Gone Tonight - Sarah Pekkanen

🎧Audiobook review🎧

I'd only read The Golden Couple previously from Sarah Pakkanen (which she co-wrote), I confess it wasn't a favourite. Gone Tonight came highly recommended by a trusted book friend so I had to give it a go.

First of all, I haven't read a thriller like this before, I'm not saying there's never been one, but I haven't read it. It's got a very original dynamic which added to the curiosity and surprises.

Secondly, I think the blurb goes into a lot of detail. I like to go into a book blind so I won't say too much about the plot, and less than the blurb tells you.

Catherine is in her twenties and lives with her mom Ruth. One of these characters is keeping secrets, telling lies, and the other is determined to get to the truth, with no idea of the trouble it may cause.

Wow!

This book goes deep, gradually sets up a very detailed back story alongside the current tensions. The two main characters are wonderfully detailed and believable. It's quite brilliantly done with the threat and tension ramping up hard as we get further into the story.

The highly original plot opens up very fresh angles, I had no idea where this rollercoaster ride was going. It thrilled, it made me cry, it kept me hooked from start to finish.

Excellent! Very highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press

Sarah Pekkanen's thrillers, which she typically co-authors with Greer Henricks, are addicting and hard to put down. When I saw Pekkanen was releasing a new book solo, I was intrigued. When I read the synopsis, my interest deepened and when I saw that Kate Mara would be narrating the audiobook, I knew I had to listen.

This book did not disappoint. The plot was a bit different than I expected, based on the other Pekkanen books I've read. This is more focused on mother-daughter bonds, and the ways in which we may behave suspiciously in an attempt to protect our loved ones. Catherine is 24 years old and very close to her mother, Ruth, a 41-year-old who always seems overly concerned about her daughter's whereabouts and acquaintances.

Catherine doesn't know about Ruth's past and soon, the secrets that Ruth has worked tirelessly to keep hidden start to emerge. What follows is a gripping, emotional tale of motherhood, mother-daughter relationships, dark secrets, and fear.

Highly recommend this one.

𝗚𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁
𝗦𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗵 𝗣𝗲𝗸𝗸𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗻
𝟴/𝟭/𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you @macmillan.audio for my ALC.

📖 Gone Tonight follows a mother and her daughter, Ruth and Catherine, respectively. For years, it's just been the two of them. But when Catherine is ready to spread her wings and leave the nest, Ruth is determined to keep her close. But why? What is she hiding? What is she afraid of?

💭 The story itself was a 4.5 star for me. It's creepy, atmospheric, and very well written. That said, I think I did myself a disservice by reading this as an audiobook. Because while the narrator had a great voice, and overall did a wonderful job narrating, there was little or no differentiation between the mom and daughter characters, and I was often confused by whose perspective I was in.

Though I definitely still recommend this book!🥰

Review posted to my IG 7/20/2023

I was immediately hooked on this book! I read a review of this novel and knew i had to know more. The drama and tension between the mother and child were enough to keep me hooked on its own, but adding an outside factor that neither could control ramped up the tension so high i could hardly focus on anything else. Great characters and character development as well as a good plot. This book is gripping and suspenseful and will have you staying up past your bedtime.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advance readers copy of this audiobook

I really enjoyed this book. The narration was amazing!! The ebook was really good too!! I definitely need to get a physical copy for my home library and a copy of this audio book on my phone to listen to again

I liked this one but didn't love it. I was always interested in what was going on, but it didn't help that I'd already read a book very much like this one before which did this premise much better. I saw pretty much everything coming. It's well done, though, despite my being frustrated at the disbelief I had to suspend, that Catherine's mother Ruth never told her what was really going on. The reasons given just didn't really work for me. I also think the author could have done a better job making the antagonist more fully fleshed out, not just to us as readers, but to Ruth and Catherine as well. Catherine spent barely any time at all with him after she realized what kind of person he really was, but she acts like she knows exactly how he will react at any given moment. I thought the ending was a bit anti-climactic, and didn't do much for the story thematically.

I liked Kate Mara as the audiobook narrator, but she uses the same voice for both Catherine and Ruth. She could have done more to distinguish between the two first person POVs.

All in all, if you like thrillers more than I do, this is probably well worth checking out, but it's probably not going to stick in my mind for very long.

✨BOOK REVIEW✨

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen

I seem to be the major outlier here but this was just okay for me. I switched back and forth between audio and physical but mostly did audio. While it kept my attention, the “reveals” were extremely predictable and I kept waiting for the “big twist” that never came.

The author leaves you little breadcrumbs throughout the story that kept it moving along but I felt like there was some pacing issues in the middle. Overall, I just didn’t rate this one higher because I was very underwhelmed with the “thrill” and I needed more.

