I was provided both the audio and print ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This was an interesting domestic thriller. It follows mother and daughter Ruth and Catherine through their daily lives. As we get to know them it quickly becomes clear that Ruth is hiding something. Ruth has always been closed off about her past, and as Catherine is ready to spread her wings as a new college graduate and start her career as a nurse she is more curious than ever about her mom's past. What she doesn't know is that Ruth has carefully cultivated a life to protect herself and Catherine from the past that she is so desperately hiding from. She will do anything to keep Catherine close until she is 100% sure she will be safe from people and events that happened in her past. As the book unfolds we find out the lengths that Ruth is willing to go to to protect her daughter, and how far her daughter is willing to go to find the truth about her mother.

There were some situations that were a bit "unbelievable". I thought it was pretty unrealistic that Catherine wasn't able to figure out her mother's ruse a little more quickly, but overall the storyline was interesting. There were some good twists and turns, but I didn't find this to have high level of suspense. This may have some triggering content for some readers. This is an interesting story of the mother daughter relationship as well as nature vs nature.

As for the audio narration, I thought the narrator did a good job. I would have liked a bit more differentiation between Ruth's voice and Catherine's voice as the book is told from both of their perspectives. It was a bit difficult to tell which woman was at the center of the chapter with only one voice telling the story. I feel the audiobook would have benefitted from a 2nd narrator or if Mara would have been able to voice once of the characters a bit differently.

GONE TONIGHT was completely an addicting and juicy read. This one follows mother and daughter duo, Ruth and Catherine. When Ruth starts to have memory lapses, Catherine is ready to cancel her plans to move to be by her mother’s side. BUT then it starts to get juicy with her finding out some of her mom’s secrets! I loved Ruth’s journal posts and especially when she drops a huge secret to the reader! Usually I have a POV or media entry I’m looking forward to the most, but in this one I really just had to flip the pages and figure out what was happening! Everything about this suspense/ thriller was brilliant and I loved how it played out. Bravo @sarahpekkanen 👏🏼🫶🏻

Thank you @stmartinspress @sarahpekkanen for my gifted copy 💙

Sarah Pekkanen is one of my favorite mystery/thrill authors. This is her third book and it is just as good as her other ones. I read the book and listened to the audiobook and narrative done by the actress Kate Mara is superb. The story main characters are a mother, Ruth and daughter, Catherine. It is filed with lots of twists and turns and kept me guessing until the end. Gone Tonight is my favorite by Pekkanen.

Thank you #NetGalley, #MacmillanAudio, #St.Martin’sPress, #SarahPekkanen, #kateMara and #GoneTonight for the advance audio version for my honest review.

𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦!

I love Sarah’s books and I was so excited for this new release, it was so good.
A wild domestic thriller, with lots of family drama, secrets and deception that will keep you at the edge of your seat.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this gifted copy.

𝗚𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 by Sarah Pekkanen released yesterday August 1, 2023.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

**4.5-stars rounded up**

Gone Tonight is the latest solo-release from beloved Thriller author, Sarah Pekkanen. I have had this one on my radar for a long, long time and she did not disappoint. I listened to the audiobook and was so impressed with how it was able to hook me from the very start. I was intrigued, I was invested, I wasn't able to put it down!!

In this story we're following a mother and daughter, Ruth and Catherine, respectively. Catherine feels like she knows her mother almost as well as she knows herself. It's always been just the two of them against the world.

Ruth loves her daughter Catherine with her whole heart and would do anything for her. Ruth was young when she got pregnant, and she gave up a lot for Catherine, but it was worth it. After all, a mother's life is full of sacrifice.

As Catherine has aged, she has grown strong, smart and independent, just like her mother taught her. She's now ready to spread her wings, move to a new city and get her first career-focused job. It seems like everything is going her way, until it's not.

Secretly, Ruth isn't ready for Catherine to be moving on. She's willing to do what she has to in order to keep her daughter close to her. She knows it's deceptive, but she also knows it's for Catherine's own good. In her efforts to keep Catherine with her, Ruth has inadvertently opened herself up to her daughter's scrutiny for the first time.

Ruth has always been secretive about her past. Catherine knows nothing about Ruth's life before her, or even her own extended family members. Ruth's recent behavior causes Catherine to dig, discovering she may not know her mom so well after all.

Y'all, I loved this! As mentioned above, I was hooked into this one from the start. I thought the plot was well-crafted by Pekkanen, keeping the Reader invested and on the edge of their seats.

