A psychological mystery told from the POVs of Ruth and her daughter Catherine. I really liked this format of storytelling, especially as both characters were keeping secrets from one another.

I loved the plot of this book, but the character development was lacking for me. I understand Ruth’s main motivation but I never fully understood Catherine. I also didn’t particularly like either character. But I didn’t need to like the characters to enjoy this book or understand the plot. Overall I was on the edge of my seat for most of this book and couldn’t put it down. Such a well written thriller!

Gone Tonight
By Sarah Pekkanen
Pub Date August 1, 2023
St. Martins Press
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
I adored Sarah’s previous works she’s created with Greer Hendricks. This time she is writing solo and has done a marvelous job.
A gripping thriller told in three acts. Absolutely recommend!
5 stars

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this early.

I think this book was a me problem, so take everything I say with a grain of salt, but this just did not work for me. I found it extremely predictable in terms of exactly what was going to happen. I also went into this expecting more of a mystery type of thriller, but this is definitely more on the psychological side.

However, my problems with this book aren't just the topic and the predictability, but this also was just kind of a mess to read and definitely needs to be edited further. There are multiple spelling and grammatical mistakes as well as formatting errors that constantly took me out of the story. I remember, for example, that at the thirty percent mark there was this point where Ruth and Catherine were just talking, and the very next paragraph starts when they're discussing how they've driven an hour away... No breaks in the paragraph or anything to show the passage of time or distance, and that happened more than once. The paragraphs are also incredibly short or suuuuper long, but it just reads kind of jumbled with no rhyme or reason.

I think I've enjoyed Sarah Pekkanen books years ago, and I think I may try another to see if this was just a me problem, due to the fact that this is an early copy, or if this author and their writing style just doesn't work for me.

I just finished reading Gone Tonight and it was a good one to read for the month of May as it was about a mother/daughter relationship. You get the perspective of both but I enjoyed the POV of the mother a lot more where we got to see the past and why things were the way they were. There were two twists at the end but they were pretty obvious to me and I have seen both done before. Nothing groundbreaking. However, I was never bored or felt like I wanted to DNF this book either. All in all, a good typical thriller.

Gone Tonight is a slow burn thriller. The story is told in alternating point of view between a mother, Ruth Sterling, and her daughter, Catherine. Ruth has dedicated her life to Catherine and will do everything and anything to keep her daughter safe. Catherine is a nurse and got offered her dream job at Johns Hopkins, but when her mom is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, she makes the decision to stay and help her. But things don't quite add up. Why won't Ruth tell Catherine anything at all about her past?

I did predict the twist pretty early on, but overall, I really enjoyed the book!

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

In the last month, Ruth Sterling has lost her keys, a twenty dollar bill, her train of thought and her way home from the drugstore.

Her 24 year old daughter, Catherine, was about to move to Baltimore to start work as a nurse at John Hopkins, having graduated cum laude. Her specialty is geriatrics, and she is currently working in the Memory Wing at Sunrise, a high end facility where people with dementia, Alzheimer’s or traumatic brain injuries reside.

Catherine is well aware of the sobering, heartbreaking statistics of the disease, and since it’s always been just the two of them, she and her Mom, her future plans may have to change.

They have never lived apart, and they don’t have the money for Ruth to live in a facility like Sunrise. In fact, they moved throughout Catherine’s childhood, whenever her mom became too far behind on the bills.

At least that is the “excuse” that Ruth gave to her daughter.

Now, with Ruth’s memory fading, Catherine must uncover her mother’s secrets while she still can. And, time is of the essence for reasons she could NEVER guess.

The multi layered story unfolds from the alternating perspectives of Catherine and Ruth, as each CONFIDES in us, what THEY know that the other one DOES NOT.

At the beginning of this story, the book feels like it should be listed in the genre of Contemporary Fiction, but at 30% it takes a SUSPENSEFUL turn that completely caught me off guard!

I have been disappointed with many of the mystery/thriller books this year, as so many of them had similar overused premises such as “friends with a secret from their University days” “Mean Girls” or “Missing Children”

This story was COMPLETELY ORIGINAL and it was nice to read a story that was FRESH and PLAUSIBLE.

I was engaged from the start and flipped the pages eagerly to see where this one would take me!
And, as the tension ramped up towards the end, my heart was in my throat!

Despite some mixed reviews from my Goodreads friends, this was a WINNER for me, and it just might find itself on my 2023 favorites shelf for the SUSPENSE category.

AVAILABLE August 1, 2023.

Thank You to St. Martin’s Press for the gifted copy provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

This one was definitely a slow burn - while I enjoyed the twists and turns throughout, there were times I found the story a bit meandering and just wanted it to move along. Overall it kept me guessing and engaged with the multiple POV though, so I will recommend this one and look forward to reading additional titles from this author in the future!

