Gone tonight is a slow paced thriller.( if that’s not a thing it should be) Catherine Sterlings mom has the beginnings of Alzheimer’s and seems to be holding Catherine back from her big move. Catherine starts to unravel the mystery of her mom and so much more, The ending was a perfect way to end their stories or maybe even continue them?!

I’ve been a big fan of Sarah Pekkanen’s thrillers with Greer Hendricks, and was super excited to see that she had a solo novel releasing!

Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. It’s always just been the two of them. But when she is about to embark on a new career in a new city, she begins to realize that everything she thought she knew about her mother was a lie.

🔍 alternating POVs
🔍 slow burn
🔍 mother-daughter story

This slow-burn is told in alternating POVs. I enjoyed getting both Catherine and Ruth’s perspectives. Pekkanen did a great job of revealing twists that shock both the reader and Catherine. Some of Ruth’s chapters include notebook entries explaining her story, and these entries made me keep wanting more!

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy.

Wow. I loved the past books I read co-written by this author, but this is my first book she's written solo. And just wow. I was immediately hooked and binged it in 2 days on vacation. What a twisty wild ride!

Gone Tonight is a domestic thriller told in alternating POV chapters between Ruth and her daughter Catherine. Ruth also creates some journal entries that give us information about her past.

Catherine is getting ready to move after nursing school, and Ruth begins to show signs of Alzheimers. Catherine is devastated and changes her plans to stay at home to care for her mother. Ruth has been very secretive about her entire life and past and Catherine is determined to find out more about her mom before it's too late.

I appreciated the detail and obvious research the author put into the bits about the Memory Care Center that Catherine works at, and the symptoms of these diseases.

I seriously don't want to give anything away. If you are a domestic thriller fan, grab this book as soon as it's out!

This one wasn’t my favorite. Loved how the book was written in dual povs and with Ruth, the mother, writing to her daughter about her past since she now has early onset dementia. I wanted more from the big reveal and felt that it was kind of impossible how long Ruth remained in hiding as a teenager with a baby.

Excellent story about a mother who will do anything to protect her child. There are plenty of twists and turns as this story unfolds leaving us on a bit of a cliffhanger! Sarah Pekkanen can always be counted on to give us a spellbinder!

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

This was one of those books that I simultaneously couldn't put down and didn't want to end!

Ruth Sterling is a single mom working hard to provide for and protect her daughter, Catherine. Catherine is in her early 20s and about to move away from home for the first time to start a new job at a hospital in geriatrics in a new city. But then Ruth starts forgetting little things and getting lost on her way home from the local drugstore. As someone who works in a nursing home caring for people with dementia and Alzheimer's, Catherine recognizes the signs and after a Dr. Appointment seems to confirm the diagnosis, Catherine realizes her plans to move away may need to change.

But this development starts Catherine asking even more questions about her mother's past. Why did they move around so much? Where did she grow up? What was her family like? Catherine stumbles into an investigation that she didn't even know existed bringing her closer and closer to the truth about Ruth's past . . . and the danger that hides therein.

I loved how the book started off seemingly as a tale of a mother and daughter grappling with illness before it slowly transformed into a compelling and suspenseful thriller!

Thank you to St. Martin's press for the advance copy provided through NetGalley.

Twenty-four year old Catherine Sterling has only known life with an overprotective mother. They don’t have any other family and share an apartment and car and each other’s phone locations. They have moved several times but this will be the first time that they will live separately as Catherine has taken a job as a nurse at a hospital in another city. All that is threatened when Catherine starts noticing some strange behaviours from her mother that may result in Catherine not taking her new job. From Ruth’s perspective, she will do anything to protect her daughter including keeping her as close as possible. Ruth has secrets that are threatening to cause harm to her and Catherine and decides to keep a journal to pass on to her daughter, should anything go awry.

As a fan of short chapters, mother/daughter stories and alternating POVs, I was hooked. I binged the last 50% of this book and loved all the crumbs dropped along the way. It was a slower burn for the first half and I have read comments from reviewers saying this wasn’t for them but I didn’t mind it one bit. I was invested in the storyline, the deception and discoveries, the suspenseful jaw drop moments and in the journal entries.