I loved the character work. The way the truth of Ruth's past was revealed was completely enticing. We do get Ruth's past perspective to help that unfold and I was just as interested in those past sections as I was with the present perspectives.

I also really enjoyed being in the minds of both of these women, as they grappled with their present circumstances and the reality that they may not know everything about the one closest to them. The way it was written you feel like you're a fly on the wall, possibly with a piece of buttered popcorn, just watching all the drama unfold. It's juicy and captivating.

In short, I love a book that captures my attention enough that I can read it in a day. That's exactly what this one did. I had such a fun experience with this one and would definitely recommend it to other Thriller fans, or people who enjoy reading about complicated family dynamics. If you end up enjoying this one half as much as I did, you're bound to have a good time.

Thank you so, so much to the publisher, St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. In my opinion, Pekkanen nailed this one. She should be proud!!

I didn't read the premise, but knew I wanted to read it since I'm a fan of Sarah Pekkanen's other books (co-written with Greer Hendricks). I assumed that it was a mystery/thriller, but once I started reading it I wasn't so sure. I was captivated from the beginning with this slow burn mother/daughter story and when I reached the first twist and realized YES, this was a thriller after all I couldn't have been more excited! Buckle up for this journey filled with twists & turns.

Ooh, this one was twisty. I liked the alternating points of view of the two main characters. Catherine and Ruth have a messed up relationship, as the reader you vacillate between liking and not liking Ruth as more is revealed about her past. I loved that the ending leaves you wondering if you could see these characters again in a future novel or maybe you won't.

I've read this author's co-writes but never her solo work, and now I'm wondering why that is. The start had me scratching my head, wondering when the psychological thriller part was going to start. But at the end of act I, it finally started in earnest. By the end of the story, I wasn't sure who the actual bad guy (or gal as the case may be) was. There were some twists I saw coming and others that indeed surprised me. Catherine and Ruth were both a bit psycho but with underlying reasons that I found compelling. All in all, a good thriller that will have me coming back to this author again.

I’ve been really enjoying mother/daughter dynamic thrillers lately!! It’s fast paced and kept me engaged and wanting to see how everything turned out. I thought this was going in one direction and was going to be more of a domestic fiction, but stick with it because there is a big twist that drives the story quickly in a different way.

This reminded me a lot of Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter but more digestible and straightforward!

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this eARC!

I've been a Sarah Pekkanen fan ever since I devoured The Opposite of Me in 2010. I've enjoyed all her books since then, including the thrillers she wrote with Greer Hendricks. This time, Sarah wrote a thriller on her own and it's definitely a page turner!

I wasn't sure where the story was going at first, as it felt more like a domestic drama between a mother and daughter. Then the layers kept unfolding and it became more suspenseful and chilling. I don't want to say much as to not give any spoilers, but I really like how everything fell into place. I also liked the homage paid toward one of my favorite movies and the fact that it got a mention in relation to that. My favorite parts of the story were the flashback scenes, aside from one part that was completely unsettling (it was intended to be that way). It made me think of Heathers in some ways.

I had a couple concerns about Ruth's reactions to situations but I can't say much without giving something away. I just felt like she was being overly paranoid at times. I also felt like Catherine could have cut her some more slack.

Overall, really well done. An engaging story that kept me on the edge of my seat!

Movie casting suggestions:
Ruth: Aubrey Plaza
Ruth (teen): Dylan Conrique
Catherine: Julia Goldani Telles
James (teen): Daniel DiMaggio

Possibly a 3.5 - I liked the overall premise of this book and the twists were good and exciting, however the writing just didn't do it for me. It felt like there were a lot of random, descriptive sentences thrown in where the typical writing was a little more vague and broad. Example: "I poured myself a glass of water, chugged the 8 ounces, and poured myself another." I also didn't really like either of our main characters.

Overall this was a fun, easy, popcorn thriller - but not one that I'll be thinking about forever.

Pub: August 1, 2023

Happy pub day @sarahpekkanen !!

A big thank you to @stmartinspress for the gifted copy to read and review💙

Gone Tonight is exactly what I look for in a slow burn thriller: complex characters, backstory!!!, great writing, an intricate plot and a firecracker of an ending.

It also explores complex themes like mother/daughter relationships, nature vs. nurture, and generational abuse.

