Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen is a book about the lengths mother's will go to to protect their children and all that is involved in that. Catherine Sterling works at an elder care home and specializes with the memory care patients in the home. She has graduated and been offered a new job at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore working with Alzheimer's patients. Catherine lives in Pennsylvania currently with her mother, Ruth. Ruth has raised Catherine as a single mom and has told her daughter that her father didn't know she was even born. He was just a boy she dated and didn't want him involved. She tells Catherine that her family kicked her out when she was 16 and became pregnant as they were an overly religious Catholic family. The problem is none of this is true. Will Catherine find out the truth? Why is Ruth hiding the truth from her daughter? Who is her father? Why do they never see their family? Are they still alive? Ruth has told Catherine that she grew up in Virginia. Is that true?

Catherine starts worrying about her mom when she begins getting forgetful about things. She starts leaving drawers open, putting the eggs in a cabinet, her keys in the refrigerator, and can't find her way home at times. Catherine is very familiar with Alzheimer's patients as she works with them daily. She believes her mom may be suffering from early onset Alzheimer's or dementia and schedules an appointment for her. During that appointment, Ruth lets slip that her mother died before she was 50 from early onset Alzheimers. Catherine is really worried about her mom and wonders if she'll be able to leave for her new job in Baltimore now? Will Ruth improve so that Catherine can keep her job at Hopkins? Why doesn't Ruth know any religious songs or phrases that Catherine throws into conversation if she was brought up in a strict Catholic family?

Ruth is hiding something huge from Catherine and it scares her so much that she's moved every few years and changed her name from her childhood name. Will that fear become a reality? Will the person Ruth is afraid of track them down? Will Catherine find out about Ruth's terrifying past? This book keeps you on edge until the very end. I rate Gone Tonight 4 stars and give it a high recommendation. I'd like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of Gone Tonight in exchange for a fair review. The book is available now so be sure to get it! #GoneTonight

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this thriller about a mother and daughter...and I wish i had time to pick it up sooner, but once I did I could not put it down! This book is about a mom, Ruth and a daughter, Catherine who lead an unconventional life. With Catherine about to head off to college, secrets about them and their relationship are slowly revealed and its just. a page turner from there out! The characters are well developed and fascinating, and I loved the dual timelines. This is a must read!

This is a story of a mother and daughter and the secrets they keep from each other. It was a good story and kept me well entertained. I appreciated the twists in the story, although none of them seemed particularly shocking. I would recommend this to someone who hasn’t read many books in this genre.

This was one of my top favs this year! I definitely recommend this book! It’s got spice, mystery and just a little bit of everything!

A huge thank you to the wonderful people over at SMP for the opportunity to read, listen to, and review this highly anticipated book.

Catherine and Ruth are mother and daughter. All Catherine's life, it has just been them two. Catherine is preparing to move away and begin a new career. Ruth is about to stop at nothing to prevent that. Catherine begins to realize that she doesn't know her mother nearly as well as she thought she did. Ruth is going to drastic lengths to keep secrets from her daughter. Is everything a lie?

I thoroughly enjoy a dual-timeline / dual-POV story and this book did NOT disappoint. It switches back and forth between Ruth and Catherine, and I loved this format, especially since lies and deception are a key element of the plot. The web of lies slowly but surely unravels throughout the book as we learn more and more about Ruth's past, and it kept me reading and listening almost nonstop. It's a very emotional story, and becomes rife with a sense of danger towards the end. You find yourself hating, sympathizing with, and rooting for Ruth all at the same time. This book elicited some strong emotional reactions from me, which I think is a testament to the writing (and the narration). I'd highly recommend this one to anyone who enjoys dual-POVs, plot twists, multiple timelines, and suspense.

Wow! This is one of Pekkanen’s best. This was a slow rise to an amazing climax. I loved the back and forth perspective between Ruth and Catherine. I could not put this down, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

GONE TONIGHT is a psychological thriller by New York Times bestselling author Sarah Pekkanen. Being a fan of the writing duo Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen since their debut novel The Wife Between Us, I was very interested in reading Sarah’s solo novel. In this novel the author explores the lengths a mother will go to protect her child.

Her Novels include:
Novels
The Opposite of Me (2010)
Skipping a Beat (2011)
These Girls (2012)
The Best of Us (2013)
Catching Air (2014)
Things You Won't Say (2015)
The Perfect Neighbors (2016)
The Wife Between Us (2018) (with Greer Hendricks)
The Ever After (2018)
An Anonymous Girl (2018) (with Greer Hendricks)
You Are Not Alone (2020) (with Greer Hendricks)
The Golden Couple (2022) (with Greer Hendricks)
Gone Tonight (2023)
House of Glass (2024)

This is my review of Gone Tonight.

