a slow burn but I really enjoyed the unfolding. A mother/daughter duo alternated perspectives and timelines. I love an unreliable narrator and both of these characters proved to be a little sketchy. With no connections to their community and no extended family, all they have is each other. The twists and turns start flying as we discover why they are alone.

This title was archived before I had a chance to download it to be read so unfortunately I was not able to read it and give feedback.

This just missed the boat for me. I found myself wanting for more thrilling factors. The twist wasn't very surprising. I really prefer this writer with her counterpart.

Sarah Pekkanen delivered with this twisty thriller. I loved the audio. The mother/daughter relationship, dual timelines, and alternating POVs were well done. I'd recommend it to thriller lovers.

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC!

Catherine had always lived by her mother's rules, but as an adult, she yearned to distance herself from her. Unfortunately, Ruth disagreed with her daughter's decision, and she had a good reason for it - a dark secret that she couldn't share with Catherine for fear of being judged. However, the day Ruth dreaded the most has finally arrived, and she must reveal the truth about her past to save her daughter.

But the apple does not fall far from the tree...

I found the ending of the book to be quite chilling and it made up for the fact that I had difficulty connecting with the story and lost interest at times. The book was structured around two plotlines, one set in the past and the other in the present. Unfortunately, the past storyline was slow and tedious, but thankfully the present part was more engaging and kept me interested.

Thank you, NetGalley, for a free and advanced copy of the novel.

Loved Kate Mara’s reading of the audiobook! A great thriller to listen to, but also just a great book — well-written, not too predictable, a twisty narrative, and multiple unreliable narrators. The makings of a thriller that’s worth your time!

I don’t do well with books that lean heavily on melodrama or implausibility, and this book has lots of both.

The story started strong. The premise intrigued me, and the writing was engaging.

But we readers learn most of the secrets early on, which eliminates suspense. The rest of the story follows a predictable path.

What absolutely did not work for me was the mother-daughter dynamic. We were told countless times by both characters that they had an incredibly tight bond. Yet we didn’t see it. The so-called bond relied on manipulation. Both women were absolutely clueless as to the other’s reality.

Ruth and Catherine danced around each other, and assumptions kept building, until we were in WTF territory. I can’t talk about all the things that bothered me without spoilers, so I’ll keep it simple. I didn’t believe any of it.

I listened to this on audio, and I really enjoyed Kate Mara’s narration.

This was a pretty interesting listen. I liked the narrator well enough but it wasn't a voice I would remember or seek out for other books. The story had an interesting premise and I liked it but the twists were not very surprising so that shock factor was missing. Overall I enjoyed it though.

This book held my attention from the beginning. I did not know who to trust or where this wild ride was headed! I liked the audiobook but I did wish that there were two narrators, one for each of the perspectives.

When I started this book, I had no idea what to expect. It did start slightly slower than I’d have wanted, but then it kept getting better as it progressed. At the beginning of the book, I was thinking this was a general/women’s fiction book with a hint of mystery. That’s true, but by the end, this was a full-blown thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The book was full of twists and turns and I really enjoyed it! The suspense was top-notch and the book was well written. Chapters alternate between Catherine and Ruth's stories adding to the character development as the novel progresses. This was a great read, but I’m conflicted about the ending. Overall, I'd highly recommend it!

Unfortunately this one didn’t really work for me or capture my interest throughout. Here is a story of a mother and daughter, both with secrets to hide. If I was Catherine, I would have started asking my mother questions way before it got to this point. Neither woman is very likeable and I didn’t feel compelled to root for either one. We find out what Ruth is hiding early on, leaving little to surprise. Most of the time we’re waiting for Catherine to uncover what we already know which to me as a reader was a bit boring. Nothing truly shocked me and left me longing for more. The narrator was also not ideal, as she didn’t ever change her voice tone, even for different voices. While the ending was action packed and suspense, overall this one missed the mark for me.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Sarah Pekkanen, and NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

As with most Sarah Pekkanen books, I really enjoyed this one. I found the characters interesting and the plot moved quickly. Many thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for a copy of Gone Tonight in exchange for my opinion.

