read it in two sittings because I started it late in the day. I didn't want to put it down!
A chilling, brilliant story with deep, complex characters.
I needed to know how it ended, but I also never wanted it to end.
If you only read one thriller this year, this should be it.
Thank you St. Martin's Press for the e-ARC via NetGalley.

If you like a book that will give you good gasp aloud moments- Don’t Look For Me is it!


What I Liked:

The cover. In the finished copy, the “rain” is comprised of silver foil- which gives it a semi-textured feel (and we all know how I love those textured covers!)

The gasp worthy moment. There is a point that I gasped so loudly- a librarian would have had to shush me quickly. It was a good moment in the storytelling process.

The ending. Wendy Walker has mad skills when it comes to good storytelling and she did NOT disappoint.



Bottom line: This book is EVERYTHING. And you should def read it.

This is the second time I've tried this author's books and for some reason I just can't stay invested in the characters and plot. I have a feeling it's the structure of the story. This one alternated between Molly's perspective and her daughter Nic's. I found Nic's sections lacking suspense. They were filled with backstory which is a personal dislike of mine in a story that's supposed to be suspenseful. There were many times during Molly's sections that she too would be in the middle of what should've been a suspenseful situation and she starts remembering past times with her husband. Also, I expected to have to figure out what happened to Molly but that is not the case. In the end, I found myself skimming quickly to get to the end which I found to be fairly predictable. I know many people have loved this so I encourage you to check out other reviews!

This was my first read by Wendy Walker, and it won’t be my last. I really enjoyed her writing style and the plot held my interest completely. I like that there were plenty of twists I didn’t see coming, but they weren’t outlandish. I’m so picky about my thrillers these days and have been so disappointed lately. It was nice to stumble upon a new to me author and enjoy her book so much!

Side note, I don’t think I will ever play Barbies with my daughter again without thinking of some of the creepy scenes from this book!

Overall this was a very solid, well-paced, creative thriller from an author that knows how to keep the reader turning the page! Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my complimentary copy.

Molly Clarke has disappeared. On her way home from her son's football game, Molly's car runs out of gas. Her car and cell phone are located the following day, but Molly is nowhere to be found. Did something happen to her? Did she walk out on her family? I actually don't want to go into too much detail about what I thought of the story in Don't Look for Me in this review, because it's better to go into it knowing nothing. This is far and away the best Wendy Walker book I've read. I disliked the last one I read, so I'm glad I gave this one a chance. Good twists, with creepy and sympathetic characters (some of whom are both at once), and a thoughtful portrayal of a family changed by tragedy. The final twist and reveal felt a little too convenient for me, but overall one of the better thrillers I've read this year. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

Wow. This book is very good! Hooked from the beginning. A suspenseful and very clever story. Definitely recommend.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This story will grab you and take you on a ride you won't soon forget! It starts with Molly Clarke, mother and wife, out of gas on a stormy night, far from home. And the good Samaritan with his daughter that stops to help. From there you never know where you are going or where you will end up....and neither does Molly. You don't know who is who, who to trust, and with each twist and turn you quickly realize that not all is what it seems.

It was a crazy, twisted, and very creepy ride but it was so worth it! The twists and turns keep you guessing the whole way through. The story builds as it should but the final twist is a complete shocker. That ending....let's just say I didn't expect that! I kept trying to guess who the bad guys were and I was wrong the whole way through the book. I love that because it kept my interest and kept me on my toes.

It is very much worth the read! It will creep you out at times, make you angry at times, and make you want to sleep with the lights on. Oh....and never leave home without a full tank of gas!

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Wendy Walker), and the publisher (St.Martin's Press) for a copy of the book.

Don’t Look for Me is a suspenseful thriller that becomes increasingly complex as the story advances. It begins with Molly Clarke driving home after visiting her son’s school to watch him play football. He ignored her presence, another sign of the fracturing of her family. Since her youngest child died and her family have become estranged from each other. When she runs out of gas and the nearest station is closed, she’s tempted to just walk away. A truck pulls over to offer her a lift to a nearby gas station. There’s a little girl with the man, so she thinks it is safe to get in. She was wrong.

The narration shifts to her daughter two weeks later. While Molly was reported missing, a note left at a local motel convinced the police she just walked away. Her daughter, Nicole, is convinced otherwise. Something is wrong. Otherwise, she is the reason her mom walked away.

The story shifts back and forth between Molly and Nicole on different timelines. So we learn what happened before Nicole was drawn back to search again for her mother. As their timelines draw together and converge the story becomes increasingly sinister.

Don’t Look for Me is a fast-paced and suspenseful thriller. Unfortunately, it bumps up against one of my huge dislikes, the demon child. OK, so maybe the child Molly comes to know in her timeline is not a demon, but she is cruel and cunning. She knows more than a child should and none of it is her fault, but nonetheless, she is a demon child. I just don’t like those stories even if they are well-done in terms of pace, character development, sense of place, and the other requisites of good story-telling. It’s not the book, it’s me.

I received an e-galley of Don’t Look for Me from the publisher through NetGalley.