Audiobook Review: Sarah Pekkanen’s Gone Tonight

An intense, harrowing thriller about long-buried secrets and the trauma they inflict….

I finished this one in three days, as it was my morning walk/dinner prep companion. It felt like I flew through it!

The mother-daughter dual narration kept me listening and wanting to know what both characters were hiding from one another. Kate Mara did a phenomenal job with the narration, and I knew what was going on quickly, so I could bump up the speed to x 2 after only a few chapters. Mara’s voice for audio thrillers is gold!

Pekkanen wrote a tense, intelligent thriller that concludes with some sweet little twists I didn’t see coming. If you like Karen Slaughter’s Pieces of Her, give this one a go.

This book was amazing and really got me hooked like 3 chapters in.

Ruth and Catherine are mother daughter, living paycheck to paycheck, Ruth one day experience symptoms of memory lose, Catherine thinks her mother is to young, when her mom refuse to do the scan Catherine starts looking in to her mom and her history she knows nothing about!

Ruth aka Ava Ran away and changed her identity to hide from that terrible night that changed the course of her life, she had been preparing for the day he returns.

I couldn’t put this book down I loved it. Nice twist on this book all around would read!! Thanks NetGalley for the advance audio of this book!!!

First of all, Kate Mara had the perfect voice for such a chilling read. As the book goes back and forth between two different point of views, she did a beautiful job conveying the emotion between them both.
Overall I enjoyed the book, but I found the pace to be a bit slow for my taste. If you like a slow burn, you will enjoy this one.

I was so excited to read this one and see how Sarah Pekkanen did on her own. I loved it. It started out seeming like contemporary fiction but by 30%, the twists started coming and the suspense didn't let up until the very end. It really shows just how far a mother will go to protect her child and her secrets.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Pekkanen and publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

More like a 3.5 but rounding down.

Loved the element of Alzheimer's in the thriller. I feel like this gave me Pieces of Her vibes but way better. I did find this book rubbing me the wrong way towards the end and I'm not sure why. I've read other books by this author when she was writing with Greer Hendrix and I will say I much prefer her writing as a standalone author. Will def pick up more books in the future under Sarah Pekkanen.

Catherine and her mother, Ruth, have always been a team. They take care of one another and it's always been them against the world. When Ruth begins showing signs of early onset Alzheimer's, Catherine, who works with elderly patients with memory loss, notices some of Ruth's behavior doesn't quite line up. She starts to question her mother's current mindset as well as her past, something she's never done before.

I really liked this one! I was excited to try a book only by Sarah Pekkanen because I loved her books with Greer Hendricks - I have to admit, this might just be one of her best! I loved the dual POV and how we never really knew if we could trust Ruth. There were times I felt like I was reading a more mature version of Ginny & Georgia, a show I absolutely adore! I couldn't wait to see how things would unfold and I wasn't disappointed. I was totally engrossed in this story and definitely recommend it.

My only complaint surrounded this book is around the narration - Kate Mara did a great job but I do wish that either (1) there was a second narrator so that the two characters had different voices or (2) Kate changed her voice for one of the women so they could be easily distinguished. There were times when I didn't know whether I was in Catherine's or Ruth's chapter and it took me a moment to mentally figure it out, which got a little tiresome. If a reader is on the fence about picking up the audiobook vs the physical book, I would probably steer them towards the physical for that reason. Overall I still loved the book but that one change probably would have made this a 5-star read for me.

4.5 stars rounded down!

4.25 ⭐️

The newest psychological thriller by Sarah Pekkanen (one of the authors of the dual that brought you The Wife Between Us and The Golden Couple) features a mother trying to protect her daughter from big secrets. Ruth Sterling is not who she appears to be. She has lived much of her life running away from her past in an effort to protect her daughter. When Catherine’s job tries to take her somewhere new, Ruth will do anything to prevent Catherine from getting hurt. But is Ruth trying to protect her daughter from someone or from herself?

I listened to this one on audio and it kept my attention throughout. It was less fast paced than I had anticipated but felt more mysterious than thrilling. I was intrigued throughout trying to determine Ruth’s past and what she was hiding.

I would advise caution in some areas for readers, namely sexual violence.

Overall, this was an enjoyable thriller and I will read anything this author writes.

Thank you to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for an advanced listening copy. This book releases on 8/1


Things you will find in this book:

-unreliable narrators
-dual POV
-family secrets
-murder plotline
-mother-daughter relationship
-teen pregnancy
-slow burn thriller

Overall pretty decent! Definitely slow for the first 30-40%, but the pace picks up and stays up for the rest of the book. My only real complaints were the ending revelations about Catherine felt wholly unneeded and that the audiobook could have benefitted from 2 separate narrators. Ruth's past POV gets muddled with Catherine's voice and can be hard to tell apart when coming back to the audiobook after a day or two.