The story is told from the dual POVs of Ruth, a single mother, and Catherine, her daughter. We also learn more about Ruth through journal entries exploring her past.

What really makes the book's narrative interesting is the way it follows the traditional three act structure, but makes it modern and relevant to the thriller genre. This allows Pekkanen's writing to shine and highlights her strong character development skills and intricate plotting.

* Act one establishes Ruth and Catherine's worlds, their relationships and gives us the first major piece of tension. Think Chekov's g*n
* Act two builds on this reveal and takes it to the next level. Catherine's character arc is a major focus as she becomes more aware and questions the status quo. We also get to learn more about Ruth's past through her journal entries, which are some of my favourite pieces in the book.
* Act three is the climax. Tension is at its peak and the reveals are MAJOR. That's all I can say without spoilers!

I also really want pizza lasagna. And book two, please :)

Bring on all the feelings - heartbroken, shattered, stunned, disbelief, confusion and more - all before I had listened to the first third of the book. Oh my! This story is told in alternating POV between Ruth and her daughter Catherine. The plot twist is quite creative and I did not see it coming. After this revelation both characters behave and move in surprising ways, which kept me on my toes and I was unable to predict how the story would progress. At times I was team Catherine, other times I was team Ruth, while simultaneously wanting them to work as a team and be strong together. The ending of the book left me with questions to ponder, which in this case worked. I have a feeling I will be thinking about this book for a while.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Many thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for a review. Having read all of Greer Hendricks and Pekkanen's earlier co-written novels, I was anxious to read this new thriller written solely by Pekkanen, as I knew it would be a twisty ride. And it did not disappoint!

Catherine is coping with a recent diagnosis of her mother Ruth, but strange clues slowly begin to reveal there may be something else going on with her mother rather than this diagnosis. When I first began this novel, I was a little confused as I thought it was more of a domestic drama dealing with an aging mother and her headstrong daughter. But as it continued, it turned out to be anything but. The book started a little bit slow but once Catherine begins to pick up on the clues, the story really gets going.

I really enjoyed the 2 POVs between Ruth and Catherine and especially enjoyed the parts showing Ruth's back story and how she got to where she is in the present. As typical with many thrillers, the ending did end up a bit over the top and left me scratching my head a little bit. There were some elements of the story that really depended on not questioning them too much as they were just a bit too coincidental, but all in all, this is a well-crafted story and sure to please readers of Pekkanen's earlier works.

While I appreciated the development of the characters in the storyline, it was really had to fathom the skill set required for the 17 year old pregnant girl depicted here. There were numerous gaps that I wanted filled to explain the progress of her life.
The story is delivered by two voices: a mother and daughter with flashbacks that provides the reader with how their two lives have unraveled.
A mother’s love is the emotion that this book evolves around, and what she will do to keep her daughter safe and invisible. As in real life, the past is ultimately revealed and in this case with events that worry both parties and their future relationship.
If the reader hadn’t announced who the main speaker was in each chapter I would not have known, as I didn’t hear an audible alteration of her voice.
The reader will appreciate the continued theme of the story even though there’s a new beginning for both parties that should set their orbits in different directions.

The book was an overall entertaining thriller. I loved the idea of this focusing on a mother and daughter trying to work with and against each other. Both povs are distinct and well done.

I was a bit bored through the majority of this but there were some some very intense moments that I enjoyed. I do feel that some of the plot was a bit to convenient to be believable and the twists predictable.

This was still an interesting if a bit underwhelming read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Gone Tonight by @sarahpekkanen
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐰𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧.“

I’d like to thank both @stmartinspress & Sarah for giving me an ARC of this new thriller in exchange for my honest review🖤

Catherine is her mom’s person- they have a bond that surpasses most mother/daughter relationships. But when a tragic diagnosis threatens to rock her world she begins to wonder why- in all of her 24 years-has her mom never quite let her in? How much does she really know about her mother, Ruth?

This was a wild ride! This book reminded me of a mix between the novel Pieces of Her & the movie Where The Heart Is (which was actually mentioned in the book right after I had that thought lol). I ate this story up! The final twist is pretty awesome too & now I want a sequel that follows Catherine more closely apart from mama Ruth.

All in all a really solid thriller that will most definitely pull you in!