I was in the mood to read escapism and didn’t care about believability. So if you don’t mind suspending belief and are looking for a story to keep you on your toes, then pick up Gone Tonight by @sarahpekkanen when it comes out August 1st.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

As always, potential triggers will be shared to my StoryGraph review (also Pomoevareads)

Catherine Sterling grew up with just her single mother, Ruth. They've always been close with it being just the two of them and they moved around a lot. Catherine never thought to question her mother's decisions growing up. But now that Catherine is moving away from home, it seems like Ruth will do anything to keep her close. Catherine begins to wonder if she even knows her mother at all.

It took me a good third of the book to get into the story. Things got off to a really slow start, but once things picked up I was invested and couldn't stop reading.

Gone Tonight is an enjoyable, twisty novel about a mother and daughter keeping secrets from each other. Ruth Sterling has run from her past for the last twenty-five years. Around that time, she had a daughter, Catherine. Ruth has been a devoted, but seemingly codependent mother. Ruth is only in her early 40s and has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease. Though she was headed to Johns Hopkins for graduate school, Catherine feels compelled to stay home with her mother. From there, we learn more and more about Ruth's past. The story is riveting, though I did see some of the reveals coming. I enjoyed Kate Mara's audiobook narration, but it would have been easier to follow if there were two narrators for the dual viewpoints.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for providing this ebook / audiobook ARC. All thoughts are my own.

I was unreasonably excited when I found out Sarah Pekkanan was writing her new book, Gone Tonight, and camped out on Netgalley until I got an early copy! Thank you St Martin’s Press, I love y’all! This drops next Tuesday, 8/1/23, so get ready. This cat and mouse suspense thriller will have you guessing until the very last page!

Ruth Sterling has lived a small, quiet life. She has a routine, she has rules. Don’t tell people too much personal information, keep a go-bag, and do anything to keep her daughter Catherine safe. Catherine is young woman now. Keeping her safe isn’t as easy as it used to be, but the stakes couldn’t be higher and she’s running out of time. What are you willing to do to protect those you love? The question deceptively simple, the answer far more nuanced.

I binge read this in an afternoon, so you’ve been warned friends, clear your schedule. Pekkanan crafts a tale, weaving in backstory, shifting point of view, and dropping just enough information I was always just a hair behind. Each clue had the potential to shift everything I thought I knew. I loved the dance between Ruth and Catherine, the tension of letting go so specific to mothers and daughters. the authenticity obscures the lies and betrayal. Are there morally grey aspects to Ruth? I haven’t decided, but can’t wait to discuss this with my book besties!

I recommend to readers who love suspense thrillers, have previously read and loved Sarah Pekkanan, and those looking for a great mystery summer read! This makes a fantastic buddy-read, there’s so much to discuss!

I really really tried with this one. I wanted to enjoy it because I enjoy her work but I couldn’t.
It starts so slow, there is nothing drawing you in.
The big draws of Ruth’s past aren’t enough to make up for the slow and non progressive story line.

I did enjoy the tension of the story, but I couldn't help be think that had the mom and daughter just communicated, things would have worked out a little differently. It's like the miscommunication trope from romance but make it thrilling.

I received an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Pekkanen knocks it out of the park with this thriller. The story is told from dual POVs, mother, Ruth and daughter, Catherine. Throughout Catherine's life, she and her mother have been tightknit but Catherine has started to realize that her mother seems to be keeping secrets. Ruth was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and seemingly because of this she is writing down her life story for her daughter to explain the details of her life once her ability to do so is gone. Catherine relies on her nursing degree and clinical knowledge to try to understand what they might face in the coming months.
Once this story gets the groundwork laid and starts clicking it is a roller-coaster until the final pages. This is a fun summer read with compelling writing.
Definitely recommend.
#GoneTonight #NetGalley #StMartinsPress

Thank you @MacMillan.Audio and @StMartinsPress for the #gifted ALC/eARC of GONE TONIGHT.

I seem to be in the minority when it comes to Sarah Pekkanen’s first solo thriller. I enjoyed the fact that this was a thriller centered on a mother-daughter relationship and that it had a bit a of a cat and mouse aspect where you never really knew who was outplaying the other.

But the author used something as a plot device that I found personally disgusting and I just can’t get over it. I guessed the twist early on and it left me with a bad taste for the rest of the book. The character who did it later admits that it’s a despicable thing to do but I just think that there could have been better ways to shock the reader than the way that this was done.