I was very excited to read Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen because I really enjoyed her previous books co-written with Greer Hendricks. This is a slow burn burn thriller about Catherine and her mother Ruth who has a mysterious past. I think this one was too slow for me. I enjoyed the dual points of view from daughter to mother as we learn Ruth’s secrets. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator Kate Mara was great but it would have been an even better production with two narrators. Not my fave but I’d still definitely read her next book.

This book was such a different storyline, I loved every minute of it. I really enjoyed the 2 alternating POVs and how the story was paced out to get to the ending. Not many twists and turns but still a story that kept me hooked from beginning to end.

3.5*
This definitely more of a slow build. There was something missing for me though, I'm not sure what it was. Maybe there wasn't enough of a thrill. I did like the narrator.

This was my first read by this author and I split my time reading and listening with a preference of audio. The first half was really good but I felt the second half slipped a bit. It might have related to the consistent back and forth of chapter-by-character sequences along with a homestretch story that seemed slightly far fetched and only mildly climatic. Great epilogue! For the audiobook, the narrator was good but not great.

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

Ruth Sterling has been hiding a dark secret from her daughter, Catherine since she was born. Now, that Catherine is grown and moving away Ruth has no choice but to tell Catherine everything before Catherine finds out herself and puts both of them into a dangerous situation, if it's not too late already.

Chilling and emotional read as you feel torn between Ruth and Catherine and ones desire to protect while the other resents the secrets.

In this mother daughter POV Pekkanen shows off her talents once again. Keeping readers engaged with twists you thought you were ready for. The secrets, the past, the hiding are all catching up to Ruth.

Loved this unique and suspenseful story! The narrator was phenomenal. This is the first book that I have read from Ms. Pekkanen that wasn't co-authored by Greer Hendrix, and wow, it was stunning! Loved having to POVs, and I like the way the past was told by Ruth. I recommend this one. 4.5 stars rounded up.

Gone Tonight was a great keep you guessing story. Perfectly read by Kate Mara, it unravels the story of a mother and daughter who've always only had each other due to the mother having been involved in a crime as a teenager. Ruth has to be hyper aware of everything around her to avoid being discovered as the teenager who has now been missing for over 20 years. Catherine, her daughter, now an adult with a degree, is preparing to start a new job and move away from her mom. Soon we learn the great lengths her mother will go to to keep her from leaving and why. I enjoyed listening to this ARC Audio book which had many twists and kept me guessing. Thanks to MacMillan Audio and Net Galley.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the free audio book in exchange for an honest review. This is narrated by Kate Mara who does an exception job of pulling the reader into the story!

FANTASTIC!!!!

I devoured this story!

Catherine and her mother, Ruth Sterling, like many single parent families, have lived a rough life but have always had each other. But here lately, Ruth has become very forgetful. She has lost her keys, money, where she parked, and left the eggs out of the fridge. Catherine, a nurse, learns that Ruth has dementia, just about the time that Catherine is planning to move to Baltimore to start her new job at Johns Hopkins. Catherine is well aware of the devastation of the disease. But since it’s always been just the two of them, her future plans may have to change.

They have never lived apart, and they don’t have the money for Ruth to live in a facility. In fact, they moved frequently throughout Catherine’s childhood, whenever her mom became too far behind on the bills. Or that is the excuse that Ruth gave to Catherine.

Catherine, faced with giving up her dreams and Ruth's refusal to give answers about their past, starts to dig in her mother's past. Things are not what they seem.

I am a fan of Sarah Pekkanen and this story does not disappoint!!! Highly recommend!!!

I found the story interesting, with good twists revealed through the book instead of just at the end. The story dragged a bit and the writing could have used more tension.

How far will a mother go to protect her daughter from the past? This is the central theme of Gone Tonight. Ruth knows that if her daughter Catherine takes the job in Baltimore, it will be the end for all of them. The end to the life that Catherine has known with her mother.
Told in alternating points of view and timelines, this story explores what makes the bond between mother and daughter and the lies that deceive. Both POVs were intriguing and told an interesting story. The characterization between Ruth and Catherine kept the story moving and kept me engaged.
There were a few instances when I thought I knew where the story was going, but I was wrong. There were just enough twists to keep you reading.
I would highly recommend this book.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for an advance copy of this book.

Such a good book. I loved it and the narrator was great too. Definitely recommend this book to others!