This is a fun thriller, a quick read, and a good book to sit down with if you are looking for a beach read type of book. The plot is imaginative, the story is interesting from start to finish, and there is enough suspense to keep you reading until the end. What prevents me from giving it a higher rating is there were a few decisions made by the characters that I couldn’t get behind (no spoilers here)- they didn’t appear consistent with the characters. Without those twists, though, there would be no story. This still did not stop me from reading as I enjoyed the suspense. Definitely worth the read.
Thank you NetGalley for a ARC.

LOVED this book!! The suspense and storyline were so good. Wish I could have found what happened to Ava’s mother but I just used my imagination, lol. Great read

My Thoughts

Catherine Sterling is, at 24, still living with her mother Ruth, still sharing not only a shared space but also still believing everything is as she has been raised to believe is the truth.

Their bond is as close as anyone could ever want it to be as she is the only child of a single mother.

When Catherine finished school with her nursing degree she decided that it was time to branch out on her own and sets things in motion by renting a small place in Baltimore, also giving notice at her current part-time job as well.

This is where the narrative changes.

Where cracks start to appear in the formerly solid foundation of her relationship with Ruth.

Where Catherine starts to look for answers, answers that create more questions and a rift that neither she nor her mother can easily bridge once it occurs.

What is explored next as we share both characters alternating points of view from chapter to chapter when the disturbing truth that is Ruth Sterlings past starts to emerge both characters and readers alike better take a deep breath.

In this powerful story a mother’s love for her daughter has such powerful influence in so many ways on her actions that are taken to keep them both safe from harm.

These actions both good and bad can be seen as an attempt to make them more difficult for the wrong person to find them but also to make sure that the child never feels like they were in danger from anything or anyone to begin with.

To say Ruth and her daughter Catherine put readers through an emotional wringer before the end of the book is an understatement.
[EArc from Netgalley]
On every book read as soon as it is done and written up for review it is posted on Goodreads and Netgalley, once released then posted on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles as well.

I don’t know where to start with this book. This book ebbed and flowed. Started off slow, picked up, then fell flat. But then I really enjoyed the ending. I probably enjoyed the ending most, I thought it really made up for the back and forth that was much of the book for me. I also would not classify this as a thriller really. A mystery maybe? I also really didn’t like Catherine’s character. I think some people will really enjoy this, so I will suggest everyone give it a try! 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC!

I love when Sarah Pekkanen writes with Greer Hendrixs but she's equally just as good on her own. Great read!

Gone Tonight started off a little slow for me, but as the story picked up, the pace steadied and kept me on my toes.

This story is told in two POVs, Ruth, the mother's and Catherine, the daughter's. At points in the story, the two characters play off each other to deliver the full story and show readers what the characters are missing from each other's side of the story.

Ruth has been hiding secrets from her daughter for the entirety of her life. She has her reasons, of course, which are explained throughout the book in glimpses into the past. Ruth has always been close to her child, so when her daughter is grown, and attempting to make it out into the world on her own, Ruth can't let that happen.

Catherine has always been close to her mother, but as she's grown older, she's wondered about the constant moving and lack of closeness her mother had with others. Now as things have taken another turn with her mother, Catherine starts to wonder what her mother is hiding and how far she'll go to keep her secrets.

This was a clever one! Fast, and full of unexpected surprises. Sarah has a knack of luring you in and wanting more! I love her books she co authored and have also enjoyed her solo ventures. Great read!

Catherine and Ruth, what a mother and daughter dynamic?! It took me awhile to get into this book, the talk of alzheimer's at the beginning was a struggle to get through. I am glad that I didn't give up. The ending was so worth it.

Whattttttt did I just read??
I found myself staying up late to read this! I normally listen to Pekkhanen so I was a little worried about how I would enjoy reading the book. However, that did not matter because I definitely enjoyed this.

It was written really well. My only complaint initially was Tin and Timmy were too close in names to me and confused me at first. However, after sleeping on it, this morning I realized this was probably done on purpose. Timmy was to Ruth as Tin is to Catherine. And, that made the connection worth the early confusion.

I especially liked the extra twist in the epilogue. Yes, you read that right - in the epilogue!

This is a slower paced story. Which, I don’t mind, but it definitely took me longer to read since I wasn’t fully gripped until nearly the end.

The secret was…justified? Maybe. Maybe not.

I do think some readers will struggle with the plot device.

This is the kind of thriller that kept me hooked even though I didn't feel amazed by any of the twists but also couldn't stop reading it! Ruth can go to any extent to keep her daughter, Catherine, close to her and away from all other people in this world. Initially, Catherine thinks people drift away naturally in here life but later suspects her mom's hand in everything.

Now she is on a quest to find out the reasons for her mom's lies and also to find her true identity as things keep getting murkier. We get two parallel stories with their current life and Ruth's dramatic past in the other timeline and both were engaging equally. But who is Ruth constantly running away from her entire life and how does she handle it when she comes face to face with this person? Definitely, a binge read thriller!