I think if you’re new to the mystery/thriller genre then this one would be a great one to start with!

Read if you like:
-mother/daughter duo
-unreliable narrators
-slow burn suspense
-past, present timeline, dual POV

Despite not connecting with this one, I really enjoyed “The Golden Couple” by this author & Greer Hendricks and I have “You Are Not Alone” on my shelf to be read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ruth had Catherine at the tender young age of seventeen and they have been a team ever since. Always on the poor side and frequently running from one place to the next, Catherine has just taken it all in stride. Now at twenty-four Catherine is ready to stretch her wings and start a new career. She’s accepted her dream job as a nurse at John Hopkins, but she has to move away. As her move date draws closer, Catherine starts to notice things about Ruth. She’s forgetting things, losing things and getting lost. Catherine is all too aware of the devastating affects of dementia as she works in an Alzheimer’s care home. Willing to give up her dreams, she starts to notice other things amiss, her mother has secrets and she’s determined to find out what they are. Ruth is also determined to keep her secrets to keep Catherine safe, but Catherine won’t be stopped. What is her mother hiding? Told in two voices as well as journal entries, this was a slow burn of a book, but as the story builds, so does the tension. With an original storyline. Pekanen keeps the reader riveted until the very end. Thank you to Saint Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ARC and ALC of this book.

Gone Tonight started out slow but picked up a lot of speed and had my full attention going towards the conclusion.

Gone Tonight is told from two perspectives, Ruth and her Daughter Catherine. This is where some of my problems started with the audiobook. Narrator Kate Mara does a great job but she narrates both perspectives and does them exactly the same. I often forgot who was who before the book fully sucked me in. After around the 25% mark enough happened that I was fully invested and this stopped being a problem for me.

This was a suspenseful thriller and was excellently crafted. Both Ruth and Catherine have secrets, they share some of these secrets with the reader but not with each other. Catherine is supposed to be moving to start a new job but her mom is suffering from early stages of Alzheimer’s which makes Catherine question her decision to move.

To figure out what is going on with Ruth in the present Catherine has to figure out her past. It's a wild ride across two timelines filled with suspense and thrills.

My only complaint was how slow it started. There was a lot of information thrown at us in the beginning and it didn’t all seem relevant to the story. Once the story picked up, I never looked back. Check this one out.

3.5/5
Gone Tonight was a slow burn thriller. It started a little slow and then the started to pick up when Ruth and her daughter Catherine began unveiling each other's secrets. It really picked up at about 70% and became much more heart pounding and exciting. I definitely enjoyed the twists and turns of this novel and I was pleasantly surprised when the pace picked up. Layer by layer the characters grew on me and I appreciated the approach of the book.

I really wish there were two different audio readers for Catherine and Ruth. As an audio it was hard to know which character was speaking if you resumed listening in the middle of the chapter. I enjoyed the narrator, but I felt like two different reader was warranted in this scenario.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for granting me a free copy in exchange for my honest review!

3.5 stars

Not too bad for this author’s first solo journey. She has co-authored a number of other psych thrillers, all of which I’ve really enjoyed so I was delighted to receive an advanced copy of this book.

In this slow burn, we meet Ruth and her grown daughter Catherine. The two are as close as close can be between mother and daughter. In fact, one might even think too close. Neither have any of their own friends. They spend most nights together. Ruth even has Catherine’s location on at all times so she always knows where her daughter is. It’s always been just the two of them, with Ruth regularly packing up and moving them suddenly every few years while Catherine was growing up, which made it impossible for her to sustain friendships.. But Catherine has been offered a nursing position in Baltimore and will finally be leaving the nest…or will she? Ruth has just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, which puts a big wrinkle in her plan. As Catherine starts to look more closely at her mother’s diagnosis, she starts to notice that maybe Ruth hasn’t been as honest with her over the years as she thought.

There was a lot to love about this book. The dual first person narration that alternated between Ruth and Catherine’s perspective was atmospheric and ominous. It moved the plot at a good pace and kept me intrigued to know what was coming next. Ruth also used a journal format to share backstory from an older time line of when she was a teenager. The execution of this worked well. There was a decent twist and the ending packed some punch. The audio narrator delivered a solid performance.

What didn’t work as well for me was the shift in plot dynamic from suspenseful to action/adrenaline. The reader learns fairly early on what’s going on with Ruth, which took the plot in more of a cat and mouse direction. I was hoping for pure suspense. Some of the plot elements were also far fetched so one needs to be able to suspend disbelief to some degree. And the audiobook version could have used a second narrator to perform Catherine’s perspective. This would have added depth and animation in bringing the storyline alive via audio.

