If this isn’t on your TBR for August, you should add it on now!

Fast paced, against the clock, a couple twists, and a mystery unraveling with present and past POVs?

This thriller had everything I needed! Short chapters and some suspense! A great palate cleanser to get you out of a slump.

Thank you to the publisher for my gifted copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Gone Tonight is about a 41 year-old woman named Ruth and her 24 year-old daughter, Catherine. They have a very close relationship and share everything with each other. Well, almost everything. When Ruth starts exhibiting signs of early Alzheimer's disease things start to fall apart and hidden cracks are shown. Gone Tonight is a thrilling novel where the past meets the future and then they both collide.

I enjoyed reading Gone Tonight and thought the dual perspective really worked well. The pace was quite slow and just eases its way through the story. While I did enjoy it, I wasn't at the edge of my seat. Unfortunately, I found it to be very predictable and wasn't surprised by any of the plot twists. This did have an impact on my enjoyment overall. I love being surprised and shocked with thrillers but I just didn't get that here.

The story itself is interesting and easy to get through. It just wasn't something that shook me.

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen is a unique psychological thriller that might more aptly be classified as a suspenseful women’s fiction story with thriller elements. But you know what? I loved the unique qualities! This mother/daughter story, told in alternate chapters by Ruth, the mother, and Catherine, the daughter, reads in many ways relatable and is thoroughly compelling.

The story has a prolonged beginning that is kept fast in reading pace due to short chapters and loads of suspense. This is one of the unique qualities. I’ve never differentiated between story and reading pace, but you have to with this novel. Even though the story starts slow, it works in teasers about secrets like a leaky faucet - drip, drip, dripping the secrets in a slow, methodical rhythm that held me thoroughly engrossed. I especially loved Ruth’s back story, where most thriller elements come in. And, if you are wondering, the story does pick up drastically around the 40% mark.

I also enjoyed how totally clever this story is. Subterfuge isn’t derived via dumb luck, as I’ve seen in many stories. Instead, it is very cleverly crafted with subtle slights of hand that, on a psychological level, would work. This fascinated me and demonstrated how well-developed Catherine and Ruth are as characters. Some so many layers and nuances are beautifully written and artfully delivered.

Lastly, that ending! It is a genuinely creepy ending to a thriller, and I adored it!

Awesome book - thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns and could relate to the characters. I liked the other books by this author and look forward to others.

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen

This story alternates chapters between mother Ruth and daughter Catherine. The author weaves in tense moments with mystery and some predictably.

Catherine knows something is amiss in her mother’s narrative of their lives, and she is determined to uncover those secrets. Why have they moved so often, who is her father and who is Ruth, really?

Very similar in their deceptions, Ruth and Catherine play cat and mouse until they can’t any longer. Danger is at every turn. It is a well crafted story, though too wordy at points which needlessly draw out the story. I thank #StMartinsPress and #NetGalley for this ARC, which I rate at 3.5 stars, and will push up to 4.

What happens when you learn the person you trust the most has been lying to you? What happens when you realize those lies go further than you could imagine?

“Gone Tonight” explores a close-knit mother/daughter relationship that starts to unravel because of a lie. The story starts off with promise, as Catherine and Ruth deal with horrible health diagnosis that will change both their lives. However slowly and because of this diagnosis, Catherine starts to uncover cracks in the stories Ruth has told her daughter her whole life. As more and more cracks surface, Catherine becomes determined to find out the truth while Ruth is determined to keep her past hidden.

A thriller in it’s purest form, this story provides the twists and turns that I expected, but I wish they weren’t as predictable as they were. I’m not usually the type of reader that guesses the twists in the story, so when the unusual happens, I can’t help but be disappointed a bit. The detail the author sprinkles through the story to make the ending conceivable is also what makes it foreseeable. By the time I got the end, it wasn’t a matter of what would happen, but when it would happen.

The start and buildup were well written and enjoyable, so I don’t think a thriller lover will be disappointed in giving this book a try, whether its an ok read or a great read will depend on how much they can guess as they read along.

**Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for this review. All thoughts expressed here are my own. I appreciate the opportunity**

There are the constantly twisting thrillers with reveal after reveal, and while those can be fun, they can also make you dizzy. True thriller lovers also appreciate the slow burn, the building of story until it bursts into an inferno and all is unraveled. That is Sarah Pekkanen's Gone Tonight. Not only is the plot carefully crafted, building layer upon layer, but the characters are relatable and believable. Ruth would do anything to protect her daughter Catherine. As the tag line on the back of the book says, "Their bond runs deep. There les run dark." How could you not love it?

I love everything this author has written and her new book, “Gone Tonight” keeps the standard held high. The story follows Ruth, a mother losing her memory, and her daughter Catherine, who is excited to move away. Ruth refuses to tell Catherine who her father is, but Catherine searches for him behind her back. She doesn’t understand all the “cloak and daggers” lifestyle they’ve lived, and is determined to find out what’s truth and what’s fiction.
As Ruth’s illness progresses, Catherine reads and studies everything she can about it. Catherine is stunned to read an almost identical play-by-play of episodes her mother has had with her forgetfulness. She knows she’s being manipulated, and she’s going to fight back. The more she learns, the more she realizes everything she thought she knew about her mother is a lie. And meanwhile, her mother remains quiet, calculating, and conniving. Is the truth something to fear?
Tense from the first paragraph with an interesting twist near the end, I will gladly add this to my list of 5-star reviews for Sarah.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is August 1, 2023.

This was an amazing book. The author did an outstanding job having you understand how each character was feeling and swapped between characters seamlessly. The ending tied everything together and did not feel rushed which is great. It was more of a domestic thriller but everyone views the genres differently so do not go off of just one person's opinion.

Thank you to the author and netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was another fab thriller from Sarah Pekkanen.
This had a very slow burn build but when the first "reveal" came out I went "NO WAY!" I really liked the story - I thought it was incredibly fresh and different and unlike anything I've read before.

Catherine is ready to leave her mother and start on her own. But, when Ruth develops signs of early Alzheimer’s, Catherine stays home to care for her. She also wants to know more about Ruth’s background. So she starts digging into Ruth’s past. Meanwhile, Ruth is desperate to keep Catherine by her side. To do that, she will do anything to keep her there, including lie. But, as Catherine unearths more of her mother’s past and Ruth tries desperately to keep the truth from her, things start to come apart. What is Ruth hiding from Catherine?

When I read the blurb for Gone Tonight, I knew this was a book that I needed to read. I am a big fan of Sarah Pekkanen and love psychological thrillers. I went into this book with high expectations. I ended the book slightly confused. I don’t know if it was the author’s intention, but I didn’t like it.

Gone Tonight is a fast-paced book. For the most part, the pacing of the book suited the storyline. But there were times during the book when I wished it had slowed down. There was also some lag in the middle of the book.

The main storyline in Gone Tonight focuses on Ruth, her lies, her relationship with Catherine, and Catherine’s investigation into her mother’s past. The main storyline was well-written, and the plotline had a few exciting twists.

The characters in Gone Tonight didn’t impress me. Ruth came across as extremely smothering and a pathological liar. She pushed Catherine into investigating her past. Catherine didn’t impress me, either, but I understood why she did the things she did. All she wanted was answers, and she did get them but at a cost.

The mystery angle of the book was interesting. I liked how the author gave out Ruth’s back story. But, at the same time, I didn’t quite believe it (she’s a known liar). There were a few twists in this angle that did surprise me. There is also the mystery of Catherine and how her mother views her. It is at odds with the Catherine shown, and I did think that maybe Ruth was overthinking things until the end of the book and when Catherine did something that surprised me.

The thriller angle of the book was well written. I was kept on edge by everything that Catherine uncovered, even though Ruth had admitted to it earlier in her journal.

The end of Gone Tonight left me confused. I couldn’t quite figure out what Ruth meant by what she said and what that meant for Catherine. The main storyline was wrapped up, but there was that last comment. Did it mean what I think it means? Or does it mean something else?