I've only read books written by Sarah Pekkanen when she teams up with Greer Hendricks, so I wasn't sure what to expect for this thriller. I really liked the dual POV that the book was written in. I found both main characters to be intriguing and likeable for their own reasons. I enjoyed the slow burn unravel of the mystery plot line but when it was all said and done, it felt underwhelming. I expected so much more from this author. The lies and deceipt, sure they were exactly that. But as a reader, they felt quite justified and reasonable. I was expecting some giant plot twist to come out of no where and blow me away. That never happened. When the ending of the book neared, I braced myself for the shock that never came. I liked the story as a whole and felt it was extremely interesting and a very fast and easy read but it didn't wow me by any means.

I really enjoyed Kate Mara's narration of this story but I do wish that Catherine and Ruth's characters were narrated by two different individuals to create more audible depth to the story. Unless you caught the chapter title at the beginning, it was very hard to differentiate which character's POV was being told until there were more context clues because there was no change in inflection for the character's voices.

I would like to thank Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this book.

I am a huge fan of the Sarah Pekkanen/Greer Hendricks writing duo, so I was curious about how this book would be with her writing it solo. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint!

Actress Kate Mara (of House of Cards fame) did the narration for this audiobook. Her voice was pleasant and seemed to fit the characters but occasionally it was difficult to differentiate between characters. The flow of the story was good, and the chapters alternated between the POV of Ruth (the mother) and Catherine (the daughter). Ruth's POVs alternated between her childhood (the past) and the present. There were times when I couldn't remember which POV the chapter was from and I found myself confused a few times. But overall I think the narrator's style of reading brought the story to life.

The plot of this story, was definitely a slow burn. I feel like I was well over halfway through the story before the twisty-ness actually started. There are a whole lot of buried secrets and trust issues between Ruth and Catherine. What starts as a super-close mother & daughter trying to overcome a life-changing illness somehow turns into a dark plot unearthing hidden secrets from the past, which then leads to an unexpected cat-and-mouse game. It's a true race against time, and the last 1/3 of the book is unputdownable. This book had a twist I didn't see coming, and I really loved the ending!

This is a must-read for fans of thrillers and Sarah Pekkanen. I am definitely going to be recommending this one to my book club (although the print version, not the audiobook).

🎧I paired the audio with the physical book, which is my favorite way to read and escape, and fully immerse myself into the reading/listening experience.

WHAT TO EXPECT
-mother/daughter relationships
-told in 3 parts
-multiple POVs
-unreliable narrators
-deception

*many thanks to St Martins Press, Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

This was a winner for me. A fast paced, where is this going thriller. The story line was original and kept me guessing. A mother’s love runs deep. There is nothing Ruth won’t do to keep her daughter safe. I loved this book.

Great suspense!

Catherine Sterling is a nurse. She has been working in a memory unit in a facility but now she is ready to move to Baltimore and start working at John Hopkins. Then, she starts noticing that her mother, Ruth Sterling is starting to have some memory issues. Shockingly she learned her grandmother had early-onset Alzheimer's. In the blink of an eye, her plans dissipate like smoke. She can't leave her mom this way, she has to stay and take care of her. As far as she can remember, Ruth has been there for her. They have been each other's support system.

Catherine is ready to give up her future when some incongruences start making her doubt what her mother has told her since she was a kid. Her mother is hiding things and Catherine must find out what is true and why is Ruth lying to her.

I liked how the story unfolded. The dual POV and the past and present timelines enriched the experience instead of making it difficult to follow. I liked both characters and I was scared of the outcome that was being foreshadowed.

The narrator, Kate Mara did a good job with both characters.

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by St. Martin's Press/Macmillan Audio via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mother and daughter struggling to keep up with life. Moving all the time and financial hardships have kept them from being on top, but they've always had each other. While this thriller was a slow start, it picked up and I was pleasantly surprised with the ending. The suspense builds well, and I expected nothing less from this author. I like Pekkanen's writing style, but the narrator had some strange phrasing and pauses that made it hard to listen to. I think I would have enjoyed reading this as an ebook even more. I don't generally love a dual perspective writing, but in this book particularly, it helped with building suspense. Enjoyable, suspenseful and entertaining!

Unfortunately, this book wasn't as thrilling as I wished it would have been. The story was good, but it was fairly predictable and straight forward. I kept waiting for something to happen to turn it on its head and it never came. This and the fact that I didn't love the characters made the book just a middle of the road book for me.

I listened to it via audio and really think it would have been helped by having different narrators for the two perspectives. Since, the characters were so similar, there were times it would take me a second to realize whose perspective we were in.

I have read other books by the author that I have enjoyed in the past, so I will still be waiting for future books to see what else the author has in store.

**Read an ARC from Netgalley Rating : 3 Stars