Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen

Catherine Sterling has been living alone with her mother, Ruth, her entire life. Her mother has always been a great supporter and Catherine and Ruth have had a very good relationship. It is finally time for Catherine to branch out and leave the nest, but Ruth is clearly not a fan of this decision. Even though Catherine has a new career, and the timing seems appropriate for her to move out, Ruth will not allow this to happen and do everything possible to prevent it. Why is Ruth trying to prevent this? Catherine starts to question her and Ruth’s past and look for clues.

The past collides with the present with Ruth's past. The Story goes from the past to the present telling us about Ruth past as well as the past between mother and daughter.

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 don’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.

This was a very good thriller and kept me engaged throughout. This was a five -star read for me. The audio book was narrated by Kate Mara who brings Ruth and Catherine to life as well as other characters. It was enjoyable listening to it. I switched between listening and reading the book. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan Audio as well as St. Martin's Press for a free copy of Gone Tonight for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Gone Tonight is narrated by Kate Mara. Her narration is incredible. Catherine and Ruth are both extremely likeable characters. Their story is one of deception, love, and resilience. I was shocked numerous times.

Gone Tonight is told with perfect pace, its plot is unlike anything I’ve read before. It truly is a case of knowing but never being certain. I highly recommend this page turner.

Just finished listening to the audiobook of Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen. What a good listen! Kate Mara does the narration and I was completely immersed in the story. It is a suspenseful thriller that will be perfect for your end-of-summer reading list when it comes out in August.

Catherine is ready to venture out on her own, but her mother (Ruth) will do anything to keep Catherine close. Ruth has secrets and they have life threatening consequences. An unraveling of Ruth’s back story set against the events of the present keep the reader on the edge of their seat.

I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it as lately I’ve had a few not so good books. But this one mostly delivered. I was expecting angst and suspense. The third part of the book was the best.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC

Great storytelling! Sarah Pekkanen opens this story by showing the reader that things are not what they seem and slowly and carefully, at times seductively, she slowly peels back one layer of one story and then the next, until the full picture starts to emerge.

Enough breadcrumbs to the reader chasing the story, enough false starts and redirects to keep them guessing.

Overall, an immensely readable book.

Good narration and definition between the characters.

#GoneTonight #SarahPekkanen #MacmillanAudio #StMartinsPress #NetGalley

This is the story of Catherine and Ruth Sterling, a mother and daughter who have always had each other. The book is an intense story about long-buried secrets and the trauma they inflict. The mother-daughter relationship is complicated, and the story is told in alternating perspectives between Catherine and Ruth.

When Catherine sets off to find answers about her mother's past, she sets in motion events that have unintended consequences. The storyline is taut and suspenseful. The narration by Kate Mara brings it to life.

This was an advanced copy and I enjoyed listening to it.

I've read Sarah Pekkanen before but in her co author works with Greer Hendricks. I received an email that Kate Mara was reading this and ran to request the audio. I had zero clue what this was about.

This is an alternating dual POV between mother and daughter, Ruth and Catherine. They've always had each other, moved around and Catherine has always accepted her mother as she is but never knowing much about her. When Ruth starts forgetting, Catherine decides she needs to know what her mother has been so secretive about.

I'm not spilling much else because I enjoyed going into this blind and I think everyone else should too. Therefore some triggers mentioned in the book. Abuse and sexual abuse being the two I can remember.

I will say, there were parts my jaw dropped on. I wasn't expecting some of the turns this book took and the reveals. So that was refreshing for me in a suspense/thriller genre. I also found it nice to empathize and connect with the characters. Sure at first all the secrecy and sneaking made you side eye both characters. Especially when things start to unravel it all looks so nefarious. But once more is revealed...sigh. Mothers. What won't they do for their children?

It's a great read. Once picked up, I couldn't stop. A believable story. And a bit different that what I'm used to reading in this genre. Highly recommend!

I hope Gone Tonight is made in to a movie! I was so excited for this book because Sarah Pekkanen knows how to write a good thriller. The use of duel perspectives to tell the story was unique, and kept the plot moving forward at a gripping pace. I was able to visualize both Ruth and Katherine as mother and daughter characters in a movie; every emotion was so palpable. I also appreciate that Pekkanen is able to write a novel without excessive vulgarity or gratuitous sex. I am going to stay on the lookout for the next Sarah Pekkanen thriller!! The only thing I hope for is a different narrator for audiobooks. Kata Mara’s voice puts me to sleep.

Sarah Pekkanen writes propulsive novels well. I like not really knowing much about a book when I first start and this one had me questioning whether this was a mystery/thriller at first. Kathleen and her mother Ruth are navigating some major life changes. Kathleen is about to start her job and John’s Hopkins and Ruth has recently started showing symptoms of early onset Alzheimer’s. Ruth knows she’s going to rely heavily on her daughter, so much so that she will do anything to keep her close.

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen - This book was everything you want a thriller to be! It kept me on the edge of my seat and I never saw the twists coming. The ending was fast paced! It really posed the question - how far would you go to protect your child? Thanks NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC!

This was a bit slow for me. It took forever to get through. I kept waiting to be “wowed” and it did not deliver. The narrator was just ok for me.

