
Member Reviews

I was so excited to read a novel by Sarah Pekkanen. She and Greer Hendricks are such a fabulous combo. And "Gone Tonight" was AMAZING! I was guessing the entire time and did NOT see the end coming. I loved that this book was told in past and present timelines. Highly recommend this one!!!

Sarah Pekkanen is a wonderful author and she does a great job at exposing the psychological attributes of people. The relationship between a mother and daughter is fraught with secrets and misinformation. Though you will not think this is a thriller from the beginning of the book, it picks up and you are drawn into the story. The dual timeline and dual points of view were handled well and gives you insight into the two primary characters, Ruth and Catherine. Hold onto your seats for an exciting conclusion.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
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Thank you Netgalley for this ARC audio edition of Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen.
Family sagas always get me, even if it's only between a mother and daughter. And something doesn't seem right to Catherine when it seems like her mother will stop at nothing to keep her from leaving home to start her life. Is she unwell, or is it more dangerous than that.
This ended nowhere near where is started, and I loved it. The back and forth between the past and present kept me on my toes. I also really enjoyed seeing this unsteady mother daughter combo slowly grow and understand each other amidst all of the new information and activity being thrown at them. Very fun, very engaging.

GONE TONIGHT by Sarah Pekkanen and read by Kate Mara is a fantastic suspense that had me guessing throughout!
Catherine is worried about her mom, Ruth, and the strange behavior she is exhibiting. Working as a nurse in an Alzheimer's unit gives her an extra dose of knowledge. It is scary, since it has always been just the two of them. When Catherine starts to pay more attention to her mom, she begins to question much more than just her recent behavior. Ruth is definitely acting strange, but now her daughter is too, and she can't afford for her to get too close to the truth.
I felt at first like this was a moving and sad story that couldn't possibly be a suspense...boy was I wrong! It didn't take very long for the sinister undercurrent to start stringing me along. The snippets of Ruth's backstory along the growing tension of the current timeline was just right. I was thoroughly caught up into each POV and wanted to know what was next!
Fortunately, work was a bit calmer today, so I could plug in and tune out. I also appreciate hats in our massively humid weather. I did, however have a bit of a hard time keeping up with whose perspective I was hearing. I love Kate Mara in other audiobooks, but this one had little to no change between women and it confused me a few times until I caught up. Maybe I had more going on at work than I realized!
I did really like this suspense. It had characters I cared about and then questioned, had a setting with assisted adults (who I adore), and the mystery that unfolded had the tiniest bit of unhinged in it! It was a perfect rainy day, work listen!
Thank you to @netgalley & @macmillan.audio from @stmartinspress for this ALC and the chance to share my thoughts! This story will be out on August 1, so mark your calendars!

With this thriller, author Sarah Pekkanen went in a different direction, and it really changed the game! When an author can provide something brand-new and original, I adore it.
Secrets underlie this book's success, some of which the reader is aware of and others of which they are not. Pekkanen skillfully strikes the delicate balance, and her turns are unexpected.
Pekkanen examines broken relationships and emphasizes the extent to which a parent will go in order to safeguard their child.
Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley.

I was a big fan of Sarah Pekkanen's The Wife Between Us (coauthored with Greer Hendricks), so I was excited to dive into Gone Tonight.
Narrated by Kate Mara, we're introduced to Ruth and Catherine, a mother and daughter who are fiercely close to each other. Catherine is getting ready to move away to begin her career when Ruth starts exhibiting some odd behavior that causes a delay in those plans.
The story is propulsive, told in alternating chapters from Ruth's and Catherine's perspectives. They both have secrets from each other, they both would do anything to keep the other safe. Loads of suspense as the back story is revealed and we're lead to the twisty (and coincidentally convenient) conclusion.
The audiobook was easy to follow and Mara's narration built up the tension, conveying the whole gamut from calm to fear to frantic. I couldn't stop listening.
My thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. Gone Tonight will be published in August 2023.

A wonderfully thrilling story of a mother and the lengths she’ll go to protect her daughter. I loved how we saw the uncovering of truths during present day alongside the journal entries of learning what happened leading up to that fateful date that changed their lives forever. The end felt a little anticlimactic and rushed, but it was still a great, unputdownable, thriller. Kate Mara did an amazing job bringing the emotion, tension, and suspense to life!

4.5 🌟
I loved Gone Tonight from start to finish. This book was so well-crafted and kept me on the edge of my seat with lots of twists and suspense. The relationship between Ruth and Catherine was so complex and also frustrating at times when I wished they would just talk to each other, but understand that Ruth is fiercely protective of her daughter and would do absolutely anything to protect her. I loved the dual perspectives and timelines, it was a perfect way to tell this story. I always love Sarah Pekkanen's books and Gone Tonight was no exception. This is one of my top thrillers of the year!

The bond between Catherine and her mother Ruth is a very close one. They have only had one another. When Ruth begins forgetting things, Catherine changes her plans to stay with her mother. What is Ruth hiding? Catherine plans on finding out.
This story changed from a contemporary fiction novel to a thriller, and I enjoyed it
Thank you to McMillan Audio, Netgalley, and the author for an advanced copy of this book.

