I love a good mystery/suspense novel, but this one just fell flat for me.

The entire build up of Catherine believing her mother has alzheimer’s and Ruth questioning if her daughter has violent tendencies just didn’t work for me.

To be honest, most of the book I was bored. Everything happened in the past, which is filled in so slowly it was painful at times, or in the climax of the book, which I admit, was pretty good!

What would have worked better for me would’ve been if we’d learned Ruth’s story in real time, and then time jumped to the present time to learn how it ends. The format the author chose just dragged for me. I also needed more about Catherine’s father, to really establish his character, I felt he was very glossed over. He felt one dimensional.

What I did enjoy was the background of Ruth and the secrets she’s hiding. The climax was very engaging and I didn’t want to stop listening to the audiobook at that point.

Overall, this was a good story that was executed in a way that I personally did not find as enjoyable as I would’ve liked.

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

3.75 stars. This was a slow burn that started out less suspenseful, and more like a family drama. The end became very exciting and consuming. I loved how bits of the past were revealed slowly and changed my perception of the main characters. Great as an audiobook!

Well, I’m going to start off by saying that I’m a big Sarah Pekanen fan, so I really don’t think I’m capable of not liking something she wrote. This book was tough though, not because the story was bad but more because it was sad. A mother-daughter relationship full of lies and half-truths, and then a non-remorseful murder at the end. It left me feeling a bit depressed and a lot disturbed. I’m not saying that that’s a bad thing for a psychological thriller to do, and it’s definitely not the first that has left me feeling this way, but I just didn’t love this book. I do know several people that seek out this kind of story and will definitely be recommending it to them, but for me it was just, okay. I’m still love the author and I thought the narration was great. The story held my attention and kept me guessing – I’m not sorry I listened to it and can’t wait for Sarah’s next book!

Thank you for the advanced copy and the opportunity to be one of the first listeners!

This was a bit of a crazy thriller that switches POV between the mom and daughter about the mothers insane past.
Do want to warn you, the mom does have memory loss which is always a fun factor in a thriller when the characters mental state can’t be trusted.

This was a decently written story and I found it entertaining. Wasn’t anything out of the world but a fun read.

Highly enjoyed this. Super fast paced. Page turner. Loved the dual pov and can’t wait to pick up a physical copy of this one. Highly recommend

I’ve read several books that Sarah Pekkanen has coauthored but this was the first solo run I’ve read and boy oh boy it did not disappoint.

Gone Tonight is a skillfully crafted suspense thriller that delves into the bonds between a mother and daughter. It’s ingrained in us that a mother should do anything to protect her child, but when is it too far and at what cost. A lifetime of secrets and lies has finally begun to unravel but will mother and daughter be able to move beyond it all?

Ruth and her daughter Catherine are as close as a mother and daughter could be, in fact it’s always been just the two of them. Having Catherine at seventeen, they are estranged from Ruth’s strict family and through the years Ruth shared very little about her previous live. Life has been hard with Ruth jumping from job to job struggling to make ends meet. The two have had to move around quite a lot when things didn’t work out. Having recently completed her nursing education, Catherine is ready to spread her wings, but as she is preparing to leave, her mother begins to exhibit signs of early Alzheimer’s disease. Catherine postpones her plans so that she can spend as much time with her mother while she is still cognizant enough to share about her previous life the little she’s willing to share doesn’t quite make sense propelling Catherine forward on a quest of her own to learn more about her mother and what she’s been hiding all these years.

I really enjoyed the structure of the story. The alternating POV allowed me to be in the minds of both Catherine and Ruth as the story unfolded and their emotions were palpable. The short chapters made for a fast read, making this a perfect beach read. Packed with secrets and lies, I watched the foundation of the mother-daughter relationship fracture as the truth emerges and the lines between right and wrong begin to blur. This slow burn thriller held me hostage listening late into the night. Kate Mara’s narration was very well done, truly bringing the characters to life while building a tension filled listen.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen an advance audio copy of this addictive read that is due to publish August 1, 2023. This is my honest review and the opinions expressed are my own.

If you’re a thriller lover, highly recommend picking up Gone Tonight when it comes out this Tuesday (August 1st). Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Macmillan audio for the advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The audiobook was read by actress Kate Mara and her narration was really enjoyable to binge. I couldn’t stop listening to this book & finished it in under 24 hours.