This was a really good book that I figured out from the very beginning, but how it played out, kept me on the edge of my seat, especially the last part.

Ruth and Catherine Sterling are a mother daughter duo. They've always been together. Catherine is now 24 years old and was offered a position at prestigious John Hopkins Hospital. She's a registered nurse. She works at a nursing home and has since she was 18. But her mother's health might be failing. She is showing the classic symptoms of Alzheimer's. Cathleen temporally puts her life on hold do you get your mother to the doctor and find out some answers. I have seen people do something similar as what happens in this book. You'll have to read the book to find out what I mean by that.

The book's format takes one chapter and the next chapter, mother and daughter, it goes back and forth. I didn't mind that at all, but the narration was absolutely horrible. Both characters sounded alike. At times the narration became monotone, and almost unlistenable. There was no emotion or any fluctuation of the speech at all. If I hadn't been so vested in the story, which was very good, I would've given up on this due to the narration alone. Nevertheless, I would still recommend this book.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Multiple POV’s? Count me in. Suspense? Definitely count me in! Catherine is the daughter of Ruth and together they live in the same house. Practically inseparable since Catherine came into the world. You’d think you know someone like the back of your hand. But does Catherine know all there is to know about her past and her moms past? Does Ruth even want her to know?

I didn’t hate this book by any means! I think it was definitely a bit slow in the beginning, but I found it to be the most interesting at the end when everything was coming together. The suspense was great then! I did enjoy us knowing what was going on and Catherine not. It made me want to yell through my headphones while listening lol however, I really was hoping for a bit more from this book.

This is my first book by this author and I ended up giving it 3.5 stars, but I know it definitely won’t be my last! Thank you so much NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this book in exchange for my honest review.

Gone Tonight
5 ⭐️

Omggg wow such an easy 5
Star read! Family fast paced thriller about a mother & daughter! I seriously couldn’t put this one down. It’s so good, it’s dual pov from both mother and daughter you get both present and past stories. The suspense was real, how far will you go to protect yourself & your daughter?
Once you pass the first part you will fly through it.
I listened to it & it was narrated so beautifully had me at the edge of my
seat! Highly recommend audio.
One of the best thrillers I’ve read so far this year! You will want to pick this one up on 8/1/23!!!!

One of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to, Kate Mara is a fantastic narrator. . Excellent heartfelt novel about the bond between mother and daughter. Catherine is a nurse with plans to move away from her mothers house and start a new job at a large respected hospital. Catherine has always been extremely close to her mother and had no reason to doubt her mother’s story about her life before she was born. As Catherine tries to dig into her mothers past, she learns she has no idea about her mother’s past, or even her real name for that matter. What Catherine doesn’t know is that every choice her mother made was to keep her daughter safe from a looming threat that has finally reared its head. Fast paced, excellent novel that is not to be missed. One of the best books of the year! Would give way more than 5 stars if possible.

This is a slow burn mystery thriller told in two alternating perspectives - it begins with a mother with newly diagnosed Alzheimers, and her daughter who is working to become a nurse.

Nothing is as it seems in this book, and it has secrets, twists, manipulation, and betrayal. Although it is on the slow side, it’s an interesting character study that displays a complex and close relationship between a mother and daughter.

There are past memories that are revisited as more of the story is slowly revealed. It caused me to reflect on thoughts of how well does anyone truly know those closest to them? How far will a mother go to protect her child?

I enjoyed the audio and thought the narrator did a great job. I wish there had been two narrators to alternate between the dual POVs though. Sometimes I wasn’t sure which perspective it was and the switches were harder to keep up with having the same person narrate the entire book.

I liked the plot of this mystery along with the character development. The flashbacks were a good way to explain the reason behind all of the storyline. I was interested to see how it would play out in the end. Overall a decent mystery for the reader to solve.

4ish stars

I wish I would have know going into this book that it dealt with topics like Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. I probably would have read it anyway, but it would have been a useful piece of information to have before beginning. Although I realize that the author often writes books on her own, this is the first of hers I’ve read where she wasn’t joined by her frequent co-author. I was expecting it to be fluffier (so to speak) and a bit faster-paced/more dramatic. Although it wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be like, I still mostly enjoyed this story.

Ohhh I really enjoyed this one!!! Such a complex story, with multiple layers that unraveled so intricately. I loved the pacing, both of the female MCs, and how I truly had no idea where the story was going. Kate Mara did an excellent job narrating.

If you're a fan of secrets surfacing, cat & mouse, and mother/daughter relationships, definitely pick this one up!

4.5 stars rounded up :)

I recently received an advanced copy of Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen. Let me start off by saying Sarah Pekkanen is one of my absolute favorite authors so I was thrilled to receive an advanced copy via audiobook. She did not disappoint. The story was told from two perspectives which I appreciated because you can sometimes get lost when there are multiple character perspectives. The story was told from the perspective of a mother and her daughter. The story transitioned wonderfully between both characters; it left me wondering how the story was going to unfold midway through each chapter. The character of Ruth went from what appeared to be a rigid and overprotective mother to one of great admiration for me. The narrator, Kate Mara, did an amazing job. I'd love to listen to more audiobooks read by her. She was spot on. Congratulations Ms. Pekkanen. I can't wait for your next one.