I love Sarah Pekkanen and I enjoyed her forthcoming thriller, Gone Tonight. I tend to love mother/daughter stories especially if they're a little fucked up. The book mentions it, but it really is reminiscent of Where the Heart Is, if that movie turned into a thriller and either Willy Jack or Forney were very dangerous people.

Ruth's chapters were my favorite chapters, and it was an interesting reading experience to already know what her daughter, Catherine is trying to figure out. Reading it makes you feel like a fly on the wall and you're waiting for the other shoe to drop knowing it's going to be intense, and it is, and it delivers. The ending had me holding my breath. I've been reading a lot of scary men written by women lately and damn, it lingers.

This one was a little slow for me, not too much mystery for a thriller, but I didn't mind that so much with the layered characters and a great ending. Recommend! 3.5/5. Pub Date: Aug. 1.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-galley!

Switching POVs between Ruth and daughter Catherine, Gone Tonight is a unique take on a domestic thriller. The story is initally set up with Ruth receiving an alzheimer's diagnosis (spoilers ahead), though it's pretty clear that isn't the whole truth. Ultimately I felt the premise was original, but found both characters difficult to root for or empathize with. The pacing of the book was good, though there were some elements I wish had been fleshed out more. Catherine's apparent/alleged psychopathy, for example, was a really interesting twist but felt like an incomplete element of the story - even more so since the symptoms were never clear in her POV. I expected a dramatic tone shift in her chapters or additional twists after the reveal. Instead she still came off as quite empathetic and caring with multiple positive relationships with others, so it was hard to reconcile. Overall enjoyed they story and would read more from this author.

I enjoyed the story of Catherine and her mother. I thought I was so smart by figuring out the story early on however, the author made that part clear pretty quickly. After that, the story got deeper and the little twists kept my interest throughout.

Gone Tonight was a story that had me HOOKED until the 60 percent mark. After that point, I felt the plot was unraveling and adding on multiple points that left me puzzled. I had to flip back and forth through my Kindle page and make notes of what was happening when and who's point of view was actually being shared. Sarah Pekkanen is a fantastic thriller author and I have high hopes for her next title!

Sarah Pekkanen is the queen of domestic thrillers, and Gone Tonight certainly reaffirms that! Told from alternating perspectives and timelines, this book was ultimately the story of a mother's love for her daughter. It was perfectly fast-paced and the characters were well-developed. A great thriller for 2023!

I have read all of Sarah Pekkanen's books and have loved them, so very excited and thankful for NetGalley, MacMillian Audio and St. Martin's Press sending me this Audiobook Listening Copy! I enjoyed it enough to finish it in one day! I actually replayed chapters 1-4 4x because I was driving through Nashville and lost track of listening...LOL This is my third book of hovering mothers this week. GEEZ!!!

Ruth thinks her daughter Catherine is the perfect child. She never dreamed of her finishing college as a nurse and moving away from her. 24 year old Catherine sees through her mom's antics and investigates her past. After she discovers several relationships have been punctured by her mom and the secrets her mom is hiding, she becomes afraid of her. The beginning of the book is all about the timing of her escape and how she will do it.
Catherine is working at a memory wing for dementia patients when Ruth decides to fake Alzheimer's so she won't leave. There are so many flaws with these two and some very irrational decisions that you may have a hard time staying with it, but when Ruth's past resurfaces and the crime she committed comes to light...It will pick up!!!!

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Let me start off by saying I have loved previous books by Sarah Pekkanen, especially the ones she has written with Greer Hendricks, An Anonymous Girl and The Golden Couple immediately coming to mind. Everyone else on GR is loving this one but for me, it was just too far out there to enjoy. This story is told in alternating chapters from the point of view of Ruth and her daughter Catherine. We get somewhat of a dual timeline with Ruth writing about the past in her journal. I loved the format of the book as this is one of my favourite ways to read thrillers. The chapters are also fairly short and I liked that as well.