Catherine is in her early 20’s. She’s been living at home with her mother, Ruth, while getting her nursing degree. She’s preparing to move out for the for the first time to a new city for her dream job. Unfortunately, just a few weeks before she’s set to leave her mom gets a devastating diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s. Catherine’s world comes apart as she tries to get a plan together to take care of her mom. Ruth on the other hand is taking her diagnosis very well. Too well, in fact. Things start to fall apart further as Catherine is trying to make plans and Ruth is resistant.
This book is super interesting. The Alzheimer’s is fascinating and heartbreaking. I didn’t know that much about it and this is a very informative and humanizing portrayal. Then throw in Sarah Pekkanen’s twisty storytelling and I could not get through it fast enough. Great beach read!

"Gone Tonight" is an outstanding audio adventure that deserves a solid 5-star rating! The narration by Kata Mara was superb, keeping me engrossed in the story from start to finish. The story of Ava, 16 years old & on the run from everyone & everything she knows for decades but why??? What had happened? What does Ava quickly discover? A lot of questions are answered over time but can Ava ever go back??? It was a struggle to put the audiobook down, as the gripping plot and engaging characters held my attention throughout. I'm eagerly looking forward to exploring more works by this talented author. I also hope for more narrative works from Kate Mara!
Thank you #NetGalley, #MacmillonAudio, #SarahPekkanen, #GoneTonight & #KateMara for the arc is was a pleasure! My review is strictly voluntary!

I don’t know how to tell the book without spoilers so I’ll focus on the writing and characters. The narrator was excellent. Her voice fit the characters very well. The writing style is excellent and kept me wanting to listen. This is book that will keep you thinking about if after you close the last page. I loved the storyline and really enjoyed this book!

Gone Tonight starts off very slow and it introduces a large cast of characters. I honestly wasn’t sure I was going to like it. However, the pace picks up and the book was good with plenty of twists and turns I was not expecting. Well woven Thriller.

This is a Sarah Pekkanen stan account. Are there things wrong with this book? Probably. Did they stand out to me? Nope. At no point was I prepared for the twists in this book, it was a great, quick, entertaining read. I'm glad I got an audiobook, Kate Mara did a fantastic job narrating!

24-year-old Catherine and her mother, Ruth, are very close. The two women have always lived together, just the two of them, and spend pretty much all of their time together. Ruth has always been tight-lipped about her past, but Catherine never pushed the issue. When Catherine prepares to move away for her dream job, she discovers some disheartening news about Ruth, but as Catherine begins to dig a little deeper, she starts to unravel the secrets her mother has kept for 24 years.
I went into this one totally blind–I chose this book completely based on my previous reading experience with the author. Gone Tonight sucked me in because it wasn’t at all what I expected. The slow start provided time to get to know the characters, but soon the mystery ramped up and I couldn’t put it down. And I really liked the ending.
Kate Mara’s narration was fantastic, even while reading two separate characters’ perspectives.

I have to be honest and say I didn’t think i was going to finish this book. It does start off rather slow to build the plot but once i made it past that i was confused and on the edge of my seat. It definitely shocked me with the ending. In the end it was overall entertaining read that i would recommend!

This was fine. I was really into it in the beginning but started to care less as it went on. Kate Maras narration was good but I wish there was more distinction in her voice between the POVs or a second narrator .

Thank you MacMillan Audio, NetGalley, and Sarah Pekkanen for the honor of previewing the audiobook Gone Tonight. This is the story of a mother and daughter who thought they knew everything about each other and in fact, they knew only superficial details that might just get them killed if they don’t learn how to be honest with each other. Ruth made a terrible mistake when she was sixteen and now 24 years later she’s got to fix things or the only good thing in her life—her daughter—may pay a terrible price. This book is very well written and I was on the edge of my seat all day listening to it. I am definitely adding Sarah Pekkanen to my favorite authors list.

This was a great book I've never read her alone just with her partner in some other books. But I really enjoyed this one

Gone Tonight wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great, either. The writing started out quite strong. I was more enthralled with this than some of the other books that Sarah Pekkanen has written. For a while, I thought this might be a 4 or 5 star. I was interested in the storylines and why Ruth was lying to her daughter, Catherine. It goes beyond mere control. While the first quarter of the book started off quickly and was engaging to me, the middle felt slow and drawn out. The big twist wasn’t a surprise to me at all towards the end. I did enjoy the open ending in regards to Catherine’s future.
Macmillan Audio gifted me an audio copy and Kate Mara’s voice is strong as a narrator. I think she’s more suited to a single POV story, though. There wasn’t much of a difference in Catherine and Ruth’s voices and inflection, so if I didn’t listen closely to chapter titles or forgot which POV we were on, I could get confused about what storyline I was following. I prefer when I can tell who the character by the voice performance.
Thanks Macmillan for the opportunity to review!