I found Don’t Look For Me to be a fast-paced, gripping read. The short chapters and many cliff hangers had me frequently saying “just one more chapter” and before I knew it I’d finished the book in a single setting.

When Molly Clarke goes missing all signs point to it being a “walk away”. To the police at least. But Molly’s daughter Nicole doesn’t believe it and, when a new witness approaches her, she returns to the scene of her mother’s disappearance, determined to find out what happened.

The story was told in alternating chapters from either Molly or Nicole’s point of view. This was very effective in letting the reader see what was happening to Molly and in the search for her, for letting the reader try and put the pieces of the puzzle together since the reader knew more than either character. Although there were of course red herrings along the way.

I thought Walker did a great job of slowly ramping up the suspense and we were with Molly in initially wondering whether Mick was sinister or just odd and preoccupied.

I also liked the way Molly and Nicole’s grief and guilt over the death of Annie was woven into the plot and played out in their actions. Both characters were relatable, even
if they didn’t always make the best decisions. I especially appreciated Molly’s mixed emotions about Alice, seeing her sometimes as a young child who needed mothering and sometimes as her captor. And I also admired her for keeping her head in a scary situation and for the many escape plans she came up with.

The ending unfolded quickly and with a twist that I hadn’t seen coming. I also liked the slightly creepy ambiguous tone regarding Alice that the book ended with. If I was Molly I wouldn’t be keeping that doll that’s for sure.

Thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for my complimentary eArc. This book releases on 15 September.

Lately, I have been in a reading rut. Nothing has really appealed to me and my mind just hasn’t been focused enough to read anything but then THIS book happened.

It is the ultimate thriller!! Nonstop from the very beginning and quite honestly, filled with worst nightmare situations. A car out of gas, abandoned car found, creepy hotels, all the things!

Super fast paced and unlike some thrillers I’ve been reading lately, nothing out of the realm of possibility.

Absolute 5 star ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ read!!!

This book was way creepier than I was expecting and I had to skim a couple parts just because I was freaked out. It was very well done. The plot was well done, the characters well developed and likeable and the duel perspectives added a great feeling to the story. I also thought the supporting characters were well done and developed. The ending was very satisfying. Overall I really enjoyed it and look forward to Wendy Walker's next book!

Lately, I have been a sucker for psychological thrillers and this one did not disappoint. There were even times where I got the heebie-jeebies and that doesn't happen often.

This story has a lot of twists and turns especially at the end. There were several things that totally surprised me and I never saw coming. I can't say too much because it would definitely give away the ending.

It is interesting to see what people will do and believe when it comes to family. The Clarke's have seen some tragedies over the last few years which have also torn their family apart. Denial, acting out, losing hope are just some of the things that the family endured. But despite all of that, Nic just couldn't believe her mom was gone and that could have led to her downfall if she trusted the wrong person.

The book flips between Molly and Nic's POV which kept the story interesting. Once we know what happened to Molly, I have to admit I was a bit freaked out because I knew this couldn't end well and just the situation itself was intense. There is a little girl, Alice, that is around the same age as Molly's deceased daughter, Annie. For a young girl (9), she came across and possibly a sociopath. Her emotions were all over the place and we would see her go from happy to mad to sad to coy in what seemed like minutes. But at the same time, she wanted Molly to be her new mommy and she would do things she probably wasn't supposed to do.

This is the first book I have read by this author, but I will definitely check out what else she has written because if they are anything like this book, I'm sure I will enjoy those stories.

Molly is driving home from her son’s football game. His boarding school is a few hours from home. With it dark and hurricane rains she runs out of gas. Thankfully, a man and his daughter pick her up. She feels lucky until she realizes she can’t leave. So begins this story of a woman held against her will and the daughter trying to find her. The story behind Molly and Nicole’s relationship was what kept me reading. I wanted them to be together and happy. Overall I liked the book and will definitely read ,ore Wendy Walker.

Wendy Walker has done it again. This creeptastic novel gets you from the start and holds you all the way until the end. At one point I thought I had it all figured out only to have her twists the storyline even more. This will for sure be another NYT bestseller!!!