I recommend Gone Tonight to anyone over 21. There is violence, language, and fade to black sexual situations.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Sarah Pekkanen for allowing me to read and review Gone Tonight. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

Let me say that this is a book anyone who loves a good thriller should read. It's got so many emotions. So much going on. It even has you holding your breath in many places and trying to guess what exactly is going on.

A story about a mother and daughter. Their journey. One's survival. One's future. One's past. How it all can come crashing down. How life is possibly rebuilt and carried on.

This is a story of the aftermath of a young girls life after she's already endured so much pain. How her love for one man breaks her. Sends her on a life journey that could save her life. And the life of her unborn child.

After horrific abuse from her mother and being molested by the high school coach and her best friend making her life almost unbearable Ruth turns to her new friend James. James makes her feel loved and protected. He knows exactly what to say. He knows exactly what to do. But when they take things too far. When it costs a life. When Ruth sees that things just might not be so rosy. What will happen. The night of the murder Ruth is suppose to meet James and they will run away together. But Ruth makes different plans. She has to go but alone. She no longer trusts James to not hurt her.

Twenty five years have passed since Catherine left her hometown. She has a daughter, Catherine, to think about. She's kept her safe for twenty four years but things are changing. Catherine is now a nurse and plans to move. She has a job waiting that is perfect for her. But there are reasons she does not need to be there. Reasons her mother will not share.

Ruth has so many secrets. As does Catherine. Are things as they seem? Can they really trust each other completely. What big secrets is Ruth hiding from Catherine. What secrets are Catherine hiding from Ruth. Secrets that could cost them both dearly.

This book is so good. It's a thriller that literally has you holding your breath. Things going on that make you wonder. Make you have more questions. All those questions are answered. Every single one. At first I didn't like Ruth. I thought what she did to Catherine was horrible. But after reading more I understood. She's a mother would would do anything to keep her daughter safe. I do mean anything. Even lie! Sometimes you have to do things you wish you didn't. Ruth was strong and weak at the same time. Strong in that she pulled herself out of bad situations at such a young age to make a life for herself and then for her daughter. Weak in that she had to lie to her daughter to do it. But sometimes a mother's love knows no bounds. Sometimes a mother will do whatever it takes to keep that child safe.

Thank you #NetGalley, #SarahPekkanen, #StMartinsPress, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this one.

Five huge stars. From the very start to the very last word this book had me hooked. And it made me cry in places too....

Being very familiar with Sarah Pekkanen from her co-written novels with Greer Hendricks, I was excited to get my hands on this solo write of Pekkanen's (and I was not disappointed)!

Mother and daughter Ruth and Catherine Sterling have only known their 28 years together as a unit: Ruth worked minimum-wage jobs and moved as needed to support Catherine as best she could while the latter attended nursing school. Therefore, imagine Catherine's heartbreak when, just after accepting her dream job at Johns Hopkins, Ruth is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's.

While the pace of the book was slow up through this point in the story, I thought I was going to be misled. Did Pekkanen really write a family drama, or is there more beneath the surface? As it turned out, things with Ruth weren't quite what they appeared to be, and through alternating chapters, hers and Catherine's stories unfolded into a hide-and-seek thriller. The more Catherine digs into her mother's past, the more questions she finds than answers, and the more danger she and Ruth barrel toward.

For personal reasons, I'm glad the plot strayed away from the Alzheimer's and focused more on the dynamic between Catherine and Ruth (although the beginning plot does masterfully fit with the plot as a whole). and how that changed from codependence into a functional adult relationship. Their relationship being at the heart of the story really resonated with me, and for that I'm glad. The thrill aspect of the plot was equally as enthralling; the more Catherine pulled at the threads of her mother's life, the closer to the edge of my seat I found myself, breathless until the very end.