There were some hits and misses in this one but overall it was engaging and kept my interest. Would recommend to others.

Thanks #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for an advanced ecopy and #MacMillanAudio for an audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Catherine works at a memory clinic so when her mother is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's Disease, she is filled with dread for their future. She knows what is ahead for her mother and that there is a high risk of her inheriting the same fate. She decides it's time to get some more details about her mother's past before those memories are gone for good. But as she begins to ask questions, her mother clams up and gives confusing answers. She realizes that there is something very wrong with her mother's past and decides to do what she needs to get those answers. Little does she know, her mother will do anything to keep her from finding out the truth and to keep her safe.

I like when stories have dual POV and this one had both viewpoints as well as two different timepoints. I did it on audio, so it took a minute or so when they switched to get the POV right in my mind, I do feel like Catherine and Ruth were quite similar in thoughts and actions. But other than that, I liked the story and the lengths each went to find the truth. A simple conversation would have halved the book but where's the fun in that? The ending was worth it, I loved the theme of inheriting things from your parents being turned on its head.

Thanks to Macmillian Audio and St Martins Press for gifted access to the audiobook via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. I really liked this story. I found the main two characters (Ruth, a waitress who is hiding from her past, and her 24 year old daughter Catherine, who doesn't have a clue that most of her life is a lie). We slowly get to find out who Ruth really is and why she is so protective of Catherine as the truth starts to unravel. Catherine grows suspicious and starts to pursue the truth and decides to find out exactly what her mother is hiding. It's definitely more than Catherine bargained for. I enjoyed the scenes where Ruth explained her past, as she wrote it into a secret notebook, that she planned to give to Catherine someday. I found it interesting and it made me feel closer to the story and the characters. In the end, there is a good balance between the mystery/thriller aspect of the story and the mother/daughter relationship. There is a nature vs nurture theme and an overall story of what a mother will do, and how far she will go to protect her child. We learn that everyone has secrets and sometimes there are sides to ourselves that even we don't know exist until circumstances bring them to light. The end was satisfying and provided a good resolution. There was also a revelation near the end that I didn't see coming...one last secret that Ruth had kept from her daughter and always would. I will definitely look into other books by this author. I enjoyed the writing style and although I really loved it as an audiobook, I'm certain it would have been a great read as well. The narrator (actress Kate Mara) was great. Her voice was pleasant to listen to and her pace/tone were good. Great job! I give this a 4.5 easily.

This book started off one way and took a completely different course than I expected. It gave me Pieces of Her vibes. I really enjoyed this one and I went in blind so I think it’s best that way and I don’t want to give away too much.

Catherine Sterling is about to spread her wings and leave the comfort of her mother Ruth Sterling to start a job at John Hopkins. A mother that has been both parents for Ruth and is hardworking. All her life it has just been the two of them against the world. take off for her dream job at John Hopkins. One week before she is about to leave she learns her mother may have early onset Altzheirmers. It becomes more important than ever for Catherine to stay with her mother and learn her past that she has always been so guarded with. Catherine is shocked at what she learns and starts to wonder who her mother really is.

This was a very original thriller featuring the complicated dynamics of mothers and daughters. Pekkanen creates a very strong female protagonist in Ruth and shows the depths that a mother will go to in order to protect her child.

Another aspect of the book I enjoyed was how well the alzheimers was researched. It is something that I worry about for myself and my parents.

I was sent this as an ALC by Macmillan Audioi that is read by actress Kate Mara, known for her roles in A Teacher, House of Cards, and new FX series Class of '09, as well as films such as The Martian and Chappaquiddick.

I was lucky enough to buddy read this one and it kept me so engaged with all the different opinions on what was happening and where this one was headed. I was very quick to believe both of our narrators are reliable while not all in my group were so easily swayed. Told from a mother and daughter’s POVs the reader is privy to there is something in their past, but not what that is.

This format was a great fit for this story. Not only is there two POVs, but Ruth is documenting what has happened to get them to where they are now. Ruth is lying to her daughter and trying to protect her to the best of her ability. And fearful she might not be able to come clean, she is writing an account of what happened and what she has kept from her daughter Catherine.

I am not sure either character is likable or if the story remains plausible at all points, but seriously none of that mattered as I read this one. There was the perfect amount of build up and tension to make me need to know their story and what would happen to them. Quite a few times I was on the edge of my seat.

Both the book and audiobook kept my attention and wanting more. Kate Mara does a great job narrating the audiobook and letting the story shine.

If this isn’t on your tbr, you need to make room and add it.