This follows the story of Catherine and her mother Ruth. It’s always just been the two of them but Catherine is done school and going to be moving out on her own to start her career as a nurse at John Hopkins. She’s currently working at a facility with people who have dementia. So when Ruth starts to forget things and gets lost on her way home, Catherine recognizes the signs.

Ruth asks Catherine to stay with her since they can’t afford a facility like the one she works at. Catherine is ready to give up her dream job but starts to notice some things aren’t adding up. Catherine feels like it’s a race against time to learn things about Ruth’s past before it’s too late.

This for me took turn after turn and I did not see where it was going. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️




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Gone Tonight
Author: Sarah Pekkanen
Narrator: Kate Mara
Macmillan Audio
Release Date: 8/1/2023
Mystery & Thrillers

I was so wrong when I initially thought I knew the direction that Pekkanen's plot was taking in Gone Tonight. The gripping story of a mother and daughter relationship is intense and full of unexpected twists. As the past and present collide, the tension builds as readers learn of secrets, deceit, and danger.
This book is skillfully told in alternating points of view of Ruth the mother and her daughter Catherine. Ruth fervently tries to keep Catherine from moving away to pursue her career. If you like psychological thrillers as I do, add this to your listening list. Narrator Kate Mara is phenomenal with her powerful delivery of the story. Her voice does not overpower the story, but is completely in tune with both chills and tender points in the book.

Thank you to Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for the advance listener's copy. My review is my own.
#GoneTonight #MacmillanAudio #SarahPekkanen

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

Drama. Suspense. Complicated mother-daughter relationship. Kate Mara as the narrator. Great job. Intriguing from beginning to end. Enjoyed the different POV of Catherine and Ruth. I liked that the past and present were merged together throughout the book as the story unfolded. A really good read.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the arc.

This book didn't work for me. The plot was somber and dragged on. Also, the plot was very convoluted and full of holes

This is so good! I read Sarah Pekkanen's previous novels and especially loved The Wife Between Us. This feels like a similar creepy, eerie psychological suspense that built the longer I read. I LOVE the way she built the mother/daughter relationship, how the eerie events increased, and the pace. It was fantastic. Definitely recommend to those who liked The Wife Between Us!!

“I’m good at disappearing. We women do it all the time. We vanish in the eyes of men when we hit our forties. We dive into roles like motherhood and our identities slip away. We disappear at the hands of predators. We are conditioned to shrink, to drop weight, to take up less physical space in the world.” Real talk.

“Our minds do this all the time. They talk us out of things we don’t want to know.”

Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. Ruth Sterling is quiet, hardworking, and lives for her daughter. All her life, it's been just the two of them against the world. But now, Catherine is ready to spread her wings, move from home, and begin a new career. And Ruth Sterling will do anything to prevent that from happening.

Ruth Sterling thinks she knows her daughter. Catherine would never rebel, would never question anything about her mother's past or background. But when Ruth's desperate quest to keep her daughter by her side begins to reveal cracks in Ruth's carefully-constructed world, both mother and daughter begin a dance of deception.

Woah! Told with the dual POV of a mother and daughter, this book is the definition of a page turner. They each tell their story from their own perspective and you’re not sure who to believe and who may be lying. As the story unfolds you want to yell at each of them to warn them against what you can see coming that they are blinded to. This is a listen at 2x speed type of book!

The ONLY thing that would have made this audiobook, narrated by actress Kate Mara, more enjoyable would have been to have two different narrators or distinct voices for each pov. Even though each chapter is titled for either Ruth or Catherine I did find myself needing a paragraph or two to be reminded whose story we were listening to. Overall a very fast paced and crazy but believable story. I loved it!

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and the author for the gifted audiobook.

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen AUDIO opens as a simple tale of a woman dealing with her mother’s early onset Alzheimer’s but it quickly morphs into a thriller in which her mother reveals herself as an accessory to a murder, which took place before Catherine was born. Ruth has done a fabulous job of covering it up, not only from the authorities, but from her own daughter as well.. Ruth is writing in a journal, telling the whole story. Catherine knows something is not right and is investigating on her own based on the minimal information she has gleaned from Ruth. It is all pretty much accurate, but very misleading. It is an exciting listen.

