Many thanks to @netgalley & @macmillanaudio for the #gifted audiobook

#AudiobookReview 🎧📖
Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen
Story: 4✨ Narration: 4.5✨

🎶 Book as a song lyric: “Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table/Barely awake, I let precious time go by/Then when she's gone, there's that odd melancholy feeling/And a sense of guilt I can't deny…” -Slipping Through My Fingers, Abba

What worked for me:
The depth of the Ruth’s character, her past and present and the reveals doled out along the way…the tension and pacing were such a frustrating sort of satisfying.

The mother and daughter relationship, the love, the push and pull…

Kate Mara is a captivating narrator.

The heaviest topics were well written and portrayed VERY respectfully and with brutal realism (full TWs in comments).

The cherry chapstick 🥹🥹🥹

So many plots and subplots at play and they were juggling adeptly.

What didn’t work as well for me:
I really enjoyed the narration, but sort of wished for there to be more differentiation between the voices of mother and daughter.

Catherine’s character and some issues presented didn’t feel as well-researched/explained. See my PS if you’ve already read this one and DM me if you have thoughts.

Brain itchy, picky person (AuDHD) stuff, repetitive phrases like: shocked me to my core.

⚠️TWs/CWs include: Family estrangement, teen pregnancy, Alzheimer’s/dementia, death of parent(s), alcoholism, child abuse and DV (physical, emotional, psychological), racism, racial slur, molestation/child sexual abuse (on page, graphic), self harm, suicide, misogyny, fatphobia, self-blame (abuse survivors), graphic violence, murder, drugs, alcohol, terminal illness, faking of serious illness…

PS: (‼️Spoilers!⚠️): Catherine’s characterization required some suspended disbelief, because how am I to believe she’s inherited her father’s sociopathic/psychopathic nature and yet she’s devoted her working life to caring for elderly dementia patients and frequently exhibits empathy?

It took me some time to get into this book because it seems to start off just so slow. It’s a real slow burn for sure. But then suddenly as the story unraveled I found myself eager to keep going, to learn the truth and get to know the characters. It’s a great book that gives you so much to consider. It has dual POV which isn’t my favorite but is important to break down the plot and let us dig deeper into both their lives…and lies.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the early audio ARC!

I enjoyed this book and I think that Kate Mara did a fantastic job narrating it. It was a fast-paced thriller that kept me interested throughout the book.

This was a fun thriller to listen to, but I did find some parts a little slow to move through.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book starts off super interesting and kept my attention the entire time, i was very invested to figure out how it would end! I was so impressed with the layout of this book!

a fast paced story and I was interested to see how things would unfold and what the outcome would be. It kept my attention throughout and I was invested enough to want to see what happened

Propulsive is an accurate description for this story of a mother and daughter and how their quiet, unassuming life quickly unravels due to long held, dangerous secrets. 5/5⭐️

• Go in knowing no more than that and be prepared to ignore your responsibilities.
• Audio and print are equally fantastic. I started with the audio, then finished with print when my air pods ran out of juice.
• Suspend disbelief and just go along for the ride!

I do really enjoy Sarah Pekkanen when she writes with Greer Hendricks (The Wife Between Us, The Golden Couple, You Are Not Alone), and have had middle of the road luck with her books when she has written them alone (The Ever After), so this book fit right in there with what I was expecting.

Despite not being a fan of coincidences and characters that just cannot or will not communicate (of which this book had plenty of both), the author's writing and the pace of the plot kept me reading. Psychological thrillers are right in my wheelhouse and I realize that for the most part they do require a bit of the suspension of belief and I was willing to go along for the ride, I think because I have enjoyed this author in the past. If it was a new-to-me author, I might be a little less forgiving.

Kate Mara did a fine job narrating, although if there was ever a case for dual narrators, this is it. At the very least, I was expecting different voices for the two different points of view because, without it, there were points where it was hard to differentiate between the two characters.

I really enjoyed this twisty thriller! We have a mother and daughter story about how they have always just been those two against the world but as Kathrine the daughter is getting older and trying to move on with her life. But that’s when we find out the mother Ruth is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and Kathrine starts to try to peace together her mothers past life. As this goes on we get dual POV told from Kathrine as she searches and Ruth’s life story and how she figures out what Kathrine is doing and how she is gonna stop her. I loved both of their parts and though they were told so well, Ruth’s life story was so interesting and I thought it was paced well! I was constantly questioning what was going on and if we could believe what we where hearing. The ending was suspenseful and I loved how it played out! I listened to the audiobook for this one and the narrators did a great job!