This is the story of a mother and daughter, Ruth and Catherine, where Ruth has devoted her life to raising her daughter. There was just the two of them and they were so close…the two of them against the world.

Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. Forty-two-year-old Ruth Sterling is quiet, and works as a waitress at the local diner, and lives with her daughter. But now, Catherine, a successful nurse at just 24 years old, currently working part-time at a nursing home, is in the process of beginning a new career, moving shortly out of the home to Baltimore and about to start work at a hospital.

But Ruth has been showing strange symptoms of absentminded, loss of train of thought, losing money, misplacing her keys, and when Catherine took her mother to see a neurologist, she learns that her mother might be in the early stages of Alzheimer's for the past four months. This revelation comes with the added shock of learning that her grandmother suffered from the same disease before passing away.

What Ruth wants is for Catherine to put off moving to Baltimore and working at Hopkins. She wants her daughter to stay close to her.

Catherine cancels her plans to move to look after her mother. But not everything is as it seems…dark secrets her mother has been keeping hidden. Catherine finds herself living with a stranger, with danger all around her.

The novel alternates between Ruth and Catherine…and little by little we learn about Ruth’s history.

Favorite quote:
“How long until I’m the sole memory keeper of our life together.”

I loved this book, full of intrigue and suspense, and once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. For me this journey brought back memories of dealing with a loved one with dementia, while sad it rekindled the strength of our bond, and how much we loved each other.

Many thanks to the author, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for my digital copy.

Gone Tonight is the latest single solo release from Sarah Pekkanen. It’s a mother-daughter teamed thriller filled with secrets, lies, unraveling of the truth and a frantic race for safety.

This story has two perspectives that alternate between the mother, Ruth, and her grown daughter, Catherine. Ruth and her daughter have always been close, though Catherine is ready to branch out on her own. When her mom is suddenly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Catherine cancels her plans and decides to stay home to care for her. Her mom has always been secretive with some suspicious behaviors, but when Catherine begins to question things and her mom refuses to answer, Catherine decides to investigate on her own. However, the truth may be far more dark and dangerous than she ever realized.

This story has the lack of communication trope that I find quite frustrating. Would a candid conversation change the trajectory of the plot? Quite possibly, but then we wouldn’t have a story, and there are some mildly understandable reasons why Ruth kept her secrets to herself. The ending also left the reader to draw their own conclusion on something rather important, which I don’t mind, but some readers will.

Gone Tonight doesn’t necessarily have a unique theme, but the way it is handled has some intriguing twists and unusual angles that keep it interesting. The story held my attention throughout it’s entirety, and I was eager to see what would happen next and how it would all play out in the end. Gone Tonight is a quick-reading, entertaining thriller, and I will continue to look forward to this author’s work.

Gone tonight by Sarah Pekkanen was absolutely amazing! I went into this book blind and really didn’t know what it was about. The story that unfolds is about a mother’s secrets and her daughter trying to figure out what her mom
Is hiding. Each chapter is told from either Ruth or Catherine‘s point of view. Ruth is a 40 something single mom who has devoted her whole life to her daughter Catherine. Catherine has just graduated nursing school and is in her early 20s. She starts to suspect something is going on with her mom and becomes consumed with digging into her mom’s past.
This book had two of my favorite plot devices… alternating points of view, and past and present chapters. Ruth story is revealed chapter by chapter and comes to a breathtaking conclusion. I hated to finish this book. I cannot wait to read more books by this author. Thank you to NetGalley, and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

5 out of 5

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press

I have been a fan of Sarah Pekkanen since I read An Anonymous Girl by her and Greer Hendricks. This is the first book that I read by Sarah alone and I really enjoyed it. This is kind of a slow burn and it takes a it to really get into the mystery full on but when you do it is amazing.

Kate Mara was a really good narrator. I find that not everyone is great at audio narration and even though you would assume that all actors would be great but some aren't. I really enjoyed Kate though.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this read. This book was something else..the twists!! Chef's kiss. I liked this read and it just kept coming. What a mother will do for her child. Lies..it was just nuts. When you start and you feel like you do not know where this is going, keep pressing on.

