Member Reviews

100% unputdownable! Without giving too much away, the story is a mashup of iconic books, movies, and tropes. The twisty plot and pacing will leave you reading waaaay past your bedtime. Recommended for anyone looking for a sharp, smart psychological thriller.

Was this review helpful?

Happy Publication Day to Goodnight Beautiful! This was one of my most anticipated fall reads, and I am happy to say that this one did not disappoint!

This is a great one to go in blind, so I am going to leave out the synopsis. Another book I’m going to say be careful of reviews you read, you don’t want to get spoiled. Just read it!

This book was so much fun. I flew through it in less than 24 hours. Ever read a book and you are constantly going back, because you wanted to make sure you didn’t miss anything? That was me in this book. There are multiple twists throughout and you are going to love the first one! I also found the ending very satisfying.

On a personal level, this book mentioned the city I live in, the city I get married in, and my favorite baseball team. I loved the Maryland shout outs, and I need to ask @aimeemolloy718 about these!

This is one of my favorite thrillers of the year, and I can’t wait to see more reviews on this one. I recommend this one to thriller lovers, those who love twisty reads, and Aimee Molloy fans. I got The Perfect Mother before I finished this one, I loved it so much.

Thank you @harperbooks for my finished copy.

Was this review helpful?

What did I even just read? Extremely unique and highly entertaining. Loved this book!! Looking forward to more from this author.

Was this review helpful?

The wild revelations and plot twists in this book absolutely shocked me. An exceptional, gripping psychological thriller.

Was this review helpful?

I tried several times to finish this book and finally decided I was going to have to DNF it at bout 40%. I just don't think it's well-written. It is cheesy and unoriginal from the jump and the characters read more like caricatures of the genders based on really crappy movies. Hard pass on this one.

Was this review helpful?

A Gone Girl-type thrilled that gleefully identifies and interacts with the literary landscape post-Gone Girl, this twisty thriller is whip smart and YOU SHOULD STOP READING REVIEWS IMMEDIATELY AND PICK IT UP. Go in blind.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC of Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Malloy. I previously enjoyed The Perfect Mother and couldn’t wait to read her next thriller.

Sam Statler and his new wife, Annie Potter, move back to his hometown in upstate New York when his mother’s dementia takes a turn for the worse. Now they can be close enough to visit her regularly in the new care home. Sam can’t believe his luck when he finds an office for his private psychiatric practice, free of rent in a historical home. When Sam suddenly disappears without a trace, the town races to figure out what happened. Did he leave on purpose for a new life or did something bad happen to him? Annie must follow the clues and figure out what happened to Sam before it is too late.

This is the second book that I have read by Molloy and it is the best to date. I really enjoyed the playful relationship between Sam and Annie, as they are very endearing characters. There is a lot of clever misdirection that shocked me several times! I seriously didn’t see the twists coming at all...and I read a ton of psychological thrillers. While the plot isn’t 100% original (trying to avoid a spoiler here), Molloy finds a way to successfully make it her own. This is a fast-paced read, filled with humorous moments and psychological insight. I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy a clever thriller!

4.5/5 stars

Was this review helpful?

I liken this book to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland. You go in and you are driving along and then suddenly, you take a right turn. You think okay, this is the way we are going but you would be wrong. Boom! You are turning left. Okay. I get it now but oh no you do not. You take another quick turn and another quick turn until you are laughing and wondering what just happened. Holding someone hostage takes on a whole new meaning.

The way Aimee Molloy tells this story is so different from anything I have read in a while. I was so sure I knew what I was reading and who I was reading but I was so wrong. I love the way the mystery played out and how we got to know who each character was. The main characters were not angels but they were human. They were flawed and I was there for all of it.

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for a copy of this book.

Was this review helpful?

Sam has opened his own psychiatric practice in the basement of a historical home in Chestnut. He sees a lot of patients, but one in particular peeks his interest. The mysterious French girl who likes older men. When she propositions him, Sam jumps at the opportunity and risks driving through a storm to see her.
Now Sam is missing. His wife, Annie, is freaking out. Search parties are formed, finding no trace of Sam. Where is her husband? What will she find if she searches his office?

Goodnight Beautiful is a psychological thriller with extra psycho thrown in. Molloy channels Norman Bates from Physcho, Annie Wilkes from Misery and Anna Fox from Woman In The Window. Putting all that together in one book, blew my mind. A reader can only handle so much crazy, and this book keeps dishing it out.
The book has 3 ( that's right, I said 3) gigantic plot twists. All of them had me swearing and forced me to keep reading.
The characters in this book are all so deep in playing the roles of someone they are not, almost doubling the main cast from 3 to 6 people, without there being any split personalities involved. The way it plays out is so creative and brilliant.
This book gave me such a hangover. How do you move on from it? From the beginning to the end, Goodnight Beautiful was nonstop and mind blowing.