I really liked the dual pov, I think it added a lot to the book! Overall really enjoyed but was a little slow for me. I somewhat predicted the reveal on the last few pages so it wasn’t that climatic for me. Great book, will recommend. I’m giving it 3.5 stars but rounding up to 4.

What a terrific story! Slow burn, tense, twisty and explosive are some of the words that come to mind! Kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time! Thank you so much!

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was honestly let down by this one. I normally devour Sarah's books but this one was just okay for me. I didn't love it, but I also didn't hate it. I was not expecting some of the major plot twists so that was a plus. I also like Sarah did a good job with pacing the story, but I didn't really feel a connection any of the characters, so that made it difficult to keep wanting to read.
I also was not a fan of the mother's history being told by her writing in a journal. It felt very non authentic to me. I will say that I seem to be an outlier, because a lot of people seemed to really like it. I personally did not find it very thrilling and was only surprised a few times.

I was excited to get the opportunity to read this solo book by Sarah Pekkanen, as I have always enjoyed her books with Greer Hendricks. . This one was a slow burn and a little too slow of a pace for me. It wasn’t a typical thriller with twists and turns and not much happened along the way I did enjoy the backstory of the mother Ruth and getting to know her past and appreciate her passion for wanting to protect her daughter.

I was expecting a great thriller and this book didn’t quite deliver that. The mother/daughter relationship kept me wondering what would happen next but it didn’t have me on the edge of my seat like I was hoping. Overall, a good read though. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Thanks so much for the advanced copy. The subject matter was really hard to read. I have enjoyed other books by this author a lot more so I look forward to reading other books in the future.

This book was almost a five star for me. I loved the dropping of hints, the thinking one thing was going on and then slowly realizing it was something else, even more intriguing. A fiercely protective mother and the daughter about to strike out on her own. Dual perspectives and dual timelines. I loved the first third, then it slowed down for me, wasnt as sharp or layered, but left wanting more at the end. Would love a second book

I've enjoyed other Sarah Pekkanen books, and was so excited to get my hands on Gone Tonight early! I really wanted to like this one, but unfortunately it fell a little flat for me. I usually don't love dual points of view but I think it really worked here. The pacing was great, causing me to speed through the entire book in a day because I had to know what happened! I just didn't love or connect with either of the main characters, and nothing really happened until the last ~15% of the book. It was a decent, quick read though and I'd definitely be interested to see what the author puts out next. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

"Gone Tonight" is told from the perspective of both main characters, Ruth and her adult daughter Catherine. Ruth would do anything to protect her daughter, including picking up and moving every few years at the drop of a hat to outrun her past. Catherine is the "good daughter" who would never rebel against her mother. That is until something in Ruth's medical history causes Catherine to investigate to know her mother better than ever before.

This was FANTASTIC!! I enjoyed the story from both characters viewpoints. Typically I find myself preferring one side of the story in formats like this, but this time I was eager to read more from both sides. I thought the pacing was great, and the constant reveals throughout the book were perfectly done and kept me flipping to the next page. This was the perfect combination of a mother/daughter drama mixed with some fantastic suspense.

There is no bond like that of a mother and daughter....
Ruth and her daughter Catherine are inseparable. It's always been just the two of them. Moving from city to city, never allowing anyone else to get too close.
Now Catherine is in her twenties, and spreading her wings, embarking on a separate career path. And Ruth is starting to panic. She must keep them together. At what lengths will Ruth go - to keep her grip on her daughter, and the past hidden?
But the tighter Ruth holds on, the more Catherine questions the reason why!
Told in the present and past, we learn what led up to Ruth's obsession with maintaining secrecy. The question is...Is it justified? Well...I'm certainly not going to spill the beans. You'll have to read this book to find out!
Wow! Sarah Pekkanen writes a gripping, suspenseful read that will keep you reading late into the night! I was captivated from the first page to the last!
Definitely one of my top thriller reads for this year!

When Ruth is caught in many lies by her daughter, Catherine, she researches illness to get her daughter to back off. Catherine, however, digs her heels in to uncover the truth. Catherine soon learns that her mother’s truth is stranger than fiction. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my review.

I am and have always been a fan of Sarah Pekkanen. This is the first book I have seen from her without her writing partner in a long time. It was a gutsy twisty thriller and she continues to tell a great story. I remember when she first started she leaned in more towards women fiction and you can definitely see this in this novel. I loved the fast paced plot and read it in one weekend. Whatever Sarah wants to write I want to read. Thanks NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest feedback.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A novel about a mother daughter duo who have lived life on the run. When the daughter feels trapped, she searches for information about their mysterious past and finds shocking information about her mother's past.