This was such a gripping thriller that I finished it in about one day. I am a fan of Wendy Walker, and this one did NOT disappoint.

This pulled me in right from Chapter 1. I don’t want to give anything away, but I will say that my favorite parts of the story involve Molly and what she experiences. I thought the characters in her portion of the story (including and especially Alice) were SO well done. I was so very creeped out and on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen.

I also thought her daughter, Nicole, was a fun and complex character. There were definitely some twists and turns that were shocking and fun.

I’ll continue to read whatever Wendy Walker writes, and I highly recommend this for fans of psychological thrillers or mysteries.

Rating: 4.5/5⭐️⁣⁣⁣⁣
Rationale: This book was very clever and sucked me in from the very beginning.
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𝗪𝐡𝐨 𝐈’𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐨: anyone looking for a well-paced domestic suspense with surprises throughout
⁣⁣⁣⁣
𝗪𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝: Don’t Look For Me is packed with tension, suspense, drama, and some truly twisted characters. There’s a deep cast here, which I always love in a thriller because there’s nothing I dislike more than guessing the villains right off the bat. Everyone was easy to keep track of, but I found myself suspicious of almost all of them at one point or another.

My favorite thing about this book was Alice’s character. Walker has successfully created the world’s creepiest child (and equally creepy dolls) and I got a queasy feeling every time that little sociopath was involved in the plot.

Some more things that I love in a thriller that this one had: alternating timelines, strategically placed twists and turns (in lieu of one big reveal at the end), and multiple first-person narratives. If you are anything like me, you will be theorizing, guessing, and second-guessing throughout.
⁣⁣
𝗪𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞: Parts of the ending of this one are are a little unbelievable, but not excessively so. Overall I think this one will be a contender for my favorite thriller of 2020!

Wow, what a fabulously creepy, scary twisted book. I mean that in the best way. Molly was moving through life until that fateful moment when her world and that of her family was inexorably changed. Of course she blamed herself and was mired in guilt, but her family was worse and not for one teeny tiny second let her have any peace. They were truly awful, mean and mercilessly unforgiving. Her husband, emotionally absent, her daughter using every moment to tell her how much she hates her and her son won’t even acknowledge her existence when she treks to see his football games. She thinks about just disappearing. And then it happens only not by her choice. The police call her a walk-away and stop looking. And so begins the twisted, smart, well crafted psychological thriller. It is told from alternating POVs of Molly and her daughter Nicole (Nic), who cannot believe that her mother just left them all even though she gave her no reason to stay and did all she could to push her away, but knows deep in her heart that her mother would never leave them so she begins looking. And looking and looking. Seriously creepy and yet I couldn’t put it down. Do yourself a favor, turn on all the lights pull up a chair and start reading. So very worthy of your time. This was my first book by this author and absolutely not my last. She is a true talent and now on my short list of favorites.

Whoa! Holy creeptastic! This book keeps you guessing, that's for sure. I kinda guessed who the bad guy was, but I was still glued to the page to figure out why and what he was going to do next. You're going to want to check this one out!

Molly Clarke is making the 4 hour trip home from watching her sons college football game. She's trying to outrun the hurricane raging outside of her car and inside of her head. Her family doesn't want her anymore and they'll never forgive her for what she's done. Her daughter hates her, her husband pretends to be asleep so he doesn't have to talk to her, and her son wouldn't even make eye contact with her. Then she runs out of gas not even 30 feet from a gas station in a podunk town and she says to hell with it and just starts walking away.

A nice man and his daughter found her a ways up the road, soaking wet and freezing cold. He offered her a ride and she got in his truck. No one has seen Molly since.

The end of this one got me! I had thought it was possible but still super creepy! I loved it!

I received an ARC of this compelling mystery. The story caught my interest right from the start and didn't let go until the very end. I highly recommend.

Don't Look For Me grabs really fast and just takes off. It was a quick read. One of those that you didn't realize was going by as fast as it was and before you knew it everything and everyone started coming together at top speed. At first, Molly is pathetic. She is clinging to a family that either outright abuses her or does their best to ignore her. You soon learn why and the reasons this family is so messed up. She is still punishing herself. And she isn't the only one. Survivors guilt is heavily referenced and experiences in this book. It is the underlying reality that leads to the danger the characters find themselves in.