Was this review helpful?

4 1/2 stars...

This was such a twisty and clever book! It started off very unassuming with what felt like a "casual introduction.". Then it evolved to something I didn't see coming...at all. I don't really want to write much in this review as I firmly believe this is one of those books that you are better off going into blind without a lot of information ahead of time.

I finished this book in a day. It's a quick and fun read that reeled me in and kept me totally hooked. I recommend it to those who like twisty mysteries/thrillers. There were several times in this book that I was caught off guard by the events and for me, that's a huge plus! I will also commend Ms. Molloy on strong character development. The depiction of Dr. Sam Statler and his wife, Annie Potter was really good. I felt like I really understood what was going on in their heads and what their motivations were. Also, the other characters within this book were really well developed as well. It all lent to making this an even stronger story.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Was this review helpful?

This book was perfect to start off "spooky month", a month in October dedicated to reading all things thriller and creepy. I originally heard about this book at BookCon and NEEDED it, so when I was approved to read it I was so happy!

This book started off pretty slow and it wasn't until almost 40% of the way through did I get into it. It is told in three parts with three different POV's. You do not realize who one of the POV's is until part two and I was very surprised by it and how the author hid their identity, while also showing it in plain sight. She does that with another character in the book and when their identity is revealed, I was thoroughly impressed. That's when it really began to pick up for me.

This is a true psychological thriller and man, the mental health in this book is real! One of the characters who has to do with Sam's disappearance is portrayed so well and so creepy, that I was actually freaked out by him as if he were a real person out to get me. I loved that! It made the story that much better of an experience!

I did like the changing POV's and the book being split into three parts. The chapters were fairly short and the book is just a little over 300 pages. My biggest complaint is that the beginning was very slow and felt like some parts were really unnecessary and nonsense that the author just put in to kill time. It did give information on the background, but I think it gave more than what was necessary. I did like how determined Annie was to find Sam, even when the police told her he had run off because he was in so much debt, that he was hiding from her. It makes me hope that if I were ever kidnapped, that one of my friends, family, or partner would fight to find me too.

I also didn't really care for the author talking about how Sam was in high school and his reputation. I felt like that was really not needed. I mean sure, it gives some background but it had nothing to do with the story. It felt off-topic and made me annoyed every time that it was mentioned. Like we get it, Sam was a player, now move on and stop repeating that several different ways.

Overall this was a solid psychological thriller that I would recommend and give 3.5 stars.

Was this review helpful?

"When a man goes missing, it's always the wife." - pink-haired girl

I enjoyed reading Aimee Molloy's "Goodnight Beautiful." I was tricked several times by her. It was a great one, so I don't want to spoil it too much. I felt this book gave me a glimpse of gender stereotyping. I didn't realize that I was caught in that spiral.

The story started when the good looking couple, Sam Statler and Annie Potter, moved from NYC to Sam's hometown in upstate NY. Sam, a psychiatrist, decided to open a private practice while Annie was doing her teaching fellowship. Suddenly Sam went missing, and that's when I started thinking, "What the h*ck just happened?"

I thought the beginning was bland, but I was wrong. The author tricked me with that flat intro to make me forget that this is a psychological thriller. There were so many twists and turns, so buckle up. It was a short story, nonetheless, very satisfying to read.

Was this review helpful?

What even is this book 😂⁣

I hadn’t read a good thriller in a while, so when I got approved me for GOODNIGHT, BEAUTIFUL, I was in! ⁣

This book is completely bonkers, y’all. I admit that the two major twists near the beginning really got me, but after that I could see exactly where the plot was headed. I wouldn’t say it’s not worth a read, but...🤷‍♀️ ⁣

Thank you to HarperCollins (whose eARCS always have the BEST formatting 🙌) for an advance copy in exchange for this review. ⁣

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to @harperbooks and @aimeemolloy718 for my gifted copy of Goodnight Beautiful! Thriller lovers, get this book on your radar.

Goodreads synopsis: Newlyweds Sam Statler and Annie Potter are head over heels, and excited to say good-bye to New York and start a life together in Sam's sleepy hometown in upstate New York. Or, it turns out, a life where Annie spends most of her time alone while Sam, her therapist husband, works long hours in his downstairs office, tending to the egos of his (mostly female) clientele. Little does Sam know that through a vent in his ceiling, every word of his sessions can be heard from the room upstairs. The pharmacist's wife, contemplating a divorce. The well-known painter whose boyfriend doesn’t satisfy her in bed. Who could resist listening? Everything is fine until the French girl in the green mini Cooper shows up, and Sam decides to go to work and not come home, throwing a wrench into Sam and Annie's happily ever after.