I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Look for it now in your local and online bookstores and libraries.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

It has only been Catherine and her mother, Ruth, for Catherine’s entire life. It seemed like anytime Catherine got close to someone else, her mother would announce that they had to move. They moved a lot during Catherine’s childhood, but now that Catherine has graduated from college and secured her dream job at Johns Hopkins, she’s ready to establish roots in Baltimore. But, Ruth will do anything to keep Catherine close, and as Catherine’s suspicions about Ruth’s past grow, danger lurks in the distance.

This story is told in alternating POVs between Catherine and Ruth. I enjoyed reading the story from each of their perspectives. It really gave good insight into their characters and motives. As all the secrets and lies start to come out, it gets pretty intense, but the second half fell a little flat for me. I still liked it and definitely recommend it, but it could have been great.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Sarah Pekkanen for an ARC of this book!**

"How far would you go to protect the person you love most in the world? I have gone to a place so dark and bleak I barely recognize myself. But I know one thing for certain: I did it out of love."

Mother knows best...or DOES she?

Catherine and Ruth think they know each other better than anyone else: Mama Bear Ruth has always put her daughter first...but now it's time for Catherine to return the favor. Ruth is entering the early stages of Alzheimer's and is showing all of the signs. Though Catherine was poised to leave home and begin her career in the medical field, she just can't bear to leave mom at this critical juncture. However....there's something that's just a bit off. And Catherine's not about to stop until she finds out EXACTLY what her mom has been hiding...

Ruth has been running for a long time...but not just from town to town. In the past, she's used financial strains and a life separate from Catherine's father as a justification for frequent moves and a bevvy of secrets. But with her daughter growing suspicious and her hidden past rushing back to meet her...can Ruth make one last escape before a certain someone---and some THING---she's been desperate to keep hidden makes one final, deadly appearance?

I've had mixed luck with Sarah Pekkanen's brand of psychological thrillers (co-penned with Greer Hendricks): The Wife Between Us was a catastrophic miss, while last year's The Golden Couple was one of my favorite reads of 2022. I was very curious to see how I'd fare with a solo Pekkanen book....and I'm 'thrilled' to report this experiment was a STUNNING success! Without a partner, I'd even go as far as to say that Pekkanen might have gone a bit further, been a bit more focused, AND had two dynamic POVs that were the perfect yin and yang to keep the mystery humming!

This might not have started off as a page turning read...but it QUICKLY turned into one! Though I was more than a bit wary of plot devices like Ruth's diary....before long, I was got a rush of excitement each time more of her backstory was revealed. There is NOTHING, and I mean nothing, that sells me faster on a plot like this than nice, JUICY backstory...and this one has it in spades. I felt Pekkanen gave her characters room to breathe, change, and evolve, and while the plot wasn't anything new, it was JUST twisty and unexpected enough to give me pause and make me think more often than not. I think what gave it that extra oomph was the way Pekkanen kept her chapters short, the action punchy, AND also colored the narrative with the complex dynamics of mother-daughter relationships.

This sort of emotional gravitas can be so difficult to capture and balance with the thrill-a-minute action found so often in the genre, but Pekkanen utilized this duo effortlessly to explore these questions of right and wrong. Again, this message isn't new, but something about the pace and the blend of old and new, now and then, felt visceral and real, as though it could have been ripped from the headlines of today's newspapers. Without spoilers, it's hard to discuss, but there are many moments from Ruth's childhood that will GRAB you...and a few that even had me choking up a bit. There are also plenty of nail-biter chapter endings...prepare to clear your schedule and keep those snacks handy! It's so rare that I would willfully forego sleep to read a book these days (with a two year old running around) but this is one book that made it MORE than worth it!

This novel centers around the concept of being here and being gone, and what it means to be both: physically, mentally, AND emotionally. And while I won't give anything away, I'll leave you with just a taste of the intrigue you'll find in this one: "She never even noticed me, which was my intention. I'm used to traveling through life as a ghost. I'm very good at disappearing."

"Women do it all time."

😉

4.5 stars

Thank you @stmartinspress for my copy of Gone Tonight! This is all about mother- daughter duo Ruth and Catherine. They have a very close relationship but Catherine realizes she doesn’t know her mother as well as she thought and sets out to figure out who her mother is. Ruth will do anything to keep Catherine close to her and Catherine begins to question what exact is Ruth hiding?

This started off a bit slower for me but really built up the back story as we get both Catherine and Ruth’s POV. It was different than most thrillers I have read but I didn’t have that edge of my seat gripping pages feeling until the end of the book. I liked the characters and some overall topics in this book which could lead to a bigger conversation 💫