Gone Tonight was a great read by Sarah Pekkanen. Catherine Sterling thought that she knew her mother. Ruth is a quiet, hardworking woman who lives for her daughter. Catherine is ready to spread her wings and move from home. Ruth will do whatever possible to prevent that from happening. Ruth’s desperate quest to keep her daughter with her begins to reveal cracks in the world Ruth constructed. I enjoyed reading this book and can’t wait to read more by the author.

A totally unputdownable thriller, this book will have you gripped from the very first page until the jaw-dropping final twist.

I didn't particularly love the characters, but I thought the story was interesting enough to keep my attention. I wanted to keep reading to see how everything would turn out in the end, and I think the store definitely picked up in the later half of the book.

A layered story of a daughter trying to figure out her mother’s past and where she came from.

From the beginning I was hooked. This story started out with a bang. I could see the author putting together a complicated web. I think I audibly gasped when twists were revealed.

About 3/4 the way through the gasps turned to sighs and the twists were unrealistic. It became too much, the character’s ‘ah-ha’ moments came too easily to them and overall became a snowball.

I didn’t hate this book by any means, as I said above… instantly hooked. I really enjoy this author as well. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book, but I would recommend this author.

It was fine.

The pace was a bit slow for me for most of the story, but revved up at the end. The main problem was the plot device used that really bothered me. It would be a spoiler to reveal, but it was depressing for me.

The chapters alternate with POV's from the mother, Ruth and her grown daughter, Catherine. Ruth has some big secrets from her past and her daughter gets suspicious and starts investigating her and her motives. This went round and round for most of the novel. I just grew tired of the back and forth.

There are some edge of your seat moments at the end that really helped the pace.

Please check out the other reviews, could be me and not the book. Maybe give it a try.

Compelling and very interesting slow burn thriller. It was twisty and suspenseful, and a very good read. I loved the author's other works (co-written) and I knew this one would be just as amazing.

I had never read a solo Sarah Pekkanen before but I absolutely love her duo work! I loved this one just as much and she was very strong all on her own! This was such a thrilling ride and I didn't want it to end! I loved the dynamic between the mother and daughter and it kept me on the edge of my seat!

I listened to the audiobook version of this book, Gone Tonight. The mother and daughter in the book have a bond like no other. It is them against the world.

This is a twisty thriller, but some of the twists were predictable, if you read a lot of thrillers. I wouldn't say I was shocked or surprised by any of them. However, It kept me entertained and it was okay. I did not have to DNF it or anything.

I gave this a three star rating. I got this as an ARC audiobook from MacMillion Audio. Thanks to Net Galley!

This book exists for me. It was not an over the top amazing book, but it was not one I DNFed. There were some far fetched thoughts and comments made by the characters. There was a small twist that I could see coming, but it was there.

There were 2 POVs in this book, and if I had read it, I probably would not have had a problem with it, but since there was only one narrator with only a slight tone change, it made it hard to follow at times. The narration seemed monotone to me as well, but the book in general was monotone, with little emotion portrayed. Over all it was a good listen.

I want to thank Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced listening copy of this book.

Thank you for the ARC copy.

This book was a good thriller. Kept me intreated and guessing throughout the book. I love this authors writing style and descriptive writing. Will keep reading them for sure.

Thank you @stmartinspress for the ARC copy!

Oh my gosh I just finished reading this and wow ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gone Tonight is an amazing story told in the point of views Catherine and her mother Ruth in the present alongside journal entries to glimpse her past. Throughout their lives it’s always just been the two of them. Now Catherine is finishing up Nursing School and looking forward to moving away to her new job and new career at Johns Hopkins, until Ruth starts exhibiting symptoms of early Alzheimer’s, which means Catherine’s plans will have to wait and she just could not possibly leave her mom alone. But things just doesn’t quite fit into place and Catherine starts doing her own research to try to find out the truth, and that is when she discovers that her mother has not been honest with her.

As a nurse, I love reading about characters in the medical field. I was impressed with the way Sarah Pekkanen wrote about families dealing with illness, and also the role of caregivers and nurses in memory centers. I felt the research and the writing of the nursing character was spot on and really enjoyed reading those parts so much.

I could not put this book down as the story really propels forward especially with each of the three acts. Act one was literally setting up the scene, Act two and three propulsively pushed me at the edge of my seat and could not stop reading this book. I kept on guessing what could be happening and with a cinematic third act fit for a thriller blockbuster movie, I was blown away.

This book had everything I love in a domestic thriller read - addicting, immersive, fast paced, but also deals with a lot of important themes about families and the ties that bind.

I highly recommend Gone Tonight in audiobook! The narrator, Kate Mara’s voice acting really captured the characters and the tension of this amazing thriller which added to my reading pleasure!