If you want a good, twisty, psychological thriller, GRAB THIS ONE! I haven’t read anything that messed with my head like Goodnight Beautiful did in quite a while. Molloy did a fabulous job of developing her characters in this book, and using their perspectives to craft her plot. Her book definitely drives home the point that not everything (or everyone) is as they seem, and assumptions can be wrong. I could not put this book down in the last one hundred pages because I had to know what happened! Those of you who want to read thrillers for the month of October (or all of fall) cannot skip this book.

Was this review helpful?

I read a lot of thrillers and I went into this one expecting to be entertained as I liked The Perfect Mother and within the first few chapters I settled in to read what appeared to be a twist on the ever-growing Gone Girl subgenre.

I was wrong. I was so wrong and I've never been more delighted to be wrong! Goodnight Beautiful has twists I never expected (to say more would be spoilers) and did I say "Holy crap!" (or a variant of it) more than once? I sure did!

Goodnight Beautiful is truly surprising and wonderfully written. It manages to surprise more than once and look, in 2020, we all could use a surprise that feels, well, like a surprise and not a smackdown.

I can't recommend Goodnight Beautiful highly enough. This is a book I can't wait to talk up and about, this is a book I can't wait for others to read. This is a book that is definitely one of the best reads of 2020.

Very, very highly recommended.

Was this review helpful?

Don’t expect a synopsis from me. I’d be giving the story away. Suffice it to say that when her therapist husband disappears during a blizzard supposedly on his way for a meet up with a sexy French client, life is upset. Aimee Molloy follows _The Perfect Mother_ with another twisty page turner that is cleverly plotted. I was so surprised to find out “who did it”.

Was this review helpful?

I. Am. Breathless!!! I’m trying to put into words exactly how much I love this book. I can’t. I’m sorry. So you’ll have to excuse how lame this review is in comparison to how PHENOMENAL this book is. I’ve never screamed (Out loud. In bed. Late at night. Sleeping husband wasn’t thrilled but I don’t even care.) in shock so many times as the bombs just kept dropping! BAM! BAM! BAM! I realized so many times that I was holding my breath as I was reading. It all ended with my bawling my eyes out and I can’t imagine any other ending. I loved every character. Then I didn’t. Then I did. The twists just kept coming and coming!!! And it’s REALLY difficult to shock me with as many thrillers as I read. This just might have the best ending of any book I’ve ever read. I’ve just ordered Aimee Molloy’s debut novel, The Perfect Mother, without even reading the description because if she wrote with a fraction of the talent in that one as she did in Goodnight, Beautiful, I’ll be giving that one ten stars. I wish I could give this book a zillion stars because that’s what it deserves. Goodnight, Beautiful has skyrocketed to the very top of my list of books to recommend.

I cannot thank Harper Books enough for allowing me the incredible privilege of reading this book in advance!

Was this review helpful?

Goodnight Beautiful is one of the best jaw dropping novels that I’ve read this year! My jaw dropped halfway through the book with a pretty good twist and then again a bit later on. I love a book that can surprise me! Sam and Annie are newlyweds who have just moved from the city to Sam’s hometown. Sam is working as a therapist. One night he fails to return home when expected. This leads Annie on a search for Sam. So many great twists and turns abound in this book. Read and enjoy!

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to Harper, Harper Audio, and NetGalley for the early copies in exchange for an honest review.

I try not to be too negative about a book. I try to see the good in a novel even if it wasn't for me. But this just left me bored and disappointed.

The only thing getting me through this was the audio. There were three different narrators voicing the three different perspectives. I didn't have any issues with the audio.

If it's not the similarities to a Stephen King novel, which the book is well aware of, it's the flat characters. It's the 320 pages of a novel that basically leads to the most unsatisfying ending. The whole book had "twists" and "turns" so why didn't the ending leave me speechless?
This could honestly be a one-star read, but there was some semblance of a psychological thriller in there—somewhere deep, deep inside.

I'm so confused as to how this was written by the same author as The Perfect Mother. I'm very clearly in the minority with this one. I don't recommend this one, but I'm not going to sit here and tell you what you should and shouldn't read. There are obviously people out there that absolutely love it.

Was this review helpful?

Sam and Annie are newly married and fresh from the city to a sleepy small town where Sam starts to see patients as a psychologist. One night, Sam does not come home and the entire town searches for him. This was an excellent thriller, a mostly standard thriller but those are the ones I enjoy the most! It had some great twists throughout. I enjoyed this book much more than The Perfect Mother, Molloy's first novel.

Was this review helpful?