Both are strong characters. Ruth has believed she is acting in the best interests of both Catherine and herself. Catherine feels lied to and rightly so. James, who is far from innocent, I read as maybe not as bad as Ruth believes, at least as far as she is concerned. Maybe he loves her. Maybe not. It is full of emotions which can often present as confusing. Both Ruth and Catherine are clever and that almost leads to their downfalls. It was a compelling listen. Very well done.

Kate Mara is the reader and holds an even tone no matter what is happening, which really adds to the horror of it all. In the beginning I was confused as to who was who, but that was not her fault. I was not listening carefully enough. Good reader. It was an excellent read, both in audio and print, possibly easier to empathize in print. First of Pekkanen’s novels I’ve read so I have little to compare to.

I was invited to listen to a free audio version of Gone Tonight Macmillan Audio and print version by St. Martins Press, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #MacMillanAudio #StMartinsPress #SarahPekkanen #KateMara #GoneTonight

This was a quick read/listen. I was pulled in from the start with QUESTIONS! The first half of the book was so well handled as we switched POVs and tried to see what was going on with Ruth and Catherine. Once the pieces came together in the second half, the story took a new twist and kept me invested all the way to the end. Thumbs up from me!
I was excited to listen to Kate Mara’s narration. While I like her voice, she could do with some inflection and character training as the narration itself was kind of flat.
*Thanks to St Martin’s Press, MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the advance review copies.

Considering I'm all packed for a three week trip, I would fit right in with the characters in this book who have up and moved at a moment’s notice a few times. Told in dual POV chapters alternating from Christine (24 year old nurse) and Ann (40 year old waitress and Christine’s mother), Gone Tonight follows their relationship as Christine prepares to move away from home.
I did a mix of the audiobook and the ARC - thanks to both Macmillan Audio and St Martin's Press for advanced copies from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Being that there is only one narrator of the audiobook, I had to follow pretty closely with the text in the first few chapters to make sure I knew which character’s view was being heard (thanks for the heads up about this, Laurie!). I enjoyed the narration once I got over that hurdle. Although marketed as a thriller, this felt more like a contemporary fiction read - there are some mystery and thriller devices and plot points, but the twists seemed secondary to the mother-daughter relationship and the mother’s backstory. I enjoy contemporary fiction so that’s not a problem for me, but I just want other readers to know the emphasis for this domestic thriller. It will be available Tuesday 8/1!

Not at all what I expected... Way better!

This book turned out in different than I had thought it would be in the beginning. It was a tense thriller dealing with dark past secrets and current deadly consequences.

Told through the lenses of a mother and daughter, these women are strong and resourceful and really end up testing their trust in eachother.

I was enthralled with this novel, trying to figure out what was true, what was meant to mislead, and who it is that the women need to run from.

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator could have been better about distinguishing voices for characters or had 2 narrators. Love this author, she is great about writing books that are both suspenseful and emotional.

Are you looking for a gripping page-turner to end your summer with a bang? Here’s one for you!
Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, for the gifted copy of Gone Tonight {partner}

Genre: Mystery
Trope: Family Secrets
Format: 🎧
Audiobook Narration: ☆☆☆☆
Pub Date: 8.1.2023
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆

The first half of Gone Tonight read more like a contemporary fiction novel - I knew there wasn’t something quite right about Ruth and Catherine, but it never gave me that propulsive mystery feel. But, after the 50% mark, the suspense increased, and the rest of the book flew by!

Gone Tonight illustrated the relationships between mothers and daughters and how so many daughters don’t realize their mothers are people, too; they have secrets and histories that they don’t want to be uncovered.

I chose to listen to Gone Tonight through the Netgalley app, and I’m so glad I did because the audio was phenomenal. I was hooked and kept finding excuses to put in my AirPods and get lost in Ruth and Catherine’s captivating story.

3️⃣ Told in three parts
✌🏼 Dual perspective
🫂 Complex relationships
🎧 Highly recommend the audiobook.

Gone Tonight by Sara Pekkanen is perfect for fans of Ginny & Georgia.

I have read other books by this author but the adult and child content made me uncomfortable so I will not be able to finish the book