Molly seriously considers walking away from her entire family. And then she is gone. Her family looks for her but become convinced that she did, in fact, walk away from them. Only her daughter seems willing to continue searching.

Wendy Walker books are always fast paced and include twists and turns that keep you guessing. Don't Look for Me did not disappoint.

Don't Look for Me is another win for Wendy Walker. Set in a small town in Massachusetts, the book examines how people change when grief is allowed to get the best of them. The choices people make in moments of weakness can end up being the biggest mistakes of their lives. Molly Clarke is living her life on autopilot after one such event, and during a storm makes a choice that threatens the lives of her entire family.

It started off a bit slow, but quickly picked up. Things were not quite as they seemed, and as revelations came to light, truths and untruths revealed a very sinister plot that had been years in the making. Molly's daughter makes many of these discoveries as she races against time to help her mother. While I was able to guess some of what was going to happen, based on the evidence, there were some things that surprised me. Wendy Walker is always able to do that with her books and it is always something I look forward to reading.

Molly Clarke was a science teacher before life events happened, and I love how her scientific knowledge is used in the book. These are nuggets of information I would share with my students.

Overall, I found the book to be excellent. Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. I wanted to see how things would resolve themselves, and I was invested in these characters. Very, very satisfying.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Molly Clarke has not had it easy the last few years. She accidentally kills her youngest daughter, Annie, with her car, and it ruins her relationship with her husband and two older children, Nicole and Evan. So when Molly disappears on a stormy night, leaving her car and phone behind on the side of the road and her wet clothes in an empty hotel room, everyone thinks she's just walked away. But Nicole, struggling with guilt over her sister's death, isn't willing to let her go that easily.

Told in alternating chapters between Nicole's search for her mother, and the truth about what is happening to Molly, really draw the reader through the story. And not revealing who has Molly until later in the book makes it exciting when trying to figure out which of three possible characters is responsible for her disappearance.

I'm not so sure about the ending, though. I understand where it came from, but it was also a bit more far-fetched than believable. But even so, this was a thriller worth reading.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.

The blurb piqued my interest, but the story really drew me in. Once I started this book, I couldn't put it down until I was done. Walker did a great job capturing the full gamut of emotions for the two main characters. This is a story about a family that falls apart after the death of a child. The guilt and blame is toxic, and each person pulls away from the family. You wouldn't blame her for actually walking away. And just as guilt and blame tore them apart, these emotions also fuel the search for what really happened to this missing mother and play part in the healing of the family. Even so, the end will surprise you! Excellent suspenseful tale!! Loved it!!

5+

When it comes to Wendy Walker's books, one word comes to mind both as a positive and a negative and that is the word huge.

First the positive, I am a <strong>huge</strong> fan of her books!!!

Five years ago, the Clarke family endured a horrific tragedy when the mother, Molly accidentally ran over their youngest child Annie. Since then, John, her husband, their daughter Nicole and son Evan have grown apart and tried dealing with their grief in different ways. Sometimes even it being destructive.

Molly knows and feels that her family blames her and wonders if it would be better if she wasn't present in their lives. But this particular morning, as she is leaving to drive to her son's school to watch his game, Nicole spews hurtful words in an argument and storms off. After watching him play, she tries to get his attention and he walks right by her not even acknowledging her. On the ride home, her thoughts turn to what the past 5 years have been and she is not paying attention that she is running low on gas and a hurricane is to hit the area. Parking on the side of the road hoping for some help might be her best or worst decision.

How does Ms. Walker do it?

This story did not let up in the suspense! The writing was so descriptive that I felt that I was transported into the story and unaware of my surroundings. The characters were so believable, almost to a fault because I couldn't figure out who I should be trusting. The twists and turns gave me whiplash. I found myself holding my breath and at other times scaring myself with my audible gasps. And the ending was explosive!

This was truly a white-knuckle, hold onto your seat read!!! Another 5+ star novel!

Now for the <strong>huge</strong> negative. And that's having to wait to get my hands on her next book!!