This book took about 35% in to hook me.

I had no idea where it was going to go and quite frankly the narrator was so monotone and boring I had trouble focusing on the audiobook.

Once I sped up the audio speed I was engaged enough to keep going and BOY AM I GLAD!!! I thought this was quite twisty and kept me on my toes. I actually guessed most of the ending but I didn't even mind because I was very entertained.

I’ve been reading and enjoying Sarah Pekkanen’s novels for years now, but Gone Tonight is far and away the best of the bunch. My thanks go to Net Galley, Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press for the invitation to read and review. This book will be available to the public August 1, 2023. If you love psychological fiction or thrillers, you should order it now.

In her previous thrillers—the ones I’ve read, at least—there is similarity. She’s written about women ganging up on one woman, and love triangles, or what appear to be love triangles. This one is different, and it’s better. Here we have just two characters, mother Ruth and her young adult daughter Catherine. The unseen character is James, Catherine’s biological father. Throughout the story, Ruth is vigilant, always watchful. She’s afraid she’s being stalked, or investigated, or otherwise watched. Ruth isn’t merely careful; she keeps a bug-out bag ready for each of them, varies her routine to where she really doesn’t have one. She doesn’t take the same exact route to any of the places she frequents regularly. To see and hear this character, one would think that the CIA, the Mafia, and all of the cartels were out to get her and kill her.

Early in the book, Ruth provides Catherine with some hard news: she has early onset Alzheimer’s. I tell you this in particular, because when I saw it, my eyes glazed over with boredom and I thought that this thriller wasn’t going to thrill me at all. I nearly slid the book onto the bottom of my stack, and that would have been a terrible mistake, because this is *not* an Alzheimer’s story.

Catherine has never met any of her relatives; Ruth lies to keep her from investigating them. But now Catherine is an intelligent adult, and there is the internet. It’s mighty hard to keep a secret these days, and that’s rough for Ruth, because she’s got a lot of them, some bigger than others. As Catherine digs, she is surprised, and this makes her dig even harder. She keeps finding things, and Ruth keeps changing her explanations. It isn’t long before Catherine realizes she’s been lied to, and she stops telling Ruth what she discovers.

The format Pekkanen uses is an effective one, and it’s easy to follow. She changes the point of view in the standard way from one to the other and back with both sides told in the first person, but the tricky part is how to provide Ruth’s narrative. Catherine can give us her first person narrative and we think nothing of it, but Ruth talks to no one except her daughter, and even so, she lies to her daughter all the damn time, so under what circumstances will she spill her guts to us? The solution isn’t all that original, but it’s effective and reasonably believable. Ruth has a secret diary that she’s writing for Catherine to have when Ruth is gone. It requires me to overlook the unlikelihood of someone as obsessively private as Ruth sitting down and documenting the whole shooting match, including names and dates in writing, but this is such a fun book that I set my momentary disbelief aside and keep reading, because I have to know what happens next.

Once we are past the Alzheimer’s passage, my attention is rapt, but friend, the last ten percent of Gone Tonight is one for the ages! I rarely say this, but this creepy little novel would make an amazing movie or miniseries.
Actor Kate Mara reads the audio version, and she does a fine job. Highly recommended!

Woooooooo what an amazing read! Another 5 star book by this AMAZING author.
I listened to this audiobook while on vacation, When I tell you I had my headphones in from start to finish! Astounding. That last twist was a dooozy. Wish I could give more stars.
Thank you for the opportunity to read & review.

Mother and daughter, Ruth and Catherine have a close relationship. At twenty-four, Catherine is ready to move and begin a new career, which scares Ruth. The move would bring Catherine close to Ruth’s past, a past that she has worked hard to protect Catherine from. Her plan appears to be working until Catherine begins to unravel everything.

This domestic cat-and-mouse thriller quickly grabbed my attention. Told in dual POV switching between Ruth and Catherine. This story explores the bond between mother and daughter and how far a mother will go to protect their child.

This isn’t a pulse-pounding thriller, but it has an enjoyable and interesting plot. As the story progressed it pulled me in even further and I found myself unable to put it down. It was a fairly quick and easy read, with short chapters. Although things were a bit predictable, they were well executed and I enjoyed the build-up.

I could not stop listening to the audiobook.
I lost a lot of sleep, adding more time to the timer.

The story is told from alternating points of view by Ruth, the mother, and Catherine, the daughter. I won't rehash the blurb.

I enjoyed the pacing and how the story unfolded. Some might think the beginning is a bit slow, but the foundation needs to be laid out, and the characters need to be developed, so I was fine with it.
Once the secret is revealed, oh my word! You won't be able to stop reading or listening.