Sarah has done it again. I really enjoy her writing style. the twist and turns are so good and unexpected. highly recommend if you love thrillers.

Thank you to Saint Martins Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

This thriller gripped me from the very beginning. We meet Ruth who is a single mom, and her daughter Katherine who is 24. Their life is full of struggles, made no easier when they have to flee their apartment and life every couple years. Ruth always has a reason why they have to flee, but Katherine soon becomes suspicious of her mom and the truth behind why they’re always on the run.

The story is told in alternating time lines of Ruth’s early life becoming pregnant in high school, to current times in her and Katherine’s life. As Katherine begins to get closer to the truth about her mother, a ticking bomb explodes in Ruth’s past, that comes barreling into their future. Will Ruth be able to save them again? Or will Katherine stop trusting her mom?

Page after page, I couldn’t stop reading to find out how their story would end. It was such a satisfying suspenseful thriller, with a perfect ending. It also provided such an in depth analysis of the mother daughter relationship, and how far we will go to keep our children safe.

I really enjoyed this thriller ! It had a plot twist that had me guessing and thinking I was right in one aspect but completely got wrong ! The side characters are pretty good but not the most memorable. The 2 main characters / mother daughter duo kept me page turning !

This was a good story, basically about the love that Ruth has for her daughter, Catherine and how she will do anything to protect her. Your typical "mama bear coming to her cub's defense." Ruth has taken care of her daughter for 24 years, on her own, after she was forced to flee from her home at the age of 16. There are a lot of things Catherine doesn't know about her mother, or why they have moved around so much, so she finally makes it her business to find out, never imagining what horrible secrets she will uncover. I have read several books by this author and enjoyed all of them. Thanks, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read this one.

Good one! A mother’s dark secrets and a daughter’s curiosity about who her mother really is makes this a thrilling experience. Once you are about 2/3 of the way in you better have time to finish it. Can’t put it down once it really gets rolling!

Catherine and her mother, Ruth, are both harboring serious secrets that are putting them in more danger than either of them realizes. Ruth raised Catherine on her own and it's been the two of them against the world for as long as Catherine can remember. But now that she's been offered a dream job out of state, she feels like it's time to start building her own life. Unfortunately, Ruth has other plans. She has to keep the two of them together but as always, she doesn't want to tell Catherine why. The more she tries to convince Catherine to stay, the more suspicious Catherine becomes. Inevitably, this leads to Catherine doing her own investigating into her mother's past to figure out what she's been hiding all of this time. And the more she investigates, the more troubling info she discovers. Will Ruth finally let Catherine know what they've been running from before it catches up to them?

Honestly, I didn't think the big secret was really worth all of the subterfuge from Ruth. Sure, I could see it while Catherine was a child, and maybe even a teenager, but not once she became an adult. It would have saved them both a lot of lying and confusion. And then they could have planned for the current situation together. The author did try to throw in some surprising twists, but I think readers used to this type of story may see it coming. Maybe if the focus was less on parental bonds and a mother's protectiveness, etc. then it would have been more suspenseful and an engaging mystery. I did enjoy it, I love this author's previous work, but I just didn't feel that this book was on the same level. I still recommend it, and I'll be waiting to see what she comes up with next!

Book Review: Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen
Rating: 4.5 / 5 stars

Gone Tonight tells the story of the mother-daughter duo of Ruth and Catherine Sterling. Ruth gave birth to Catherine at seventeen years old, and they have been on the “run” their whole lives. Ruth has switched jobs, apartments, schools- but why? Why can’t they just stay in one place and be happy? They also only have each other as they are estranged from the very few family members that they do have. Is Ruth Sterling really who she says she is? Is Ruth just an overprotective mother, or is there something more sinister involved? Catherine goes on a mission (finally after 24 years), throughout this story to find out what her mother has been hiding.

- Alternating POV’s between Ruth and Catherine. I particularly enjoyed Ruth’s journal entries.
- The chapters were nice and short, which in turn kept me turning the pages faster.
- The twists + outcome were predictable, but that didn’t take away from this suspenseful domestic thriller!

READ IF YOU ENJOY:
- Domestic thrillers
- Stories about mother-daughter bonds
- Nancy Drew-like sleuthing

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for an ARC of this book. Publication date: August 1, 2023.

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen is a thriller that kept me turning the pages! Catherine's only family is her mother, Ruth, and she has never known anything about her background or family history. As the events start to unfold, does Catherine even really know this woman she has called mother her whole life? Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Oh my goodness! I absolutely LOVED this book! It pulled me in, and I was hooked which is no surprise as I've devoured all the Sarah Pekkanen/Greer Hendricks books, and was thrilled to read Sarah's solo novel.
This story is a slow burn, twisted novel about how far a Mother will go to protect her child. Dark and intense, it's definitely a fantastic psychological thriller!

Thank you to Netgalley and Sarah Pekkanen for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.