What I didn’t like was the convoluted premise of the book. A sixteen-year-old running away and being able to evade police all while being under a new identity and having a baby. As we get further into the story in the present there were way too many coincidences and Catherine’s research was too easily done. One Facebook search and she has who/what she’s looking for from twenty-five years ago…I didn’t buy it and I also didn’t buy into a twenty-five-year-old allowing her mother to GPS her phone and location at all times. The more I read, the more absurd the story became and I found there were just too many plot holes. Both the women were very unlikeable characters and the big reveal wasn’t surprising in the least. Bummer, cause I like this author but was disappointed overall.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC opportunity!

Catherine and her mother Ruth think they know one another. For a long time, it’s been just the two of them against the world. They have a very close relationship that is entwined and at times obsessive. Catherine is ready to move away from home, and begin a new career- but Ruth will do anything to prevent that from happening.

Ruth's begins a quest to keep her daughter near, which begins to reveal cracks in Ruth's carefully-constructed world, Both mother and daughter begin a dance of deception, leading to a twisty, suspenseful story, which makes you wonder what the truth is and what is behind the secrecy. It keeps you guessing. This story was a unique premise for a psychological thriller, I would consider to be a slow burn to start that builds up to suspense.

I will definitely be checking out other books by this author!

Gone Tonight is the first novel I have read by Sarah Pekkanen without her co-writer, Greer Hendricks. I have loved almost every book they wrote together, so I was unsure what to expect with this solo outing. I need not have worried. Gone Tonight was just as addictive and fun as the others. I really appreciated the story being about a mother and adult daughter. That is not a common theme in thrillers.

Gone Tonight takes place over two time periods. One is current day where 24 year old nurse in training, Catherine starts to learn that her mother might have been lying to her about who she is Catherine's whole life. The other time line is from the perspective of Ruth, Catherine's mother, when she was in high school and events that transpired that brought her to the mysterious life she built for herself and her daughter.

The cat and mouse aspect is more fun because at first Ruth doesn't even realize Catherine is digging. But once she does realize, the reader stays in the dark about whether there is something malevolent at play as Catherine fears. The book was fun and I am so glad to know that even on her own, Sarah Pekkanen will be a must-read author for me.

Thank you St. Martins Press for my ARC of Gone Tonight.
4.5 STARS!!!
Ruth Sterling found out she was pregnant with her daughter Catherine at 17. Since then, it has always been just the two of them. Ruth has done everything in her power to protect and keep Catherine safe. Even if that meant covering up secrets and lying to her daughter.

Catherine is getting ready to start the next chapter of her life. For the first time, she will be on her own. So why does it seem like her mom, her biggest supporter will stop at nothing to keep her close?

This is my second Sarah Pekkanen book and I really enjoyed this one. I liked the pacing of the book. It was a slow burn but not to the point of it being boring. I also thought the character development was great. I actually cared about what happened to Ruth and Catherine.

The book is told in 3 parts. Each part has both Ruth and Catherine's POV. In Ruth's chapters, she would write in a journal and we would get some insights to her past. I thought that was a clever way to add in some of the the mystery. I really thought the book was heading in a different direction then it was. I really enjoyed that.
Overall I really thought this was a great mother and daughter thriller. My only complaint is I thought the end was a little rushed but over all great read. I can't wait for everyone to get their hands on this August 1st!

4 stars for the latest book by Sarah!

I loved this new addition with all its twists and turns. The story follows a middle aged mother named Ruth who has just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and her daughter, Katherine. Over time, Katherine begins to pick up on small hints that her mother is actually lying about not only having the disease, but who she actually is as a person.

The dual POV of Katherine and Ruth help narrate each of their perspectives. We also get flashbacks from Ruth as she writes in a journal to give to Katherine one day that explains her life story.