I was excited to receive this ARC from Sarah Pekkanen as I love the books with Greer Hendricks. This story had a unique plot and is told in alternating points of view of a mother, Ruth, and her daughter, Catherine, and goes back in time from Catherine's past as a child to now. Ruth has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and her doctor suggests Ruth and Catherine spend more time together before they are no longer able to. As Catherine tries to help her mother with remembering things from her past, she begins to uncover some inconsistencies in statements about Ruth's past, and begins digging deeper into her past. And Ruth will do anything to stop her. I don't want to give anything else away as I don't want to ruin the plot. Very good read, fast paced.

This is a prime example of a well written book. The story was well-paced, a great amount of thrill/mystery, and it left me wanting more. A great read!

Catherine Sterling and her mother Ruth are close. Closer than most mother/daughter relationships. All Catherine’s life it has been just the two of them. But now that Catherine is ready to leave the nest, there is a shift in their relationship.

Ruth is desperate to keep Catherine close and has concocted a plan to keep her from pursuing her career. She is desperately afraid Catherine will be in danger. But why?

As Catherine realizes what her mother is up to, she discovers that Ruth has been keeping some big secrets from her and she wonders if her mother is even trustworthy at all.

Slowly the past is revealed, both to Catherine and to the reader. I was caught up in the story from the start and it was easy to stay connected. The ending definitely left me thinking about what lies ahead for Catherine.

This is a very satisfying mystery/thriller and I am happy to recommend it to readers who enjoy the genre.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advance copy. I am happy to offer my honest review.

Twisty thriller about a mother & her daughter as they navigate life together against a mysterious family background. Unexpected plot twists throughout the book, but a somewhat predictable ending.

I absolutely loved this book. I was so excited to read it because I had seen so many great reviews, but you never know if a book will live up to the hype. Well for me, it definitely did!

This thriller checked all the boxes for me. Multiple POVs, domestic suspense, never knowing who you can believe, and the promise of something more sinister lurking underneath the surface. The pacing was perfect and I did not want to stop reading.

I also loved that the focus here was a mother and daughter relationship. I’m super close to my mom, so I always find it fascinating to read about different interactions between a mother and her child.

Although this wasn’t as shocking as some other favourite thrillers of mine, it was brilliantly written and consistently eerie. If you enjoy thrillers, I highly recommend this one!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copy!

Catherine, a nurse in the memory care wing of a nursing home, has always been close with her mom Ruth. It’s always been the two of them, moving from city to city, and never really making room for anyone else to get close. But now, with Catherine’s background, it’s easy for her to see the signs of Alzheimer’s in her own mom. Catherine cancels her upcoming move, to stay and take care of her mom, but then she starts to question the secrets that Ruth seems to be harboring. The chapters alternate between Catherine and Ruth’s perspectives, and Ruth’s story goes way back in time to a dramatic high school incident that shaped the rest of her life. Unfortunately, while I liked this book, I didn’t love it nearly as much as most of Sarah Pekkanen’s amazing novels; the main characters were all really unlikable, and some of the major plot points were hard to believe. Things picked up a lot in the last quarter of the book, but it also got pretty violent in one of those “where are the police?” kind of ways, which made it end on a sour note for me.

4.5 stars

Ruth lies to keep her daughter, Catherine safe. Ruth has been lying for Catherine's entire life, and now Catherine is determined to find out what secrets her mother is keeping, and why.

Coming off of a string of domestic thrillers, I found this book to be just the change I needed. Told from alternating POV's both mother and daughter, the plot was intense with enough twists to keep the reader wondering what was going to happen next. You will find yourself sympathizing with both characters during the course of this book, but, in the end, there is only one who should have your support...and you'll never guess who it is...

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley, and the author for this ARC!

Twisty and compelling. Quick fast read.
I really enjoyed the unique storyline in this book. It was fast read. I was hooked on the story of the mother and daughter duo and wanting to know more. Last 50% of book flew by as things starting piecing together. Ruth and Catherine have lived a pretty secluded life- constantly moving and changing schools. Catherine’s mother keeps a close eye on her daughter. Her daughter graduates and has a great job opportunity lined up in Boston. However her mother starts to show early signs of Alzheimer’s and this changes her plans to move away. She decides to stay home to help keep an eye on her mother. However, she starts to question more about the past and her mother’s story. This is when you’re hooked and really wanting to know more of the why, what and how of Ruth’s past. Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Sarah Pekkanen is one of my favorite authors, so I was thrilled to get an advance reader copy of her new domestic thriller Gone Tonight. This story is told from a mother’s and a daughter’s point of view. The author did a good job of building suspense and then throwing in a twist. I read the book in one sitting because I wanted to find out what happened next! Don’t start this one at bedtime unless you are prepared to read to the early morning hours. Thank you, NetGalley, for the copy of this five star read!