After that big twist that I guessed, I found the rest of the book fairly predictable and underwhelming. It could just be that the twist put me off of the book. And it doesn’t seem like it’s bothered many of the other early reviewers I’ve seen so if the synopsis still interests you then give it a try.

And if you’ve read this and are also bothered by the twist, drop me a DM.

GONE TONIGHT comes out on August 1.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5719533301
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CvNLT4WrJyC/

I have read several of Sarah Pekkanen's books written with Greer Hendricks but this was her first solo book I've read. "Gone Tonight" is an interesting story about the lengths a mother will go to, to protect her daughter.

The book is broken into 3 acts, which really does work well with how she has laid out the story. Act 1 is very slow, almost to the extent that I DNF. But right at the end of Act 1 the book takes a turn which sets the following two acts into motion. However in the end I still found the book to be a bit boring and slow, even once the "exciting parts" picked up. If you are looking for more of a drama with some mystery this is a good book but (as is the case with many books I've read lately) this is not a thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in advance of publication.

If you enjoy books with unreliable narrators then Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen is just what you need to read. Catherine and her mom, Ruth have been a team from day one. They are rarely separated from each other but now Catherine is ready to move to Baltimore to start her career. She has completed her nursing degree and is excited to get the ball rolling in her new life. However, she's begun to notice something might be up with her mom. This leads her to make some life-changing decisions and to delve a little more deeply into her mom's life than she ever has before. Plenty of secrets are about to be revealed. Read and enjoy!

I really enjoyed this suspense novel from beginning to end. It captured my attention immediately and held it until the last page. I would definitely recommend to a friend.

This book is everything I love in a thriller!!! Fast paced, addictive, twists and turns - I absolutely flew through this book!! Nothing is as it seems and as the layers of the past slowly get peeled back, the anxiety for the current situation starts to build.

A few things I loved::
•The complicated mother/daughter relationship. What seems like a seriously overprotective mother desperate to keep her daughter from leaving her is actually SO much more!
•Catherine works on an Alzheimer’s unit and I appreciated the focus on the reality of the disease.
•The duel timelines. Finding out tid bits of the past at a time definitely kept me guessing and kept the pace moving so fast!
•Duel POV. Hearing both women’s POV definitely kept the mystery going on longer. I was super invested in Catherine’s sleuthing!

Well, that didn’t end the way I expected! I have enjoyed numerous books written by Sarah Pekkanen, but this one hit a little different with the complicated mother/daughter relationship. I generally don’t request books with this trope because I find it triggering and kind of depressing but that is a problem with me NOT this story. Like her other books, this one is smartly written and tightly plotted revealing characters with depth. I did find it to be a bit of a slow burn in the beginning but when I got to Act 2 things got really interesting! The story unfolds with alternating viewpoints of mother, Ruth, and daughter, Catherine, who have a strange but sweet relationship. Revealed in their individual points of view, Ruth remembers all of her past secrets while Catherine is frantically trying to uncover truths before time runs out. There is plenty of tension and twists to shock, everything we are looking for in a thriller. Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on August 1, 2023

Wow! I knew when I started it that it was going to be good but I had no idea how good! This is my first solo Pekkanen read. I've read most of her Greer collabs, and they're hit and miss with me. I loved Anonymous Girl.

This is going to be one of the top books of the year for me. The way it unfolded was flawless. Some books will save too many of their secrets until the very end, resting the entire ending on that twist instead of revealing things at a natural pace. I was so impressed with the layout of this book!

Catherine, a recent nursing school graduate, and her single mom Ruth are used to being invisible. They've had a tough life but they've had each other and can err toward codependent.

Catherine was preparing to go work at a prestigious hospital away from Ruth when Ruth is diagnosed with dementia. It's in the early stages but having worked at a nursing home, Catherine knows how bad this will be.

We know Ruth wants to keep Catherine close to her at any cost but we don't really know why. Catherine is starting to get this hunch too so she decides to dig into her mom's past, since she knows literally nothing. She begins finding more than she bargained for but Catherine seems to be looking in her mom's closet when she has a few skeletons of her own.

Kate Mara narrating the audiobook was pure perfection. Don't ask me how, but Ruth and Catherine sounded completely different. The dual narration really set this off too. I have absolutely nothing negative to say.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to listen and review.