The story unravels and only gets more wild as the truth comes undone. Through the past portions, we learn that Ruth was a young girl who became mixed up with a guy who would ultimately destroy her future. You can’t help but empathize with her throughout the story as you learn what she went through in order to survive.

Since Ruth was an unreliable character from the start, I knew she couldn’t be trusted entirely. The book was a solid audiobook and I was completely captivated by it from the start and wanted to learn the truth.

Where it fell off for me was the inconsistent fear Ruth had of her daughter and her potential to be evil. Of course a mother will defend her daughter, but the sprinkled in suspicions that Katherine could be a dangerous person didn’t add more to the story for me.

One quote I loved was delivered by Katherine : “ I have never looked at my mothers as an individual. She has always been a planet that orbits around me.
…We define our mothers through the lens that they relate to us.”

Thank you to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for this audiobook arc in exchange for my review!

Pub date is August 1st!

By no means was this a bad book. There was a lot of twist and turns and I enjoyed how it was split into three acts separating out the realizations.

I think some more time could’ve been spent on the background of Ruth (Ava) as I think based on how the character was written her come up doesn’t make sense to me.

Gone Tonight is the story of Ruth Sterling and her daughter, Catherine, told from alternating points-of-view of each. Ruth, a single mother with many secrets, is caught in a lie which spurs her daughter to find out what those secrets are and why her mother is so protective of her.

While this was an interesting and fast read with a few minor twists, there were certain aspects of each of the characters that didn't quite ring true for me and events that felt a little too coincidental and predictable. Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

I requested this ebook and the audiobook and bounced between both. K already submitted a detailed review for the other copy, but I’ll add some notes here.

I enjoyed the book changing perspective between the mother and the daughter. I think the author did a nice job of explaining what it would be like to work with a patient with Alzheimer’s or dementia, I know research must’ve been done for that type of description, and it was done well!

I thought the details of the setting were provided in a way to truly paint a picture in my mind of where the characters were. As mentioned in my previous review, I loved hearing names of places close to where I live- Baltimore, Towson, West Virginia, etc.

I was so excited to read this one and see how Sarah Pekkanen did on her own. I loved it. It started out seeming like contemporary fiction but by 30%, the twists started coming and the suspense didn't let up until the very end. It really shows just how far a mother will go to protect her child and her secrets.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Pekkanen and publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my goodness, I absolutely LOVED this book! Sarah Pekkanen shows her incredible expertise in the art of subtle tension and unreliable, yet relatable, narrators. This whole story is completely captivating and Kate Mara’s narration is absolutely perfect! One of my favorite thrillers of the year!

More like a 3.5 but rounding down.

Loved the element of Alzheimer's in the thriller. I feel like this gave me Pieces of Her vibes but way better. I did find this book rubbing me the wrong way towards the end and I'm not sure why. I've read other books by this author when she was writing with Greer Hendrix and I will say I much prefer her writing as a standalone author. Will def pick up more books in the future under Sarah Pekkanen.

This is the story of Catherine and Ruth Sterling, a mother and daughter who have always had each other. The book is an intense story about long-buried secrets and the trauma they inflict. The mother-daughter relationship is complicated, and the story is told in alternating perspectives between Catherine and Ruth.

When Catherine sets off to find answers about her mother's past, she sets in motion events that have unintended consequences. The storyline is taut and suspenseful. The narration by Kate Mara brings it to life.

This was an advanced copy and I enjoyed listening to it.

Lies, told to protect her daughter: that's what was behind Ruth's life on the run with her daughter Catherine. Alternating between mother and daughter's POV, Gone Tonight is a breathtaking page-turner, with Catherine slowly learning why Ruth has faked her identity and deceived her for her entire life. Gone Tonight was just as captivating and intense as The Golden Couple, written by this author and Greer Hendricks.

Thank you to Sarah Pekkanen, NetGalley, and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

Wow, what a great thriller from Sarah Pekkanen! I did not want to put this book down. It is a real page turner! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.