I will say that the suspension of belief was a little more than usual for Pekkanen's thriller, although I didn't find that as surprising as I would have considering her's and Hendricks' previous books. Pekkanen toed the line between annoyingly unbelievable and just enough unbelievable to still be enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book took me where I didn't expect to go!! Told in chapters devoted to and told in the voice of Catherine (daughter) and Ruth (mother), the story unfolds in a way that the reader wonders what is the truth and where are we going? Catherine is a young nurse who is planning a new job and will be moving away from her mother. But then, her mother shows signs of Alzheimers that Catherine cannot ignore. And from there - the whirlwind takes us into the story of deceit, lies, and motherly love and protection --- but from what? As Catherine begins to really question her mother's past, Ruth begins to write a journal about her past. As the stories converge -Catherine unknowingly invites danger into their lives, and they must finally work together to escape. But as this happens - Ruth becomes more aware of Catherine's danger to herself - and vows to protect her at all cost. This book kept me wanting to read more and more until I could reach the end. For fans of mystery/thriller genre and Sarah Pekkanen, this is another must read. Would like to review at 4.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Pressfor the opportunity to read and review this advance reader copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #NetGalley #GoneTonight

if you like twisty, duel perspective thrillers this book is for you.

Gone Tonight alternates between Ruth and her daughter, Catherine. Ruth had to “disappear” following an incident with her then boyfriend. While running away, she discovered she was pregnant and now her life is devoted to keeping her daughter safe. There are mysteries surrounding both Ruth and Catherine that keep you guessing the whole time.

At the beginning, I wasn’t sure where this book was going because it didn’t really start out as a “thriller” more like just a story of a mother and daughter but it started to speed up and overall I enjoyed it.

A Mother’s Secrets

Ruth, a single mother, and her daughter Catherine have always been close. Now Catherine has graduated from nursing school and plans to take a prestigious job at Johns Hopkins necessitating a move away from her mother. Ruth will do anything to stop her. As Ruth tries to bind her daughter closer to her, Catherine wants to know why and begins to search for secrets in her mother’s past.

The author uses an effective technique to let us follow both Ruth’s and Catherine’s thoughts. The chapters are told first from one point of view then the other. I found this a very good way to bring out both women’s secrets without having to strain the progress of the plot.

The plot moves rather slowly as Catherine works to unravel her mother’s secrets. However, the continuing revelations keep the story moving. I wondered how the author would handle the ending. There didn’t seem to be much left, but the ending pulled the story together and explained each woman’s behavior.

The book is not an action packed thriller. It is more of a psychological drama. However, the twists in the plot keep you reading and the ending makes sense of the story. I thought it was well done.

Thanks to the publisher and Net Gallery for this review copy.

Good book, it was definitely psychological and suspenseful, but I wouldn’t say there were any major twists or anything like that. The plot was very good.

It took me until about the 25% mark to get into this book, but once the story started taking shape, I really enjoyed it. Told from the POV of both Ruth and her daughter, Catherine, we follow the duo as secrets begin to unravel. Through Ruth's journal entries, we get flashes of the past she's trying to keep hidden; while Catherine is secretly working to learn the truth.
I enjoyed following both characters as the pieces begin to fall into place. The story had a few twists and turns along the way that kept me engaged, and even saved a few for the very end. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to @netgalley @macmillan.audio and @stmartinspress for the gifted copy of this book.

Whew! This book took me on a ride! The dynamics between Catherine and Ruth were interesting. What appeared as one way at first, soon morphed into something else. I enjoyed the way this story was told and how little by little the reader learns of Ruth’s history and how she became the woman she is today. This book kept twisting and I had no idea what was waiting for me on the next page! This book held my attention and kept me guessing.

I've seen a lot of mixed reviews for this one and I can understand why. I feel like this is one of those books that you're either going to love or hate. For me, it worked and I enjoyed it. It was what I was in the mood for so it hit the spot. The short chapters were perfect and kept me engaged and turning the pages.

This thriller was a bit of a slow burn. Usually I like my thrillers to be more fast paced, but it was ok here. It had just enough going on that it kept me intrigued and it did make me think about things a few times. That being said, there were no huge twists and at times, the plot was mildly predictable. As someone who reads a lot of thrillers, this was nothing new. I did really enjoy the unreliable characters and the premise of the story. While it wasn't mind blowing, it was a quick read for me which I always like. I was entertained while reading, so that's always a plus for me!