Thank you to @stmartinspress, @netgalley, and @wendywalkerauthor for the gifted copy of Don’t Look For Me. It is out September 15!

This was a cleverly plotted, well paced, creepy thriller about a family torn apart by tragedy. Now, the mother, Molly, disappears during a storm. Where is she? And does she want to be found?

I couldn’t put this book down! This was so well written, the plot just flowed seamlessly, and the twists were completely unpredictable. I love when a twist completely takes me by surprise, and this book did just that—twice. I can’t recommend this book enough—go buy it today!

I received a digital advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. I’ve gotten pickier about books I request from them, but Wendy Walker is one of my favorite authors., I’ve read 3/4 of her books at this point and I’ve loved them all. This one did not disappoint me. Let’s just say I started this book at about 1 pm yesterday and I finished it around midnight. I just had to know what happened next. This is a twisty page turner about a woman who goes missing. While it appears she has just run away from her life, her daughter knows she would never leave her family and begins to search for answers. This is one of those books you will think you have all figured out, but you won’t.

You know those books that are so thrilling, so suspenseful you can’t put them down, can’t wait to find out how it all ends, but at the same time your heart is racing so fast that you have to stop every once in a while and just breathe, step away for a minute? Well, author Wendy Walker could teach a class on that, because Don’t Look for Me is one of the most exciting books I’ve ever read. Stressful, nail biting suspense start to finish. But what a great story.

Don’t Look for Me is written from two vastly different points of view: Mom Molly, who caused the accident that killed her youngest daughter five years ago, and Daughter Nicole, who was babysitting little Annie that horrible, devastating day. She blames Molly and hates her, won’t forgive her. But when Molly disappears and a note saying “don’t look for me” is found Nicole isn’t quite so sure anymore. She might not want anything to do with her mother, but she wants to know what happened, that she really did decide to walk away, that she’s safe. A new clue surfaces, a clue that Nicole’s father John and the police seem to ignore. But Nicole can’t ignore it. She is determined to find out what’s true, find Molly if she is out there to be found, or learn the worst if that’s what really happened. She doesn’t know who to turn to, who to confide in, so she talks to some people and keeps secrets from others. But has she chosen the right people? And as if the suspense isn’t already almost unbearable, as the POVs change, so do the number of days, counting up or down, depending on the perspective. When will this end? How will it end?

There are so many aspects to this story: the heartbreak, the cruelty, the unrelenting sadness of losing a child, the accusations, the guilt, the inability to forgive. In her desperation, stranded in the storm, Molly did have a moment of wanting to just walk away. But then the man and the child showed up and offered her a ride. Perhaps if Molly was not already so numb she would have seen the evil and felt the fear right away. But she’s been numb for five years now, and evil isn’t straightforward, it twists and turns and has secret identities. It doesn’t behave in any normal way, no way that you can figure out and anticipate.

Neither is aware of what the other is doing, but both Molly and Nicole are working desperately to figure this out, to take action before it’s too late. As the days pass by and their stories switch back and forth parts start to merge, more and more similarities and discrepancies and clues are discovered. Near the end of the book I thought I had it figured out several times, but I didn’t want to be right, because that option was so unbelievably horrible. Then another horrible possibility would come to mind.

Thanks to author Wendy Walker and St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance copy of Don’t Look for Me via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This was one creepy story, but totally satisfying. I recommend it without hesitation.

I have just spent every spare minute the past two days reading Don’t Look For Me by Wendy Walker. She is a new author for me. Molly Clarke’s family is dealing with a tragedy in their lives. On the return home from visiting her son at his school, she runs out of gas and the gas station close by is closed due to the hurricane. Molly disappears. Her family does not know what happened.

The story alternates between two narrators Molly and her daughter Nicole. Each are just trying to survive and have not recovered from the tragedy in their lives. The reader is introduced to several characters, and we slowly need to figure out what has happened to Molly. There is so much suspense that made me ask myself many times “What just happened?” I found myself talking to the characters. This is a quick read, and I thought the ending was perfect. Now to find the other Wendy Walker books to read. Thank you St. Martin’s and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.